History Extra podcast History Extra

The Sahara is known as one of the world’s hottest and driest environments, but during his explorations of the desert over the past 60 years, Martin Williams has discovered evidence of a green and pleasant history. He explains to Spencer Mizen how the area was once home to lakes, rivers, humans and hippos.

(Ad) Martin Williams is the author of When the Sahara Was Green: How Our Greatest Desert Came to Be (Princeton University Press, 2021). Buy it now from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Sahara-Was-Green-Greatest/dp/0691201625/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

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One hundred years ago, in 1922, Egyptologist Howard Carter made one of the most spectacular discoveries in the history of archaeology, when he unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. In the first episode in our new series on the life, death and legacy of the iconic pharaoh, Toby Wilkinson and Okasha El Daly tell Ellie Cawthorne about the hunt for the boy king’s tomb – which had lain undisturbed for more than 3,000 years – and the controversies sparked by the discovery.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-extra-plus-specials/id1569637306?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200&ls=1


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As the wife of Charles I, Henrietta Maria was in the firing line of the parliamentary propaganda machine. The Stuart queen was known as the “popish brat of France”, a “whore” and “the wife who wore the britches”. But does she deserve this rotten reputation? Emily Briffett spoke to Leanda de Lisle to bust some myths surrounding the reviled queen.

(Ad) Leanda de Lisle is the author of Henrietta Maria: Conspirator, Warrior, Phoenix Queen (Chatto & Windus, 2022). 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%2Fhenrietta-maria%2Fleanda-de-lisle%2F9781784742966

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From weight and distance, to calorie-counting and calculating the depths of space, throughout history, humans have loved to measure things. Speaking to Elinor Evans, James Vincent – author of Beyond Measure – uncovers some fascinating and unexpected stories from the history of measurement.

(Ad) James Vincent is the author of Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement (Faber & Faber, 2022). Buy it now from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Measure-Hidden-History-Measurement/dp/0571354211/ref=asc_df_0571354211/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=570229818468&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5898554147373027881&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006715&hvtargid=pla-1601293199965&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

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It’s the HistoryExtra podcast’s 15th birthday! To celebrate, we’ve asked 15 historians to nominate a figure from history they think deserves their ‘15 minutes of fame’. In this episode, Professor Hakim Adi nominates Alice Kinloch. Speaking with Rhiannon Davies, he describes how this impassioned South African political campaigner travelled around Britain, and was determined to reveal the brutality of the diamond mining industry in South Africa.
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How much has our view of the First World War – one of mud, trenches and futility – been shaped by the work of a handful of poets? How did the British public respond to poems criticising the war effort? And why have some war poets been remembered, while others have been forgotten? In our latest ‘Everything you wanted to know’ episode, the University of Exeter’s Professor Catriona Pennell answers listener questions on First World War poetry – and argues that we should broaden our horizons beyond Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.
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