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Life In The Middle Ages
What did medieval people eat? Were medieval knights jacked? Why was medieval torture so cruel? Medieval historian and co-host of the Gone Medieval Podcast Matt Lewis answers Google's most searched questions about the medieval world.
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The Eleanor Crosses: England's Greatest Love Story
Edward I is one of the most notorious rulers of English history. With a reputation for military brutishness and political ruthlessness, he was rumoured to have once frightened a man to death. But in November 1290, one event brought this warrior king crashing to the ground: the death of his belove...
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Africa: Written out of History
Historian Luke Pepera looks at how and why the history of Africa was written out of world history. He also explores how and why, as a consequence of this, the history of Africans in Britain was written out of British history.
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The Trial of Jack The Ripper?
In 1888 and 1889, a vicious serial killer haunted the streets of London. Five women were brutally murdered in Whitechapel, and all except one of the five victims - Elizabeth Stride - were horribly mutilated. And those are only the murders officially linked to the killer; it’s likely he took the l...
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The Lost Sailors - Solving a World War II Mystery
During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across the treacherous Atlantic - and many paid with their lives. What's less well known is that many of those sailors were Chinese - volunteers who came to Brit...
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1833: The Year Britain Abolished Slavery
1 season
On 28 August 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act was given royal assent in Britain. This legislation terminated an institution that, for generations, had been the source of an incredibly lucrative trade and commerce.
It was not only planters who benefitted from the significant West Indian branch of ...
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Edgehill: A Fight of Spite and Spleen
When Charles I acceded to the throne in 1625, there was every reason to hope his reign would be as peaceful and prosperous as any. But by 1642, after almost two decades of religious aggravation and personal ‘tyranny’, tensions reached boiling point. The chance for peaceful resolution and diplomat...
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Galahad: The Untold Story
On the 8th June 1982, at the height of the Falklands War, 53 men lost their lives in the Argentine air attacks on the British ships, Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram.
32 of those men were Welsh Guards - some of them no more than boys.
A further 160 Welsh Guards were injured, many suffering severe b...
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King Arthur's Round Table Revealed
The mystery and legend of King Arthur has fascinated mankind for centuries. Was there really a fifth-century warrior king at war with the Angles and Saxons? Did he have a round table of knights? Where was Camelot? Now, twenty-first century forensic archaeology allows us to suggest new answers to ...
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Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon - Brilliant Rivals
Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn - the first two wives of Henry VIII - are so often portrayed as opposites. Katherine as the loyal, scorned wife - Anne as the bright, bewitching upstart.
But now Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb returns to Hever Castle to explore what Anne and Katherine were really l...
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Inside Windsor Castle: The State Rooms
Windsor Castle has a legendary connection to the British monarchy: the longest-serving royal palace in the whole of Europe. Ever since the days of William the Conqueror, the Castle has dominated this strategic point on the banks of the Thames, overlooking west London. Over the next 1,000 years ki...
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Independence or Death: The Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution caused a seismic shift in global politics. When a mixture of different groups on the French colony of Saint Domingue rose against the colonists, few expected the rebellion to succeed. However, under the leadership of figures such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Henry Christophe a...
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Henry VIII: Statesman or Tyrant?
On Midsummer's Day in 1509 a 17 year old was crowned king of England. He would go on to transform his realm over almost four decades on the throne. He would revolutionise its religion, reforge its politics and its relations with neighbouring countries, and establish a royal navy. But, by the time...
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Cromwell's Head
The story of Oliver Cromwell’s head is perhaps the most bizarre, yet least well known, of all tales from English history.
This documentary tells the full story of this extraordinary artefact. It’s a strange and grisly saga that runs from dark conspiracy, to detective story - touching upon kings,...
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The Princes in the Tower: The Mystery of the Brothers York
Wars of the Roses historian Matt Lewis visits the Tower of London to talk through one of the building’s greatest mysteries: the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower. He talks through the possibility that the two young boys were not murdered on King Richard III's orders, but in fact survived ...
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Forgotten Heroines of the East End
Katie Wignall, founder of Lookup London, shines a light on the stories of several heroines who transformed the East End of London: Annie Besant, Annie Brewster and Sylvia Pankhurst. From writers to activists and nurses, Katie explains how the legacy of these women endures to this day.
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King Arthur: Legend and Legacy
The familiar medieval Arthurian myths of a noble King ruling over his kingdom from camelot, supported by his Round Table of loyal and brave knights who seek for the Holy Grail and slay dragons, is a legend that has been engaged with by English kings ever since the 13th Century. By the 14th Centur...
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A Tudor Discovery - Thomas Cromwell’s Prayer Book
History Hit digs deep into a fascinating new discovery that has grabbed the attention of historians across the world.
Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb explores what is being called the most exciting Tudor find ‘in a generation’ as curators at Hever Castle identify a bejewelled, gilded prayer book, tuc...
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Waterloo Uncovered: The Bones of the Battlefield
A major breaking story filmed by History Hit.
Incredibly rare bones of men and horses have been discovered in July 2022 at the Waterloo Battlefield - and History Hit has been there to record the excavations as they unfold.
The veterans support charity 'Waterloo Uncovered' returned to the Water...
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The Worst Journey in the World: The Arctic Convoys
In August 1941, the Allies launched Operation Dervish. This was the first of the Arctic Convoys, ships which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland and North America, and brought essential supplies to the Soviet Union.
After the successful launch of Operation Barbarossa, the USSR was in despe...
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More Than A Medal
A century-old injustice needs to be corrected. “More Than a Medal,” follows the extraordinary story of researchers working against time, exploring previously untold heroic stories from the battlefields of France, and the experience of modern-day descendants as they maintain cautious hope of reco...
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The Peaky Blinders: A History
Who were the real Peaky Blinders? Did they really exist? Carl Chinn reveals the true story of the notorious gangs that roamed Birmingham's streets during the city's industrial heyday.
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Waterloo: Bones in the Attic
BREAKING NEWS: The bones of up to 10 soldiers killed in the Battle of Waterloo have been discovered - the largest cache of Waterloo casualties ever found.
Uncovered by a team of Belgium and German academics, it's believed these bones belong to a mix of Prussian, French and British Soldiers all ...
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The Real Peaky Blinders
19th century Birmingham was famous for its industrial might, but particular parts of it were also renowned for a more infamous reason: its gangs. Dan headed up to Birmingham to meet bestselling author and celebrity local historian Carl Chinn to learn the true history behind Birmingham's most noto...