Podcasts

Pyramids

The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest building in the world for nearly four thousand years…until it was beaten by Lincoln...

Unrest in Parliament: The Hot Summer of 1911

The summer of 1911 was a hot one. Massive strikes took place across the country, including seamen, railwaymen, coal miners, women working in food...

What the Romans Did for Us

Early Medieval Britain was more Roman than we think. The Roman Empire left vast infrastructural resources, not least roads, walls and bridges. Why...

Female Pirates

Yo ho ho, a pirate’s life for me - but what is a pirate’s life, and what was it like for women?

This is the story of Anne Bonny and Mary...

The Origins of Rome

Known as the Eternal City, ancient Rome was one of the greatest civilisations in human history, but how did it come about?

With a turbulent...

Paul Revere

His name has inspired poems, novels, songs… Paul Revere remains forever attached to his greatest accomplishment : his "Midnight Ride" on April...

Nagasaki: Friendly Fire

Warning: The events recounted in this episode may be distressing to some listeners

At 11.02 am on August 9 1945, America dropped the world's...

Samuel Pepys

The great diarist Samuel Pepys was an avid collector of books, news and gossip, and reading was a major part of his life and the lives of his...

The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb

On August 6 and 9, 1945, US B-29 bombers, dropped their nuclear bombs on the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands...

Ancient Americas: Debunking The Maya Apocalypse

One of the most famous, and sophisticated, cultures of Mesoamerica, why are the Maya known only for predicting the end of the world?

In the...

Transistors & Telecommunication Satellites: Bell Labs

The transistor; solar panels; the first telecommunications satellite; cell phone networks; UNIX code; information theory. All these and more were...

A History of Britain in 50 Documents

How do you go about finding your way around the history of a nation and a national identity? For the barrister and author Dominic Selwood,...