HistoryExtra Long Reads

If Lucy Worsley has learned one thing in her 30 years as a historian, it’s that what we think we know about Britain’s kings and queens is often wrong. In today's Long Read, the historian, writer and broadcaster looks again at five royals whose reputations have been transformed – or are long overdue a makeover. Today's feature originally appeared in the October 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recent film Pressure dramatises the attempts of meteorologists to predict the weather on D-Day – and in this Long Read written by Catherine Ross, we chart five moments when weather forecasts (or the lack of them) changed the course of history. Today's feature originally appeared in the October 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Musgrove and Michael Lewis offer the essential spotter's guide to the iconic medieval embroidery Heading to the British Museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry for yourself? This Long Read, written by David Musgrove and Michael Lewis, reveals the 10 things you simply must do when experiencing the world’s most famous embroidery in all its glory. Today's feature originally appeared in the October 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been hailed as the plane that won the Battle of Britain – but does the Spitfire deserve its all-conquering reputation? Ninety years after this nimble fighter took its maiden flight, this Long Read written by Hattie Hearn explores how it became a national icon. Today’s feature originally appeared in the September 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From famine to fines, the life of the medieval farmer was often far from straightforward. In this Long Read, Christopher Dyer offers six tips for those seeking success in running a smallholding in the 13th and 14th centuries. Today’s feature originally appeared in the September 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s human nature to believe that history repeats itself – but might our instinct to look for echoes of the past in the present be misguided, and even dangerous? This Long Read, written by Robert Blackmore, explores why such comparisons can be deceptive. Today’s feature originally appeared in the August 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Ireland, many thousands condemned as ‘fallen women’ were detained indefinitely in Magdalene laundries, forced to toil in harsh conditions. This Long Read written by Louise Brangan – author of The Fallen – reveals how church and state colluded to cast a shroud of silence over traumas inflicted behind closed doors in the 20th century. Today's feature originally appeared in the August 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The collapse of Roman rule in Britain, followed by the emergence of kingdoms established by Germanic tribes, marks one of the most turbulent periods in Britain’s history. But what factors drove this dramatic transformation? This Long Read written by Nick Higham chronicles the rise of the Anglo-Saxons. Today’s feature originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1920s and 1930s, Weimar was rife with contradictions, embracing both utopian modernism and Nazism. This German town’s interwar story reveals how democratic dreams can die in the face of economic ills and polarising politics, as this Long Read written by Katja Hoyer explains... Today's feature originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 480 BC, Athens and Sparta joined forces to repel one of the greatest invasion forces the world had seen. Yet just a few decades later, they faced off against each other – with dire results for the people of Greece. This Long Read written by Adrian Goldsworthy reveals how these great cities, once allies, became deadly foes. Today's feature originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever wondered what it was like to step into a world where a mask could loosen the rules of rank, reputation and restraint? This Long Read written by Meghan Kobza takes us inside the 18th-century masquerade, where sex, wealth and power collided with the urge to make a splash in high society – often with scandalous results... Today's feature originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lucy Bolton reveals how the star became a cultural icon not just through her glamorous image, but through fierce ambition, talent and relentless hard work The heart-shaped face. The iridescent blonde hair. And who can forget that billowing white dress? Image was key to Marilyn Monroe’s meteoric rise but, as this Long Read written by Lucy Bolton explains on the star’s centenary, her success was only possible because of raw talent, ambition and a ferocious work ethic. Today's feature originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Black Death is infamous for ravaging the population of Europe – yet it was most lethal in the Muslim world, leaving such a trail of devastation that bodies were abandoned to rot in the streets. This Long Read written by Thomas Asbridge investigates why plague took such a heavy toll in the Near East... Today's feature originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Featuring Cyclopes, Lotus-Eaters and goddesses that turn men into pigs, the Odyssey reads like a fantastical adventure story. Yet, argues this Long Read written by Daisy Dunn, Homer’s epic poem – now a Hollywood blockbuster – offers a fascinating lens onto the reality of life in Bronze Age Greece. Today’s feature originally appeared in the August 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when football becomes far more than a game? As the 2026 World Cup unfolds, this Long Read written by Tony Shaw and Alan McDougall revisits four matches played during the Cold War that turned the beautiful game into a battleground of ideology, identity and state power. Today's feature originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Enlightenment was an era of open-eyed progress, of the advance of science and reason – right? So why, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, did British people continue to be hoodwinked? This Long Read written by Madeleine Pelling exposes eight frauds and forgeries from a golden age of hoaxes. Today's feature originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The US Declaration of Independence was formally adopted on one famous day in July 1776. Yet this celebrated event was the product of years of misunderstandings and escalating tensions. On the 250th anniversary of the birth of a nation, this Long Read written by George Goodwin traces the evolution of one of the most consequential documents in history. Today's feature originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952, she could barely have conceived the currents – imperial retreat, multiculturalism, deindustrialisation – that would transform the nation during her reign. This Long Read, written by David Cannadine, explores how she navigated seven decades of dizzying change. Today’s feature originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we think of the seven deadly sins as outdated definitions of moral flaws prohibited by the church. But as this Long Read written by Peter Jones reveals, these vices were originally conceived to provide medieval solutions to universal human problems. Today's feature originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried Pompeii and its citizens beneath pumice, stone and ash for centuries. But, as this Long Read written by Jess Venner reveals, we can now reconstruct the lives of its citizens before the catastrophe. Today's feature originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices