HistoryExtra podcast

In reality, were medieval people dirty and covered in mud? What did they think were the healthiest things to eat? And how often did they think they should be having sex? Speaking to Charlotte Vosper, ...

From the magnificence of the Alhambra to the forgotten resting places of the Prophet Muhammad’s own relatives, Islam has long been a part of Europe’s history. Danny Bird speaks to Tharik Hussain about...

Few historical figures have reputations quite as diabolical as that of Attila the Hun. This nomadic leader pitched up on the edge of the Roman empire in the fifth century AD, and spread terror and cha...

In 1756, Elizabeth Marsh set sail from Gibraltar to Britain with the intention of meeting her fiancé. Instead, she was captured by Barbary corsairs – effectively pirates operating from north Africa, c...

As Elizabeth I entered the final chapter of her reign, questions of ageing, succession, and legacy loomed large. In this final episode of our four-part Sunday Series on the Tudor monarch, Rachel Dinni...

Rory Carroll unpacks the dramatic final years of Roger Casement – an Irish diplomat and nationalist whose tangled legacy includes heroism, betrayal, and personal scandal. Carroll tells Elinor Evans ab...

The 20th century saw the mafia go global. Crime groups, from Japan's Yakuza to southern Italy's Camorra, capitalised on political chaos and mass migration to spread their influence around the world. I...

Thinker, feminist, sociologist, campaigner: 19th-century writer Harriet Martineau was a pioneer and a radical across a huge range of areas, but it's very likely you've never heard of her. Stuart Hobda...

With sinful associations and incredibly painful symptoms, the pox could be a damning diagnosis in the early modern period. In this episode, Olivia Weisser speaks to Charlotte Vosper about the pox-ridd...

Elizabeth I’s reign was defined by constant threat, both at home and abroad. In this third episode of our four-part Sunday Series on the Tudor monarch, Rachel Dinning is joined by historian Nicola Tal...