HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2025-11-15T22:00:52.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: “We analysed Hitler’s DNA – and what we discovered made us gasp”
items: When was the White House built – and why is it white?
items: “A tidal wave of digital material will overwhelm recordkeeping institutions”: the future of history
items: The spy next door: Moscow's century-long plot to infiltrate the west
items: Reshaping narratives, repatriation and Richard III : 25 lessons we've learnt from history in the last 25 years
items: "If you represent Pinochet in this case, I will divorce you”: the sensational trial of the Chilean dictator
items: Papal elections and tariff troubles: history behind the headlines
items: 2024 in review: history behind the headlines
items: From Mosley to the summer riots of 2024: the opportunistic evolution of Britain’s far right
items: Michael Wood on the rise of a new world order

“We analysed Hitler’s DNA – and what we discovered made us gasp”
type: item
date: 2025-11-15T22:00:52.000Z
subject: 21st Century
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Trends-News
description: Turi King and Alex J Kay have married genetics with history to study a sample of DNA from Adolf Hitler – and, as they reveal, their research has thrown up some extraordinary insights into the Nazi dictator’s private life
encoded: Few historical figures have been discussed and debated as much as Adolf Hitler. We have a wealth of primary source material available to us about his life, including his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf, personal correspondence, political directives and military orders, recordings and transcripts of his countless speeches, eyewitness accounts, photographs and film footage. Now, 80 years after his death, Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator, a groundbreaking documentary produced by Blink Films and currently airing on Channel 4, has unlocked a new source by presenting the results of a world-first analysis of a sample of Hitler’s DNA. The DNA was taken from the blood on a small piece of fabric cut from the sofa on which Hitler died after shooting himself in his Berlin bunker on 30 April 1945 We have the privilege of being part of this documentary – both as lead investigators and in our separate roles as senior historical consultant (Alex) and the person leading the genetic analysis (Turi). The background to the documentary was a multi-stage process, each step a powerful marrying of genetics with history. It probably goes without saying that the first step was to confirm that the blood sample was actually that of Hitler. With this in mind, it’s important to remember that, as in any forensic case, DNA evidence cannot be taken in isolation. It has to be combined with other types of evidence, in this case reaching back into the past for information first about Hitler’s suicide and then about how the piece of fabric came to be available for DNA testing. The Führer’s family tree So, what does the history tell us? With the Red Army closing in, Hitler killed himself in his Berlin bunker on the afternoon of 30 April 1945. In the days following his death, the Soviets controlled access, and few people were allowed in. Among those who were permitted to enter was Lieutenant Colonel Roswell P Rosengren, public information officer for General Dwight D Eisenhower, the supreme Al…

Hitler-DNA-WL-a9816bb.jpg
width: 1500
height: 1000

When was the White House built – and why is it white?
type: item
date: 2025-10-27T17:06:42.000Z
subject: 21st Century
subject: Period
subject: US presidents
description: How much do you know about the history of the White House in Washington, DC, which has been home to all US presidents since John Adams in 1800?
encoded: Inscribed on the stone fireplace of the State Dining Room of the White House are the words: “I pray to Heaven bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” The blessing, which was engraved there in 1945, came from a letter written by John Adams to his wife Abigail in 1800. He was the second man to be president of the United States, but the first to reside in the world-famous home of the presidency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, in Washington, DC. A decade earlier, there had been no such place as Washington, DC, on the Potomac River. Founded by the Residence Act of 1790, the new capital would be a modern metropolis laid out in a grid system and with grand boulevards and public spaces everywhere. In the short term, though, it was not a promising place to live: if not hectic with the constant building works, there was nothing around but forests and some wetlands, where sanitation was poor and conditions were cold to freezing. Still, this would be the home of the president. George Washington, the first man elected to the office, personally chose the site for what would be the White House along with city planner Pierre Charles L’Enfant, and launched a competition for the building’s design. When was the White House built? Construction of the White House got underway with the laying of the cornerstone on 13 October 1792. But the the so-called ‘Presidential Palace' would not be finished until after Washington had left office. Even by 1800, when Adams moved in, the building was far from complete. It would be added to, repaired and extended many times throughout the years, not least when it had to be reconstructed following the War of 1812. The photogenic South Portico was added in 1824, followed by the North Portico, completed in 1830. The West Wing was added in 1902 and within, in 1909, the first iteration of the Oval Office. The East Wing was developed in 1942 – it is the fo…

