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
Merlin, The Occult and British Politics
Who was the real Merlin? Dr Francis Young says the closest is John Dee, Elizabeth I's occultist advisor who gave her the idea for a British Empire. Dee believed it was her destiny to rule the New Worl...
7 Touko 202430min
The Dynasty That Made Medieval France
From Hugh Capet to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Capetian dynasty considered itself divinely chosen to fulfil a great destiny. From an insecure foothold around Paris, the Capetians built a nation that str...
6 Touko 202437min
Why Are We Drawn to Dictators?
Is liberal democracy facing an existential crisis? A 2023 poll conducted by the Open Society Barometer found that faith in democracy among young people is waning. But what does this mean? Why might yo...
5 Touko 202449min
The Atomic Bomb & Civil War Cigars: Greatest 'What Ifs' from History
We think of history as a neat chain of predictable events; but what if the truth is far wilder than that? Today, we're talking about the pivotal forces of randomness and chance, and how tiny moments c...
4 Touko 202429min
