Since it first hit TV screens back in 2009, Horrible Histories has brought Terry Deary and Martin Brown’s hugely successful series of books to an entire generation of children. As it marks its 15th anniversary, Matt Elton speaks to three members of the team behind the show that mixes comedy songs, gruesome deaths and a talking rat.
The HistoryExtra podcast ... Show More
Feb 2024
Shakespeare: playing with the past
Recently, we marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, a collection of plays by William Shakespeare. To celebrate this landmark in literary history, in today's Long Read, eight historical experts offer their takes on what the Bard's plays reveal about en ... Show More
24m 32s
Dec 2024
Sex Life & Scandal of Charles Dickens
<p>Like it or not, there's no escaping Charles Dickens at this time of year.</p><br><p>But who was the man behind classics such as A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and of course, A Christmas Carol?</p><br><p>His life is as rich as many of the characters' stories in one of his b ... Show More
48 m
Aug 2025
The Mitford Sisters
Rarely out of the papers during their lifetimes, and still figures of fascination in modern media, the six Mitford sisters have become notorious. From a shared, if eccentric childhood, the sisters grew into very different women. As adults, they inhabited diverse worlds, from the ... Show More
52m 34s
Oct 2025
Adam Talks Scary Stories with Unspookable
If you've been following the Kooky Spooky Countdown, it has all been leading up to this: Elise Parisian, the host of Unspookable, sits down with Adam Gidwitz, the creator and host of Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest and New York Times best-selling author, to talk about scary stories them ... Show More
35m 28s
Dec 2024
Audacious lady swindlers, con-women and hustlers
New BBC series Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley tells the stories of female criminals from the 18th to 20th centuries. Their chicanery often earned them great riches, yet, their schemes didn’t always go to plan… This Long Read, written by series consultant Rosalind Crone, examine ... Show More
24m 30s
Mar 2025
Introducing: The Man Who Calculated Death
In 2013, journalist Suzanne Rico gets the call. Her mother, Gabriele, is dying. As time ticks down, Gabriele reveals she has written an incomplete memoir about her traumatic childhood in World War II Germany - and makes a daunting last request: "Finish what I started." When Suzan ... Show More
2m 22s