HistoryExtra podcast

Ayanna Thompson discusses the history of blackface – a story spanning William Shakespeare, US race relations and Dartmoor Prison   Professor Ayanna Thompson, author of Blackface, discusses the long history of blackface performances and minstrelsy – a story that spans William Shakespeare, US race relations and Dartmoor Prison.   +++AFFILIATE TEXT +++ (Ad) Ayanna Thompson is the author of Blackface...

In the latest episode of our new series profiling the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most during their time in 10 Downing Street, Charlotte Lydia Riley chooses Harold Wilson, whose forward-looking premiership came to define the progressive 1960s. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leo Hollis untangles the bizarre 18th-century court case surrounding Mary Davies: a wealthy heiress married in mysterious circumstances   In 1701, Mary Davies – a hugely wealthy widow struggling with bouts of unstable behaviour – took a room in Paris’s Hotel Castile. The coming days are a tangle of conflicting accounts, but it seems that she emerged from her rooms as a married woman, before hasten...

Historian Mark Atwood Lawrence responds to listener questions and popular internet search queries on one of the most seismic events of the Cold War, American history and the history of Southeast Asia. He explores some of the biggest debates surrounding the United States’ failure to stem the advance of communism in Vietnam.   (Ad) Mark Atwood Lawrence is the author of The Vietnam War: A Concise Int...

Ethiopia was a Christian kingdom during the medieval period, and in the 15th and 16th centuries its kings sent diplomatic missions to their counterparts in western Europe. Verena Krebs reveals what these missions can tell us about the medieval world, and Ethiopia’s place within it. (Ad) Verena Krebs is the author of Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe (Palgrave Macm...

Jane Rogoyska explains how more than 20,000 Polish prisoners-of-war were murdered on Stalin’s orders in 1940, and explores the decades-long coverup that followed   Historian and biographer Jane Rogoyska explains how more than 20,000 Polish prisoners-of-war were murdered on Stalin’s orders in the spring of 1940. Plus, she explores the decades-long coverup that saw the Soviet Union accuse its Nazi f...

From Weight Watchers to Rosemary Conley’s fitness empire, slimming clubs have been a staple of British culture for decades. But, as Dr Katrina Moseley reveals, their history goes far beyond the best diets to try or exercise regimes to adopt, with female friendship, entrepreneurial opportunities and feminist fury all playing a part in the story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

In the latest episode in our new series profiling the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most during their time in 10 Downing Street, historian Charlotte Lydia Riley explores the postwar leadership of Labour prime minister Clement Attlee. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 saw a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union escalate to the edge of nuclear war. Historian Serhii Plokhy, author of a new account of the crisis, explores the factors that led the two sides back from the brink.   (Ad) Serhii Plokhy is the author of Nuclear Folly: A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (Allen lane). Buy it now from Amazon: h...

Was Al Capone’s brother really a Prohibition agent? What was the atmosphere in a speakeasy like? And why did Americans think that banning booze would ever work? In the latest episode in our series on history’s biggest topics, historian Timothy Hickman responds to listener questions and popular internet search queries on the ban on booze in 1920s America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Dr Ben Raffield explains how in the ninth and tenth centuries, Scandinavian laws and customs prevailed across a swathe of what’s now northern and eastern England   In the ninth and tenth centuries, Scandinavian laws and customs prevailed across a swathe of what’s now northern and eastern England called the Danelaw. Dr Ben Raffield considers what the Danelaw actually was, and how Scandinavian settl...

Harriet Atkinson takes us back to 1951’s Festival of Britain, a celebration of a nation rising from the ashes of war   The Festival of Britain of 1951 was a nation’s attempt to show off its best side to the world – a great celebration of a people rising from the ashes of conflict. Harriet Atkinson reveals how this four-month-long carnival of patriotism was in fact, to a large extent, built around...

The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a key moment in the reign of King Richard II. New research is revealing just how well-organised an operation it was   The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a key moment in the troubled reign of King Richard II. New research is revealing how, far from being an ill-disciplined explosion of rage, it was actually organised with military precision. Professor Adrian Bell and...

In the second episode of our new series on the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most, Dominic Sandbrook champions Stanley Baldwin   In the second episode of our new series profiling the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most during their time in 10 Downing Street, historian and broadcaster Dominic Sandbrook champions three-time 20th-century leader Stanley Baldwin....

Judy Batalion describes how a group of young Jewish women fought back against their Nazi oppressors in occupied Poland.   Author and historian Judy Batalion discusses her new book The Light of Days, which recounts how a group of young Jewish women fought back against their German oppressors in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War.   (Ad) Judy Batalion is the author of The Light of Days...

From daily routines to whether inmates really ate gruel, Peter Higginbotham responds to listener questions about the workhouse   What was the daily routine in a British workhouse? Who would end up there? How accurate was Charles Dickens’ depiction of workhouse life? And did the inmates really eat gruel? In the latest in our series exploring history’s biggest topics, Peter Higginbotham responds to...

Linda Colley discusses her new book The Gun, the Ship and the Pen, which explores how written constitutions, together with warfare, forged the modern world. She talks about constitutions across the globe, from the United States and France, to Russia and the Pitcairn Islands.   (Ad) Linda Colley is the author of The Gun, the Ship and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern Worl...

Nathen Amin discusses his latest book, Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders, which explores the conspiracies and plots that challenged Henry VII’s crown. He talks about the prominent ‘pretenders’ who declared themselves to be royal claimants, including Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. (Ad) Nathen Amin is the author of Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick. Buy it now from...

Joanna Bourke, who has been delivering a series of Gresham lectures on six different ‘evil women’ through history, explores what ideas about evil and femininity can tell us about changing societal values over time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first episode of our new series profiling the prime ministers that experts believe accomplished most during their time in 10 Downing Street, historian and author Jeremy Black celebrates Britain’s first prime minister – pioneering 18th-century statesman Robert Walpole. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...

As we approach the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s fateful invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the historian, author and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby revisits the dramatic, murderous struggle between the two totalitarian regimes.   (Ad) Jonathan Dimbleby is the author of Barbarossa: How Hitler Lost the War (Penguin, 2021) Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barbarossa-How-Hitler...

The Suez Crisis – sparked by an ill-fated Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956 – is often viewed as a turning point in modern British history, when the nation finally lost its superpower status. Alex von Tunzelmann answers your questions on this diplomatic debacle, from why Anthony Eden thought the invasion a gamble worth taking, to how it changed the trajectory of the Cold War.   (Ad) A...

Author Roland Philipps talks about his latest book, Victoire: A Wartime Story of Resistance, Collaboration and Betrayal, which recounts the extraordinary exploits of Mathilde Carré, a double – possibly even triple – agent in the Second World War.   (Ad) Roland Philipps is the author of Victoire: A Wartime Story of Resistance, Collaboration and Betrayal (Bodley Head, 2021). Buy it now from Amazon: ...

Historian Catherine Fletcher discusses what is known about the private life and relationships of the Renaissance polymath. She considers the gaps in the historical record, and the inspirations for the story in the new TV drama Leonardo, starring Aidan Turner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Historian and author Catherine Ostler relates the tale of Elizabeth Chudleigh, a glamorous Duchess-Countess whose high-profile bigamy trial fascinated Georgian society. She also charts how Chudleigh managed to reinvent herself after this very public downfall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices