Podcast Episodes

Coffee history: everything you wanted to know

Episode 1689

From Sufi mystics in 16th-century Yemen to hipster baristas in cities across the world today, the history of this caffeinated beverage is a long and fascinating one. For our latest everything you wan…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Caesar: Death of a Dictator Trailer

On the Ides of March, 44 BC, the most famous Roman in history was murdered. Julius Caesar’s killers hoped to save the Republic, but in the end they destroyed it. In the six episodes of Caesar: Death …

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Economies in meltdown: lessons from past financial crashes

Episode 1688

From the Wall Street Crash of 1929 to the global turmoil of 2008, financial crises have wrecked countless lives, businesses and economies. But have lessons been learned from these catastrophes, or ar…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Living through the Troubles

Episode 1687

The Troubles is a chapter of history that many in Northern Ireland would rather forget, but 25 years on from the Good Friday Agreement, its legacy can still be felt there today. A new Imperial War Mu…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

What can we learn from the fall of Rome?

Episode 1686

What can the fall of Rome teach us about the decline of the west today? That’s the question at the centre of political economist John Rapley and historian Peter Heather’s new book Why Empires Fall. P…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: the overlooked bonds between mother & daughter

Episode 1685

Since Elizabeth I was less than three years old when her mother was executed, it is often thought that Anne Boleyn had little influence on her life. Speaking to Lauren Good, Dr Tracy Borman explains …

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Fight like a man? Masculinity in WW2

Episode 1684

How were sexuality, gender roles, and attitudes to the body influenced by men’s experiences in the Second World War? That’s something explored in Luke Turner’s new book Men at War. Luke speaks to Mat…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Penal transportation to Australia: everything you wanted to know

Episode 1683

Why did the British state decide to send criminals across the globe to Australia? Was it really as grim as you might expect to be one of those transported? And what was the impact of the convict tran…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Pregnancy & childbirth in the 19th century

Episode 1682

Despite motherhood being viewed as a fundamental part of a woman’s destiny during the 19th century, pregnancy, birth, and the postnatal experience are often left out of written histories of the perio…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago

Historical echoes of the Ukraine war

Episode 1681

More than a year in, the war between Russia and Ukraine has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, with repercussions on an international scale. It also continues to evoke parallels with a whole ra…

Published on 2 years, 6 months ago