The long shadow of the Black Death
When the first wave of the Black Death finally subsided, what sort of world did it leave behind? How did societies adapt in the decades that followed? And what lessons did this medieval catastrophe ho...
16 Touko 37min
The secret plot to end Scottish independence
How did the union of England and Scotland come to fruition? From failed Scottish colonies to anti-independence espionage, Marc Mierowsky's book A Spy Amongst Us reveals how union wasn't inevitable, an...
14 Touko 34min
How did communism conquer China?
How did a tiny band of guerrillas come to rule a quarter of humanity? And was the outcome of the Chinese Civil War really the ‘heroic’ popular uprising that the People’s Republic portrays? In this epi...
12 Touko 44min
Olaf Tryggvason: life of the week
From thrall to king; from pagan to Christian: Olaf Tryggvason was one of the titanic figures of the Viking Age, whose story straddles the line between fantasy and fiction. Speaking to James Osborne ab...
11 Touko 46min
The death of Adolf Hitler
What do we really know about Adolf Hitler’s death? In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, historian and author Caroline Sharples tells Charlotte Vosper about the reporting that surrounded Hitler...
10 Touko 35min
Fear and faith: coping with the Black Death
For those who lived through it, the Black Death left a legacy of fear, loss and uncertainty. But how did people cope with such overwhelming catastrophe? And what do contemporary records reveal about t...
9 Touko 45min
Attenborough: a life on screen
This May marks the 100th birthday of leading British documentary-maker and natural historian David Attenborough. But what's the longer history of wildlife broadcasting? What inspired Attenborough to r...
7 Touko 46min
A worker's eye-view of ancient Rome
We know plenty about the lives of rich and powerful Romans – men such as Julius Caesar and Augustus. But Kim Bowes is more interested in those who worked for a living: the so-called 90 per cent. In th...
5 Touko 38min
