How a ballerina survived the Gulag

Magna Carta may be associated today with power, liberty and freedom – but those weren’t quite the concerns back in 1215. So what did the barons really demand of King John? And what can this document tell us about the lives of people in medieval England? In this second episode of ...  Show more

Queen Victoria was – so legend has it – famously 'not amused'. But, as Dr Bob Nicholson reveals in this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, the long-lived queen did have a sense of humour – as did her subjects. Speaking with David Musgrove, Bob explores what made people laugh in ...  Show more

Whilst ballet is undoubtedly one of the most graceful and elegant art forms, it also has a long and dark history of sexual exploitation.

How did King Louis XIV's love of the ballet fundamentally change it? What was the patronage system and how did dancers use it to t ...

This week David talks to Katja Hoyer and Lea Ypi about life under communism. East Germany was the most successful of the communist states of Eastern Europe, measured by economic prosperity and sporting success. Did the GDR ever really offer a model of how Soviet-style communism c ...  Show more

As the daughter of Josef Stalin, it's safe to say Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva was never destined for a normal life. Still, no one could have predicted the bizarre globe-trotting adventures she would take as she escaped the Soviet Union and became the world's most famous defecto ...  Show more

Thanks HelloFresh! Go to https://www.hellofresh.com/50teatime  and use code 50TEATIME for 50% off plus free shipping! The daughters of Tsar Nikolai II of Russia and his wife Alexandra Feodrovna were born into the wealthiest royal family in the world. Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anast ...  Show more