Britain's Slave Traders
How did a risky 16th-century venture evolve into a national enterprise that fuelled the rise of the British Empire? How did a vast network o...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & Podcasts
Society & Culture
Not Just the Tudors
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks about everything from the Aztecs to witches, Velázquez to Shakespeare, Mughal India to the Mayflower. Not, in other words, just the Tudors, but most definit...
Episodes
20 of 569 episodesJohn Dudley, The 'Wicked' Duke
How did the son of an executed traitor rise to become the power behind young Edward VI? Was John Dudley a visionary patriot saving England f...
How the Americas Transformed Tudor England
In 1588, mathematician Thomas Harriot mapped a doomed colony and drafted the playbook for English empire. But did Indigenous culture reshape...
Earl of Essex: Rise & Fall of Elizabeth I's Favourite
How did a favourite of Elizabeth I go from royal darling to executed traitor? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Alex Gajda and Dr...
Dutch Armada: The Last Invasion of England
Why did the Dutch Republic risk everything to launch one of the boldest seaborne invasions in English history and overthrow King James II? W...
Royal Favourites: The Filthy Earl of Rochester
**CONTAINS VERY STRONG LANGUAGE & ADULT THEMES ** What really went on behind closed doors in the scandalous court of the "Merry Monarch"? Wh...
The Rotten End of Henry VIII
Death, death, and more death surrounds Henry VIII's final years. What happens when a monarch is trapped by physical decay, paranoia, and let...
Henry VIII's Reign of Terror
**Contains graphic description of execution ** What happened when one monarch's personal obsession dismantled an entire international order?...
Quest for an Heir: Henry VIII, Aragon and Boleyn
In the 1520s, a dynastic crisis loomed behind the brilliance of Henry VIII's court. Desperate for a male heir after Catherine of Aragon's st...
Henry VIII: From Cradle to Crown
How did a dazzling young Tudor prince become one of history's most notorious kings? How much of Henry VIII’s later tyranny was shaped by the...
How to Survive as a Tudor Peasant
What was everyday life like for an ordinary person in Tudor times? How did dramatic changes in population, climate, disease and the economy...
Young Elizabeth I: Princess & Prisoner
How did a child written off by the Tudor court rise to become one of England's most iconic monarchs? Before she became queen, Elizabeth Tudo...
Captain Cook: The Voyage that Changed the World
How did Captain James Cook's scientific voyage of 1768 become a mission for the British empire? While expanding knowledge of Pacific geograp...
Manhattan’s Most Notorious Couple
Who were the scandalous, defiant couple on the margins of Dutch society who became part of the founding story of New York? Professor Suzanna...
James V: Scotland's Ambitious Renaissance King
Was James V of Scotland a beleaguered child king or a brilliant Renaissance ruler who mastered the performance of power? Crowned before his...
True Crime: Mass Murderering Artist Cellini
How did a murderous, swaggering, wildly unreliable goldsmith become one of the most celebrated artists of the 16th century? Does genius excu...
C.S. Lewis & Narnia: Renaissance Origins
Why does C.S. Lewis's Narnia - with its images of winter, sacrifice, kingship and renewal - continue to resonate with generations of readers...
The Star Chamber: Murder, Witch & Libel Trials
What really happened inside England’s most feared court? Was the Star Chamber a sinister instrument of royal tyranny, or a vital route to ju...
William Cecil: The Power Behind Elizabeth I
Who really ruled Elizabethan England? For almost four decades, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, guided Queen Elizabeth I through religious...
Witnesses to the French Revolution
What was the French Revolution like for those who lived through it? What can private journals reveal that speeches, pamphlets and official r...