WhiteHouseGettyImages-CA24764-b45317a-e1761583763676.jpg
width: 1500
height: 1002

“A tidal wave of digital material will overwhelm recordkeeping institutions”: the future of history
type: item
date: 2025-10-27T15:00:09.000Z
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Debate
description: If you’ve ever posted a comment on social media, you’ve created a potential source for future historians. But what problems does this mass of new material pose? Matt Elton asked historians Jane Winters and John Wills about how recent archives differ from those of the past – and how experts might make sense of them
encoded: Matt Elton: How do the kinds of records created now and in the recent past differ from those left in previous centuries? Jane Winters: Records and sources now come in a whole range of formats. In some cases, they are very familiar analogue sources that have become digital, whereas in others they are in a completely new format. Newspapers offer a great example of how this has changed: we used to read them only in physical form. Then those physical newspapers were digitised, keeping essentially the same structure. We now have both physical and digital newspapers, which differ in both form and content. An issue of The Guardian published in print today will not contain the same information as the online version: there will also be multimedia material and lots of online comments and conversations, whereas in the past you would have had only letters to the editor, for instance. And to take the example of people’s reflective writing, that’s a type of source that has also moved into new formats. A diary is not exactly the same as a blog entry or a post on social media, for instance. John Wills: One example that offers an interesting way of thinking about some of these issues is the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon – the point in 2023 when the movies Barbie and Oppenheimer were released at the same time. That’s a very recent instance of the kind of cultural moment that’s really interesting to research – but doing so is not easy, because you’re dealing not just with the films themselves but also the digital content produced by the films’ fandoms, the actors’ response to that content, and the wider public responses to those two movies, in a way that we’ve never been able to do before. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/10/2RKFGYE-8d3d650.jpg" width="4475" height="2983" alt="A movie poster shows characters from the films Oppenheimer and Barbie, creating a layered montage to promote "Barbenheimer". That word is written in pink across the bottom" t…

LEADFuture-History-5-Aug-brighterwebready-3fc2199.jpg
width: 1500
height: 1000

The spy next door: Moscow's century-long plot to infiltrate the west
type: item
date: 2025-08-27T07:00:19.000Z
creator: Danny Bird
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Shaun Walker casts light on Moscow's shocking 'illegals' programme - a daring feat of espionage that saw Russian spies going deep undercover
encoded: In 2010, the world was stunned when the United States exposed a covert Russian spy network operating on its soil. Seemingly all-American families living in white-picket-fenced suburbia were in fact deep undercover Russian agents. Many had been living under assumed identities for decades, lying even to their own children. In this episode, journalist Shaun Walker speaks to Danny Bird about Moscow’s longlasting ‘illegals’ programme – perhaps the most audacious chapter in the history of espionage. He reveals how the roots of the operation reached back more than a century to before the Bolshevik Revolution; how the Soviet Union deployed it against supposedly ‘friendly’ states; and how today’s Russia reveres these spies as patriotic heroes. Shaun Walker is the author of The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West (Profile Books, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones

Shaun-Walker-The-spy-next-door-WL-36a28e8.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

