Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchHow the Vikings menaced the Mediterranean
Episode 134
Killing, burning, pillaging, enslaving. Even when heading to sunnier climes, Viking raiders deployed the same tactics that they had used along the sh…
7 months ago
Victorian murders most female
Episode 133
Women accused of violent murders have often faced assumptions about their motives and disbelief that the ‘gentle sex’ could commit such bloody crimes…
7 months, 1 week ago
The bizarre beginnings of the Winter Olympics
Episode 132
Boxing and football? In a Winter Olympics? In October? Held in 1908, the first ever Winter Games was an experimental affair – but, according to this …
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Air raids and arias: Britain's WW2 operatic obsession
Episode 131
As the conflict with Nazi Germany raged on, British tram drivers tuned in to Tchaikovsky and waitresses revelled in Wagner. But why? This Long Read w…
7 months, 3 weeks ago
How many Bayeux Tapestries were there?
Episode 130
David Musgrove investigates whether the iconic embroidery was simply one of many
A new theory, put forward by Professor John Blair, questions whethe…
7 months, 4 weeks ago
Julius Caesar: he came, he saw, he crucified pirates...?
Episode 129
Ancient accounts of Julius Caesar’s early life depict an all-action hero who outwitted tyrants and terrorised bandits. But can they be trusted? This …
8 months ago
Margaret Beaufort: schemer or opportunist?
Episode 128
Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, is often characterised as a domineering woman who plotted her son’s rise to the throne. But how true is t…
8 months, 1 week ago
How Spain became a democracy
Episode 127
Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late 1970s surely counts as one of modern Europe’s most remarkable stories. On the 50th anni…
8 months, 2 weeks ago
Beyond Jane Austen
Episode 126
Jane Austen was a brilliant observer of Georgian Britain – but she couldn’t speak for everyone. The author’s books depict an evocative slice of early…
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Santa Claus vs Father Christmas
Episode 125
The true identity of the white-bearded, red-robed figure who fills children’s stockings at Christmas has long been debated. This Long Read written by…
9 months ago