Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s Third Queen
Jane Seymour is a paradox. Of Henry VIII’s six wives, she is the one about whom we know perhaps the least. She was the most lowly of the queens, but she had royal blood. She's often described as plain...
21 Touko 202435min
The Opium Wars
2/2. The British Empire aggressively pursued the opium trade well into the 19th century, fueling an addiction epidemic within China. The Qing government was determined to stamp out this destructive tr...
20 Touko 202437min
The British Empire, China and Opium
1/2. Victorian readers were captivated by descriptions of smoke-filled opium dens among backstreet brothels and pubs in London's East End in Oscar Wilde novels. Opium use in Britain in the 19th centur...
19 Touko 202450min
Civil War in Feudal Japan: The Sengoku Period
Dating from 1467-1603, the Sengoku or ‘Warring States’ period is known as the bloodiest in Japan’s history; an era of continuous social upheaval and civil war which transformed the country. Shogun-led...
18 Touko 202435min
The Royal Navy's Darkest Night & The Origins of Longitude
A mix of treacherous seas, navigation errors, and historical intrigue led to one of the Royal Navy's darkest nights. Dan travels to the Scilly Isles to tell the tragic tale of Admiral Sir Cloudesley S...
14 Touko 202433min
Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt: The Impossible Alliance that Won WWII
In the summer of 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. As the Germans drove towards Moscow, a catastrophic Soviet defeat seemed imminent - a defeat that would have made the Allied liberation of Europ...
13 Touko 202431min
Twelve Caesars with Mary Beard
The title of Caesar has echoed down the ages as the pinnacle of absolute power and perhaps even tyranny. A single man at the head of a nation or empire with untouchable power. But how powerful were th...
12 Touko 202450min
Marshal Pétain: Hero or Traitor?
Marshal Pétain emerged from the First World War as a French national hero. His defence of Verdun had set him on course to become one of France's most venerated commanders. But by 1945 the Marshal was ...
11 Touko 202440min
