The Rise of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell is the only English commoner to become head of state and is one of the most remarkable and controversial figures in history. Energised by his Puritan beliefs he came to dominate the mo...
17 Aug 202129min
Bonnie Prince Charlie
In August 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie led a rebellion that brought the Jacobite cause closer to seizing the throne than almost any other. He had landed with only a handful of his most trusted supporter...
16 Aug 202147min
The Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat the Nazis
During the Second World War, a special commando unit was formed in Britain from Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and other parts of occupied Europe. Many of the men who joined this unit had lost ...
15 Aug 202123min
The Fall of the Aztec Empire
In August 1521 after a last stand on the steps of their temple buildings, the Aztec defenders of Tenochtitlan surrendered to the Spanish forces of Hernán Cortés and his Mesoamerican allies. In the aft...
14 Aug 202142min
Escaping the Berlin Wall
There were many attempts to escape over and under the Berlin Wall but Tunnel 29 was highly unusual for tunnelling into East Berlin rather than out to the West. Led by Joachim Rudolph, who had himself ...
13 Aug 202127min
Gallipoli: What Led to Britain's WW1 Disaster?
What does the price of wheat and global food supplies have to do with one of the greatest disasters in the history of warfare? Why was the decision made to send thousands of Allied troops in an attemp...
12 Aug 202153min
England's Great Viking Battle
On 11 August 991 one of the most important anglo-Viking battles took place near Maldon in Essex. This clash was immortalised in one of the finest examples of early English poetry that tells the story ...
11 Aug 202125min
Royal Mistresses
The role of the royal mistress may, on the face of it, seem a simple position but in reality, there was a lot more to being a royal mistress than it might seem. Throughout the courts of Europe, the ro...
10 Aug 202142min
