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A journey along the Iron Curtain
Episode 1564
In 1946, Churchill declared that “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent”. But what exactly did this rhetorical border look like dur…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
Fleeing revolution: Russians exiles in Paris
Episode 1563
In 1917, the Russian Revolution saw scores of Russian aristocrats and artists flee to Paris to escape Bolshevik brutality. Speaking to Matt Elton, Helen Rappaport highlights some of their stories, ex…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
The history of atheism: everything you wanted to know
Episode 1562
When was the word “atheist” first used? How dangerous was it to question the existence of God in the Middle Ages? And how successful were communist regimes of the 20th century at stamping out religio…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
How FDR transformed the US presidency
Episode 1561
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the presidency of the United States in 1933, he became the head of a nation facing immense hardship and disenchantment amid the Great Depression. No president, …
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
Indigenous American travellers in Europe
Episode 1560
When we think about the first encounters between Europe and the Americas, we’ve traditionally imagined a one-sided story of “Old world” Europeans voyaging to the “New World” of the Americas. But what…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
The PoWs who survived Nagasaki
Episode 1559
The Japanese city of Nagasaki is probably best known for being the target of the world’s second-ever nuclear attack in August 1945. Yet the city was also home to hundreds of Allied prisoners of war, …
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
Parachuting monkeys & volcanic eruptions: an extraordinary Victorian zoo
Episode 1558
With parachuting monkeys, volcanic eruptions and performances of Beethoven’s symphonies, Surrey Zoo was no ordinary Victorian attraction. Dr Joanne Cormac joins Rob Attar to discuss the story of this…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
Curious cures for medieval maladies
Episode 1557
If you feel unwell today you can pick up a prescription or head to a medical centre, but how did ill people treat their ailments in the Middle Ages? A major new project at Cambridge University Librar…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
Jane Austen’s England: everything you wanted to know
Episode 1556
What was society’s attitude towards female writers in Regency England? How far did class affect the hopes of young couples looking to be wed? And did people really spend all day gossiping about grand…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago
Veggie Victorians
Episode 1555
In the 19th century, Britain imagined itself as a bastion of beef-eating carnivores. But at a time when meat consumption was taken as a signifier of personal heartiness and national prosperity, a reb…
Published on 2 years, 11 months ago