About this podcast
Take a deep dive into the past as we bring you the very best of HistoryExtra magazine, Britain’s bestselling history magazine. With a new episode released every Monday, enjoy fascinating and enlightening articles from leading historical experts, covering a broad sweep of the centuries – from the scandals of Georgian society to the horrors of the First World War, revolutions, rebellions, and more.
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Episodes
The newest 20 of 172 episodes
- Rome’s war of words · 24 min · Episode 170When an ambitious Seleucid king marched his vast army into Europe to challenge the Roman Republic for control of the Mediterranean world, it looked set to spark a violent clash…
- Did King Harold cause the 1066 Norman invasion? · 20 min · Episode 169In 1066 the last Anglo-Saxon king was ousted. But how, asks this Long Read written by historian Tom Licence, had Harold, an earl without royal blood, managed to take the English…
- Bloody queens and hairdresser kings: Lucy Worsley rethinks Britain's monarchs · 21 min · Episode 168If Lucy Worsley has learned one thing in her 30 years as a historian, it’s that what we think we know about Britain’s kings and queens is often wrong. In today's Long Read, the…
- Storm warnings: five weather moments that altered history · 22 min · Episode 167Recent film Pressure dramatises the attempts of meteorologists to predict the weather on D-Day – and in this Long Read written by Catherine Ross, we chart five moments when…
- Ale, terror and a martyr’s death: what not to miss on the Bayeux Tapestry · 24 min · Episode 166David Musgrove and Michael Lewis offer the essential spotter's guide to the iconic medieval embroidery Heading to the British Museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry for yourself?…
- The Spitfire: love at first flight? · 22 min · Episode 165It’s been hailed as the plane that won the Battle of Britain – but does the Spitfire deserve its all-conquering reputation? Ninety years after this nimble fighter took its maiden…
- A beginner’s guide to medieval farming · 19 min · Episode 164From famine to fines, the life of the medieval farmer was often far from straightforward. In this Long Read, Christopher Dyer offers six tips for those seeking success in running…
- History repeating? · 23 min · Episode 163It’s human nature to believe that history repeats itself – but might our instinct to look for echoes of the past in the present be misguided, and even dangerous? This Long Read…
- The Magdalene laundries: Ireland’s secret shame · 21 min · Episode 162In Ireland, many thousands condemned as ‘fallen women’ were detained indefinitely in Magdalene laundries, forced to toil in harsh conditions. This Long Read written by Louise…
- The troubled birth of England · 21 min · Episode 161The collapse of Roman rule in Britain, followed by the emergence of kingdoms established by Germanic tribes, marks one of the most turbulent periods in Britain’s history. But…
- Cultural dreams v political nightmares: life in interwar Weimar · 25 min · Episode 160In the 1920s and 1930s, Weimar was rife with contradictions, embracing both utopian modernism and Nazism. This German town’s interwar story reveals how democratic dreams can die…
- Athens v Sparta: a Greek tragedy · 22 min · Episode 159In 480 BC, Athens and Sparta joined forces to repel one of the greatest invasion forces the world had seen. Yet just a few decades later, they faced off against each other – with…
- Sex, secrecy and social ambition: inside a Georgian masquerade · 22 min · Episode 158Ever wondered what it was like to step into a world where a mask could loosen the rules of rank, reputation and restraint? This Long Read written by Meghan Kobza takes us inside…
- Marilyn Monroe: the brains behind the bombshell · 24 min · Episode 157Lucy Bolton reveals how the star became a cultural icon not just through her glamorous image, but through fierce ambition, talent and relentless hard work The heart-shaped face…
- How the Black Death devastated the Muslim world · 22 min · Episode 156The Black Death is infamous for ravaging the population of Europe – yet it was most lethal in the Muslim world, leaving such a trail of devastation that bodies were abandoned to…
- The secret history behind the Odyssey · 19 min · Episode 155Featuring Cyclopes, Lotus-Eaters and goddesses that turn men into pigs, the Odyssey reads like a fantastical adventure story. Yet, argues this Long Read written by Daisy Dunn…
- "War minus the shooting": football during the Cold War · 15 min · Episode 154What happens when football becomes far more than a game? As the 2026 World Cup unfolds, this Long Read written by Tony Shaw and Alan McDougall revisits four matches played during…
- Georgian Britain's most curious hoax · 20 min · Episode 153The Enlightenment was an era of open-eyed progress, of the advance of science and reason – right? So why, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, did British people continue to be…
- US at 250: the hard road to independence · 23 min · Episode 152The US Declaration of Independence was formally adopted on one famous day in July 1776. Yet this celebrated event was the product of years of misunderstandings and escalating…
- Elizabeth II: the great survivor · 23 min · Episode 151When Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952, she could barely have conceived the currents – imperial retreat, multiculturalism, deindustrialisation – that would transform the…
