Podcast Episodes
Back to Search2024 in review: history behind the headlines
Episode 2173
Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter look back at the history behind some of the year's biggest news stories in this special episode of our monthly series
From the rise of AI to a plethora of elections and li…
Published on 1 year ago
Shipwrecks: a porthole to the past
Episode 2172
From a sunken Tudor flagship brought back to life by the wonders of osteoarchaeology, to the tales of bravery and endurance surrounding the tragic fate of WW2's SS Gairsoppa, shipwrecks can reveal fa…
Published on 1 year ago
Quaker history: everything you wanted to know
Episode 2171
Radical rabble-rousers, trusted bankers and conscientious objectors; the Quakers have been viewed in many different ways down the centuries. Their non-conformist origins and unique religious principl…
Published on 1 year ago
Christmas history: everything you wanted to know
Did Oliver Cromwell ban mince pies? When did people first give Christmas presents? And why does Santa wear red? Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne in this episode first aired in 2020, George Goodwin, histor…
Published on 1 year ago
How convict labour forged empires
Episode 2170
Think of the transportation of convicts, and your mind probably goes to the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia in 1788. But, as historian Clare Anderson reveals in this episode, convict transpor…
Published on 1 year ago
Tudor England | 4. Religion and superstition
Episode 2169
The English Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries were major milestones in 16th-century England, shaking the very foundations of Tudor religious belief. But while the nation moved back a…
Published on 1 year ago
Secrets of medieval churches
Episode 2168
Churches were central to life in the Middle Ages. But with the Reformation wreaking havoc on religious buildings, nowadays it's hard to get a sense of what a medieval church would actually have looke…
Published on 1 year ago
Isabella of Castile: life of the week
Episode 2167
From the fall of Granada to the issuing of the Alhambra decree, Isabella of Castile's reign was one that saw an extraordinary amount of history-altering events and, as such, has earned her a complex …
Published on 1 year ago
The massacre that shattered the old Ottoman world
Episode 2166
In 1860, the diverse Ottoman city of Damascus witnessed the massacre of thousands of Christians. The killings, combined with Constantinople’s hardline response, shattered the city’s tolerant society …
Published on 1 year ago
Underwear history: everything you wanted to know
Episode 2165
When did people first start wearing underwear? What's the difference between drawers and bloomers? Did medieval women wear bras? Were Victorian corsets really as uncomfortable to wear as you might im…
Published on 1 year ago