What happened in Shakespeare's "lost years"?
Shakespeare is now a towering figure of global theatre. But in the 1590s, he was just an up-and-coming young playwright, trying to scratch out a living in Shoreditch's emerging theatre scene. Daniel S...
5 Juni 202535min
Plague, famine and chivalry: a human history of the 14th century
Plague, war, regicide, famine, revolt – during the 14th century, life for people in England was turned on its head. Historian Helen Carr charts this extraordinarily turbulent period through the lives ...
3 Juni 202552min
WW2 legacies and Magna Carta: history behind the headlines
In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the past behind the present, historians Rana Mitter and Hannah Skoda explore the ways the Second World War continues to shape the world of today. P...
2 Juni 202545min
Drink, dance, death: wine in ancient Egypt
From merriment to mummification, new year revelries to funerary rites, wine played a key role in ancient Egyptian culture. Islam Issa speaks to Matt Elton about why the alcoholic drink was so importan...
1 Juni 202535min
The Scottish Enlightenment: everything you wanted to know
In everything from the social sciences and technology to art and architecture, 18th-century Scotland saw a flowering of ideas and innovation. But what made the Enlightenment in Scotland different to t...
31 Maj 202537min
Deadly skies: the WW2 mission to fly over the Himalayas
During the Second World War, a promise by President Roosevelt to provide supplies to nationalist China led to the creation of an ill-fated air supply route from India, across a perilous stretch of the...
29 Maj 202545min
Royal sisters: the tragic lives of Queen Victoria's granddaughters
Victoria, Ella, Irene and Alix of Hesse were four young European princesses and granddaughters of Queen Victoria, whose marriages would change the face of early 20th-century Europe. Speaking to Elinor...
27 Maj 202536min
Calamity Jane: life of the week
Calamity Jane roars into the popular imagination atop the Deadwood Stage with a 'whip-crack-away' and her pistol ready-loaded. A bold and resourceful frontierswoman, Calamity held her own among the me...
26 Maj 202544min
