1,992 episodes

The HistoryExtra podcast brings you interviews with the world's best historians, on everything from the ancient world and the Middle Ages to the Second World War and the history behind current events. Produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed, it offers fresh takes on history's most famous figures and events. Subscribe for the real stories behind your favourite historical films and TV shows, and compelling insights into lesser-known aspects of the past.

Unlock full access to HistoryExtra.com for 6 months for just 99p https://www.historyextra.com/join/

History Extra podcast History Extra

    • History
    • 4.4 • 2.6K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

The HistoryExtra podcast brings you interviews with the world's best historians, on everything from the ancient world and the Middle Ages to the Second World War and the history behind current events. Produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed, it offers fresh takes on history's most famous figures and events. Subscribe for the real stories behind your favourite historical films and TV shows, and compelling insights into lesser-known aspects of the past.

Unlock full access to HistoryExtra.com for 6 months for just 99p https://www.historyextra.com/join/

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Dinosaurs: a Victorian obsession

    Dinosaurs: a Victorian obsession

    Through the 19th century, people began to find strange and spectacular bones of "impossible monsters" in the earth. But what creatures could these bones belong to – and what did that mean both for religious beliefs and new evolutionary theories? Michael Taylor joins Rebecca Franks to discuss how the discovery of dinosaurs shook up Victorian Britain.

    (Ad) Michael Taylor is the author of Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin and the War Between Science and Religion (Bodley Head, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Faliens%2Fpaul-dowswell%2F9781785907937

    The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 40 min
    Tiger Tamer | 6. battling against Bovril

    Tiger Tamer | 6. battling against Bovril

    At the turn of the 20th century, bicycles and motor cars became fixtures on Britain’s roads. Bob Carlisle, the original ‘wheelbarrow pedestrian’, found himself overtaken in this transport revolution. In the final episode of our new series on this larger-than-life character of the Victorian age, David Musgrove considers how Carlisle’s pedestrian career helps us understand major changes in society, from athleticism and transport to the boom in advertising and consumer goods.

    The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 34 min
    How was Elizabeth I shaped by her childhood?

    How was Elizabeth I shaped by her childhood?

    Elizabeth I is probably best remembered as an aging monarch, with a powdered white face and elaborate red wig. But she was just 25 when she became queen, and had by then had already lived a dramatic and tumultuous life. As author and historian Nicola Tallis tells Lauren Good, the queen's childhood and early years had a lasting impact on her as a ruler – and a woman.

    (Ad) Nicolas Tallis is the author of Young Elizabeth: Princess. Prisoner. Queen. (Michael O'Mara, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Young-Elizabeth-Princess-Prisoner-Queen/dp/178929519X/?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

    • 28 min
    Joan of Arc: life of the week

    Joan of Arc: life of the week

    Joan of Arc has gone down in history as the virgin saviour of France – a patriotic martyr who was unjustly burnt at the stake at the hands of her Anglo-Burgundian opponents. But there's more to the story than that. Speaking to Emily Briffett, historian Anne Curry charts the extraordinary rise and fall of the young peasant girl from Domrémy, whose visions and prophecies brought her face to face with King Charles VII and led to her spiritual leadership over the armies of France before ending in her unfortunate demise.

    The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 54 min
    Leftovers: how our ancestors battled food waste

    Leftovers: how our ancestors battled food waste

    From Tudor slop buckets to WW2 potato peel recipes, Eleanor Barnett tells Ellie Cawthorne about how our ancestors used up food leftovers. She reveals some ingenious and appetising tactics for tackling food waste in the past and questions whether we might look back to history to help deal with the issue today.


    (Ad) Eleanor Barnett is the author of Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation (Apollo, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leftovers-History-Food-Waste-Preservation/dp/180328157X/?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

    • 29 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
2.6K Ratings

2.6K Ratings

Geoplanter ,

Weimar Germany

Professor McDonough neglected to discuss the watershed moment which was the elevation of the German-Jewish industrialist, Walter Rathenau to Foreign Minister, and his subsequent assassination by a far-right group.

Rathenau’s story was symbolic of the rise and prosperity of the German Jews, from the Enlightenment, to the ultimate tragedy of the 20th Century.

Instead of making a quick passing reference to the prejudices against “Eastern Jews” residing in Germany at that period, he should have been more accurate and detailed as to the success and assimilation of the German Jews…especially since they were so central to Weimar culture in Berlin and elsewhere.

Oldbutspecial ,

Charles Dickens

Ms Kelley was very annoying in her critique and delivery. Couldn’t get thru the podcast

Sanera ,

A Daily Staple

I’ve listened to a lot of history podcasts and this is the only one that gives everything. This is the best commute history that usually revolves around the subject of a book and it’s cool to hear the voice of the authors of familiar books. All in all, just the best and I’m thankful for the quantity of content. Would love to hear a podcast of welsh mythology!

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