The History Podcast

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History
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Uncover new perspectives on unforgettable stories from our past. The History Podcast is the home of story-driven history series from BBC Radio 4. Each series will take you inside the most pivotal events in history, through the people who were there, to uncover new perspectives on the moments that still define us now.

Episode 1

How Houdini Made Magic: 1. Find your motivation

One hundred years after his death, how did an ordinary immigrant child transform himself into the most famous magician in history? In episode one of How Houdini Made Magic, psychological illusionist Derren Brown traces the early life of Eric Weisz. In 1878, Eric’s family voyaged from Budapest to the American promised land of Appleton, Wisconsin. What awaited him was the unforgiving Gilded Age America. But Eric turned hardship and personal tragedy into a motivation that would become the driving force of his life: to keep his ageing mother comfortable. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 2

How Houdini Made Magic: 2. Find your voice

In the late 19th Century, a young Hungarian immigrant called Eric Weisz chose magic as the means to provide for his ageing mother. He found inspiration in the form of a memoir, and his identity morphed: young Eric became Harry Houdini, and a legend was born. But legendary status only came later. And it required persistence to achieve it. Because cutting through the cutthroat magic scene of the time proved tricky. Alongside a rotating cast of magical sidekicks, Houdini tried his hand at card tricks, comedy and even became a fraudulent spirit medium for a short while. With these acts, he scraped by in dime museums, circuses, and medicine shows. But it was his bigger stunts that finally got the attention he craved, though. One trick he pioneered during his teenage years would go on to form part of his act for the rest of his life. Join Derren Brown as he explores the ups and downs of a performer dead set on finding his voice and making it big as he first dabbles with the idea of escape. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke Original music: The Inner Me - Epilogue (Rosie, sweet Rosabel) A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 3

How Houdini Made Magic: 3. Know your audience

Houdini almost gave up on the act that would make him a star: the handcuff escape. But with his wife’s encouragement, he persisted. And it paid off. Join Derren Brown as we learn how Houdini went from a sideshow hustler to the big time. In 1899, Martin Beck, a Vaudeville booker, stumbled into a beer hall in St Paul, Minnesota, and changed Houdini’s life. He thought Houdini’s handcuff escape act was uniquely interesting and offered him a run of shows. Houdini grasped the opportunity with both hands. As his understanding of what his audiences desired increased, so too did his star rise. He became a Vaudeville star. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 4

How Houdini Made Magic: 4. Advertise

Houdini had made it big in America. At the very start of the 20th century, however, the pinnacle for performers was not the fledgling States, but Europe. So Houdini boarded a ship to London, where he learned how to make noise. Derren Brown explores the brilliant promotional playbook that set Houdini miles ahead of his contemporaries. Stepping off the boat in London and charming the sceptics at Scotland Yard and the Alhambra Theatre, Houdini quickly realised that the secret to superstardom wasn't just the escape; it was the advertising. We hear about the outrageous stunts that got the world talking: from engineered rivalries on opening night and lines of bald men spelling his name down Parisian boulevards, to ingenious brand partnerships with local businesses and breweries. While brilliant technical assistants pioneered new tricks behind the scenes, Houdini’s entrepreneurial genius proved his greatest strength in the battle for attention. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 5

How Houdini Made Magic: 5. Protect your brand

When an authoritarian empire threatens to brand you a fraud and destroy your legacy, how do you fight back? Derren Brown explores the high-stakes legal battles that helped cement Houdini’s European triumph. Arriving in a hostile Berlin where the Imperial police aggressively censored entertainment, Houdini accepted the ultimate challenge, stripping naked before 300 officers to free himself from German restraints. But when a bitter policeman accused him of cheating and bribery, Houdini did the unthinkable: he sued for slander, turning the highest court in the German Empire into the ultimate theatrical stage. Houdini brilliantly weaponised the legal system, orchestrating PR campaigns and dramatic courtroom victories that he transformed into powerful marketing posters. Then, with his success on the rise, he faced a new threat: copycat acts. Again, Houdini used ingenious legal tactics to protect his brand in a distinctly modern approach. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 6

