Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchFollowing the footsteps of a WW2 prisoner of war
Episode 2482
Captured in Libya, imprisoned in Italy, and twice an escapee: historian Malcolm Gaskill's great-uncle Ralph's experiences of the Second World War wer…
6 months, 4 weeks ago
Magna Carta: why didn't King John keep his word?
Episode 2481
As King John was poised to press his seal into the wax of a document whose impact would reverberate for centuries, did he understand the ramification…
7 months ago
How to be a Victorian
Episode 2480
The Victorian period was a time of great economic, cultural and technological change. But what was it like to actually live through it? Speaking to I…
7 months ago
"The streets will run with blood!": the uprising that shook Victorian Britain
Episode 2479
In 1838, a 6ft Cornishman going by the name of Sir William Courtenay led an insurrection in rural Kent. Courtenay claimed he was Jesus Christ – and a…
7 months ago
Pocahontas: life of the week
Episode 2478
Pocahontas's life is shrouded in myth – but how much of that lore is true? Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian Camilla Townsend brings us face to f…
7 months ago
The ruthless revolution that made Britain great
Episode 2477
The spinning jenny and steam power may be the textbook markers of the Industrial Revolution – but Edmond Smith argues the story starts earlier, and r…
7 months ago
The Magna Carta myth
Episode 2476
Magna Carta may be associated today with power, liberty and freedom – but those weren’t quite the concerns back in 1215. So what did the barons reall…
7 months, 1 week ago
Terrible puns and filthy limericks: the Victorian sense of humour
Episode 2475
Queen Victoria was – so legend has it – famously 'not amused'. But, as Dr Bob Nicholson reveals in this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, the long…
7 months, 1 week ago
What your hands say about you – according to history
Episode 2474
What do your hands reveal about you? Historian Alison Bashford joins Elinor Evans to explore the extraordinary history of how people have interpreted…
7 months, 1 week ago
Thomas More: life of the week
Episode 2473
Thomas More is best remembered as a martyr and a saint, but the circumstances of his death were just one facet of his controversial life. Historian a…
7 months, 1 week ago