The Renaissance: not such a golden age?
From Michelangelo's David and Machiavelli's The Prince to the plays of Shakespeare, the Renaissance produced some of history's most astounding works of culture, art and innovation. But can focusing on...
10 Jun 202547min
Archimedes: life of the week
He’s best known for his Eureka moment, but Archimedes was far more than a naked man in a bathtub. Speaking to Kev Lochun, Professor Michael Scott takes us through the wild imagination of this Ancient ...
9 Jun 202532min
The Third Reich's first genocide
Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis killed nearly 300,000 people with learning disabilities or psychiatric illnesses. Some 400,000 more were forcibly sterilised. Historian Dagmar Herzog speaks to Ellie C...
8 Jun 202538min
English folklore: everything you wanted to know
What happens when you step inside a fairy ring? Where did the figure of the Green Man come from? And why have so many East Anglians been terrorised by a menacing, dog-like creature called Black Shuck?...
7 Jun 202545min
What happened in Shakespeare's "lost years"?
Shakespeare is now a towering figure of global theatre. But in the 1590s, he was just an up-and-coming young playwright, trying to scratch out a living in Shoreditch's emerging theatre scene. Daniel S...
5 Jun 202535min
Plague, famine and chivalry: a human history of the 14th century
Plague, war, regicide, famine, revolt – during the 14th century, life for people in England was turned on its head. Historian Helen Carr charts this extraordinarily turbulent period through the lives ...
3 Jun 202552min
WW2 legacies and Magna Carta: history behind the headlines
In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, historians Rana Mitter and Hannah Skoda explore the ways the Second World War continues to shape the world of today. P...
2 Jun 202545min
Drink, dance, death: wine in ancient Egypt
From merriment to mummification, new year revelries to funerary rites, wine played a key role in ancient Egyptian culture. Islam Issa speaks to Matt Elton about why the alcoholic drink was so importan...
1 Jun 202535min
