HistoryExtra Podcast

HistoryExtra podcast episodes are released every week, featuring interviews with notable historians on topics spanning ancient history through to recent British to American events. Episodes feature history stories and perspectives on everything from crusading knights to Tudor monarchs and the D-Day landings.

Alison Weir discusses the varied and dramatic life of Henry VIII’s final wife, Katharine Parr. (Image by Getty Images)

Katharine Parr: secrets of a Tudor survivor

Ayanna Thompson discusses the history of blackface – a story spanning William Shakespeare, US race relations and Dartmoor Prison. (Image by Getty Images)

Blackface: a brief history

Britain's Greatest Prime Minister Podcast Series From HistoryExtra

Who was Britain’s greatest prime minister? Episode 4: Harold Wilson

Leo Hollis untangles the bizarre 18th-century court case surrounding Mary Davies: a wealthy heiress married in mysterious circumstances. (Image by Getty Images)

Madness, property and power: the strange case of Mary Davies

Mark Atwood Lawrence responds to readers’ questions about the United States’ failure to stem the advance of communism in Vietnam. (Image by Getty Images)

The Vietnam War: everything you wanted to know

Verena Krebs reveals what diplomatic missions sent by the Christian leaders of Ethiopia can tell us about the kingdom’s place in the medieval world

Medieval Ethiopia’s diplomatic missions

Jane Rogoyska explains how more than 20,000 Polish prisoners-of-war were murdered on Stalin’s orders in 1940, and explores the decades-long coverup that followed. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Uncovering the truth about WW2’s Katyn massacre

Dr Katrina Moseley explores the surprising story of slimming clubs, touching on female friendship, entrepreneurialism and feminist fury. (Image by Getty Images)

The changing shape of slimming clubs

Britain's Greatest Prime Minister Podcast Series From HistoryExtra

Who was Britain’s Greatest Prime Minister? Episode 3: Clement Attlee

Serhii Plokhy discusses the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and reveals just how close the world came to nuclear disaster. (Image by Getty Images)

How close to nuclear war did the Cuban Missile Crisis get?

Historian Timothy Hickman answers listener questions about the ban on booze in 1920s America, from speakeasies and moonshine to Al Capone’s shady dealings. (Image by Getty Images)

Prohibition: everything you wanted to know

Dr Ben Raffield explains how in the ninth and tenth centuries, Scandinavian laws and customs prevailed across a swathe of what’s now northern and eastern England. (Image by Getty Images)

The Danelaw: a Viking kingdom in England?

Harriet Atkinson takes us back to 1951’s Festival of Britain, a celebration of a nation rising from the ashes of war. (Image by Getty Images)

Britain’s great postwar party

The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a key moment in the reign of King Richard II. New research is revealing just how well-organised an operation it was. (Image by Getty Images)

The Peasants’ Revolt: who were the rebels of 1381?

Britain's Greatest Prime Minister Podcast Series From HistoryExtra

Who was Britain’s Greatest Prime Minister? Episode 2: Stanley Baldwin