Conspiracy History Extra

In her most famous speech, delivered on 9 August 1588, Queen Elizabeth I declared that she had the "heart and stomach of a king". Was that just rhetoric? Or could England’s iconic Tudor queen actually have been a man masquerading as a woman? In this new episode of Conspiracy, Tudor historian Tracy Borman speaks to Rob Attar about the bizarre 'Bisley Boy' conspiracy theory that was popularised by none other than Dracula author Bram Stoker.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. It's one of the most notorious surprise attacks in history, but how much of a surprise was it? Did US President Franklin Roosevelt in fact know that the attack was coming and even encourage it as a means of propelling the US into World War Two? In this new episode of Conspiracy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Twomey joins Rob Attar to tackle the "back door to war" conspiracy theory, explaining why many Americans have been willing to believe in a president's treachery.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

On the 22 November 1963, President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and charged with the murder, but over the past 60 years millions of people have come to believe that Oswald was just a small cog in a wider plot to murder the president, orchestrated by a powerful group such as the CIA, the Mafia or the Cuban regime. In this new episode of Conspiracy, Rob Attar speaks to the journalist Gerald Posner whose landmark 1993 book Case Closed famously concluded that Oswald had indeed acted alone. Together they dissect the evidence from the assassination and consider why conspiracy theories about it have become so widespread.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

First published in Russia in 1903, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion purported to demonstrate evidence of a global Jewish conspiracy. Though it has repeatedly been proven to be a forgery, the text has helped fuel antisemitism across the world, from Henry Ford in America, to Nazi Germany, to Jew-hate today. In this new episode of Conspiracy, Rob Attar speaks to Professor Pamela S Nadell about why the infamous tract has proven so popular and how it connects to other antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

In the early 14th century, the Knights Templar were suppressed and the 200-year history of this military religious order came to an abrupt end. Or did it? What if some of the Templars escaped persecution to operate secretly until the present day, holding on to precious religious relics and maybe even discovering America? In this new episode of Conspiracy, Rob Attar is joined by medieval historian Steve Tibble to explore why myths have surrounded the Templars from the Middle Ages until the present day – and to explain how Rosslyn Chapel and the Holy Grail fit into the story.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

In July 1947, some unusual debris was discovered at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico. Was this the remains of a crashed military balloon, or something from much, much further away? Has the US government spent the past 75 years hiding proof of alien life from us all? In this new bonus episode of Conspiracy (exclusively for HistoryExtra Plus subscribers), Dr David Carke gives Rob Attar the lowdown about the Roswell Incident and considers how it relates to the long history of UFO sightings.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.