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As the threat of war began to loom in the 1930s, an elaborate system of fortifications sprung up in northeastern France. Known as the Maginot line, this string of defences was designed to protect the...
· 40 min 14 sec
In the interwar era, artists and designers embraced a sleek modern style that embodied the optimism and elegance of the age. On the centenary of the Paris expo that launched Art Deco on the internatio...
· 15 min 24 sec
From Hercule Poirot to Sherlock Holmes, crime fiction has long been a popular genre. But what was the first crime novel? How has crime writing affected real-life cases? And what was the 'Detection Clu...
· 44 min 33 sec
What if the 'fall' of Rome wasn’t a collapse, but a rebrand? In this episode, Alice Roberts delves into the dramatic transformation of the Roman world and the rise of Christianity, from cliffside buri...
· 43 min 52 sec
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 de...
· 46 min 1 sec
Edward the Confessor, England’s penultimate Anglo-Saxon king, has long been remembered as a saintly, pious monarch – but was he really the weak ruler whose indecision paved the way for the Norman Conq...
· 49 min 42 sec
Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne share the story of an illicit romance with royal connections that kicked off one of the messiest divorce cases of the Georgian age In a tavern in 1769, arist...
· 37 min 27 sec
In 1579, Queen Elizabeth I embarked on a romance with a French duke she affectionately dubbed her “frog”. The pair seemed destined for marriage. Yet, writes historian Elizabeth Tunstall in this Long R...
· 18 min 21 sec
Histories of British involvement in the Caribbean tend to focus mainly on the period of plantation slavery but, in her new book Empire Without End, Imaobong Umoren argues that we need to take a broade...
· 30 min 0 sec
Human beings tend to identify with being in a group, and, historically, few groupings have been more potent than the idea of the nation. But when did people first embrace the idea of the nation state?...
· 45 min 17 sec
In 1775, a respectable lady, a mild-mannered apothecary and his fast-living identical twin stood accused of pulling off a scam that had earnt them a fortune. But as their trial unfolded, the defendant...
· 8 min 52 sec
After causing the extinction of the dodo, humans soon realised that we had the power to destroy entire species – and we continue to reckon with that power. Speaking to James Osborne, Sadiah Qureshi di...
· 35 min 6 sec
Christianity came to dominate Europe in the Middle Ages. However, some parts of Europe remained pagan until very recently. So how did non-Christian peoples survive, and prosper, in parts of Europe for...
· 41 min 43 sec
In the latest episode of our monthly series charting the historical background of current news events, historians Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter discuss how VJ Day is remembered 80 years on – and explor...
· 45 min 19 sec
Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne follow on the trail of a trio of scammers who fooled Georgian high society using fake bonds In 1775, a respectable lady, a mild-mannered apothecary and his f...
· 41 min 20 sec
We all have childhood memories of playgrounds. But what can the evolution of outdoor play in Britain tell us about the experience of being young over the past 200 years? This Long Read, written by his...
· 21 min 31 sec
For centuries, North and Latin America have been locked in a relationship of rivalry and reciprocity. From revolutionary dreams to imperial ambitions, their fates have never been separate. Speaking to...
· 38 min 14 sec
In the spring of 1871, the citizens of Europe’s second largest city rose up and proclaimed the Paris Commune. For eight extraordinary weeks, the French capital defied the national government that had...
· 56 min 14 sec
On the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, broadcaster Kavita Puri – presenter of a new BBC Radio 4 series on the Second World War in Asia – tells Matt Elton why stories of the Allied conflict with Japan rema...
· 39 min 17 sec
From zoot suiters and mods, to mashers and Congolese sapeurs, since the early 19th century, fashionable male subcultures have popped up across the globe. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, Peter Andersson e...
· 29 min 8 sec