On 23 January 1978, Baron Édouard-Jean Empain was snatched from the streets of Paris, in an audacious kidnapping attempt. Before long, a ransom of 80 million francs was demanded. And to show they meant business, the kidnappers chopped off the baron’s little finger – with the disturbing warning that more body parts would follow. In conversation with Emily Bri ... Show More
Today
Juana Inés de la Cruz: life of the week
She led “a life that really, in many ways, shouldn't have been possible”. So says historian Paul Gillingham of Juana Inés de la Cruz. This 17th-century polymath and nun challenged a host of social conventions – earning, through her extraordinary books and poems, a place in the pa ... Show More
30m 40s
Mar 1
Does Magna Carta matter today?
Politicians invoke it, activists wield it, and legal thinkers debate what it can offer the modern world. But what does Magna Carta really mean today? In this fourth and final episode of HistoryExtra's Sunday Series on the charter, Emily Briffett and historian Nicholas Vincent con ... Show More
38m 15s
Aug 2023
360. Fear City: New York in the 1970s
“A cloud of black, acrid smoke hung over the area. It was a scene from a warzone, a battlefield - it was a scene from the end of the world…” New York in the 1970s was a city decimated by economic stagnation, unemployment and ever-rising crime rates, haemorrhaging its population t ... Show More
54m 6s
Sep 2023
365. Le Marquis de Sade: Sex and Violence
The father of sadism and a prophet of totalitarianism, the Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and writer, an uncompromising and unashamed libertine with the eerie ability to corrupt those around him. Arrested first by the French monarchy and then by the revolutionaries, he s ... Show More
56m 17s
Jul 2023
353: Paris 1968: The Students' Revolt (Part 1)
May 1968 saw underlying tensions reach a climax in France, resulting in a period of civil unrest coloured by rioting, general strikes, and the occupation of universities and factories. Join Tom and Dominic in the first part of our tour through the streets of Paris, as they tell t ... Show More
46m 23s
Jan 2024
411. The Man in the Iron Mask
In the late 17th century, during the glorious reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, France was at its apogee, with royal absolutism at its zenith. But, beneath the gold and glamour of Louis’ reign, there lay a terrifying darkness: a prison system into which people could be disappeare ... Show More
48m 25s
Dec 2023
The Man Who Sold The Eiffel Tower
On this day we recall the Police operation to ensnare prolific conman Victor Lustig.
The ‘Catch Me If You Can’-style manhunt intensified on 11th December, 1928, when Lustig made the mistake of robbing $16,000 from Massachusetts businessman Thomas Kearns, thereby triggering a cha ... Show More
11m 48s
May 2022
181. The Birth of Babylon
In January, Tom and Dominic explored the history of Babylon, from Nebuchadnezzar onwards (episode 145 in the Rest Is History feed).
At the end of that episode, there was a promise to revisit Babylon's earlier period to fully do the topic justice - so here it is!
Tune in to hear ... Show More
48m 26s