I was thrilled to be joined by Andrew Bayliss, a Senior Lecturer in Greek History at the University of Birmingham. He's an expert on Sparta and Ancient Greece, and he joined me on the pod to mark the 2,500th anniversary of the battle of Themopylae, when 300 Spartans battled the Persian army. We d...

After WWII, many of the men and women who had worked at Bletchley Park moved on to GCHQ, the British government's new facility, established to fight a new foe - Stalin's KGB. Sinclair McKay has interviewed various members of this secret organisation, from codebreakers to radio listeners to mechan...

Garrett Graff's tells the oral histories of 9/11, from archive material he has collated to interviews he has conducted with people who responded to events on the day, such as one of the key advisors to Dick Cheney. He tells Dan some of those stories, such as the couple of firefighter and World Tr...

Ruth Ben-Ghiat joined me on the podcast to discuss what modern authoritarian leaders have in common and how they can be stopped. We discussed the strongman playbook from Mussolini to Putin, Johnson and Trump.

Professor Anna Whitelock is an historian, author, broadcaster, royal commentator, Director of Centre for Public History, RHUL. Anna's latest book is entitled 'Elizabeth's Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen's Court'.

Dan talks to Dr Naomi Paxton, historian of Actresses' Franchise League and Associate Fellow at the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, about the coming of suffrage.

Historian James Barr explains the Sykes-Picot Agreement, 100 years after it was signed.

David Willey, curator at the Tank Museum, Bovington, discusses the development of tank warfare and the impact of tanks at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.

What treasures lie in store in the shifting sands of the Valley of the Kings? Dan talks to Chris Naunton to discover where the tombs of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra might be.

Alan Kingshott @AkKingshott is Chief Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London. He gives Dan a tour of one of London's most iconic sites, boasting almost a millenia of history.

Just after midnight on 30th 1945, the USS Indianapolis was sailing alone in the Philippine Sea when she was struck by two Japanese torpedoes, almost three hundred miles from land. She sank in 12 minutes. For the next five nights, nearly nine hundred men struggled with battle injuries, shark attac...

Francesca Stavrakopoulou is Professor of Hebrew Bible & Ancient Religion at Exeter University. Her research is primarily focused on ancient Israelite and Judahite religions, and portrayals of the religious past in the Hebrew Bible. She is interested in biblical traditions and religious practices ...

Leanda de Lisle joined me on the podcast to discuss the history of the Tudor Crown.

In the winter of 1941 an alien-seeming object was spotted by an RAF reconnaissance pilot flying a lone unarmed Spitfire across the French coast. Balanced upon the cliffs near Le Havre was what appeared to be a giant convex dish, directed across the Channel at the war-torn British coastline. With ...

100 years ago today, the Unknown Warrior, a common soldier and an unidentified casualty of war, was buried in Westminster Abbey with all the pomp and ceremony of an empire at its zenith. King George V looked on as 100 Victoria Cross bearers formed a guard of honour and the unknown solider was lai...

Dan Snow explores the Viking history of Lofoten, an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten is known for a distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands.

Today we remember the suffragettes as a peaceful movement, but in the years before the First World War, the WSPU launched one of the most shocking terrorist campaigns the British mainland has ever seen. Dan talks to Fern Riddell about Kitty Marion, one of the most militant suffragettes, and her s...

Victor Gregg is a veteran of World War Two and the Dresden Bombings, and travelled with Dan to visit Dresden last year for a documentary. In this episode, Dan discusses Victor's time in North Africa, and the trauma of war.

Dan talks to Dr Bill Frankland, a 106 year old veteran of World War Two who lived through a Japanese prisoner of war camp and who also made important contributions to our understanding of allergies.

Dan talks to Dr Bill Frankland, a 106 year old veteran of World War II who lived through a Japanese prisoner of war camp and who also made important contributions to our understanding of allergies. Second of two episodes.

Dan goes to an excavation that's happening now of a World War One fortification near the Belgian village of Wijtschate. He talks to the archaeologists and historians and anthropologists at work at the incredibly preserved, hotly contested ridge, before it is lost forever to the bulldozers later t...

Charles Spencer joined me on the pod to discuss the sinking of the White Ship on the 25th November 1120. It is one of the greatest disasters that England has ever suffered. Its repercussions changed English and European history for ever.

Today marks 100 years since Nancy Astor, the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons, was elected. Rachel Reeves, the current Labour candidate for Leeds West and a former member of the Shadow Cabinet, chats to Dan about the history of women in Westminster. She highlights the challeng...

Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvtunzelmann is a historian and screenwriter. Alex writes a weekly column about historical films for The Guardian Online, entitled Reel Histories.;Alex’s latest book entitled ‘ Reel History ‘, picks through Hollywood’s version of events, sorting the fact from the fiction. ...