HistoryExtra podcast
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The Cromwells: the dynasty that made modern Britain
The Cromwells: the dynasty that made modern Britain
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The HistoryExtra podcast brings you gripping stories from the past and fascinating historical conversations with the world's leading historical experts.
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Episodes
The newest 50 of 2,700 episodes
- The Cromwells: the dynasty that made modern Britain · 43 min · Episode 2660We can't stop talking about the Tudors. The Stuarts bestride the 17th century. Yet if you're looking for a family that truly changed the course of British history then, argues…
- Preview: Toast – a surprising slice of history · 12 minToday on the HistoryExtra podcast, we’re bringing you a taster of the new season of History’s Greatest Dishes – the series in which food historian Annie Gray talks to Emily…
- King Arthur: a tale of demon sex and dog-headed monsters · 37 min · Episode 2659You may think of King Arthur as a chivalrous ruler, surrounded by noble knights, living in splendour in Camelot and setting out on amazing quests. However, that story originates…
- Secrets of history's greatest commanders · 36 min · Episode 2658Which battlefield victory did Napoleon rank as his most brilliant? How did Julius Caesar squeeze that extra one per cent commitment out of his soldiers? And what cunning ruse did…
- What really sparked the Tudor Reformation? · 40 min · Episode 2657Why did Henry VIII decide to break with Rome? From his turbulent personal life to a desire to rid the Catholic church of corruption, the Tudor king’s motivations have long proven…
- The WW2 nurses who saved lives in the skies · 40 min · Episode 2656You might be forgiven for thinking there were no women on the frontline in the Second World War. But, that's not the case. In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Lauren…
- King Harold: tragic hero of the English · 41 min · Episode 2655King Harold II of England – otherwise known as Harold Godwinson – famously died at the battle of Hastings, with his demise at the hands of Duke William of Normandy ushering in a…
- Ancient goddesses: love, violence and ecstatic experiences · 30 min · Episode 2654What do goddesses of love have in common with goddesses of war? Historian Ronald Hutton argues that some of the ancient world’s most powerful female deities were united by a…
- Life and death in the Viking age · 39 min · Episode 2653Who was the first Viking? Why did Norse people believe they could turn into animals? And what does all of this have to do with the fall of the western Roman empire? In this…
- D-Day’s secret hero: the true story behind Pressure (In paid partnership with StudioCanal) · 43 min · Episode 2652What comes to mind when you think D-Day? Perhaps it’s the tactical brilliance of the commanders, or the brutal combat fought by the troops. But, what about meteorologist James…
- Why we believe in the supernatural · 32 min · Episode 2651Ghosts, witches, flying nuns, and spirits summoned from beyond the grave might seem to belong to a less rational age. But were our ancestors really so different from us in their…
- How to build the ultimate medieval castle · 41 min · Episode 2650If you had to survive a siege, which medieval fortress would you choose to be holed up inside? In today's episode, Dan Jones surveys the world's historic fortifications to…
- Richard III's traumatic childhood · 32 min · Episode 2649Richard III is one of the most divisive kings in all of English history – a man whose seizure of the throne in 1483 has provoked fierce debate for more than five centuries. But…
- How Ghosts makes history funny – without getting it wrong · 27 min · Episode 2648How do you make history hilarious without mangling the facts? As Ghosts: The Possession of Button House arrives on the big screen, co-creator, writer and actor Laurence Rickard…
- America's anti-Chinese laws: a forgotten history · 29 min · Episode 2647From the middle of the 19th century, Chinese people in the United States found themselves increasingly policed, as legislation was introduced that contained and controlled their…
- An African king in the Roman empire · 37 min · Episode 2646He was barely a toddler when he was paraded as a captive in a Roman triumph in 46 BC, but young North African prince Juba went on to marry a daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and…
- Everyday life in a slave trading town · 30 min · Episode 2645In 1665 the Portuguese Inquisition arrested Crispina Peres, a powerful slave trader in the west African port of Cacheu. The records of her case provide a remarkable window into…
- From plague 'searchers' to strawberry birthmarks: a history of women's bodies · 35 min · Episode 2644What was 'nidgeting'? How did women know they were pregnant before modern tests? And what did people in the past believe a mother’s imagination could do to her unborn child? In…
- The country house at war · 28 min · Episode 2643It might be assumed that the owners of Britain's country houses weren't hugely affected by the Second World War, and that they continued to live in luxury in their vast estates…
- The pioneering surgeon who stood up to Rasputin · 48 min · Episode 2642She pioneered lifesaving battlefield surgery, challenged the medical establishment, stood up to Rasputin, and became the world's first female professor of surgery – yet today…
- The stolen Native Americans who shaped US history · 48 min · Episode 2641Between 1492 and 1880, as many as 600,000 Native Americas were enslaved in the area that would become the United States. That’s the figure estimated by historian Linford D Fisher…
- Being disabled in the medieval era · 46 min · Episode 2640Prosthetic legs, wheelbarrow wheelchairs and guide… children? Those were just some of the assistive technologies and body augmentations available to our medieval and early modern…
- Vanilla: a far from ordinary history · 37 min · Episode 2639It's now often used as an adjective for anything standard, plain, and borderline boring – but the history of vanilla is anything but. Eric T Jennings – whose book Vanilla: The…
- Ancient explosives and the philosopher's stone: a history of alchemy · 36 min · Episode 2638Think of alchemy, and you likely imagine bubbling vials of strange potions and molten metals. But how close is this popular perception to the truth? That’s the question behind…
