Episodes

  • Bodies, bones & overflowing churchyards: a history of graveyards

    Bodies, bones & overflowing churchyards: a history of graveyards
    Oct 31 2025
    Burying the dead has never been a simple matter. Whether due to elaborate grave goods, unique burial rituals, or public health concerns, burial places through history have taken on a variety of unusual and intriguing forms. Roger Luckhurst tells Ellie Cawthorne more – from the ancient tombs of the pharaohs and the sky burials of Tibet, to the overflowing churchyards of 18th-century Paris and preserved bodies of 20th-century communist leaders. (Ad) Roger Luckhurst is the author of Graveyards: A History of Living with the Dead (Thames and Hudson, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Graveyards-History-Living-Roger-Luckhurst/dp/0500027706/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    32 mins
  • Myspace and MTV: how will future historians study the 21st century?

    Myspace and MTV: how will future historians study the 21st century?
    Oct 29 2025
    From social-media accounts to TV shows and video games, recent decades offer an enormous wealth of material for future historians to explore. But what are the challenges presented by this vast amount of data? And how will historical researchers a hundred years from now make sense of 2025? Matt Elton spoke to historians Jane Winters and John Wills to answer these questions – and find out how the ephemeral digital archives of our current era might differ from the historical sources of previous generations. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • Malcolm X: life of the week

    Malcolm X: life of the week
    Oct 28 2025
    Malcolm X was one of the most influential – and, sometimes, divisive – figures of the civil rights movement in the United States, a political activist whose approach proved both powerful and controversial. Speaking to Matt Elton, Ashley D Farmer discusses his life, times and legacy, and highlights some of the figures who shaped his worldview. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • Ghosts, grief and the paranormal

    Ghosts, grief and the paranormal
    Oct 27 2025
    Why are we so spooked – and yet so fascinated – by things that go bump in the night? And can science really prove that ghouls exist? Alice Vernon talks to Jon Bauckham about the evolution of ghost-hunting over the past 200 years, and how tales of pesky poltergeists and ectoplasm-filled séances have turned even some of the hardest sceptics into true believers. (Ad) Alice Vernon is the author of Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting and Why We Keep Looking (Bloomsbury, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fghosted%2Falice-vernon%2F9781399418706. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • How the Gunpowder Plot unravelled

    How the Gunpowder Plot unravelled
    Oct 25 2025
    In the autumn of 1605, Catholic conspirators believed they were about to strike a blow to the heart of the English state – but then a mysterious letter exposed their plan. In this second episode of our four-part series on the plot, Danny Bird speaks to historian John Cooper about the Gunpowder Plot’s dramatic collapse. They examine Fawkes’s arrest and forced confession, the grisly public trials and executions that followed, and how James VI & I turned the plot's failure into political dynamite – consolidating power and turning treason into an abiding warning to posterity. ––––– GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Want to know more about the Gunpowder Plot? Danny Bird has curated a selection of essential reading from the HistoryExtra and BBC History Magazine archive to help you explore the religious tensions, political intrigue and lasting impact of this infamous act of treason: https://bit.ly/3WDunPw. ––––– (Ad) John Cooper is the author of The Lost Chapel of Westminster: How a Royal Chapel Became the House of Commons (Apollo, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Chapel-Westminster-John-Cooper/dp/1801104514#:~:text=debate....-,John%20Cooper's%20The%20Lost%20Chapel%20of%20Westminster%20is%20a%20meticulously,beating%20heart%20of%20parliamentary%20debate/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    31 mins
  • Sex and sensationalism: a history of the tabloids

    Sex and sensationalism: a history of the tabloids
    Oct 23 2025
    Tabloid journalists often get a bad press. From publishing libellous headlines to hacking celebrities’ phones, recent years have not exactly done much to enhance Fleet Street’s reputation. But where did tabloid journalism originally come from? And have media barons always had such a profound influence on current affairs? Journalism lecturer Terry Kirby talks to Jon Bauckham about the evolution of the popular press, covering everything from Georgian gossip sheets to the rise of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. (Ad) Tery Kirby is the author of The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism (Reaktion Books, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Newsmongers-History-Tabloid-Journalism/dp/178914941X/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • 11th-century Europe: not just the Norman Conquest

    11th-century Europe: not just the Norman Conquest
    Oct 21 2025
    When we think of Europe in the 11th century, one date stands out: 1066. However, as Professor Charles West explains, this was a century of great change, and great events, across all of Europe. In conversation with David Musgrove, Charles talks about why we should perhaps be more concerned with the battle of Manzikert than the battle of Hastings, and why the 11th century is a story of cities and popes as much as it is of conquest and the Normans. (Ad) Charles West is the author of Europe in the Eleventh Century: Beyond Revolution and Reform (Oxford University Press, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: http://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=3041&awinaffid=489797&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FEurope-Eleventh-Century-Revolution-Medieval%2Fdp%2F0198860234%2F%3F_encoding%3DUTF8%26pd_rd_w%3DnAZG5%26content-id%3Damzn1.sym.a7785aa2-ac28-4769-b3eb-cff7b9738627%26pf_rd_p%3Da7785aa2-ac28-4769-b3eb-cff7b9738627%26pf_rd_r%3D130-4414563-4593041%26pd_rd_wg%3DfXSDe%26pd_rd_r%3D5b153ec9-1b16-4286-8ae5-7ff403b76e63&clickref=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • Tudor life with Ruth Goodman

    Tudor life with Ruth Goodman
    Oct 19 2025
    What did ordinary Tudors eat and drink on a daily basis? How did they keep themselves clean without baths and showers? And what surprising beliefs did they hold about sex, religion and childhood? Social historian Ruth Goodman – presenter of a new HistoryExtra Academy on Tudor life – reveals the often surprising realities of everyday existence in the era in conversation with Rachel Dinning. Don’t miss Ruth’s new HistoryExtra Academy video series on Tudor Life. The seven episodes, filmed on location at Plas Mawr in Conwy, cover everything you need to know about daily life in the Tudor era – from childhood and marriage to food and religion. Download the HistoryExtra app to access the latest episodes, ad-free: https://bit.ly/4n2t0oo. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    28 mins