Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchMargaret Cavendish: scandalous 17th-century writer
Episode 1757
Margaret Cavendish has been largely forgotten and, when remembered, divides opinion. One of England’s first female philosophers, professional authors and scientists, the 17th-century writer challenge…
Published on 2 years, 3 months ago
The triumph of Joan of Arc
Episode 1756
In 1429 a young peasant woman burst onto the scene and transformed the fortunes of England and France in the Hundred Years’ War. In today’s episode, medieval historian and former supreme court judge …
Published on 2 years, 3 months ago
Rome v Carthage: everything you wanted to know
Episode 1755
Of all the enemies the Roman empire faced in its centuries-long history, one name stood out: Hannibal. In the late third century BC, the Carthaginian general came dangerously close to destroying Rome…
Published on 2 years, 3 months ago
Tokyo’s devastating 1923 earthquake
Episode 1754
Exactly 100 years ago today, on 1 September 1923, the streets of Tokyo began to shudder. It was the first warning sign that something terrible was coming – a devastating earthquake that would level m…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
US Civil Rights: legacy
Episode 1753
When cries of “Black Lives Matter” rang out across the world in 2020, protestors were echoing the chants of civil rights activists advocating for change in the previous century. In the sixth and fina…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
On the trail of a Nazi war criminal
Episode 1752
In 1949 the notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, known as the “Angel of Death” fled to South America. Three decades later, US lawyer Gerald Posner set out to track him down. What followed was a remar…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
How did empire shape modern Britain?
Episode 1751
Across the 20th century, Britain’s empire reached a peak and then began to disintegrate. Yet, according to historian Charlotte Lydia Riley, the country continued to be indelibly shaped by an imperial…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
Why did medieval Europe become Christian?
Episode 1750
Why did Christianity become so deeply embedded across western Europe in the centuries after the end of the Roman empire? To what extent did the old gods of Rome survive? And how did the concept of be…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
The Mongols: everything you wanted to know
Episode 1749
How brilliant a military leader was Genghis Khan? Could the Mongols have conquered all of Europe? And were they as brutal as they’re often portrayed to be? Speaking to Spencer Mizen, Nicholas Morton …
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago
The lost world of Dickens’ London
Episode 1748
From grimy back alleys and ghastly churchyards to debtors’ prisons and old curiosity shops, Charles Dickens evoked a vision of Victorian London that’s still vivid today. And, ever since Dickens’ book…
Published on 2 years, 4 months ago