Podcast Episodes

Resistance in the Second World War

Episode 1820

Why, across Nazi-occupied Europe, did some people choose to resist the Third Reich? This is the question at the heart of Halik Kochanski's book Resistance, which has just won the 2023 Wolfson History…

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

Shakespeare Trailer

William Shakespeare’s plays are among the celebrated works in all of English literature – but they also offer key insights into the time in which the playwright lived, and how the past was viewed in …

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

Shakespeare: Past Master | 1. Henry V

Episode 1819

Jerry Brotton offers expert insights into what the playwright’s much-quoted history play tells about nationalism and nationhood at the time it was first performed

Telling the story of the build-up to …

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

George Orwell’s forgotten wife

Episode 1818

George Orwell – the author of classics like 1984 – is a household name. But have you heard of his first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, who convinced her husband to write the political fable which evolve…

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

Magic books: a global history

Episode 1816

What are the earliest forms of written magic? How do the stories of magic and religion intersect? And how will these stories’ continued presence in popular culture influence events yet to come? Profe…

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

Norse myths: everything you wanted to know

Episode 1815

What myths did the Norse believe, and what influence did they exert on daily life? Was the trickster god Loki really that bad, and was Odin really that wise? And why is Christianity a crucial part of…

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

Medieval Stalingrad: The siege of Calais

Episode 1814

Dan Jones chronicles the brutal siege of Calais, an overlooked campaign in the Hundred Years’ War, and the focus of his new novel

During the Hundred Years’ War, after the English had stormed to victor…

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

The First Crusade | 5. The end or the beginning?

Episode 1813

In episode five of our new series on the First Crusade, we rejoin the crusaders for the last time as they reach their final goal, the holy city of Jerusalem

Of all the holy places venerated by medieva…

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

The Munich Putsch: Hitler’s bungled revolution

Episode 1812

Frank McDonough explores the infamous failed coup that shaped the early history of the Nazi party

On 8 November 1923, the Nazi Party launched a coup attempt in Munich that has come to be known as the …

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago

Women’s history: from 1066 to Margaret Thatcher

Episode 1810

Novelist Philippa Gregory reflects on 900 years of women’s history, from the huge upheavals of the Norman invasion to successfully securing the right to vote in the 20th century

How have women’s lives…

Published on 2 years, 1 month ago