HistoryExtra podcast

In the concluding episode of our series on the Cuban Missile Crisis, we trace how a tentative compromise coincided with the most dangerous moments of the stand-off, in an exchange of letters that threatened disaster. Elinor Evans speaks to expert historians Alex von Tunzelmann, Mark White and William Taubman to find out how the crisis reached a resolution, and the diplomatic fall-out from the 13 d...

Dominic Janes discusses his new history of British dandies, which explores how such ‘dressy men’ – from fops and macaronis, to aesthetes – provoked both fascination and horror in their societies. Speaking with Elinor Evans, Dominic also considers the changing perceptions of famed aesthete Oscar Wilde. (Ad) Dominic Janes is the author of British Dandies: Engendering Scandal and Fashioning a Nation...

Lucy Lethbridge discusses her new book on the emergence and boom of mass British tourism. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she touches on early package holidays led by the fatherly Thomas Cook, the vomit-inducing travails of long-distance stagecoach journeys, the romance of camping and the hedonistic pleasures of 19th-century health spas. (Ad) Lucy Lethbridge is the author of Tourists: How the British...

The Mongols were an unstoppable force through the 12th and 13th centuries, with an empire that stretched across huge swathes of land, from China to Europe. But its territory also included much of the Near East, where one aggressive power – the Mamluks – finally put a halt to their never-ending progress. Nicholas Morton explores the clash of these two major empires with David Musgrove. (Ad) Nichola...

What’s the world’s oldest alcoholic beverage? Why was wine believed to be medicinal? And did medieval people actually get drunk from sipping beer all day? In our latest everything you wanted to know episode, Professor Phil Withington of the University of Sheffield answers listener questions on the history of alcohol. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, he discusses prohibitions, rituals and the deadly “g...

From the Turkey trot to the scandalously intimate moves of the Parisian tango, the 20th century saw Britain gripped by dance craze after dance craze. Performed in public halls up and down the country, ballroom took the nation by storm as people from all walks of life sashayed to the dancefloor with their partners. Hilary French tells Emily Briffett about ballroom’s dramatic surge in popularity, it...

In the third episode of our series on the Cuban Missile Crisis, we chart the first phase of the Cold War standoff. Elinor Evans speaks to expert historians Alex von Tunzelmann, Mark White and William Taubman to uncover how top-secret meetings descended into chaos, the American public was plunged into panic and a US naval ‘quarantine’ threatened to push the Soviets to the brink. Hosted on Acast. Se...

The Pacific campaign featured some of the most brutal battles of the Second World War – Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa among them. Here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, Saul David explores the pitiless struggle to wrest back control of the Pacific from the highly motivated soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army, via eyewitness accounts of the men of K Company, from the third battalion of th...

In the wake of the Second World War, Germany was a country on the brink of collapse. Despite the war’s end, the years to follow were turbulent, as Germans lived through the division of East and West, all while reckoning with their recent past. In her new book Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners, Sarah Colvin shares stories of the prisoners incarcerated in West and East Germany i...

Peter Stanford reflects on the meaning of pilgrimage across world history, considering whether we share anything in common with pilgrims of the past. Speaking with Emily Briffett, he traces different pilgrim routes and shrines across the globe to understand what drove people to undertake long, and often dangerous, holy journeys. (Ad) Peter Stanford is the author of Pilgrimage: Journeys of Meaning...

From ingenious gadgets to audacious plots, historian Helen Fry answers listener questions on British espionage in the Second World War. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she explores how agents were recruited and the ways spy networks worked, discusses just how dangerous espionage operations were, and delves into plots involving dummy corpses and exploding rats. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

From political agitators and artist’s muses to composers, sailors, asylum inmates and the goddaughter of the queen herself, black people led a variety of fascinating lives in Victorian Britain. Dr John Woolf shares some of their stories – both ordinary and extraordinary – with Ellie Cawthorne. (Ad) John Woolf and Keshia N Abraham are the co-authors of Black Victorians: Hidden in History (Duckworth...

