Rob Attar

I edit HistoryExtra magazine (formerly BBC History Magazine), overseeing all the content within it and ensuring we deliver on our promise to present expert historical research in an accessible fashion. I am a regular host on the HistoryExtra podcast and present our spin-off podcast series History’s Greatest Conspiracy Theories. I also contribute to HistoryExtra.com, and help shape our output on external platforms such as AppleNews+. I studied history at the University of Bristol and then magazine journalism at the University of Cardiff. In 2004 I joined the BBC History Magazine team and have edited the magazine since 2012. I’ve also been a HistoryExtra podcast host since we launched in 2007.

Julius Caesar, wearing a red cloak, rides a dark horse through the shallow water of the Rubicon, accompanied by two soldiers. The painting’s muted, misty landscape suggests the moment of his fateful crossing.

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Monsters of Rome: do emperors such as Nero and Caligula deserve their reputations?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Everyday life in a slave trading town. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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North Korea's religious dictators. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A faded color photograph on a scrapbook page shows the Great Sphinx of Giza in warm sunlight, with pyramids visible behind it under a blue sky

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Episode 6Was the Great Sphinx built by a lost civilisation?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A vintage-looking photograph on a scrapbook page shows a bright, comet-like object streaking across a star-filled night sky above an orange-lit forest reflected in water

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Episode 5Did an alien spacecraft crash-land in Russia?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A weathered scrapbook page displays an old black-and-white illustration of a crowned pope holding a staff, printed over faded calendar or newspaper text

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Episode 4Did 300 years of history never happen at all?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A worn scrapbook page holds four black-and-white portraits of a young man with a mop-top haircut. The lower-right portrait is emphasized with a hand-drawn red circle

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Episode 3Was Paul McCartney replaced by an imposter?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Episode 2Do Jesus’s descendants live among us?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Hedy Lamarr: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria in a blue dress and white lace veil superimposed over a dim cobblestone alley, where a shadowy figure walks beneath glowing streetlights. The composition appears on an aged photograph lying among worn papers

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Episode 1Was Jack the Ripper Queen Victoria's grandson?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Alexander the Great: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Johannes Vermeer: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Emperor Hirohito: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Idi Amin's willing helpers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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WW2's Tunisian campaign: the Stalingrad of Africa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Who stole the Tudor crown?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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America in Korea: a failed occupation?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Black women and the fight for human rights. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Britain and the Caribbean: from slavery to Black Lives Matter. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Mein Kampf: Hitler's dark vision for the future. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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How the Allies won WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Philippe Sands sits leaning slightly forward, looking directly at the camera with a faint smile. He wears a blue button-up shirt against a plain brown backdrop.

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“If you represent Pinochet in this case, I will divorce you”: the sensational trial of the Chilean dictator. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The Einstein murders. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The Taiping Rebellion: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The great siege of Malta: Knights Hospitaller vs the Ottoman empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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A Nazi in Chile: did an SS commander work for Pinochet?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Rome's most scandalous emperors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Sex and Christianity: 2,000 years of love and fury. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Nelson & Winnie: inside the Mandelas' marriage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The bloody road to Rome: liberating Italy from the Nazis in WWII. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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