
The feminist who waged war on smallpox
Jo Willett tells the story of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who pioneered smallpox inoculation almost a century before Edward Jenner Mary Wortley Montagu is one of the most important figures in the bat...
5 Apr 202134min

The Great Fire of London: everything you wanted to know
How much damage did the Great Fire of London cause? How long did it take to put out? And did it really start in Pudding Lane? Rebecca Rideal responds to listener questions and popular internet search ...
4 Apr 202148min

Cleopatra: unpicking myth from reality
The ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII is one of the most famous women in history, but how many of the legends surrounding her are actually true? Egyptologist Professor Joyce Tyldesley explores the ...
3 Apr 202129min

Traffickers on trial: the sensational case of Lydia Harvey
In 1910, a sixteen-year-old girl named Lydia Harvey walked onto a steamship, sailed away from New Zealand and disappeared. She had been ensnared by two traffickers, who transported her Buenos Aires. J...
2 Apr 202151min

Bog bodies: what can they teach us?
Dr Melanie Giles unravels some of the mysteries around amazingly preserved human remains found in bogs – and reveals what we can learn from them Dr Melanie Giles unravels some of the mysteries aroun...
31 Mar 202155min

Unravelling the Bayeux Tapestry ep3: What story does the Tapestry tell?
In recounting the Norman invasion of 1066, the Bayeux Tapestry tells a story that we’re all familiar with. But, look a bit closer and it’s not so simple. In this episode, we investigate whose version ...
30 Mar 20211h 23min

500 years of women’s self-portraits
Jennifer Higgie charts the story of women’s self-portraits over the last 500 years of western art – uncovering tales of transgressive self-expression and overcoming oppression Jennifer Higgie chart...
29 Mar 202142min

The Byzantine empire: everything you wanted to know
What did it mean to be ‘born in the purple’? What lasting legacy did the empire have on how we eat dinner? And what does ‘Byzantine’ actually mean? Professor Judith Herrin responds to listener questio...
28 Mar 20211h 25min


















