Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe Third Reich's first genocide
Episode 2297
Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis killed nearly 300,000 people with learning disabilities or psychiatric illnesses. Some 400,000 more were forcibly sterilised. Historian Dagmar Herzog speaks to Ellie …
Published on 6 months, 3 weeks ago
English folklore: everything you wanted to know
Episode 2296
What happens when you step inside a fairy ring? Where did the figure of the Green Man come from? And why have so many East Anglians been terrorised by a menacing, dog-like creature called Black Shuck…
Published on 6 months, 3 weeks ago
What happened in Shakespeare's "lost years"?
Episode 2295
Shakespeare is now a towering figure of global theatre. But in the 1590s, he was just an up-and-coming young playwright, trying to scratch out a living in Shoreditch's emerging theatre scene. Daniel …
Published on 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Plague, famine and chivalry: a human history of the 14th century
Episode 2294
Plague, war, regicide, famine, revolt – during the 14th century, life for people in England was turned on its head. Historian Helen Carr charts this extraordinarily turbulent period through the lives…
Published on 6 months, 3 weeks ago
WW2 legacies and Magna Carta: history behind the headlines
Episode 2293
In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, historians Rana Mitter and Hannah Skoda explore the ways the Second World War continues to shape the world of today. …
Published on 6 months, 4 weeks ago
Drink, dance, death: wine in ancient Egypt
Episode 2292
From merriment to mummification, new year revelries to funerary rites, wine played a key role in ancient Egyptian culture. Islam Issa speaks to Matt Elton about why the alcoholic drink was so importa…
Published on 6 months, 4 weeks ago
The Scottish Enlightenment: everything you wanted to know
Episode 2291
In everything from the social sciences and technology to art and architecture, 18th-century Scotland saw a flowering of ideas and innovation. But what made the Enlightenment in Scotland different to …
Published on 6 months, 4 weeks ago
Deadly skies: the WW2 mission to fly over the Himalayas
Episode 2290
During the Second World War, a promise by President Roosevelt to provide supplies to nationalist China led to the creation of an ill-fated air supply route from India, across a perilous stretch of th…
Published on 7 months ago
Royal sisters: the tragic lives of Queen Victoria's granddaughters
Episode 2289
Victoria, Ella, Irene and Alix of Hesse were four young European princesses and granddaughters of Queen Victoria, whose marriages would change the face of early 20th-century Europe. Speaking to Elino…
Published on 7 months ago
Calamity Jane: life of the week
Episode 2288
Calamity Jane roars into the popular imagination atop the Deadwood Stage with a 'whip-crack-away' and her pistol ready-loaded. A bold and resourceful frontierswoman, Calamity held her own among the m…
Published on 7 months ago