We are a slightly mad, always fun podcast bringing you all the History you love and a lot that you didn‘t know you‘d love until you heard it here!
Recommended by BBC Radio, and presented by acclaimed historian Alexandra Churchill, with Matt Bone and Zack White.
Alex and Alina interview Belgian historians Gregory Verfaillie and Martial Masschelein about their country’s experience of the Great War. Learn about refugees, holding off the German invasion, prostitution and unwed mothers, how Belgians still live with the war every day, and why they’ve all been panic buying headache tablets.
Read about Belgium in WW1: https://amzn.to/3hggG1O
Join Alex and Alina as they talk to Saul David about his smash hit new book: Crucible of Hell: Okinawa, the Last Great Battle of the Second World War. Saul puts the battle into context, explains the thought process behind Kamikaze pilots, the truth about Hacksaw Ridge, the morality of dropping atomic bombs and makes our day with the revelation that gin and tonic might be all you need to combat Covid-19.
Buy Saul's book: https://amzn.to/2RcK8v3
Scholar and TV Historian Dan Jones joins Alex and Alina for a Medieval Q&A. Learn about what he’s working on now, how you go about writing an epic, who his favourite (dead) women are, why Philippa Gregory novels should not form the basis of conpiracy theories, and how to home school like a boss.
Buy Dan's Crusades Book: https://amzn.to/3igrq1H
Buy The Hollow Crown: https://amzn.to/35jVxBD
The undisputed Queen of Antiquity joins Alex and Alina for a Q&A session. Mary Beard tackles your questions with tales of plagues, Pompeii, parenting and porn. Find out about the Roman equivalent of Trip Advisor, how to swear in Latin, why gin and tonic fixes everything, and why personal grooming during a pandemic is for wimps.
Buy Mary's history of Rome: https://amzn.to/2FqIOCo
Naval philistines and Judges the Not-So-Honourable Andrew Holmes and the Downright-Sozzled Alina Nowobilska are subjected by Alex to a debate on the greatest ship every built at our first Friday night virtual pub session. The winning vessel will constitute the name of the boozer from now on, so listen as enthusiasts and experts, including representatives from the Mary Rose Museum and the Australian National Maritime Museum, make the case for the favourites in a semi-chaotic and jovial podcast. Featuring Historians Chris Dobbs, Brian Hawley, Chris Sams, Jonathan Saunders and Inger Sheil.
We keep hearing about the need to embrace it in the face of Covid-19, but what is "Blitz Spirit?" Did it even exist? Historian and Consultant Joshua Levine joins us to talk about his hit book The Secret History of the Blitz. Learn about the parallels between 1940 and now; we ask how badly did people behave, and were the authorities prepared? Hear about the dark side of this fabled period of British history, why Sooty the bear was disturbing, and why garden centres near Josh need to up their security.
Buy Josh's Book: https://amzn.to/3bHQ7BH
In the first in this weekly English language series with a focus on Polish History, Alex and Alina talk to Dr. Pawel Markiewicz about his research into German/Ukrainian Collaboration in the General Government during WW2.
Historian and Editor of History Today Paul Lay discusses his new book Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic with Alex and Alina. Find out some of what made the incredibly complex character of Oliver Cromwell tick before, during, and after the Civil War. Learn all about his Puritan vision for England and brace yourself for an increase in lunacy on social media.
Buy Paul's Book: https://amzn.to/2Zi0hE1
Experience the surreal. Alina interviews Alex about the deteriorating relationship between George V and Edward VIII and her research into how it impacted the abdication in 1937. Hear about the Royal family dynamic in WW1, find out if George V really was a terrible father and get a sneak peak into what currently redundant BBC football commentators are up to with all their new-found freedom.
Buy Alex's Book: https://amzn.to/2Zisuus
Father-daughter duo Jon and Emily Jordan join Alex and Alina from lockdown near Atlanta to talk about their new book War Queens: Extraordinary Woman Who Ruled the Battlefield. As they skim back and forth across the globe bringing you tales of badass women, find out who makes their top three, who surprised them the most, who they didn't particularly like and what happens when the local Walmart announces that they've had a delivery of paper towels.
Buy Jon & Emily's Book: https://amzn.to/2ZibBzY
