The last Queen of France before the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette is best known today for her extravagant lifestyle and controversial legacy. Initially admired for her grace and charm, as revolutionary fervour gripped her adopted homeland, she became a symbol of royal excess, and a lightning rod for public resentment.
But did she truly deserve her ... Show More
Mar 18
Introducing: Real Vikings - Episode 1
This is a preview of a brand-new show from the Noiser podcast network. Hosted by Iain Glen (Game of Thrones, Silo), Real Vikings takes you on a deep dive into the Viking age. You’ll board longboats bound for new lands, follow mighty warlords, meet master navigators, and uncover t ... Show More
54m 18s
Mar 16
Ernest Hemingway
At the dawn of the twentieth century, a writer emerged who learned his craft not in a classroom, but in battlefields, bullrings, and bars. To some, Ernest Hemingway was the greatest writer of his generation. A Nobel laureate whose sparse, muscular prose changed literature forever ... Show More
56m 34s
Jul 2024
475. The French Revolution: Marie Antoinette (Part 1)
The French Revolution is one of the great seismic events of global history. A devouring conflagration of bloodshed, violence and utopianism, it changed France and then latterly the whole of Europe forever. Yet, amidst the panoply of colossal, colourful names that defined this cat ... Show More
55m 51s
Oct 2024
Marie Antoinette: The Cake-Loving Queen
<p>Today, we’ll study someone who was both a cause and a victim of the French Revolution: the cake-promoting queen, Marie Antoinette.</p><br><p>In <em>Assassin’s Creed Unity</em>, we glimpse Marie Antoinette living the high-life while the poor people of Paris starve. By walking t ... Show More
44m 21s
Jul 2024
476. The French Revolution: The Diamond Necklace Scandal (Part 2)
In August 1785 a shocking affair came to light which would prove so detrimental to the reputation and standing of the French King Louis XVI, and more especially his already unpopular wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, that it would become a decisive moment in the rising tide of the Fr ... Show More
51m 58s
Mar 2025
Aphra Behn: Revolutionary, Author, Spy
<p>Aphra Behn was a true original. Not only was she the first woman to earn a living by writing, she was also a spy, a political propagandist and a revolutionary. Publicly she was all brash sexuality and outspoken politics, but what is known about the woman beneath? Professor ... Show More
40m 26s
Sep 2025
The Real Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was a queen who defied expectations, a duchess who outmanoeuvred kings, and a mother whose dynasty shaped the future of Europe. She is often remembered through myth, gossip, and legend—but the truth is far more fascinating. Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Pro ... Show More
1 h