Interviews

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  • The Silk Roads with Peter Frankopan

    In the East Meets West season, this is the starting point. Frankopan's rightly lauded book has done what it said on the cover: created a new history of the world. For way too long we Westerners have been espying history through the lens of our own success. But truth is, Britain only had its momen...

  • Debunking The Myths Of Tutankhamun

    Who was Tutankhamun? How did he die? Was Tutankhamun's tomb cursed? In this video we attempt to answer all these questions and more with Prof Joyce Tyldesley from the University of Manchester.

    Tutankhamun, 'The Boy King' of Ancient Egypt, is one of history's most famous names. Though his short r...

  • Ancient Egypt

    Egyptologist Answers Google’s Most Popular Questions About Ancient Egypt

  • The Story of Egyptology

    Egyptologist Dr Chris Naunton explores the story of how Ancient Egypt was rediscovered, and how its incredible sites and treasures were gradually decoded. Starting with the earliest travelers who ventured inside the pyramids, Chris traces how this curiosity exploded into Egyptomania in the 18th ...

  • The German Invasion of Poland with Roger Moorhouse

    The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 is often seen as a contest between the might of Hitler's war machine and an antiquated Polish military. But this perception of a modern, German force sweeping aside a fragile, backward enemy is far from the truth. Dan sat down with Roger Moorhouse t...

  • Shakespeare

    Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford and the author of 'This is Shakespeare', tackles the big questions about William Shakespeare.

  • The French Revolution with David Andress

    The French Revolution was one of complete transformation, the first time in European history that the population of a country rose up with a political agenda. Professor of Modern History David Andress talks Dan through the French Revolution: the causes, the context, its significance and its wide-...

  • The Seven Deadly Sins: With Stephen Fry

    Actor, writer and legendary broadcaster Stephen Fry joins Dan to talk about the 7 Deadly Sins.

  • 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

    People have always looked to the wonders of the ancient world for awe and inspiration. In the Ancient era, people embarked on dangerous pilgrimages to visit storied sites like the Pyramids of Giza, or the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. While only one of them remains, they still excite us thousands of...

  • Killing God: The Assassination of Julius Caesar

    15 March - 'The Ides of March'. It is arguably the most well known date in ancient history. On that day in 44 BC the Roman statesman Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senatorial conspirators in the heart of Rome. But why was this political giant of ancient Rome assassinated? How did th...

  • Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness

    75 years ago this week Dresden, in Saxony, known as the ‘jewel box’ because of its stunning architecture was obliterated by British and American bombers. The flames reached almost a mile high. Around 25,000 people were thought to have been killed. The novelist Kurt Vonnegut was there. It was he w...

  • The Battle of Agincourt with Mike Loades

    Legend of popular history Mike Loades provides Dan a detailed run down of Henry V's famous victory at Agincourt on 25 October 1415 and how his men were more a band of brigands than a 'band of brothers'. They discuss the arms, the armour, the tactics and the popular myths today associated with the...

  • The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land

    Roger Crowley is the author of the new book, Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land. The city of Acre, powerfully fortified and richly provisioned, was the last crusader stronghold. When it fell in 1291, two hundred years of Christian crusading in the Holy Land came to a blo...

  • The Real Life of Gladiators in Ancient Rome

    Tristan Hughes sits down with Alexander Mariotti, a leading speaker on gladiatorial life, combat, and weaponry as well as a historical consultant on Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator' movie (2000).

    Together they discuss what life was really like for these men entering the arenas of the Roman Empire, wh...

  • Dunkirk

    This week marks 80 years since the miracle at Dunkirk, in which a quarter of a million allied troops were evacuated from German-held France. Historian Josh Levine, historical advisor to Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk', joins Dan Snow to talk about that fateful moment in WWII.

  • Ask a Historian: With Greg Jenner

    Dan chats to Greg Jenner about how we should interpret the past and what the role of a historian is - featuring meringues, ear trumpets and Agincourt!

  • Human Evolution with Tristan Hughes

    Human evolution can’t help but fascinate us - the story of where we came from. Today we, Homo sapiens, are the only human species left. But that wasn’t always the case….

    For millions of years, there thrived a great range of early human species. From small-brained island dwellers in Indonesia to ...

  • Africa: The Unknown History of Humankind

    Africa is the second largest continent in the world and is home to the second largest population; but it is second-to-none regarding its ethnic diversity. Throughout history Africa has been the home of many thousands of ethnological groups; the historic sites, places, cultures, kingdoms and civil...

  • The History of The Space Race

    On the 51st anniversary of the Moon Landing, join Dan Snow and historian & author Tom Ellis as we take a look at the USA and USSR's race to the stars, and how the major victories and defeats of their representative space programs would define the political discourse of their nation.

  • Dan Snow and Dan Jones Talk Crusades

    Dan is joined by fellow history presenter Dan Jones to talk about the Knights Templar and the crusades.

    If you love Dan Jones, then join him at our book club. He is the History Hit Book Club's author for October/November 2022. The book club is a community of people who are passionate about histo...

  • The Origins Of Homo Sapiens

    From where did humans originate? What did the earliest humans look like? Why did homo sapiens survive while other hominin species went extinct?

    In this filmed episode of The Ancients podcast, we're on location at the Natural History Museum in London as Tristan Hughes delves into a huge topic; t...

  • Searching for My Father: The Story of 144 Squadron

    80 years ago Wing Commander Joseph Watts was killed when his RAF Hampden Bomber crashed, as it returned from a bombing raid in Occupied Europe. He left behind a daughter, and also an unborn son. John Watts, born 8 months later, would never meet his father. But recently he discovered that at the R...

  • D-Day Veteran Interviews: WarGen

    A series of four D-Day veteran interviews from WarGen - an online repository of oral history from the people who lived through World War Two. Short versions of these interviews with Arthur Davis, Ken Stone, Harry Appleton and Jack Bracewell also feature in our documentary D-Day: As It Happened.

  • The Art Of Mummification

    Ever been Mummy-curious? Egyptologist Chris Naunton joins us to demonstrate the ancient Egyptian art of mummification.