Letters from the front line

Series two of SAS Rogue Heroes hits our screens later this week, so we're bringing you an episode to get you up to scratch on the WW2 escapades of Britain’s elite special forces. Why was the SAS – or ...

28 Dec 202447min

The morning of Tuesday 19 September 1944 was ripe with possibility for Allied forces at Arnhem, says Al Murray. Just 24 hours later, the die of defeat had well and truly been cast. Here, in conversati...

27 Dec 202432min

The 16th century is often seen as a 'golden age' of exploration, which witnessed England's emergence as a major player on the European stage. But it was also a period in which the English became embro...

26 Dec 202438min

Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter look back at the history behind some of the year's biggest news stories in this special episode of our monthly series From the rise of AI to a plethora of elections and l...

24 Dec 202442min

From a sunken Tudor flagship brought back to life by the wonders of osteoarchaeology, to the tales of bravery and endurance surrounding the tragic fate of WW2's SS Gairsoppa, shipwrecks can reveal far...

23 Dec 202450min

Radical rabble-rousers, trusted bankers and conscientious objectors; the Quakers have been viewed in many different ways down the centuries. Their non-conformist origins and unique religious principle...

22 Dec 202442min

Did Oliver Cromwell ban mince pies? When did people first give Christmas presents? And why does Santa wear red? Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne in this episode first aired in 2020, George Goodwin, histori...

21 Dec 202447min

Think of the transportation of convicts, and your mind probably goes to the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia in 1788. But, as historian Clare Anderson reveals in this episode, convict transport...

20 Dec 202437min