The 1961 Bay of Pigs operation was a debacle for the United States that inflamed Cold War tensions to a new height. In the second episode of our series on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Elinor Evans speaks to expert historians Alex von Tunzelmann, Mark White and William Taubman to find out how the failed invasion set the stage for Khrushchev and Castro to form a pact that would lead the world to the br...

Why wasn’t football banned on the home front when men were fighting and dying in France and Belgium? Did war halt the march of commercialisation in the sport? And why did the number of red cards surge between 1914 and 1918? From goal gluts to illegal player payments, Alexander Jackson tells Spencer Mizen how the First World War changed the face of English football. (Ad) Alexander Jackson is the au...

From the 19th century onwards, waves of Irish emigrants left their home nation to begin new lives across the globe. Sean Connolly, author of On Every Tide, tells Ellie Cawthorne about the experiences of these emigrants, and charts the changing nature of Irish communities in the United States, Australia, Britain and even Argentina. (Ad) Sean Connolly is the author of On Every Tide: The making and r...

Author Kate Mosse shares inspirational stories of women from across global history – including the forgotten life of her great grandmother Lily Watson During lockdown, author Kate Mosse set out on her own detective story, investigating her family tree to unearth the forgotten life of a fellow novelist – her great grandmother Lily Watson. Drawing on her social media campaign, #womeninhistory, Kate...

Where did the term “hippie” originate? What music best reflected a generation’s disaffection with the establishment, and opposition to the Vietnam War? And how did the culture wars of the sixties shape attitudes to race, gender equality and sexual liberation? Speaking with Spencer Mizen, Alwyn Turner answers listener questions on 1960s counterculture. Subscribe to BBC History Magazine or BBC Histo...

Did Adolf Hitler really die in 1945? Did Ancient Egyptians really build the pyramids? And did Shakespeare really write the plays that bear his name? In our new upcoming HistoryExtra podcast series, Conspiracy, Rob Attar investigates some of history’s most popular and persistent conspiracy theories in the company of expert historians who are battling to set the record straight. From the ancient civ...

From books delving into hidden histories to eye-opening global stories and epic World War Two blockbusters, 2022 has been an excellent year for history books. Rhiannon Davies is joined by historians Michael Wood, Rana Mitter and Catherine Nixey to discuss some of their top picks. Subscribe to BBC History Magazine or BBC History Revealed this season and receive a book of your choice worth up to £30...

How did the world end up on the brink of nuclear disaster? In the first episode of our series on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Elinor Evans speaks to expert historians Alex von Tunzelmann, Mark White and William Taubman to explore the roots of the nuclear standoff, tracking the rise in tensions during the Cold War and introducing the key players in the looming confrontation. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

Debtors’ prisons were a major feature of Georgian society in England and Wales. But how did the idea of locking up debtors to make them pay their creditors actually work in reality? Dr Alexander Wakelam explains to David Musgrove why, and how, the system worked. Subscribe to BBC History Magazine or BBC History Revealed this season and receive a book of your choice worth up to £30* at https://www.b...

The traditional story that’s told about Britain from the end of the Roman period through to the arrival of the Vikings is one of coalescing kingdoms, leading inexorably towards the rise of Wessex as the last man standing. However, the real story is much more complicated, as Thomas Williams tells David Musgrove in this new episode. (Ad) Thomas Williams is the author of Lost Realms: Histories of Bri...

In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman named Rose packed a sack containing a few precious items for her nine-year-old daughter Ashley. Ashley §was then separated from her mother and sold, and it’s likely the two never saw each other again. This heart-wrenching story is embroidered on a tattered cotton sack now held in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. I...

Why was a transfusion of lamb’s blood believed to cure epilepsy? What surgical procedures could you get in ancient Egypt? And were medieval surgical practitioners really a help to patients – or a hindrance? Speaking with Emily Briffett, Paul Craddock unravels the long history of surgery, from its ancient roots right up to recent developments that have changed the practice forever, including antise...

On 16 October 1962, US President John F Kennedy was made aware of the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles away from the shores of the United States. The 13 October days that followed were some of the most dangerous in modern history, as the world stood on the brink of mutually assured nuclear destruction.   This HistoryExtra podcast series marks the 60th anniversary of the C...