History Hack

#90 History Hack: The History of Beer

Our Mary Rose judges Andrew Holmes and Jonny Dyer tackle, most willingly, a history of their favourite beverage with historian and author Pete Brown. WARNING: This will make you thirsty and bereft that pubs aren't open.

#89 History Hack: Down the Pub

Join us down the pub with historians and enthusiasts as we debate the most incompetent leader in history. Alex is still convinced she was robbed. The guy on the left is Peter III and you'll need both the portraits for reference!

#88 History Hack: Peaky Blinders in Skirts

Budding historian Emily Burgess joins us to talk about female gang culture in the aftermath of the Great War. She had us at diamond studded knuckle dusters. 

#87 History Hack: Charles II's Navy

J.D. Davies gives an introduction to Charles II's navy: how it operated, what life was like serving in it; and tells us why it should be considered the catalyst that launched the Royal Navy that later dominated the seas into being. 

#86 History Hack: Douglas Haig Was Not a Butcher

Despite years of scholarship to the contrary, the popular perception pervades that all of the Generals of the First World War were incompetent bunglers. As ever it is more complex than that. Gary Sheffield, Field Marshal Haig's biographer, joins us to address some of your questions on the British Army's supreme commander and to bring some balance to often ingrained but largely outdated opinions.

#85 History Hack: Anne Boleyn Day Pt.III: Tracy Borman

Rounding off our tribute to Anne Boleyn on the anniversary of her execution, Tracy Borman talks to us about her fall from grace and the conspiracy that resulted in her execution. 

#84 History Hack: Anne Boleyn Day Pt.II: Lauren MacKay

Historian and author Lauren MacKay joins us to challenge our perceptions of Anne's father, Thomas Boleyn and George, her brother. Find out more about their roles at the Courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII and how Anne's rise (and fall) impacted the rest of her family.

#83 History Hack: Anne Boleyn Day Pt.I Leanda De Lisle

Join us as me mark the anniversary of Anne Boleyn's execution with three podcasts discussing her life. In 1/3 Leanda De Lisle gives us a breakdown of Anne's colourful life' from her birth, her time at the French court as a young woman through to her return to England and her rise to power. 

#82 History Hack: WW2 in Russian Memory

Since victory in "The Great Patriotic War," how have Russians perceived it and how does it impact Russia today? With a an emphasis on Stalingrad, Ian Garner explains to us how shifting interpretations born on the battlefields have been reshaped to serve successive regimes since 1945.

#81: History Hack: Men in Black, An Introduction to the CIA

Rounding off our weekend of US History, Pulitzer winning journalist and author Tim Weiner joins us to talk about the early history of the CIA. Based on his book Legacy of Ashes, we learn all about the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency, the early conflicts in ethos and why up to and including the Cuban Missile Crisis, success was anything but a given.