How Houdini Made Magic: 6. Make influential friends

Documentary evidence shows that when Harry Houdini first arrived in the UK, he struck up a friendship, of sorts, with a man who would go on to pioneer British espionage. A man who would go on to be the inspiration for the character “M” in Ian Fleming’s James Bond. It begs the question: Beyond the handcuffs and the stage, did the world's most famous mystifier, Houdini, lead a double life as an international informant? Derren Brown investigates the shadowy network of high-profile connections that shaped Houdini’s global career. From suspicious passport alterations to intelligence reports signed "HH" ahead of tours through volatile Russia and Germany, the pieces of a tantalising puzzle begin to fall into place. There is, after all, a striking overlap between the misdirection of a master magician and the tradecraft of espionage. Whatever the answer, Houdini’s fame clearly benefitted from his high-profile connections. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 7

How Houdini Made Magic: 7. Master the media

“It was the making of Houdini”. That’s how one magician described Houdini’s dramatic “Mirror Handcuff escape”. In London’s Hippodrome, in 1904, Houdini wowed the 4000 gripped audience members as he broke free from handcuffs designed by the Daily Illustrated Mirror to be impossible to escape. The resulting international media coverage was seismic for Houdini’s career. But was it a masterful escape? Or a brilliantly conceived piece of mutually beneficial publicity? Derren Brown explores how Houdini became the ultimate master in media manipulation. And how his ability to self-mythologise in the media suggests there was something fishy going on in the Hippodrome that day. Far from being a let-down, however, Derren argues Houdini’s weaponisation of the media is a sign of his genius. His invented near-death river escapes demonstrate a canny ability to spin in a very modern way. His understanding of the media then helped to secure Houdini’s name as a pioneer aviator! Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 8

How Houdini Made Magic: 8. Keep ahead of the times

During the filming of the 1919 film, The Grim Game, there was a real-life mid-air plane crash. The star of the movie was the greatest escape artist of all time: Harry Houdini. So how did the producers capitalise on the crash? By telling the press that Houdini was on that plane and survived near certain death. He was not on the plane; it was a stunt double (who did survive). But the public didn’t need to know that. They needed to know that Houdini was now a movie star. While biographers often write off his silver-screen ventures as flops, Derren Brown argues that Houdini’s experience with Hollywood and his embrace of the emerging technology of film demonstrate a shrewd operator who understood that in order to be a genuine star, you must stay ahead of the curve. And his use of emerging forms of communication with the masses goes beyond film: Houdini used early postal networks and telegrams like a proto-social media campaign. And he pioneered in radio, giving magic lessons over the newly formed airwaves. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 9

How Houdini Made Magic: 9. Stay relevant

World War I and the Spanish Flu caused devastation. Estimates are that up to 120 million people died as a result of both in 6 years - many of them relatively young. It led to the revival of an already popular new religion: Spiritualism. Spiritualists believe that human souls survive bodily death and can communicate with the living. Harry Houdini, the great mystifier, had some experience with the religion. In his early career, he performed a spirit medium routine with his wife as part of a travelling medicine show. But later in life, he turned into a dogged crusader against what he claimed was a fraudulent faith. Derren Brown explores how Houdini was perhaps driven to this campaign by a complex mix of factors: personal grief following his mother's death, an informed understanding of the tricks they pulled and a master showman's instinct for staying topical. Houdini’s crusade played out most clearly in his explosive rivalry with the best-known medium of his day, Margery Crandon. A rivalry that was covered on the front pages of America’s newspapers more than the President. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Episode 10

How Houdini Made Magic: 10. Cement your legacy

In the concluding chapter of How Houdini Made Magic, Derren Brown explores how even in death, Houdini knew how to ensure his legend would endure. The legendary death-defier would eventually fall, not to a locked water cell or an icy river, but to a ruptured appendix after a fateful backstage punch in Montreal. Worn out by relentless spiritualist crusades, heavy lawsuits, and mounting mortality, a 52-year-old Houdini performed his final show in Detroit with a blazing 40-degree fever before collapsing. Dying on Halloween 1926, he went out at the absolute peak of his powers, avoiding the slow decline of an ageing performer and stepping straight into myth. Houdini saw his death as an opportunity to test the claims of Spiritualists further. He set in motion a test by agreeing a secret code with his wife, Bess. Once he had passed, she was instructed to hold seances in a bid to reach her beloved Houdini. Bess never heard Houdini’s code, but seances are still held right to this very day, a century later. Houdini’s greatest trick wasn't just escaping handcuffs or cell blocks - it was mastering the art of storytelling so that his name still means “doing the impossible”. Presenter: Derren Brown Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae Additional research: Alice Homewood Sound designer: David Crackles Executive producer: Sophie Ellis Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke Original music: The Inner Me - Epilogue (Rosie, sweet Rosabel) A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Season 17 Trailer

