The big questions of the Holocaust
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
Happiness: history of an emotion
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
The 1453 fall of Constantinople: capturing the Byzantine capital
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
Inside the mind of the Third Reich
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
Sacagawea: life of the week
Sacagawea is remembered in US history as the Shoshone Native American woman who acted as interpreter to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the early 19th-century mission to chart territory in the America...
21 Jan 202538min
Women's bodies: an unreliable history
The history of women's bodies is far from simple. Female anatomy and the ideas surrounding it – from breastfeeding to virginity – still cause contention today. From the surprising original Pandora myt...
20 Jan 202536min
Ancient Mesopotamia: everything you wanted to know
Do you know your Sumerians from your Babylonians and your Akkadians? All these civilisations formed part of the story of ancient Mesopotamia, where city states were formed, writing flourished, the whe...
19 Jan 202547min
Who moulded Winston Churchill?
Later this week marks 60 years since the death of Winston Churchill, on 24 January 1965. So we thought it would be interesting to bring back this episode with Professor David Reynolds from 2023. In it...
18 Jan 202551min
