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

Last summer, we were lucky enough to interview Wing Commander Tom Neil, one of the last of 'the Few' who fought in the Battle of Britain. During the Battle he shot down at least 13 enemy aircraft; he saw over half his squadron shot down within 5 minutes; he is also credited with the longest fligh...

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.

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...

The two Dans are back. And this time, they're talking all things crusades. Dan Jones provides his namesake host a thrilling background to the series of holy wars that have come to define Medieval Europe.

If you love Dan Jones, then join him at our book club. He is the History Hit Book Club's aut...

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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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.

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 ...

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 ...

Happy Birthday Victor Gregg - he has turned 100 this week. Victor volunteered to join the army before the Second World War and he fought all the way through - from clashes with the Italians in North Africa in 1940 to being captured 75 years ago this autumn at Arnhem. He was a Prisoner of War in D...

When people think of Medieval diseases, hysterical dancing is not usually what first comes to mind. Yet in 14th and 15th century Germany, dozens of ordinary people claimed to be infected by the ‘dancing plague’. What was this mysterious phenomenon? What caused it? And was it even a real disease?
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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.

In today's episode Dan is joined by David Freidel, often regarded as the real life Indiana Jones, to talk through the history of the Mayans and some of his own discoveries in that area.

Avi Shlaim is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at St Antony's College, Oxford. Here he discusses the background and implications of the historic Balfour Declaration of November 1917.

Historian Matt Lewis explains the worst medieval torture techniques.

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 ...

Historian Tom Holland shares his fascination at how the events of ancient history can resonate in the modern world. The author of Islam: The Untold Story talks to Dan Snow about the birth of this rich and sophisticated civilisation, tracing its history through the centuries, and its interaction a...

Characterised as super soldiers, formidable fighters who would rather perish than surrender - their reputation truly did proceed them.

But how accurate is this image - and does it correlate with what the ancient sources actually tell us?

In this filmed episode of The Ancients podcast Sparta mi...

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...

If the standout documentary from our East Meets West season, 'WW2: China's Forgotten War' has left you wanting more then don't miss this companion interview with Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford. Mitter, who presents the documentary an...

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...