HistoryExtra podcast

The “Age of Discovery” is traditionally known as a period between the 15th and 16th centuries, when European Christian powers sailed west and encountered lands and peoples previously unknown to them. However, speaking to David Musgrove, Professor Marc David Baer contends that this narrative overlooks the influential role of the Ottoman empire.   (Ad) Marc David Baer is the author of The Ottomans:...

How much blood was spilled in the border regions of England and Scotland from the 14th to the 16th centuries? Who were the Reivers? And why did the French get involved? Michael Brown talks to Spencer Mizen about the cross-border clashes that marred Anglo-Scottish relations for 200 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...

In 1965, Scottish aristocrat Ewan Forbes stood to inherit his family’s baronetcy but, as a transgender man, he soon became embroiled in a top-secret legal case which had consequences that still affect the lives of trans people today. Zoe Playdon explores this still largely unknown story, in conversation with Matt Elton. (Ad) Zoe Playdon is the author of The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: The Transgen...

What makes a good Second World War exhibit? How can we best share the story of the Holocaust? Two new galleries dedicated to these seismic events at London’s Imperial War Museum grapple with these questions and others. Historian Keith Lowe spoke to curators Vicki Hawkins, Kate Clements and James Bulgin about the challenges of creating them.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

Jim Downs speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about his book Maladies of Empire, which reveals how the conditions created by colonialism, war and slavery affected the study of disease and its spread in the 18th and 19th centuries.  (Ad) Jim Downs is the author of Maladies of Empire: How Slavery, Imperialism, and War Transformed Medicine (Belknap Press, 2021). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk...

Jane Ridley speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about the life and reign of George V. She reveals how the king, often unfairly dismissed as something of a dullard, in fact successfully steered the monarchy through a tumultuous era of British history. (Ad) Jane Ridley is the author of George V: Never a Dull Moment (Chatto & Windus, 2021). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/George-V-Never-Dull-M...

As the author of the Life of King Alfred, the Welsh churchman Asser is in large part responsible for how the early medieval king was viewed, and the fact that he eventually got the moniker ‘the Great’. Speaking with our content director David Musgrove, Dr Robert Gallagher tells us about a new discovery he’s made about this monastic wordsmith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

When did espionage become professionalised? What ingenious gadgets did intelligence agents use in the past? And how have animals been used for spying? Speaking with Elinor Evans, Michael Goodman tackles listener questions and popular search queries on the history of espionage and intelligence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc...

On 13 November 1002, the St Brice’s Day Massacre took place, when Danes living in England were killed, apparently on the orders of King Aethelred. But the extent of the violence and motivation behind it continues to be much debated by historians. In conversation with David Musgrove, Dr Benjamin Savill outlines his new theory that the massacre may have been planned specifically for the feast day of...

Medieval manuscripts tell a story far greater than just what’s written inside them. In conversation with Emily Briffett, Mary Wellesley shares the hidden histories of the artisans, authors and owners behind these fragile and beautiful documents. (Ad) Mary Wellesley is the author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers (Quercus, 2021). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skim...

Ernest Shackleton looms large in the heroic age of exploration, making two bids to reach the South Pole and famously attempting to traverse the Antarctic continent, before his ship was crushed by pack ice. Fellow polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes chronicles his dangerous exploits and reflects on his own expeditions in a conversation with Rhiannon Davies. (Ad) Ranulph Fiennes is the author of Shac...

Historian Susan Williams discusses the United States’ covert programme to undermine the leaders of newly independent African nations in the 1950s and 1960s. Speaking to Rob Attar, she highlights the stories of Congo’s Patrice Lumumba and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, both of whom were ultimately ousted from power. (Ad) Susan Williams is the author of White Malice: The CIA and the Neocolonisation of Afric...

Matt Lewis tells Spencer Mizen about the extraordinary escapades of Hereward the Wake, who led a rebellion in the 1070s that drove William the Conqueror and the Normans to distraction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the witch trials were over, Salemites had to resume life as normal and come to terms with what had happened. Suspected witches had to go back to living alongside those who had accused them. In our final episode we’ll be looking at the difficult legacy of the events at Salem, revealing how the beliefs that underlined them endured and asking: why did the witch trials happen? Hosted on Acast. S...

Fourteen of the 19 people hanged for witchcraft at Salem were women. So could their gender – or perhaps their transgression of gender norms – be part of the reason they were targeted? And what about the five men hanged? In this episode we’ll try to unpick the complicated question of how gender impacted on the Salem witch trials. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn mo...

Salem was made up of a dense web of social connections – not all of which were harmonious. In fact, it was a community riven with fault lines that threatened to open up into great chasms of conflict. In this episode we’ll investigate whether tensions between members of the community could help explain who was accused of demonic activity – and who accused them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

The list of failings that could be levelled against the Salem justice system is substantial – from the acceptance of so-called ‘spectral evidence’ to the chaotic scenes that unfolded in the courtroom. In this episode we’ll consider how suspected witches were tried, revealing how they were induced into giving confessions and even encouraged to implicate others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

From flying witches to demonic familiars and translucent cats, the Salem villagers believed themselves plagued by a spectrum of supernatural terrors. In this episode we’ll be investigating the long history of witchcraft beliefs that influenced accusations, from the first witches in the ancient world to the explosion of witch hunts triggered by fears of a satanic conspiracy in Early Modern Europe a...

Tom Standage traces technological advances in transport, from the invention of the wheel to the rise of the car Tom Standage, author of A Brief History of Motion, speaks to Jon Bauckham about technological advances in transport, from the invention of the wheel to the rise of the car, and reveals why modern transport dilemmas echo those of the late 19th century. (Ad) Tom Standage is the author of A...

Dr Sara Read explores women’s experience of pregnancy and childbirth in early modern England. Speaking to Emma Slattery Williams, she discusses the research behind her recent novel, which tells the story of a midwife working during the Great Plague of 1665. (Ad) Sara Read is the author of The Gossips’ Choice (Wild Pressed Books, 2020). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gossips-Choic...

Dr Souvik Naha reveals how the Victorians used cricket to export “British virtues” across the empire For 19th-century imperialists, cricket wasn’t just a game, it was a means of exporting “British virtues” across the empire. Dr Souvik Naha tells Spencer Mizen about the sport’s great “civilising mission”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices....

Professor Lea Ypi reflects on her childhood years, which witnessed the final years of communism in Albania and the fraught transition to capitalist democracy. In conversation with Rob Attar, she also considers what these experiences have taught her about the true nature of freedom. (Ad) Lea Ypi is the author of Free: Coming of Age at the End of History (Penguin, 2021). Buy it now from Waterstones:...

Historian Tony Warner talks to Elinor Evans about some of the real historical figures depicted in the new Netflix western The Harder They Fall, starring Idris Elba and Regina King, and tells us more about where the film sits in the genre of black westerns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Religion was a powerful force at play in the Salem settlement. It not only determined the villagers’ daily routine but their whole outlook on life, influencing how they saw their neighbours and giving shape to their fears about threats to their community. In this episode we’ll be investigating how the Puritanical mindset stirred up intense paranoia about the devil, and could have made people more...

In 1692, Salem was a colonial outpost teetering on the edge of a precipice. In this episode we’ll explore what life was like in the New England settlement, and consider whether environmental pressures – from the threat of attack to an inhospitable climate – could have played a role in the outbreak of accusations of witchcraft. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more...