The Koh-i-Noor

In 2015, the Bank of England asked the British public to nominate a deceased cultural figure they felt deserved the honour of appearing on a banknote. The figure they chose was JMW Turner. So what mad...

4 Aug 202538min

At 8.15am on 6 August 1945, an atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. It was an event that changed the course of history, but it was also one driven by individuals. Here, in conversation with Spencer Mi...

3 Aug 202543min

Imagine being torn from your home and sent to live with strangers... well that was exactly what happened for many in the Second World War. To escape the threat of bombing in British cities, thousands ...

2 Aug 202533min

Ever since the 1870s, rumours have swirled around Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown. Were the pair in love? Could they have got married? And might they even have had a secret child? H...

31 Juli 202541min

From the French Revolution to the social media age, Fara Dabhoiwala charts the surprising history of the idea that people should be able to say what they like From America's founding fathers via Jo...

29 Juli 202537min

According to the Vinland Sagas of the early 13th century, Erik the Red was a violent and murderous outlaw. But he was also an explorer, a powerful leader and the father of a famous dynasty. Historian ...

28 Juli 202544min

In the closing years of the 19th century, scientists began recording strange phenomena – mysterious glowing gas, smudges on photographic plates. Findings like these triggered a process of scientific d...

27 Juli 202552min

Centred on the island of Crete, the Bronze-Age Minoan civilisation stretched from roughly 3000 to 1200BC, and is probably most famous for its legend surrounding the mythical Minotaur and the fabulous ...

26 Juli 202549min