Make Mercia Great Again
The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia played an important role in the development of England. Although it was sandwiched between the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Wessex, unlike those two ...
22 Jun 202541min
The Merovingians: everything you wanted to know
Professor James Palmer guides us through the 300-year reign of the Merovingians, the Frankish dynasty whose legacy helped birth the very idea of France. Speaking to Kev Lochun, he explores how they us...
21 Jun 202537min
How the Allies won WW2
This summer it's 80 years since the greatest conflict in human history came to an end. To mark the anniversary, the military historian, author and broadcaster James Holland has co-written a book that ...
19 Jun 202534min
Ancient tips for health and happiness
The science of health and wellbeing is a hot topic of modern life, and it was no different for the ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome. From what you should eat, to how you should exercise, and w...
17 Jun 202537min
Thomas Aquinas: life of the week
Thomas Aquinas was a 13th-century Dominican theologian whose groundbreaking ideas set medieval Europe aflame – and continue to resonate today. As 2025 marks the 800th anniversary of Aquinas's birth, E...
16 Jun 202542min
Barmier than Bond: Ian Fleming's extraordinary wartime escapades
Bogus sex parties, fake corpses, exploding tin cans and belligerent pigs. If you thought that James Bond's fictional escapades were outrageous, then the real-life experiences of his creator, Ian Flemi...
15 Jun 202539min
Fatherhood: a short history
What does it mean to be a father? When did people first start talking about men as 'father figures'? And how has the concept of fatherhood changed over the millennia? In conversation with David Musgro...
14 Jun 202538min
CIA book smugglers of the Cold War
During the Cold War, the CIA book programme was a covert campaign to smuggle books into the Eastern Bloc using everything from balloon drops to baked bean tins. But why was literature such a significa...
12 Jun 202534min
