Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchWhat 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 hist…
3 years, 1 month 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. …
3 years, 1 month 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 Luk…
3 years, 1 month 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 transp…
3 years, 1 month 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 ar…
3 years, 1 month 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…
3 years, 1 month ago
Plato: the world’s greatest philosopher?
Episode 1680
He learned from Socrates, taught Aristotle and is often described as the key figure in the history of philosophy. But what do we actually know about …
3 years, 1 month ago
How women helped sustain the slave trade
Episode 1679
Slavery was a system that pervaded life in the American South, and as historian Stephanie E Jones-Rogers reveals in her book They Were Her Property, …
3 years, 1 month ago
The fall and rise of Henry III
Episode 1678
King Henry III was one of England’s longest reigning monarchs, but his time on the throne saw a long period of peace punctured by an extraordinary re…
3 years, 1 month ago
The SAS in WW2: everything you wanted to know
Episode 1677
The SAS – or Special Air Service – is Britain’s elite special forces unit. Founded in the deserts of North Africa during the Second World War, it has…
3 years, 1 month ago