HistoryExtra podcast

Daniel Finkelstein’s parents were born into comfortable Jewish families in Germany and Poland, but the rise of Nazism and the onset of the Second World War turned their lives upside down. Targeted by two of the most destructive regimes in history, they were extraordinarily lucky to survive. The journalist and Conservative politician speaks to Rob Attar about retracing this family history, offering...

Rosa Parks’ momentous refusal to vacate her bus seat for a white passenger in 1955 sparked a boycott that lasted for 381 days, and successfully pressured city authorities to end bus segregation. In the second episode of our series delving into the US Civil Rights movement, Rhiannon Davies speaks to historians Jeanne Theoharis and Mia Bay to delve into the inner workings of the boycott, as well as...

Appearance was everything in the Renaissance – a way to make a good marriage and gain power and influence. But what if you fell short of the era’s exacting beauty ideals? Speaking with Charlotte Hodgman, Professor Jill Burke ventures into the realm of Renaissance beauty culture, touching on everything from poisonous makeup and hair removal to 16th-century body anxieties and homemade cosmetic recip...

Artificial intelligence’s development seems to be moving at breakneck speed, and the ability of AI to automate even complex tasks – and, potentially, to outwit its human creators – has been making plenty of headlines in recent months. But how far back does our fascination with, and our fear of, AI extend? Matt Elton spoke to Michael Wooldridge, professor of computer science at the University of Ox...

Known as “Mrs Pankhurst’s bodyguard”, Kitty Marshall was a cricket-ball-wielding, jujitsu-trained suffragette ready to go fist-to-fist with the police in her fight for votes for women. Historian and biographer Emelyne Godfrey tells Ellie Cawthorne more about Kitty’s unorthodox life, and the tense game of cat-and-mouse that suffragettes were locked in with Met police. (Ad) Emelyne Godfrey is the au...

How did the British public respond when the NHS was first founded 75 years ago? How have the roles of doctors and nurses changed in the decades since? And was there ever a ‘golden age’ of the National Health Service? In our latest Everything you wanted to know episode, Andrew Seaton tackles listener questions about the UK’s National Health Service, to mark its 75th anniversary. (Ad) Andrew Seaton...

In military history, we often hear the stories of great battles and detailed strategic manoeuvres, but what was life like for the men responsible for executing these sweeping orders? Drawing on oral history testimonies, Peter Hart shares personal stories of the 2nd Fire and Forfar Yeomanry – a WW2 tank regiment. Speaking with Emily Briffett, he reveals how they lived with constant fear of the sudd...

In this HistoryExtra podcast series, we chart some of the key moments in the transformative history of the US Civil Rights movement. Expert historians share some of the movement's most recognisable stories, from the Montgomery bus boycott that inspired the nation to the landmark March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr shared his powerful dream for America’s future, as well as shining a li...

When Mamie Till decided to display the bruised and beaten body of her son, 14-year-old Emmett Till, in an open casket funeral, she poured gasoline on the emerging Civil Rights movement in America. In the first episode of our series delving into the movement, Rhiannon Davies is joined by biographer Devery Anderson and historian Adriane Lentz-Smith to look back at Emmett’s tragic lynching and the ho...

In 1929, a sensational murder trial took place in Hungary. A group of women, all hailing from the same tiny village, stood accused of murdering dozens of men – including sons, lovers and husbands – over the course of more than a decade. But why did they do it? How did they do it? And how did they remain undetected for so long? Award-winning journalist Patti McCracken talks to Jon Bauckham about th...

Throughout the Second World War, the men of RAF Coastal Command took to the skies and valiantly defended Allied ships from German U-boats in the Atlantic. But despite the heroism of its crews, Coastal Command spent a large portion of the conflict both chronically underfunded and underappreciated, leading some personnel to label it the “Cinderella Service”. Historian and author Leo McKinstry spoke...

A recent Nasa press conference detailing the American space agency’s research into UFO sightings sparked headlines across the globe about extraterrestrial visitors – but, as Dr David Clarke tells Matt Elton, such stories are nothing new. David explores how recent interest in UFOs fits into the longer history of our fascination with visitors from above, and what society’s shifting view of aliens te...

