In the early 1600s, English began to spread around the world as speakers searched for new trading partners and new places to settle. Through that process, English become an international language, but as English speakers encountered people and languages in distant places, they sometimes became confused. That confusion and uncertainty shaped the English langu ... Show More
Jul 15
Episode 184: Spelling Says a Lot (Part 1)
Over the course of the 1500s, English spelling started to become standardized, but the pronunciation of the language continued to change. By the early 1600s, English scholars noticed that spellings no longer reflected the way words were pronounced, and they recommended phonetic r ... Show More
1h 20m
May 2025
Episode 183: The Fabric of Our Lives
In the early 1600s, cotton fabrics made in India were in high demand throughout Asia and Africa. When the English and Dutch arrived in India and Japan, they realized how popular the fabric was, and they soon began to ship it back to northern Europe. In this episode, we explore ho ... Show More
1h 16m
Dec 2024
How The (English) Alphabet Became A Thing, Part Two: Each Letter Has A Story
How did the English alphabet -- a strange agglomeration of curved and straight-lined symbols -- become a thing? In the second part of this special two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the messy evolution of modern English, with a special shoutout to each letter of the cur ... Show More
48m 13s
Apr 2025
Sketches in History | Impossible Escape
The 15-Minute History Podcast team brings you a new segment, just for kids, called Sketches in History, where history isn’t just a story—it’s an adventure. Join Lottie Archer as she dives into her extraordinary notebook where sketches from history come to life.In this episode, sh ... Show More
7m 10s
Dec 2017
The Battle of Ruapekapeka
As relations between Māori and Pākehā sour in the years after the Treaty of Waitangi, Hone Heke makes his famous attacks on the flagstaff at Kororāreka/Russell in 1845. This sparks the NZ Wars proper, with the fight for sovereignty, development of trench warfare and inconclusive ... Show More
47m 58s
Sep 4
Bitesize Ep 105: A Shocking Chapter of British History: The Day London Nearly Drowned in Dung
📥 Grab the FREE PDF with 15 advanced expressions from this episode, complete with quizzes and example sentences, to learn today’s vocabulary 3x faster! 🎓 Join my weekly online group lessons In this episode, we dive into a shocking chapter of British history: The Great Hors ... Show More
26m 37s