Reshaping narratives, repatriation and Richard III : 25 lessons we've learnt from history in the last 25 years
type: item
date: 2025-06-18T08:00:37.000Z
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Debate
subject: Historical events
subject: Historical people
description: To celebrate a quarter-century of BBC History Magazine, we asked 25 expert contributors to nominate the most important historical discoveries and revelations since the publication launched in 2000
encoded: 1. Women played major roles in the Viking Age Just 25 years ago, there seemed to be little new to say about the Vikings – and that was particularly the case for Viking women. The centuries-old consensus was that Viking wives and daughters stayed at home, passively watching as the Viking Age unfolded around them. New technologies have forced a rethink, though, completely revolutionising what we know about Viking women. The first significant discovery came from a systematic survey of a nationwide database of metal-detected female dress jewellery. This demonstrated for the first time that Scandinavian women migrated to England in substantial numbers. Next, isotope analysis of teeth from the graves of Viking women showed that they had formed a key part of the migration process elsewhere, too, moving across the Viking world alongside their families. The most dramatic and most debated discovery, however, came through analysis of ancient DNA. In Birka, Sweden, an individual buried in a high-status warrior grave turned out to be biologically female. This led to a worldwide discussion of the roles of Viking women: we now agree that, though many certainly did stay at home, some played active roles in trade, craft and manufacturing processes, and even held military positions. Cat Jarman is an archaeologist, author and TV presenter. Her books include The Bone Chests: Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons (William Collins, 2023) 2. Britain has been culturally diverse for far longer than most believed The murder of George Floyd by white police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020 signalled a turning point in the way the histories of people of African descent were taught and perceived across Europe. From that moment, the British press and institutions felt that they had to engage better with narratives about minority ethnic communities. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/06/GettyImages-1292414316-CMYK-6ff23f7.jpg" width="1451" height="967" alt="…

Lead-25-Birthday--c1b4b2e.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

"If you represent Pinochet in this case, I will divorce you”: the sensational trial of the Chilean dictator
type: item
date: 2025-05-27T08:00:52.000Z
creator: Rob Attar
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Historical events
description: Philippe Sands tells Rob Attar about his involvement in the sensational trial of the Chilean dictator, and how it connects to a Nazi on the run
encoded: Rob Attar: In 1998, the former dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, was arrested in London. How seismic a moment was this? Philippe Sands: I remember the moment of learning of Pinochet’s arrest. It was a Saturday afternoon. It happened to be my birthday, and I was settling down to watch the football results at five o’clock when the news came on and they announced that Augusto Pinochet had been arrested for murder and crimes against humanity. It was huge. It was the first time that a former head of state, while travelling abroad, had been arrested on international crimes. Someone not familiar with the story might wonder why this was happening in London, not Santiago. What can you tell us about the geography of these events? By way of background, in September 1973 Augusto Pinochet, head of the Chilean military, seized power in a coup d’etat and remained there for 17 years. Over that period, hundreds of thousands were arrested, tens of thousands were tortured and ‘disappeared’, and many remain so to this day. There are about 1,300 people unaccounted for. This had attracted considerable interest around the world, because these are actions that would be characterised as international crimes within the meaning of the 1945 Nuremberg trials and definitions. And that is coupled with a principle known as universal jurisdiction, where when certain crimes take place, the courts of any country in the world may exercise jurisdiction. In October 1998 a Spanish judge named Baltasar Garzón decided to issue an arrest warrant for Senator Pinochet, while he was in London receiving medical treatment, for international crimes. That was the start of this part of the story. The connection with Spain is interesting because Pinochet’s relationship with the west was quite complex. He had a lot of friends in western countries, particularly America and Britain, for example. Pinochet did indeed have friends, on the political right, in the United States and in Britain. He was a good friend of Mar…

eyevine01388224-7d44831.jpg
width: 2756
height: 1836

Papal elections and tariff troubles: history behind the headlines
type: item
date: 2025-04-29T06:30:26.000Z
creator: Matt Elton
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: History behind the Headlines
description: Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter discuss the historical context behind recent news stories
encoded: In the latest episode of our monthly podcast series, regular panellists Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter are joined by Frank Trentmann to discuss the historical parallels behind recent developments in the global trade war – plus the tumultuous history of papal elections, and the surprising connection between Katy Perry and Alexander the Great.

Pod-Behind-headlines-WL-1-81187da.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

2024 in review: history behind the headlines
type: item
date: 2024-12-24T07:30:56.000Z
creator: Matt Elton
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: History behind the Headlines
description: Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter look back at the history behind some of the year's biggest news stories in this special episode of our monthly series
encoded: From the rise of AI to a plethora of elections and life-saving vaccines, it's been a busy 12 months. Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter look back at the history behind some of the biggest stories of the year – and pick their favourite books of 2024, in this special episode of our monthly series.

