In 1845, a British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin departed England aboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The expedition was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic and to record magnetic data to help ...

What happened to Hitler's body? When did he die? What really happened in the last 48 hours of his life? In this extraordinary episode of 'As It Happened', historian Emma Craigie and Dan Snow discuss the final moments of the Fuhrer's life in the bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

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They might be more famous today for their cameos in The Da Vinci Code and Assassin’s Creed, but in real life they were an army of valiant, daring Crusaders famous for their self-discipline, who fought in the Middle Ages' most bloody battles. They were allowed no sex, no personal possessions, and ...

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...

In the late 1960s, when many in the UK viewed colour television as tacky, art historian Kenneth Clarke was asked to produce a series all about Western Art. Clarke duly delivered on this assignment, creating the series ‘Civilisation’. At a time when there was a genuine belief that the world stood ...

In this episode, Alice and Dan discover how the Shakespeare family were rocked by religious turmoil of the 16th century. They visit one of the most notorious Catholic houses in the county, William Shakespeare's schoolroom and the ruins of Evesham Abbey.

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...

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 region stretching from eastern Europe and sweeping right across into Arabia and the north coast of Africa, was home to one of the most extraordinary empires in history: the Ottoman Empire. Along its routes flowed ideas, goods, disease and death. In existence for 600 years, it also saw the swe...

Charles Moore discusses the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady: where she succeeded, where she failed and why she still matters today.

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...

Aviation historian Victoria Taylor answers key questions about the air war of World War Two: from the significance of the Dambusters raid to how we should remember "Bomber" Harris.

Joined by historian Honor Cargill-Martin, Tristan Hughes explores the real sex lives of ancient Rome.

From popular series to kinky paintings, there is a recurring image today of Romans as sex-mad degenerates. And although there are sex stories in the dozens from the Roman period, when it comes ...

Over the course of his 106 years, Doctor William Frankland has experienced more than most. He served with the Royal Medical Corps during World War Two, spending more than three years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese following the fall of Singapore. After the war, his medical career focused on...

In today's episode, Dan is joined by Serhii Plokhii, professor at Harvard University and author of Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe. They explore what caused the disaster at the plant in 1986, and the after effects of it.

In the 1930s Germany, one of the World's richest, most technologically-developed and culturally-sophisticated countries, was transformed into an extreme authoritarian state under its dictator Adolf Hitler. His unbridled ambition would plunge the World into a war bloodier and more destructive than...

Join Dan Snow and a hand picked team of experts for a thought-provoking panel discussion that delves into one of the most consequential diplomatic agreements of the 20th century: the Treaty of Versailles.

Representing Woodrow Wilson and America is Historian Alexandra Churchill, taking the perspe...

Have you ever wanted to learn how to read hieroglyphs? Egyptologist Chris Naunton explores the history of hieroglyphs and how they were decoded.

The Peterloo Massacre was a critical moment in the reform movement at the start of the 19th century. Thousands of people gathered at St Peter's Fields near Manchester to protest for an expansion of the franchise. The local magistrates summoned yeomanry to dispel what they saw as a riot, but as th...

English author Bernard Cornwell, best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe, sits down with Dan Snow to answer some quickfire questions for the fans. Ever wondered if an early 19th Century infantryman could really fire three rounds a minute? Or whether Bernard plans o...

Dr Amara Thornton talks Helen Carr through a newly discovered film documenting archaeological excavations at the site of Nineveh.

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 ...