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The History Extra podcast brings you gripping stories from the past and fascinating historical conversations with the world's leading historical experts.

Produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine, History Extra is a free history podcast, with episodes released six times a week. Subscribe now for the real stories behind your favourite films, TV shows and period dramas, as well as compelling insights into lesser-known aspects of the past. 
 
We delve into global history stories spanning the ancient world right up to the modern day. You’ll hear deep dives into the lives of famous historical figures like Cleopatra, Anne Boleyn and Winston Churchill, and explorations of intriguing events from the past, such as the Salem witch trials, the battle of Waterloo and D-Day. 
 
Expect fresh takes on history, helping you get to grips with the latest research, as we explore everything from ancient Roman archaeology and Viking mythology to Renaissance royals and Tudor kings and queens. 
 
Our episodes touch on a wide range of historical eras – from the Normans and Saxons to the Stuarts, Victorians and the Regency period. We cover the most popular historical subjects, from the medieval world to the Second World War, but you’ll also hear conversations on lesser-known parts of our past, including black history and women’s history. 
 
Looking at the history behind today’s headlines, we consider the forces that have shaped today’s world, from the imposing empires that dominated continents, to the revolutions that brought them crashing down. We also examine the impact of conflict across the centuries, from the crusades of the Middle Ages and the battles of the ancient Egyptians to World War One, World War Two and the Cold War. 
 
Plus, we uncover the real history behind myths, legends and conspiracy theories, from the medieval murder mystery of the Princes in the Tower, to the assassination of JFK. 
 
Featuring interviews with notable historians including Mary Beard, Tracy Borman, James Holland and Dan Jones, we cover a range of social, political and military history, with the aim to start conversations about some of the most fascinating areas of the past. 
Unlock full access to HistoryExtra.com for 6 months for just 99p https://www.historyextra.com/join/

History Extra podcast

A recent documentary drawing conclusions from new analysis of Adolf Hitler’s DNA has sparked headlines around the world. But how did the programme’s researchers get hold of the key evidence? And what issues – and implications – are prompted by linking the Nazi leader with a range of physical and psychological conditions?

 

Two of the experts behind the documentary, Turi King and Alex J Kay, spoke to Matt Elton about what led to their involvement – and offer their take on the real value of such research.

 

What's your take on this story? Let us know – email podcast@historyextra.com.

 

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HISTORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES

For more on the history behind the news, don’t miss our fortnightly podcast series History Behind the Headlines. Subscribe to the podcast, wherever you listen.

 

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GO BEYOND THE PODCAST

To find out more about Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, don’t miss our HistoryExtra Academy course Nazi Germany, with historian and broadcaster Laurence Rees: https://bit.ly/4i9bs9n

 

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

What does Hitler’s DNA really tell us?

Fears of the undead rising from their graves to cause trouble have recurred in societies around the globe throughout the centuries. But why was your mother-in-law especially likely to become a vampire? What makes Count Dracula a highly unusual bloodsucker? And how would you best mutilate a vampire's corpse to neutralise their threat? Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, Professor John Blair shares stories of vampire 'epidemics' throughout history from his new book Killing the Dead.

(Ad) John Blair is the author of Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World (Princeton University Press, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: http://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=22479&awinaffid=489797&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fkilling-the-dead%2Fjohn-blair%2F9780691224794&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

Mutilated corpses and undead mothers-in-law: vampire epidemics through history

When did poo become a problem? Why was manure so important in the medieval economy? And why don't we have vacuum-powered sewers? All these questions – and more – are answered in this brief history of both animal and human manure. David Musgrove speaks to Richard Jones to find out more.

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

The problem with poo: a millennium of manure

US president James Garfield's life is often overshadowed by his untimely death in 1881, as the second president to be assassinated in office. However, his story is now once again in the limelight, thanks to the new Netflix drama Death by Lightning. Historian and biographer CW Goodyear talks to Elinor Evans about a man who, though his time as leader was fleeting, remains a fascinating figure – and explains why there is much more to be remembered about him than simply his final days.

