Letters from the front line

History is full of dysfunctional families, but few more so than the Carolingian ruling clan. The empire was at the height of its power under renowned ruler Charlemagne. But just two generations later,...

29 Jan 202541min

Charles Dickens is one of the most famous figures in literary history. But, there's lots about the author that you might not know, from his obsessive workaholism and marital strife, to the fact he was...

28 Jan 202546min

In September 1940, the German Luftwaffe began raining bombs on British cities, causing death and destruction on a scale never before seen. But, in the capital, the Blitz wasn’t the only threat to peop...

27 Jan 202533min

From early shows that looked as if they were filmed "in a heavy and persistent shower of rain" to today's multi-platform streaming world, the history of television has been marked by rapid innovation ...

26 Jan 202556min

How did the Nazis’ poisonous antisemitic rhetoric eventually culminate in the systematic mass-murder of millions? Speaking to Rachel Dinning back in 2023, historian Laurence Rees charts the course of ...

25 Jan 202544min

The word 'happiness' came into common usage in around the 17th century, but the concept has a much longer history. So how have people conceptualised happiness over time – and how have they sought to a...

24 Jan 202528min

In 1453, the once grand and formidable city of Constantinople fell to the hands of the Ottoman Turks – bringing over a millennium of Byzantine rule to a dramatic close, and heralding the rise of the O...

23 Jan 202546min

What drives people to commit atrocities? Few periods in history confront this question as starkly as the rise of the Nazis, whose crimes stand as a chilling testament to humanity’s capacity for darkne...

22 Jan 202537min