Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchÆthelstan: the king who made England
Episode 2440
Æthelstan was crowned in Kingston upon Thames 1100 years ago, in AD 925. He went on to extend his authority far beyond his initial powerbase of Wesse…
6 months, 3 weeks ago
Did the WW1 Christmas truce really happen?
Episode 2439
It’s one of the most romantic images of the First World War: British and German soldiers meeting in No Man’s Land on Christmas Day, 1914, for a spont…
6 months, 4 weeks ago
Father Christmas: life of the week
Episode 2438
Father Christmas – or Santa Claus – is one of western culture’s most recognisable figures. But from his mysterious origins to quite how he ended up a…
7 months ago
When was the best time in English history to be alive?
Episode 2437
Did you know that Elizabethan Londoners were good kissers? That medieval drinkers used beer to fight off the flames of a raging inferno? And that Jan…
7 months ago
“I am to flirt my last”: Jane Austen’s twenties
Episode 2436
We might assume that Jane Austen led a quiet existence, writing dramatic plots instead of experiencing them herself – but that presumption is far fro…
7 months ago
The secret propaganda war against the Nazis
Episode 2435
In September 1939, an unlikely assortment of journalists, politicians, novelists and spies assembled in a Bedfordshire village and set about waging a…
7 months ago
The many faces of James VI & I
Episode 2434
Historian Clare Jackson delves into the life and reputation of James VI & I – a king who, says Jackson, has a legacy that has been much refracted and…
7 months ago
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: life of the week
Episode 2433
Mozart is celebrated for his musical genius – but how did he rise to such enduring fame? What inspired him, and who was the man beyond the concert ha…
7 months, 1 week ago
A short history of ghost hunting
Episode 2432
A spooky story during the Christmas season has become traditional – and the modern ghost story was invented by the Victorians, who embraced the super…
7 months, 1 week ago
Becoming Jane Austen
Episode 2431
What inspired the daughter of a rural reverend to write about eligible bachelors and drunken misadventure? In this first episode of our four-part ser…
7 months, 1 week ago