Hidden environmental histories of the last 500 years
From the Mongol expansion to the world wars, and from colonialism to the slave trade, the biggest historical events of the past 500 years have reshaped not only human history, but also the natural wor...
19 Sep 202434min
Ancient Egypt | 5. a lost world?
Why are we still so obsessed with ancient Egypt? In this fifth episode of Ancient Egypt: the big questions, Emily Briffett is joined by curator and Egyptologist Campbell Price for a final time to expl...
18 Sep 202449min
Congo, Cold War & CIA plotting: the 1961 assassination that shook Africa
Soon after gaining independence from Belgium in 1960, the new Republic of the Congo was rocked by the assassination of its young firebrand leader, Patrice Lumumba. Stuart A Reid unpicks this story in ...
17 Sep 202438min
Viking trade, Titanic and Olympic rings: history behind the headlines
Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter discuss the historical news stories that have made headlines this month In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, Hannah Skoda and ...
16 Sep 202449min
How ancient India transformed the world
From the Roman economy and Angkor Wat to the spread of Buddhism and the numerical system we use today, ancient India was one of the great seedbeds of human civilisation. Indian art, religion, technolo...
15 Sep 202441min
The Hittites: everything you wanted to know
The Hittites were one of the most powerful civilisations in the Near East, building a vast empire that encompassed much of modern-day Turkey. But aside from a few vague references in ancient texts, pr...
14 Sep 202448min
The Iranian embassy siege: an SAS hostage drama in London
In May 1980, TV coverage of the world snooker final was interrupted by live footage of men in black balaclavas abseiling down the walls of the Iranian Embassy in London. This was Operation Nimrod, a d...
12 Sep 202439min
Ancient Egypt | 4. religion and death
Nothing is more synonymous with ancient Egypt than mummification. But why was this postmortem practice actually performed? And what other rituals and beliefs surrounded death in the ancient civilisati...
11 Sep 202444min
