History Extra podcast-logo

History Extra podcast

History Podcasts

The HistoryExtra podcast brings you interviews with the world's best historians, on everything from the ancient world and the Middle Ages to the Second World War and the history behind current events. Produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed, it offers fresh takes on history's most famous figures and events. Subscribe for the real stories behind your favourite historical films and TV shows, and compelling insights into lesser-known aspects of the past. Unlock full access to HistoryExtra.com for 6 months for just 99p https://www.historyextra.com/join/

Location:

United States

Description:

The HistoryExtra podcast brings you interviews with the world's best historians, on everything from the ancient world and the Middle Ages to the Second World War and the history behind current events. Produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed, it offers fresh takes on history's most famous figures and events. Subscribe for the real stories behind your favourite historical films and TV shows, and compelling insights into lesser-known aspects of the past. Unlock full access to HistoryExtra.com for 6 months for just 99p https://www.historyextra.com/join/

Language:

English


Episodes

Dinosaurs: a Victorian obsession

3/28/2024
Through the 19th century, people began to find strange and spectacular bones of "impossible monsters" in the earth. But what creatures could these bones belong to – and what did that mean both for religious beliefs and new evolutionary theories? Michael Taylor joins Rebecca Franks to discuss how the discovery of dinosaurs shook up Victorian Britain. (Ad) Michael Taylor is the author of Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin and the War Between Science and Religion (Bodley Head, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Faliens%2Fpaul-dowswell%2F9781785907937 The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:40:54

Tiger Tamer | 6. battling against Bovril

3/27/2024
At the turn of the 20th century, bicycles and motor cars became fixtures on Britain’s roads. Bob Carlisle, the original ‘wheelbarrow pedestrian’, found himself overtaken in this transport revolution. In the final episode of our new series on this larger-than-life character of the Victorian age, David Musgrove considers how Carlisle’s pedestrian career helps us understand major changes in society, from athleticism and transport to the boom in advertising and consumer goods. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:34:39

How was Elizabeth I shaped by her childhood?

3/26/2024
Elizabeth I is probably best remembered as an aging monarch, with a powdered white face and elaborate red wig. But she was just 25 when she became queen, and had by then had already lived a dramatic and tumultuous life. As author and historian Nicola Tallis tells Lauren Good, the queen's childhood and early years had a lasting impact on her as a ruler – and a woman. (Ad) Nicolas Tallis is the author of Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen. (Michael O'Mara, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Young-Elizabeth-Princess-Prisoner-Queen/dp/178929519X/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:28:03

Joan of Arc: life of the week

3/25/2024
Joan of Arc has gone down in history as the virgin saviour of France – a patriotic martyr who was unjustly burnt at the stake at the hands of her Anglo-Burgundian opponents. But there's more to the story than that. Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian Anne Curry charts the extraordinary rise and fall of the young peasant girl from Domrémy, whose visions and prophecies brought her face to face with King Charles VII and led to her spiritual leadership over the armies of France before ending in her unfortunate demise. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:54:34

Leftovers: how our ancestors battled food waste

3/24/2024
From Tudor slop buckets to WW2 potato peel recipes, Eleanor Barnett tells Ellie Cawthorne about how our ancestors used up food leftovers. She reveals some ingenious and appetising tactics for tackling food waste in the past and questions whether we might look back to history to help deal with the issue today. (Ad) Eleanor Barnett is the author of Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation (Apollo, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leftovers-History-Food-Waste-Preservation/dp/180328157X/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:29:57

WW1's eastern front: everything you wanted to know

3/23/2024
How did the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand lead events in Europe to spiral out of control so rapidly? Why was Germany and Austria-Hungary's bloody clash with the Russian empire during the First World War so brutal? And why has the fighting on the eastern front between 1914 and 1918 been overshadowed by its counterpart in the west? Speaking to Spencer Mizen, historian Nick Lloyd answers your questions on one of the most brutal theatres of conflict both in the First World War, and modern warfare as a whole. (Ad) Nick Lloyd is the author of The Eastern Front: A History of the First World War (Viking, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eastern-Front-History-First-World/dp/0241506859#:~:text=Book%20overview&text=In%20the%20second%20volume%20of,the%20collapse%20of%20three%20empires./?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:41:17