- North Korea's religious dictators · 46 min · Episode 2637More than three decades after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the USSR, the North Korean regime remains steadfastly in place, defiantly ploughing its own path some eight…
- Inside Venice’s Jewish ghetto · 47 min · Episode 2636In the early 16th century, Venice confined its Jewish population to a restricted quarter on an island in the city. It was the first settlement to bear the name 'ghetto' – a word…
- WW2's bloody battle for Arakan · 38 min · Episode 2635In 1944, the Allies unleashed an offensive in Burma – a brutal campaign spearheaded by 3 Commando Brigade alongside the Indian and West African troops of XV Corps. Against a…
- The Bayeux Tapestry: secrets of the stitchers · 32 min · Episode 2634Mia Hansson has spent 10 years making an exact replica of the Bayeux Tapestry. In conversation with Dave Musgrove, she explains what her modern remake experience can teach us…
- How Henry VII seized – and kept – the crown · 49 min · Episode 2633Henry VII is often remembered as a cold, calculating and penny-pinching monarch whose relentless pursuit of an ever-tightening grip on the throne overshadowed his achievements…
- The Soviet spy who couldn't love · 43 min · Episode 2632In 1981, a Soviet spy walked into MI6 HQ in Tehran and offered to defect to Britain – if, in return, Britain could help him improve his performance in bed. In this episode, Ben…
- The slave ship that changed history · 48 min · Episode 2631In 1781, more than 130 enslaved Africans were deliberately thrown from a ship called the Zorg into the Atlantic. The horrifying story of this slave ship – long mistakenly known…
- Have we overlooked England’s local histories? · 41 min · Episode 2630What happens to English history when you view it through a local lens, rather than a national one? Did people even notice when the Romans left Britain? Was 1066 really that…
- The making of the modern Middle East · 47 min · Episode 2629The Middle East has, for decades, been riven by violent conflict. But what are the roots and ongoing causes of this violence? In this episode, Simon Sebag Montefiore discusses…
- Joan of Arc: inspirational leader or flawed failure? · 43 min · Episode 2628Joan of Arc's story is one of the most remarkable chapters in medieval history: that of a rebellious teenage peasant girl rising to become a military leader, before suffering an…
- The forgotten slave traders who shaped Britain · 36 min · Episode 2627Who were the people who financed Britain’s transatlantic slave trade – and how did their money transform the nation? Elinor Evans speaks to historian William A Pettigrew, who has…
- What is ‘Europe’, anyway? · 37 min · Episode 2626What defines Europe – is it geography, politics, a shared culture, or perhaps a mix of all three? In this episode, historian Roderick Beaton tells Emily Briffett about the ways…
- Christianity, conflict and catastrophe: the life of CS Lewis · 41 min · Episode 2625He's well-known for creating children's classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but what else can history teach us about CS Lewis? Michael Ward explores the life of the…
- Was Napoleon III the world's first populist leader? · 56 min · Episode 2624Napoleon III's family was, in the words of historian Edward Shawcross, “the most cutthroat mafioso soap opera in the world”. Exiled to Switzerland as a boy and disowned by his…
- The Bayeux Tapestry blockbuster at the British Museum · 46 min · Episode 2623The Bayeux Tapestry exhibition at the British Museum is set to be the biggest historical event in decades. In conversation with David Musgrove, its curator Michael Lewis gives…
- The secrets of our DNA · 38 min · Episode 2622What can DNA tell us about who we are and where we came from? Professor Turi King – who previously appeared on the podcast to discuss her research into Adolf Hitler’s DNA –…
- What's it like to live in a royal palace? · 36 min · Episode 2621Did Lucy Worsley have 'the best job in history'? And what did she do when she worked in it? In this episode, Lucy reflects on her career so far, her time as Chief Curator at…
- Roman kings: myth, memory and the making of power · 41 min · Episode 2620Before Rome's republic and the age of emperors, there were kings… or so the story goes. Beginning with Romulus, and ending with Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, these rulers loomed…
- Philip Augustus: the Plantagenets’ greatest rival · 51 min · Episode 2619King Philip Augustus of France was the Plantagenets’ ultimate enemy. A ruler with an iron fist and sharp political instincts, he consistently exploited the squabbles of the…
- Laura Ingalls Wilder: life of the week · 47 min · Episode 2618Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 'Little House' books have captivated generations with tales of family, hardship and survival on the American frontier. But how closely did Wilder’s fiction…
- How bullies shaped 19th-century America · 43 min · Episode 2617America's Gilded Age is often remembered for rapid expansion and opportunity, but beneath the surface lay a brutal society in which it paid to be a bully. In this episode…
- Is there a royal sex scandal hidden in plain sight in the Bayeux tapestry? · 44 min · Episode 2616The Bayeux Tapestry is making headlines as it is loaned to the British Museum to be shown in England for the first time in almost a thousand years. It holds many mysteries…
- Did Britain really 'keep calm and carry on' in WW2? · 46 min · Episode 2615'Keep calm and carry on' has long been held up as the defining spirit of wartime Britain. But was the nation really as united, stoic and unquestioning as popular memory suggests?…
- Did the Catholic Church support Hitler? · 53 min · Episode 2614How did the politically neutral Catholic church come to have dealings with the fascist regimes of Mussolini and Hitler? In this episode, Ambrogio Caiani tells Charlotte Vosper…
- Frida Kahlo: life of the week · 53 min · Episode 2613The arresting gaze, the stark monobrow, the intricate ribbons woven through the dark hair – Frida Kahlo's unmistakable image is recognised around the world today. Yet the woman…
- How the Americas transformed Tudor England · 36 min · Episode 2612What did Tudor England really gain from its early encounters with the Americas? In this episode, Elinor Evans speaks to historian Dr Lauren Working about her new book A Golden…
