History Extra podcast

James Garfield: life of the week

US president James Garfield's life is often overshadowed by his untimely death in 1881, as the second president to be assassinated in office. However, his story is now once again in the limelight, thanks to the new Netflix drama Death by Lightning. Historian and biographer CW Goodyear talks to Elinor Evans about a man who, though his time as leader was fleeting, remains a fascinating figure – and explains why there is much more to be remembered about him than simply his final days. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

A new history of multicultural Britain

As Britain's influence on the world around it grew throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, so too did the world influence Britain – and a key part of that influence was the arrival of people from other places and cultures to its shores. Kieran Connell's new book, Multicultural Britain, explores the experiences of some of these people, and the ways in which their stories combined, sometimes fractiously, to create a newly diverse nation. (Ad) Kieran Connell is the author of Multicultural Britain: A People’s History (C Hurst & Co, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multicultural-Britain-Peoples-Kieran-Connell/dp/1911723510/?tag=bbchistory The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

What should we do with the Nazis? The road to the Nuremberg Trials

At the end of the Second World War, the victorious Allies had to decide the fates of the surviving leaders of a regime that had initiated the bloodiest conflict in history, and perpetuated the Holocaust. The answer, beginning just a few months after VE Day, was the world’s first ever international criminal trial, held in the German city of Nuremberg. As we reach the 80th anniversary of these events, David Musgrove is joined by the lawyer and author Philippe Sands to explore how this groundbreaking trial was conceived amid the rubble of the Reich. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Who stole the Tudor crown?

On her deathbed Elizabeth I named the Scottish James VI as her successor, ensuring a smooth transition from the Tudor to Stuart monarchies. That, at least, is what we've long believed. But an explosive new discovery casts doubt on this version of events, suggesting that the Stuart succession was far less secure than we may have thought. In her new book, //The Stolen Crown//, historian Tracy Borman draws on this research to paint a vivid new picture of these turbulent years, which she explores in conversation with Rob Attar. (Ad) Tracy Borman is the author of The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty (Hodder & Stoughton, 2025). 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-stolen-crown%2Ftracy-borman%2F9781399732888. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The librarian who stole KGB secrets

When an elderly man with a battered suitcase walked into the British embassy in Vilnius in 1992, few could have guessed what he was about to hand over. Gordon Corera tells the story of Vasili Mitrokhin, an under-the-radar Soviet archivist who copied thousands of classified KGB documents over 12 years. Speaking to Elinor Evans, he reveals how a project that began as a private rebellion against the agency he once served evolved into one of the greatest intelligence coups of the 20th century. (Ad) Gordon Corera is the author of The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB (William Collins, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spy-Archive-Gordon-Corera/dp/0008644799/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]