Podcast Episodes

Rise of the Medici

Episode 1521

The House of Medici ruthlessly wielded control of Florence for nearly 300 years. Through financial and political machinations, they transformed the city into a cultural powerhouse and the epicentre o…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

The British Agent Who Tried to Kill Lenin

Episode 1520

Robert Bruce Lockhart was one of the most extraordinary and unconventional agents of the 20th century. A British diplomat, spy, and propagandist, his life was one of scandal and deception - from the …

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

The Creation of the People's Republic of China

Episode 1519

On the 1st of October 1949, a huge crowd gathered in Tiananmen Square. In the shadow of Beijing's imperial Forbidden City, they listened as Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, procla…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

The Iranian Embassy Siege with Ben Macintyre

Episode 1517

On the drizzly, grey morning of 30th April 1980, six heavily armed gunmen stormed the Iranian Embassy in London. They charged through the front door and took 26 people hostage, including embassy staf…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

Mansa Musa: History's Wealthiest Man?

Episode 1516

Mansa Musa's wealth is a thing of legend. It's impossible to know exactly how much he was worth, but he himself spread rumours that gold grew like a plant within the Mali Empire. When he embarked on …

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

On the Frontline at Stalingrad

Episode 1515

Dan explains the bloody Battle of Stalingrad alongside newly translated frontline accounts, taken from the letters of the German soldiers who were there. They shed light on the agonising final moment…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

The Battle of Arnhem with Al Murray

Episode 1514

Al Murray, host of WWII podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk joins Dan to tell the story of the most catastrophic 24-hours the British military faced in the Second World War. Known as ‘Black Tuesd…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

Operation Market Garden

Episode 1513

Operation Market Garden was an ambitious Allied airborne offensive to secure a quick victory in WWII. It failed disastrously.

The plan was to capture key bridges in the Netherlands via a frank plan to…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

Jesse Owens

Episode 1512

Jesse Owens' victories at the 1936 Berlin Olympics made him an international sports hero, and a symbol of the civil rights movement. His friendship with the German long jumper Carl 'Luz' Long also st…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago

How to Survive in Viking Britain

Episode 1510

Have you ever wondered what it would take to live in Viking Britain? When they arrived and settled in the British Isles, Viking settlers didn't just face a violent death at the hands of disgruntled l…

Published on 1 year, 3 months ago