The British Empire, China and Opium
1/2. Victorian readers were captivated by descriptions of smoke-filled opium dens among backstreet brothels and pubs in London's East End in Oscar Wilde novels. Opium use in Britain in the 19th centur...
19 Maj 202450min
Civil War in Feudal Japan: The Sengoku Period
Dating from 1467-1603, the Sengoku or ‘Warring States’ period is known as the bloodiest in Japan’s history; an era of continuous social upheaval and civil war which transformed the country. Shogun-led...
18 Maj 202435min
The Royal Navy's Darkest Night & The Origins of Longitude
A mix of treacherous seas, navigation errors, and historical intrigue led to one of the Royal Navy's darkest nights. Dan travels to the Scilly Isles to tell the tragic tale of Admiral Sir Cloudesley S...
14 Maj 202433min
Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt: The Impossible Alliance that Won WWII
In the summer of 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. As the Germans drove towards Moscow, a catastrophic Soviet defeat seemed imminent - a defeat that would have made the Allied liberation of Europ...
13 Maj 202431min
Twelve Caesars with Mary Beard
The title of Caesar has echoed down the ages as the pinnacle of absolute power and perhaps even tyranny. A single man at the head of a nation or empire with untouchable power. But how powerful were th...
12 Maj 202450min
Marshal Pétain: Hero or Traitor?
Marshal Pétain emerged from the First World War as a French national hero. His defence of Verdun had set him on course to become one of France's most venerated commanders. But by 1945 the Marshal was ...
11 Maj 202440min
Merlin, The Occult and British Politics
Who was the real Merlin? Dr Francis Young says the closest is John Dee, Elizabeth I's occultist advisor who gave her the idea for a British Empire. Dee believed it was her destiny to rule the New Worl...
7 Maj 202430min
The Dynasty That Made Medieval France
From Hugh Capet to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Capetian dynasty considered itself divinely chosen to fulfil a great destiny. From an insecure foothold around Paris, the Capetians built a nation that str...
6 Maj 202437min
