Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchHow to find a billion-dollar shipwreck
Episode 2520
In 1708, the Spanish galleon San José was sunk by a British warship off the coast of Colombia, vanishing beneath the waves with a treasure trove of u…
3 months ago
A fantastical history of fairies
Episode 2519
When picturing a fairy, you might imagine a childlike creature with wings. But this is a far more modern image than we might think. In this episode, …
3 months, 1 week ago
Aud the Deep-Minded: life of the week
Episode 2518
It was the Vikings of northern Europe who first settled the harsh landscapes of Iceland in the ninth century. Most of the figures leading this moveme…
3 months, 1 week ago
How Tudor London inspired literary genius
Episode 2517
In the bustling streets of Elizabethan London, a vibrant community of writers helped shape the future of the English language and literature. From po…
3 months, 1 week ago
The rise of Alfred the Great
Episode 2516
As the Viking Great Heathen Army refused to leave Anglo-Saxon England, the pressure mounted on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to respond, placing the futur…
3 months, 1 week ago
Stalin's murderous vendetta against Trotsky
Episode 2515
Mexico City, August 1940: a study door closes, an ice axe is raised and the Bolshevik Revolution’s greatest exile meets his grisly end. But what led …
3 months, 1 week ago
A new take on the battle of Hastings
Episode 2514
It's long been assumed that King Harold's English army arrived tired and in disarray at the battle of Hastings, having had to march over 200 miles fr…
3 months, 2 weeks ago
Mrs Beeton: life of the week
Episode 2513
Mrs Beeton is a name synonymous with 19th-century domesticity – most notably in connection with the iconic Book of Household Management. But who was …
3 months, 2 weeks ago
The battle of the Arctic: the overlooked crucible of WW2
Episode 2512
The US and UK supplied the USSR with vast amounts of military materiel during the Second World War via the Arctic convoys. In this episode, Hugh Seba…
3 months, 2 weeks ago
How the Vikings pushed Anglo-Saxon England to the brink
Episode 2511
During the latter decades of the ninth century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms faced an existential threat as Viking forces launched an assault on a scale …
3 months, 2 weeks ago