Eric 'Winkle' Brown: Britain's most extraordinary pilot

3/21/2024
It would be fair to say that Second World War pilot Eric 'Winkle' Brown led an extraordinary life. He narrowly escaped death when his ship was torpedoed, smashed the world record for flying the most types of aircraft and had several unlikely encounters with the movers and shakers of his time. Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian and biographer Paul Beaver charts some of Brown's remarkable adventures and escapades. (Ad) Paul Beaver is the author of Winkle: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot (Michael Joseph, 2023). 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%2Fwinkle%2Fpaul-beaver%2F9780718186708 The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:33:01

Tiger Tamer | 5. crazy about wheelbarrows

3/20/2024
The great wheelbarrow craze of 1886-7 was a short-lived media sensation, witnessing a flood of people charging from Scotland to London with barrows. One man had kicked off this bizarre trend – Bob Carlisle. In the fifth episode of our series on this larger-than-life character of the Victorian age, David Musgrove talks to Bob Nicholson to explore the genesis of 19th-century Britain’s strangest crazes, and reveal what happened to Bob Carlisle while the wheelbarrow craze was in full swing. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:28:37

Will the real Jesus please stand up?

3/19/2024
In the modern world we have a relatively narrow idea of who Jesus was, but things were quite different in the early years of Christianity. Many alternative versions of his life and personality proliferated, while at the same time, several other saviours also competed for attention. These stories are at the centre of a new book Heresy: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God by the classicist and author Catherine Nixey, who is joined in conversation for this episode by Rob Attar. (Ad) Catherine Nixey is the author of Heresy: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God (Picador, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heretic-Lives-Christ-Saviours-Ancient/dp/1529040353/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:27:59

Mary Wollstonecraft: life of the week

3/18/2024
Mary Wollstonecraft was a firebrand thinker of the Enlightenment – proposing radical ideas about the fundamental rights of women. And her life was just as groundbreaking as her work, from having a front row seat at the French Revolution and embarking on a treasure hunt for stolen silver along the Norwegian coast, to courting scandal by giving birth outside of wedlock. In today's Life of the Week episode, author Bee Rowlatt tells Ellie Cawthorne more about Wollstonecraft's life and legacy. (Ad) Bee Rowlatt is the author of In Search of Mary: The Mother of All Journeys (Alma Books, 2015). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Mary-Mother-All-Journeys/dp/1846883784/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:41:53

An obscenity trial that shocked Victorian Britain

3/17/2024
In 1877, Annie Besant took the stand. She was on trial for selling an "obscene publication" – a pamphlet designed to educate the masses on birth control. Author Michael Meyer tells Ellie Cawthorne about how this sensational legal case lit a fire under Victorian society, and why the woman at the centre of it decided to represent herself in the courtroom. (Ad) Michael Meyer is the author of A Dirty, Filthy Book: Sex, Scandal, and One Woman’s Fight in the Victorian Trial of the Century WH Allen, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dirty-Filthy-Book-Victorians-1877-1888/dp/0753559927/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:38:45

The Capetians: everything you wanted to know

3/16/2024
How did the Capetian dynasty hold on to the French throne for such a long time during the Middle Ages? How did deep-seated religious beliefs shape their rule? And what was the ‘Capetian miracle’? Speaking to Emily Briffett, Justine Firnhaber-Baker answers listener questions on the influential French dynasty – from how they popularised the name 'Phillip' and the iconic fleur-de-lis, to their religiously-inspired 'royal touch'. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:55:46

