Podcasts

The Real Shogun: The English Navigator Who Became a Samurai

In the year 1600, a bedraggled English sailor and his sick and dying crewmates anchored off the coast of Kyushu, Japan. His name was William...

King Henry II

One of the pivotal figures in Medieval history, King Henry II centralised royal power, instituted legal reforms and established common...

Did the Cold War Ever End?

Would the Cold War have happened if the nuclear bomb was never created? How did Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher reduce tensions between the East...

Abraham Lincoln's Sex Life

Abraham Lincoln is often thought of as the most loved president in America's history, but how much do we know about his personal...

England's Worst Witch Trial: Pendle Witches

Inside the heavy walls of Lancaster Castle, the darkest & deadliest of English witch trials played out in 1612 - the Pendle Witch Trials. By the...

Tudor Ladies-in-Waiting

For every Tudor Queen, their ladies-in-waiting were their confidantes, chaperones and intimate witnesses to their lives. These women were high...

Great Wall of China

It's one of the most iconic structures in the world: The Great Wall of China.

But is it just one wall? And who built it and why? Today,...

Atlantis

The fictional island of Atlantis has intrigued and eluded us for millennia. First mentioned in the works of Plato, it's a story that captures our...

The Power of Medieval Icons

In the Middle Ages, how did art - particularly Christian icons - serve to connect humanity with heavenly realms?  How did such images spread...

The Celebrity Sex Worker of Ancient Greece

This is the story of one of the most notorious women of the Ancient world.

Phrynne was a sex worker in the 4th century BC who came from an...

Persia: Rise of the Sasanians

The Sasanians are renowned as one of Rome's most feared enemies. Founded in third-century Persia by an Iranian noble called Ardashir, their...

Irish in America: Poverty to Power

At least 23 of the Presidents of the United States can have their ancestry traced back to Ireland.

So why did this diaspora come to America?...