Tudor spymaster: the secret machinations of Robert Cecil

Tudor spymaster: the secret machinations of Robert Cecil

Late Tudor England was a dangerous place, with plots both at home and abroad, and no certainty about who was going to succeed the ageing queen, Elizabeth I. Into this perilous world stepped Robert Cecil, a brilliant but unglamorous statesman and spymaster who played a pivotal role in keeping the country together and ensuring a smooth transition to the Stuart monarchy. Professor Stephen Alford speaks to Rob Attar about this unheralded titan of the Tudor and Stuart courts. (Ad) Stephen Alford is the author of //All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil// (Penguin, 2024). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fall-his-spies%2Fstephen-alford%2F9780241423479. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Avsnitt(2555)

The Merovingians: everything you wanted to know

The Merovingians: everything you wanted to know

Professor James Palmer guides us through the 300-year reign of the Merovingians, the Frankish dynasty whose legacy helped birth the very idea of France. Speaking to Kev Lochun, he explores how they us...

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How the Allies won WW2

How the Allies won WW2

This summer it's 80 years since the greatest conflict in human history came to an end. To mark the anniversary, the military historian, author and broadcaster James Holland has co-written a book that ...

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Ancient tips for health and happiness

Ancient tips for health and happiness

The science of health and wellbeing is a hot topic of modern life, and it was no different for the ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome. From what you should eat, to how you should exercise, and w...

17 Juni 202537min

Thomas Aquinas: life of the week

Thomas Aquinas: life of the week

Thomas Aquinas was a 13th-century Dominican theologian whose groundbreaking ideas set medieval Europe aflame – and continue to resonate today. As 2025 marks the 800th anniversary of Aquinas's birth, E...

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Barmier than Bond: Ian Fleming's extraordinary wartime escapades

Barmier than Bond: Ian Fleming's extraordinary wartime escapades

Bogus sex parties, fake corpses, exploding tin cans and belligerent pigs. If you thought that James Bond's fictional escapades were outrageous, then the real-life experiences of his creator, Ian Flemi...

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Fatherhood: a short history

Fatherhood: a short history

What does it mean to be a father? When did people first start talking about men as 'father figures'? And how has the concept of fatherhood changed over the millennia? In conversation with David Musgro...

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CIA book smugglers of the Cold War

CIA book smugglers of the Cold War

During the Cold War, the CIA book programme was a covert campaign to smuggle books into the Eastern Bloc using everything from balloon drops to baked bean tins. But why was literature such a significa...

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The Renaissance: not such a golden age?

The Renaissance: not such a golden age?

From Michelangelo's David and Machiavelli's The Prince to the plays of Shakespeare, the Renaissance produced some of history's most astounding works of culture, art and innovation. But can focusing on...

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