Lothar II vs Theutberga: a marriage scandal that shook the ninth century

3/14/2024
King Henry VIII famously ran into a world of problems trying to get out of his numerous marriages. And interestingly, we can find a similar story of royal marital strife all the way back in the ninth-century - during the reign of Lothar II. When this Carolingian ruler tried to divorce his wife, Theutberga, he ran headlong into a clash with the pope. Professor Charles West explains the story to David Musgrove and reveals what it can tell us about how power, politics and passions were intertwined in the ninth century. (Ad) Charles West is the author of The Fall of a Carolingian Kingdom: Lotharingia 855-869 (University of Toronto Press, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fall-Carolingian-Kingdom-Lotharingia-855-869/dp/1487545169/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:35:22

Tiger Tamer | 4. celebrity pedestrian

3/13/2024
Tickling tigers one day, and cracking jokes to expectant crowds the next, Bob Carlisle was a circus showman, agent, clown and big cat tamer. In the third episode of our new series on this larger-than-life character of the Victorian age, David Musgrove speaks to historian John Woolf to consider Carlisle’s hair-raising life in the travelling circus, and how it helps us to understand the world of Victorian show business. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:37:40

A political earthquake: Britain's first Labour government

3/12/2024
In January 1924 Ramsay MacDonald, the son of a farm labourer, strode into 10 Downing Street as prime minister - and changed the nation's political landscape for good. David Torrance tells Spencer Mizen about Britain's first Labour government, revisiting successes, failures and a complex relationship with the establishment. (Ad) David Torrance is the author of The Wild Men: The Remarkable Story of Britain's First Labour Government (Bloomsbury, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Men-Remarkable-Britains-Government/dp/1399411438/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:34:21

James VI and I: life of the week

3/11/2024
James Stuart became king of Scotland at just 13 months old, and has since been known as 'the cradle king'. So, what was his childhood like? How did he come to the throne of England? And how much is known about his relationships with his famed favourites, as portrayed in new historical drama Mary and George? Speaking to Elinor Evans, Joe Ellis explores the life and dual reign of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:47:54

From Russia to Texas: the search for a Jewish homeland

3/10/2024
At the turn of the 20th century, millions of European Jews were seeking an escape from antisemitic persecution. While many dreamed of Palestine, a few thousand made their way, instead, to Galveston in Texas. In conversation with Rob Attar, the author Rachel Cockerell tells the story of the little-known Galveston movement, explaining how it connects to the histories of America, Zionism and European Jewry. (Ad) Rachel Cockerell is the author of Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land (Wildfire, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Melting-Point-Promised-groundbreaking-Philippe/dp/1035408910/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:38:52

British Redcoats: everything you wanted to know

3/9/2024
Was the Duke of Marlborough Britain's greatest ever military commander? How did Britain face down the challenge of an expansionist France? And did soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars feel that they were living in the shadow of the Royal Navy? Military historian Saul David talks to Spencer Mizen about the evolution of the British Army between the 17th and 19th centuries. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:35:18

The West's attempt to crush Bolshevik Russia

3/7/2024
Following the October Revolution of 1917, Russia's nascent Bolshevik regime acted on its word to take the country out of the First World War by brokering peace with Germany. Speaking to Danny Bird, Anna Reid explains how this prompted Britain, France, America and Japan to launch a joint 'intervention', by invading the vast terrain of the crumbling Russian empire in support of anti-Bolshevik forces. (Ad) Anna Reid is the author of A Nasty Little War: The West's Fight to Reverse the Russian Revolution (John Murray Press, 2023). 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%2Fa-nasty-little-war%2Fanna-reid%2F9781529326765 The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:38:58

Tiger Tamer | 3. would you let a tiger lick your face?

3/6/2024
Tickling tigers one day, and cracking jokes to expectant crowds the next, Bob Carlisle was a circus showman, agent, clown and big cat tamer. In the third episode of our new series on this larger-than-life character of the Victorian age, David Musgrove speaks to historian John Woolf to consider Carlisle’s hair-raising life in the travelling circus, and how it helps us to understand the world of Victorian show business. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:36:24