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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 …
3 years, 2 months ago
An environmental history of big business
Episode 1554
As part of our series of conversations with winners of the 2022 Dan David Prize, Dr Bart Elmore discusses his research into the environmental impacts…
3 years, 2 months ago
Tools, temples & tower blocks: how wood has shaped human history
Episode 1553
For millennia, humans have cut down trees to create buildings, ships, tools, weapons and everyday objects we still use around the home. Author and ar…
3 years, 2 months ago
Weaponising food in the Third Reich
Episode 1552
In Hitler’s Germany, what you ate was not a personal matter – sacrificing luxury was a way for German citizens to demonstrate their patriotism, while…
3 years, 2 months ago
“A serial killer of civilisations”: a history of climate change
Episode 1551
From the Justinian plague to the fall of the Maya, climate change has been connected to many of history’s great catastrophes. Environmental journalis…
3 years, 2 months ago
Life under Cromwell: everything you wanted to know
Episode 1550
The 11 years between the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and the restoration of his son, Charles II, in 1660 are among the most turbulent in all …
3 years, 2 months ago
Oddball art: cannibals, hellscapes & flying monks
Episode 1549
From kaleidoscopic hellscapes to portraits of cannibals and flying monks, Edward Brooke-Hitching introduces some of the strangest creations in art hi…
3 years, 2 months ago
The floating hell of prison hulks
Episode 1548
Decried by reformers as “wicked Noah’s arks” and “rotten leaky tubs”, prison hulks were a looming presence off the shores of 18th- and 19th-century B…
3 years, 2 months ago
Refusing to fight in WW2
Episode 1547
During the Second World War, around 60,000 people in Britain registered as conscientious objectors, seeking an exemption from military service on the…
3 years, 2 months ago
Power dressing: the hidden value of clothes in 19th-century America
Episode 1546
Legal historian Laura F Edwards discusses her new book on clothing and textiles in 19th-century America, Only the Clothes on Her Back. Speaking to El…
3 years, 2 months ago