How Houdini Made Magic: Trailer

For a century, Harry Houdini has been safely filed away in the public imagination as a nostalgic variety act: a man in monochrome film escaping handcuffs, water tanks, and straightjackets. This series smashes that myth. Hosted by “psychological illusionist” Derren Brown, How Houdini Made Magic reframes a penniless immigrant refugee named Erik Weisz as a prophetic, hyper-modern visionary. Long before the birth of Silicon Valley, modern political spin rooms, or algorithmic social media, Houdini cracked the code of modern fame. He didn't just escape physical boxes; he manipulated suspense, pioneered viral guerrilla marketing, employed the legal system to protect his brand, and mastered the dark arts of post-truth media. He created magic in far more ways than you think. Against a backdrop of vaudeville and societal revolution, Derren explores the lesser-known identities of a magician who continues to inspire him and countless other magicians: Houdini as an advertising guru, a new media innovator, a sceptic… a spy? We’ll come to realise that today’s world actually closely mirrors the ‘sepia-tinted’ world Houdini operated in: a time of rapid industrialisation, intense social change, massive wealth inequality, widespread social activism, global conflict, cultural revolutions, and immense technological advancement. We are living in an attention economy running on the exact behavioural hacks, artificial friction, and narrative illusions engineered by Harry Houdini over a century ago.

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4.3 (6952)

Daily News
A world-class seminar, every week. In Our Time explores the ideas, people and discoveries that have shaped our world, spanning history, philosophy, religion, science, literature, art and culture. On Thursdays, hear brand-new episodes hosted by Misha Glenny and leading academics. On Mondays, discover Misha's Archive Picks: classic conversations from the In Our Time archive, originally presented by Melvyn Bragg. Recent episodes have featured topics as wide-ranging as the Roman Arena, Handel's Messiah, John Keats, On Liberty and the Mariana Trench, bringing expert insight to pivotal events, influential thinkers and remarkable discoveries. Throughout the archive, you can hear discussions on historical figures such as Marie Antoinette, Nefertiti, Mary Wollstonecraft, Karl Marx and Albert Einstein; explore great works of literature such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the poetry of John Donne; uncover the stories behind cultural masterpieces including Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel; or journey from Jupiter and the death of stars, to the theories of Plato and Aristotle. In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas.

4.6 (5256)

History
Gripping True Crime stories from neighbourhoods across the UK. Series 14. The Playground Murder Audrey Gillan traces the ripple effects of the murder of a child, by a child. Previously on Crime Next Door: Series 1. An Assassin Comes to Town Gunshots kickstart an extraordinary tale of state terrorism. Series 2. Servants and Saints Exploring the story and allegations of a global religious group. Series 3. Death on the Farm After fifty years the community of Llangolman seek justice. Series 4. The Salisbury Poisonings Follow the public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess. Series 5. The Golden Toilet Heist Exploring a story of art, mystery and a solid gold toilet stolen from a British palace. Series 6: Who Killed The Shakoors? A father's fight for justice after surviving a house fire that killed his family. Series 7. The Ballad of Big Mags A vigilante matriarch with dark secrets comes to regret stepping into the media spotlight. Series 8. When a Catfish Kills ‘Chloe’ isn’t a real girl. She’s a catfish and her demands have fatal consequences. Series 9. The Cop, The Kidnap and The Killer A kidnapped girl, a ransom trail and the ultimate test for a cop who always gets his man. Series 10. The Vanishing Cyclist The baffling story of a cyclist who vanished in the Scottish Highlands. Series 11. The Anglesey Vampire Killer How a brutal, occult-tinged murder shook a Welsh village to its core. Series 12. The Beast of Birkenhead Diane Sindall's murder in Merseyside led to Britain’s longest miscarriage of justice. Peter Sullivan's conviction collapsed after 38 years leaving the real killer unknown. Series 13. The Confession Until a killer confesses, police believe two heartbroken people died in a suicide pact.

