The Black Medal of Honour

In 430 BC, in the midst of the Peloponnesian War, the powerful city-state of Athens was struck down by a disastrous plague. Athenians fell sick with a dizzying array of symptoms, from fevers and vomit...

10 Jan 202425min

2/3. Thomas Cochrane and his crew of the HMS Imperieuse embark on their greatest and most audacious scheme yet; Cochrane leads a flotilla of burning vessels and exploding bomb ships piled high with gu...

8 Jan 202450min

What made a working class woman from Edinburgh become such a threat to British intelligence services during the Second World War, that they tried her as a witch?In today's episode, we're telling you t...

4 Jan 202438min

3/3. After a meteoric rise to fame, Cochrane finds himself in front of a court and stripped of his titles for fraud on the London Stock Exchange. Known for his ingenuity and schemes, Cochrane breaks o...

3 Jan 202451min

Dan tells a story as dramatic, unlikely and exciting as any ever penned by an author about one of Britain's greatest sailors. Thomas Lord Cochrane was a naval commander with an illustrious career in t...

3 Jan 202439min

The Romanov family were the first imperial dynasty to rule Russia, reigning from the early seventeenth century until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Including such illustrious names as Peter the Great...

2 Jan 202429min

The Aztec Empire was a large and sophisticated one, stretching at its height from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico. But in August 1521, after a last stand on the steps of their temple buildings...

1 Jan 202439min

If you’re enjoying a glass of port during the festive period, you have the world’s oldest treaty to thank.Winston Churchill once described the Anglo-Portuguese alliance as ‘without parallel in world h...

27 Dec 202339min