Why Cleopatra was more than a bewitching beauty
We often think of Cleopatra as using her feminine wiles to secure, and maintain, power. But was that really the case? And what other skills and qualities did she have? In this third episode of our fou...
6 Jun 41min
Better than Bridgerton: the real Georgian masquerade
Is there a real historical phenomenon behind Bridgerton’s masked ball? And what would it really have been like? In this episode, Meghan Kobza takes us behind the doors of the glittering Georgian masqu...
4 Jun 49min
Weimar's descent from democracy to barbarism
Weimar is a small German city. Yet it looms large in European history. In the 1920s, it was synonymous with liberalism, internationalism and the fine arts. Yet, within a decade, many of its residents ...
2 Jun 39min
Alan Turing: life of the week
Alan Turing is one of the most celebrated of all British scientists. His work in cracking Nazi codes at Bletchley Park, and his role in the evolution of the computer, has earned him worldwide acclaim....
1 Jun 45min
The self-made Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe is synonymous with glamour, beauty and stardom – but scratching the surface of her public image reveals another story. Author and professor of film philosophy Lucy Bolton reveals the ca...
31 Mai 49min
Cleopatra’s bloody rise to power
From formidable overseas leaders to vicious internecine conflict, Cleopatra’s rise to the top was bloody and brutal. So what personal qualities did she draw upon to navigate these shifting sands? And ...
30 Mai 29min
Gullible Georgians: hoaxes in the Enlightenment period
The 18th century was an age of industrialisation, scientific exploration and ‘progress’, but what happened when those rational foundations were shaken? Cultural and art historian Madeleine Pelling – w...
28 Mai 50min
Spies, radicals and deportees: one hotel in wartime Paris
The Hotel Lutetia in central Paris lived several lives in the tortured times of the 1930s and 1940s. Before the war, it was the hub of dissenting activity from anti-Nazi German exiles. During the war,...
26 Mai 40min