From Mosley to the summer riots of 2024: the opportunistic evolution of Britain’s far right
type: item
date: 2024-11-21T16:10:37.000Z
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Fascism
description: In the summer of 2024, racist violence broke out in towns and cities across the UK, sparked by the deaths of three children in Southport and a lot of misinformation and lies online. A number of groups were involved in the rioting. Graham Macklin charts the postwar history of British far-right movements which have emerged, grown and diminished over the last few decades
encoded: By the 1950s, Sir Oswald Mosley’s political career seemed in irreparable tatters. Fronting the antisemitic British Union of Fascists (BUF), and backed by quasi-paramilitary Blackshirt thugs, during the 1930s he had enjoyed a degree of public support. After the outbreak of the Second World War, however, that support turned to widespread hostility. Interned in 1940, for fear he and his followers would form a ‘fifth column’ should Hitler invade Britain, in 1951 he emigrated and left national politics. When race riots broke out in west London’s Notting Hill district in 1958, he thought again. Gangs of young white ‘Teddy Boys’ attacked members of the Afro-Caribbean community, sparking three days of violence. And fascists saw an opportunity to exploit the simmering tensions. The Union Movement – Mosley’s postwar political vehicle – had long been active in that part of London, as had other, smaller racist sects. His party quickly mobilised to take advantage of the situation, holding dozens of provocative meetings. Read more | Who were the young people drawn to Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists? Now viewing the area as fertile ground for the resurrection of his career, Mosley returned to England and stood for election in Kensington North in the 1959 general election. His party saturated the constituency with racist propaganda. He styled himself as the redoubtable defender of a white working class ignored by the Labour Party that favoured migrants over the indigenous white residents – a familiar narrative for today’s far right. His dominant message was that the area’s very real deprivation could be solved only through the repatriation of the ‘coloured’ community. In the event, Mosley polled only 8.1 per cent of the vote. His supporters openly wept, and he refused to accept the result; claiming it was rigged, he petitioned the High Court, unsuccessfully. This episode tells us a good deal about both the British far right and its relationship to racist mob violence, whi…

GettyImages-53255911-bfbd14a-e1730718559435.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

Michael Wood on the rise of a new world order
type: item
date: 2024-11-21T14:53:44.000Z
creator: Michael Wood
subject: 21st Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: "The making of our new world began in China just over 40 years ago," writes historian Michael Wood
encoded: I’m looking out over the Eastern Mediterranean amid heat waves, migrant crises and the atrocious wars in Gaza and Ukraine. One hundred years ago the British empire was at its height. Fifty years ago we were living under the American hegemony. Now the world order that emerged after the Second World War – economic, political and cultural – is shifting, dissolving like a giant kaleidoscope, and a new picture is taking shape. It’s ‘the great global rebalancing’, as diplomat and think-tanker Samir Puri calls it in his new book, Westlessness. It’s a good pun. The truth is the world has been getting increasingly ‘Westless’ for the last decade or two. The talk now is that although the US is still number one, a new order is arising, with a split between the Global North and Global South where the South no longer believes in the West’s hegemonial narrative and all that goes with it. In Beijing, smart thinkers now speak of US decline and China’s inexorable rise. President Xi Jinping says China’s new strength comes from the inherent greatness of Chinese civilisation, freed now from the Century of Humiliation, which stretched from the Opium Wars to 1949. Even in the movies, China bids to take over the world: no Hollywood film was in the box office top 10 in China in 2023. Read more | Has China always been the world’s greatest superpower? There are, of course, those in Britain who cling to the idea that the old narrative of Western imperialism still has credibility, and even moral force, but it seems to me they have lost the argument now. All empires deploy violence, all are extractive, all endorse cultural and racial supremacy. History has moved on. Till the 18th century the powerhouses of human history were the populous heartlands of humanity: China, India, Persia, Byzantium, Rome and the Muslim world. The rise of our modern world has its roots in what my old tutor Michael Wallace-Hadrill called the ‘Barbarian West’, when successive enlightenments, beginning with Charlemagne, s…

HEX Voices Michael-Wood-8922118.jpg
width: 621
height: 413