In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis welcomes his new co-host, historian Dr. Eleanor Janega. For her first episode, Eleanor and Matt kick off with a quick fire round about some of her favourite Medieval subjects, culminating in booze. How important was alcohol in the medieval world? Was ...

The divided Korean peninsula is the last remnant of the Cold War: South Korea is a vibrant democracy, a strong market economy, and home to a world-renowned culture. North Korea is ruled by the most authoritarian regime in the world, plagued by famine and poverty, best known for its nuclear weapon...

The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have ended without it? Was there an ulterior motive? Would the Americans have dropped a third if they had it?

At the end of WWII, the Manhattan Projec...

God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, Poseidon is one of the most iconic Olympians.

In this episode, host Tristan Hughes is joined by Seth Pevnick, Curator of Greek and Roman art. Together, they untangle the various myths that describe Poseidon, his children, most notably Theseus and Polyphem...

Nicholaa de la Haye’s strength and tenacity saved England at one of the lowest points in its history.

She remained loyal to King John to the very end, even after most of his knights and barons had deserted him.  She stood firm during a siege at Lincoln Castle - where she was constable - that las...

Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator met a gruesome end during the final days of World War II when he and his mistress were executed and hung upside down as a symbol of the end of Fascist rule in Italy. But, his fate had been sealed much earlier.

When Italy's fascist regime aligned wit...

Stonehenge. The most iconic prehistoric monument in the world. And yet its story is still so enigmatic.

In this episode, host Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Sue Greaney to shine a light on Stonehenge’s history and evolution, from the Neolithic Period, through to the Bronze Age, as well as the pe...

Throughout history, there have been plenty of hugely destructive, catastrophic moments. And yet somehow the human race managed to live on until today. So how did people in the Medieval period find ways to survive, for example, a siege of their city, or a natural disaster, or plague?

In this epis...

Known among the Nazis as "the girl with the red hair," Hannie Schaft was a resistance fighter so deadly that Adolf Hitler personally ordered her capture. She was a 24-year-old Dutch student when the Nazi forces occupied the Netherlands in 1940. Fuelled by a desire to protect her country, Hannie b...

Lost tombs buried beneath desert sands, enchanting hieroglyphs, mysterious mummies, great rulers and kingdoms- Egypt has it all. Since antiquity, tourists have ventured to Egypt to see for themselves the great remnants of its ancient civilisation. Archaeologists have since found graffiti from Anc...

Uncovered a decade ago in the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa, Homo Naledi's discovery has impacted paleoanthropology in ways nobody could expect. Upon first discovery, it was assumed this small brained hominid lived millions of years ago - yet when dating of the fossil's was completed, i...

On a summer morning in 1945, a device known simply as 'Gadget' was detonated. An enormous explosion tore a crater into the New Mexico desert, melting sand into radioactive green glass and sending a mushroom cloud 7.5 miles into the sky. This was the first controlled detonation of a nuclear weapon...

Is there a lost colony of Vikings somewhere in Greenland, shut off from the rest of the world?  For hundreds of years, that question has taxed many minds for a variety of reasons that often reflect changes in outlook.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Dr. Robert Rix who, in h...

Russian history is defined by the rise and fall of favourites. Peter the Great had Menshikov, and Nicholas II had Rasputin. It's part of the architecture of Russian regimes that those close to the ruler enjoy immense power and influence. But sometimes, they overstep the mark.

For this episode, D...

It’s one of the most dramatic stories you might never have heard. Featuring a seaborne assassination, a vengeful manhunt and London Bridge in flames, the rebellion of Jack Cade in 1450 shook the English Crown to its very core, and lit the spark that began the Wars of the Roses.

In today’s episod...

Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships - but is there more to her than a beautiful face? Commemorated throughout history in ancient epics and modern adaptations, Helen of Troy is known as one of the most beautiful women to ever have lived. But was Helen of Troy actually real, and ...

Composed towards the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the classic Anglo-Saxon epic poem that transcends its time to shed light on psychological and spiritual truths that still ring true today.

Seamus Heaney’s deeply felt interpretation - widely acknowledged as the greatest Beowulf transla...

The Cold War was defined by the antagonism between two world superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. They relied on proxy wars, espionage, disinformation, assassinations and sabotage to undermine one another as part of a greater ideological battle between Western democracy and Commun...

Evolving from an obscure ancient ruler to a contemporary national icon, Chandragupta Maurya's story is finally being told. However, despite tales of leading empires and defeating the successors of Alexander the Great, there is no official record of his events - only moments taken from Greek autho...

Dan explains Operation Mincemeat; one of the most audacious deception operations of WWII. On the 30th of April, 1943, the corpse of a 'Major Martin' washed up near the Spanish city of Huelva. On his body, Spanish officials found secret documents detailing an upcoming Allied invasion of Greece. Th...

In the autumn of 1909, the American explorer Frederick Cook arrived in Copenhagen, claiming to have become the first person to reach the North Pole. His dramatic return had been eagerly anticipated, but one young journalist was skeptical. Philip Gibbs contested Cook's version of events, calling h...

What clothes would you have worn in the Middle Ages? What were the most fashionable hairstyles? How did your clothing denote social status? How did you wash your clothes?
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis puts these questions to Sarah Grace Heller, associate professor in Medieval Frenc...

The last monument to be added to the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria (also known as the Pharos), was one of the tallest man-made structures in ancient history. Serving as the only guiding beacon along 900km of Mediterranean coast, it played a vital rol...

Dan explains The Battle of Kursk. In July and August of 1943, it was the last major attempt by the Nazis to turn the tide of the war in the East. Millions of soldiers and thousands of tanks would go head-to-head across the vast steppes around the Russian city of Kursk. The Soviets would emerge vi...