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

James Garfield: life of the week

As Britain's influence on the world around it grew throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, so too did the world influence Britain – and a key part of that influence was the arrival of people from other places and cultures to its shores. Kieran Connell's new book, Multicultural Britain, explores the experiences of some of these people, and the ways in which their stories combined, sometimes fractiously, to create a newly diverse nation.

 

(Ad) Kieran Connell is the author of Multicultural Britain: A People’s History (C Hurst & Co, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multicultural-Britain-Peoples-Kieran-Connell/dp/1911723510/?tag=bbchistory

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

A new history of multicultural Britain

At the end of the Second World War, the victorious Allies had to decide the fates of the surviving leaders of a regime that had initiated the bloodiest conflict in history, and perpetuated the Holocaust. The answer, beginning just a few months after VE Day, was the world’s first ever international criminal trial, held in the German city of Nuremberg. As we reach the 80th anniversary of these events, David Musgrove is joined by the lawyer and author Philippe Sands to explore how this groundbreaking trial was conceived amid the rubble of the Reich.

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

What should we do with the Nazis? The road to the Nuremberg Trials

On her deathbed Elizabeth I named the Scottish James VI as her successor, ensuring a smooth transition from the Tudor to Stuart monarchies. That, at least, is what we've long believed. But an explosive new discovery casts doubt on this version of events, suggesting that the Stuart succession was far less secure than we may have thought. In her new book, //The Stolen Crown//, historian Tracy Borman draws on this research to paint a vivid new picture of these turbulent years, which she explores in conversation with Rob Attar.

(Ad) Tracy Borman is the author of The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty (Hodder & Stoughton, 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%2Fthe-stolen-crown%2Ftracy-borman%2F9781399732888.

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

Who stole the Tudor crown?

When an elderly man with a battered suitcase walked into the British embassy in Vilnius in 1992, few could have guessed what he was about to hand over. Gordon Corera tells the story of Vasili Mitrokhin, an under-the-radar Soviet archivist who copied thousands of classified KGB documents over 12 years. Speaking to Elinor Evans, he reveals how a project that began as a private rebellion against the agency he once served evolved into one of the greatest intelligence coups of the 20th century.

(Ad) Gordon Corera is the author of The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB (William Collins, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spy-Archive-Gordon-Corera/dp/0008644799/?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

The librarian who stole KGB secrets

In the late 19th century, when female reporters were largely confined to newspapers' society pages, Nellie Bly's daring investigations and headline-grabbing exploits made her a household name. From her audacious exposé from inside a New York asylum – after convincing doctors she was insane – to becoming the 'real Phileas Fogg' by racing around the globe, Bly’s adventures captivated the world. Historian Bob Nicholson tells Kev Lochun more about her audacious brand of stunt journalism.

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

Nellie Bly: life of the week

To what extent does the course of history turn on the force of individual personalities? It’s a question that looms large when examining the unlikely alliance forged between Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union that ultimately triumphed over the Axis powers in the Second World War. Danny Bird speaks with author Tim Bouverie to explore the complex, often uneasy rapport between Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Josef Stalin. Tim delves into the secrets, suspicions and towering ambitions that defined this remarkable chapter in wartime diplomacy, revealing how the fragile unity among these three leaders not only shaped the path to victory but also laid the uneasy foundations of the postwar world order.

(Ad) Tim Bouverie is the author of Allies at War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler (Bodley Head, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Allies-War-Struggles-Between-Allied/dp/0593138368/?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

The improbable alliance that defeated Hitler

Earlier this week, new comedy drama The Decameron dropped on Netflix. Based on a set of 14th-century tales by Giovanni Boccaccio, it follows the raucous exploits of a group of medieval Italian nobles, after they flee to the hills to escape the Black Death. Boccaccio's text is one of the key sources we have on the plague pandemic that ravaged Europe in the 1340s, so with the release of the new series, we're bringing you an archive episode all about the Black Death. Speaking to David Musgrove back in 2021, historian John Hatcher answers your questions on the pandemic. 

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

Black Death: everything you wanted to know

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