4.1 (106)

True Crime
The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. In each episode of You’re Dead to Me from BBC Radio 4, Greg Jenner is joined by a comedian and an expert historian to learn and laugh about the past. History isn’t just about dates and textbooks – it’s about extraordinary characters, amazing stories, and some very questionable fashion choices. How long did it take to build an Egyptian pyramid? What does the Bayeux Tapestry reveal about medieval life? Why did it take nearly half a millennium for Joan of Arc to become a saint? And was Catherine the Great really all that great? Whether you want to explore ancient landmarks like Stonehenge and Machu Picchu, dance through the history of Broadway and Bollywood, or find out how the Tudors rose to power, Greg and his guests promise to teach you something new that you won’t have heard in history lessons. Previous episodes of You’re Dead To Me have covered everything from royals to revolutionaries, actors to activists and divas to dictators. Take a stroll through the history of high-heeled shoes or get the scoop on the history of ice cream. Maybe you’d like to paint like the cave artists of the Palaeolithic era, work out like a Victorian bodybuilder, or fight like a Spartan? We’ve even hosted a special, live episode with the BBC Concert Orchestra to explore the dramatic life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Whatever your historical interests, Greg and his guests make even the trickiest topics easy to follow. Join them for a history lesson that’s as entertaining as it is enlightening - with no homework required.

4.7 (3137)

History
Josh Baker enters a dangerous world of fear, greed and betrayal as he sets out to uncover the truth behind one of the biggest missing-person cases of our time - the abduction of American journalist Austin Tice. Josh - creator of two of the BBC's most award-winning and widely listened-to investigative podcasts, I'm Not a Monster and The Shamima Begum Story - returns for his most ambitious chapter yet, in a major new series from BBC Radio 4 and NPR's Embedded. This is not the retelling of a closed case. It is a real-time investigation into a disappearance that has remained unsolved for more than a decade, conducted in close contact with Austin's family. What started out as a personal effort to help a mother find her son has turned into a multi-year journalistic investigation stretching from the corridors of power in Washington DC to the depths of the Syrian security state. Austin Tice is a journalist, law student and former Marine officer, who vanished in Syria in 2012. Since then, competing stories have emerged about his fate. In some, he is alive - held in a cell and waiting to be rescued. In others, he was smuggled out of Syria and hidden away. In the darkest versions, he died long ago. His disappearance has reached the highest levels of power - from presidents to popes - yet remarkably little is known about what happened to him. Investigative journalists Josh Baker and Sara Obeidat begin following Austin's trail long before the fall of the Syrian regime. Then everything changes. The regime collapses, and the black box of Syria's intelligence state opens. Sources step forward, unprecedented leaks arrive and doors to secret bases that had been sealed for years open. Josh and Sara speak to spies, search secret prisons and track down alleged war criminals in hiding, uncovering information that has never been made public and making discoveries that generate international headlines. The audience follows every breakthrough as the investigation closes in on those who may know the truth - while Syria is transformed and powerful interests compete to shape what happens next. Some claim Austin was working for the CIA. Others say he was simply a young journalist trying to make his name in war reporting. His fate has become entangled in secret negotiations and geopolitical power struggles that are still unfolding. At the centre of it all is his mother, Debra Tice, who has never stopped searching for her son. There are people who know exactly what happened to Austin. Some of them do not want the truth to come out. So where is Austin Tice?

4.9 (4001)

Documentary
Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.

4.2 (967)

Daily News

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Kavita Puri

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Joe Dunthorne

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Carlo Gébler

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Gordon Corera

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Barbara Dickmann

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4.4

out of 5

88 Ratings

Fascinating and heartbreaking.

Apr 22

LottieFF

Listen, you won’t be able to stop.
Truth and lies

12/01/2025

Busy guide is big brother

I have work with South Africans. They are a good people and I welcome all of them to come to America. BBC I say to you now get it right this genocide is going on and don’t lie to us. If they come here to America, they will easily assimilate they bring skill and many other things to offer to America prosperity and America first I praise my King King for giving me a chance to say something here in heaven I praise him and I praise a servant of the most high, my brother, my spiritual brother president Trump for doing what he’s doing here on this matter
Season 7 is 5*

09/23/2025

Shipstobase

An extraordinary story that unfolds through original testimony in a compelling and gripping tale. A massive commendation for the soundtrack for this season in particular - the music is absolutely beautiful. I listened to the whole season twice, back to back, because the music is just beguiling and absolutely enchanting.
Season 7 is a life-changing gem.

06/16/2025

ps.potter

Season 7 is amazing. So thoughtfully done. It helps you confront your own prejudices and rehumanizes both sides of the story, so that you can understand why history unfolded as it did, and why we need to remember and learn from the past. But it teaches from the heart, not from any particular political bent, which in this day and age is nigh impossible. Well done and thank you!

Uncover new perspectives on unforgettable stories from our past. The History Podcast is the home of story-driven history series from BBC Radio 4. Each series will take you inside the most pivotal events in history, through the people who were there, to uncover new perspectives on the moments that still define us now.