When were dogs first domesticated? Why was adopting from London’s “Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs” such a radical move? And how did a dognapping case change the life of 19th-century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning? Speaking to Charlotte Hodgman, Professor Julie-Marie Strange answers your top questions on the history of dogs in Britain, from the popularity of certain breeds, to 19th-cent...

Why do some settlements become great centres of international influence, while others languish and ebb away? And how have Europe’s most important urban centres been shaped by geography, climate, resources, individual personalities, collective culture and sheer serendipity?  In series two of our HistoryExtra podcast series, History’s Greatest Cities, travel writer and history buff Paul Bloomfield v...

When the atom bomb was dropped in 1945, how did its inventor, J Robert Oppenheimer, feel? To mark the release of Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster Oppenheimer, biographer Kai Bird joins Elinor Evans to discuss the man behind the creation of nuclear weaponry, and the difficult moral and political questions that dogged the genius physicist throughout his life. (Ad) Kai Bird is the co-author with M...

Barbie has been catapulted back into the cultural spotlight this week, thanks to a new movie. But, why is the iconic doll historically significant? Since her creation in 1959, Barbie has been about much more than high heels and hot pink hair accessories. Robin Gerber speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about Barbie’s changing image and what it can reveal about societal shifts over the decades. (Ad) Robin Ge...

The death of King Edward VII in 1910 pitched Britain into a frenzy of mourning, as the nation marked the passing of a symbol of continuity and stability in an ever more unpredictable world. Speaking to Spencer Mizen, Martin Williams reveals how the ageing, conservative king emerged from the shadow of Queen Victoria’s reign to charm a nation experiencing dizzying change. (Ad) Martin Williams is the...

In his famous speech of summer 1940, Winston Churchill hailed the RAF as the “few” who protected the skies during the Battle of Britain. But the success of Britain’s air force was also dependent on the lesser-known work of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Speaking with Emily Briffett, Dr Sarah Louise-Miller shares their highs and lows, and explores the vital work they did under immense pressure to...

Eastern Europe has been the setting for some of history’s most climactic events. Yet barely 30 years since the collapse of Communism heralded the so-called “end of history”, are we now witnessing the region’s disappearance? Speaking with Danny Bird, Jacob Mikanowski discusses how eastern Europe’s unique diversity of cultures, traditions and ideologies has endured through the Ottoman empire and the...

How were Roman deities different to Greek deities? Why did the Romans sacrifice animals? What did religious cults get up to in ancient Rome? And just how many gods and goddesses did they worship? In our latest everything you wanted to know episode, Emily Briffett puts listener questions on the Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses to Philip Freeman, Professor of Classics at Pepperdine University. T...

As far back as the archaeological record takes us, we can find evidence of blind people. But the experiences of those people – and the ways they were seen by others – have always been hugely shaped by the historical context they lived in. Writer and broadcaster Selina Mills joins Ellie Cawthorne to explore the forces that have affected the lives of blind people through the centuries – from religio...

From advances in weaponry and warships to the use of telegraphs and photography, the Crimean War produced a whole host of innovations. In the final episode of our three-part series exploring the conflict, Professor Andrew Lambert takes Rachel Dinning through some of the key innovations that came out of the Crimean War. Plus, they consider some of the main misconceptions about the conflict, as well...

Writer Kate Mosse shares the historical inspirations behind her latest novel, The Ghost Ship, which takes readers across the high seas from 17th-century France and Amsterdam to the Canary Islands. Speaking to Elinor Evans, she also discusses the real female pirates that inspired her story and her own personal connection to the Huguenot refugees who fled from the French Catholic government during t...

It would be easy to assume that before the invention of the modern clock, people didn’t have a very sophisticated sense of time – they rose with the sun, and went to bed when it got dark. But, according to Gillian Adler and Paul Strohm, medieval society’s timekeeping was, in fact, far more complex. Speaking with Emily Briffett, they delve into medieval ideas about time, from human life cycles to t...

The Mediterranean coastline is strewn with the remnants of lost civilisations. From Tyre and Carthage, to Ravenna, Syracuse and Antioch, Katherine Pangonis revisits the lengthy, and sometimes legendary, pasts of five historical capitals of the region, and highlights some of the defining moments in their stories. Speaking with Emily Briffett, she also reveals why we have romanticised the fading civ...