HistoryExtra podcast

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Aug 2, 2023 • 45min

US Civil Rights: the Montgomery bus boycott

Rosa Parks’ momentous refusal to vacate her bus seat for a white passenger in 1955 sparked a boycott that lasted for 381 days, and successfully pressured city authorities to end bus segregation. In the second episode of our series delving into the US Civil Rights movement, Rhiannon Davies speaks to historians Jeanne Theoharis and Mia Bay to delve into the inner workings of the boycott, as well as the power of direct action.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Aug 1, 2023 • 32min

Renaissance beauty regimes

Appearance was everything in the Renaissance – a way to make a good marriage and gain power and influence. But what if you fell short of the era’s exacting beauty ideals? Speaking with Charlotte Hodgman, Professor Jill Burke ventures into the realm of Renaissance beauty culture, touching on everything from poisonous makeup and hair removal to 16th-century body anxieties and homemade cosmetic recipes.(Ad) Jill Burke is the author of How to be a Renaissance Woman: The Untold History of Beauty and Female Creativity (Profile Books, 2023). Buy it now from Waterstones:https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fhow-to-be-a-renaissance-woman%2Fjill-burke%2F9781788166669The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 31, 2023 • 32min

AI: An ancient nightmare?

Artificial intelligence’s development seems to be moving at breakneck speed, and the ability of AI to automate even complex tasks – and, potentially, to outwit its human creators – has been making plenty of headlines in recent months. But how far back does our fascination with, and our fear of, AI extend? Matt Elton spoke to Michael Wooldridge, professor of computer science at the University of Oxford, to find out more. (Ad) Michael Wooldridge is the author of The Road to Conscious Machines: The Story of AI (Pelican, 2020). Buy it now from Amazon:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Conscious-Machines-Story-Pelican-ebook/dp/B07XCC7BMQ/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histbotyThe HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 30, 2023 • 31min

A jujitsu-trained suffragette bodyguard

Known as “Mrs Pankhurst’s bodyguard”, Kitty Marshall was a cricket-ball-wielding, jujitsu-trained suffragette ready to go fist-to-fist with the police in her fight for votes for women. Historian and biographer Emelyne Godfrey tells Ellie Cawthorne more about Kitty’s unorthodox life, and the tense game of cat-and-mouse that suffragettes were locked in with Met police.(Ad) Emelyne Godfrey is the author of Mrs Pankhurst’s Bodyguard: On the Trail of ‘Kitty’ Marshall and the Met Police ‘Cats’ (History Press, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mrs-Pankhursts-Bodyguard-Marshall-Police/dp/1803991755/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2MBTS4LY5IQJX&keywords=mrs+pankhurst%27s+bodyguard&qid=1689935008&sprefix=mrs+pank%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-1&tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histbotyThe HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 29, 2023 • 45min

The NHS: everything you wanted to know

How did the British public respond when the NHS was first founded 75 years ago? How have the roles of doctors and nurses changed in the decades since? And was there ever a ‘golden age’ of the National Health Service? In our latest Everything you wanted to know episode, Andrew Seaton tackles listener questions about the UK’s National Health Service, to mark its 75th anniversary.(Ad) Andrew Seaton is the author of Our NHS: A History of Britain's Best Loved Institution (Yale University Press, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C8CG7RJK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histbotyThe HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 27, 2023 • 34min

Life in a WW2 tank regiment

In military history, we often hear the stories of great battles and detailed strategic manoeuvres, but what was life like for the men responsible for executing these sweeping orders? Drawing on oral history testimonies, Peter Hart shares personal stories of the 2nd Fire and Forfar Yeomanry – a WW2 tank regiment. Speaking with Emily Briffett, he reveals how they lived with constant fear of the sudden impact of German shells and the subsequent scramble to escape.(Ad) Peter Hart is the author of Burning Steel: A Tank Regiment at War, 1939-45 (Profile, 2022). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fburning-steel%2Fpeter-hart%2F9781788166393The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 26, 2023 • 5min

US Civil Rights: Fighting for freedom

In this HistoryExtra podcast series, we chart some of the key moments in the transformative history of the US Civil Rights movement. Expert historians share some of the movement's most recognisable stories, from the Montgomery bus boycott that inspired the nation to the landmark March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr shared his powerful dream for America’s future, as well as shining a light on some of the forgotten figures who helped forge the movement, and exploring how its legacy continues to shape the world around us today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 26, 2023 • 43min

US Civil Rights: the lynching of Emmett Till

When Mamie Till decided to display the bruised and beaten body of her son, 14-year-old Emmett Till, in an open casket funeral, she poured gasoline on the emerging Civil Rights movement in America. In the first episode of our series delving into the movement, Rhiannon Davies is joined by biographer Devery Anderson and historian Adriane Lentz-Smith to look back at Emmett’s tragic lynching and the horrors of Jim Crow America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 25, 2023 • 29min

A ring of poisoners: Hungary’s most notorious murders

In 1929, a sensational murder trial took place in Hungary. A group of women, all hailing from the same tiny village, stood accused of murdering dozens of men – including sons, lovers and husbands – over the course of more than a decade. But why did they do it? How did they do it? And how did they remain undetected for so long? Award-winning journalist Patti McCracken talks to Jon Bauckham about the so-called “Angel Makers of Nagyrév”, and sheds light on the wider social and economic factors that may have motivated them to murder.(Ad) Patti McCracken is the author of The Angel Makers: The True Crime Story of the Most Astonishing Murder Ring in History (Mudlark, 2023). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fthe-angel-makers%2Fpatti-mccracken%2F9780008579531%23%3A~%3Atext%3DA%20story%20so%20jaw%2Ddropping%2COver%20160%20mysterious%20deaths.The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jul 24, 2023 • 32min

RAF Coastal Command: unsung heroes of WW2

Throughout the Second World War, the men of RAF Coastal Command took to the skies and valiantly defended Allied ships from German U-boats in the Atlantic. But despite the heroism of its crews, Coastal Command spent a large portion of the conflict both chronically underfunded and underappreciated, leading some personnel to label it the “Cinderella Service”. Historian and author Leo McKinstry spoke to Jon Bauckham about the challenges that Coastal Command faced during these years, and how – thanks to innovative new technology and careful inter-service diplomacy – Cinderella finally made it to the ball.(Ad) Leo McKinstry is the author of Cinderella Boys: The Forgotten RAF Force that Won the Battle of the Atlantic (John Murray, 2023). But in now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cinderella-Boys-Forgotten-Battle-Atlantic/dp/1529319366/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1688035673&sr=1-1&tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histbotyThe HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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