Paganism: everything you wanted to know

Who were the people who financed Britain’s transatlantic slave trade – and how did their money transform the nation? Elinor Evans speaks to historian William A Pettigrew, who has led a landmark project identifying some 13,000 investors connected to the trafficking of 3.2 million ...  Show more

What defines Europe – is it geography, politics, a shared culture, or perhaps a mix of all three? In this episode, historian Roderick Beaton tells Emily Briffett about the ways in which it has been defined, and redefined, as an idea by its people over the centuries. ----- GO BEYO ...  Show more

Like Merlin, who lived his life in reverse, we go backwards in time as we continue our two-part series on paganism. Renaissance philosophers; green men; a pagan city in the early caliphate; hooded gods on Hadrian’s Wall; Stonehenge; cannibals (or were they?) in Cheddar Gorge; and ...  Show more

Aligning with the winter solstice of 2024, Tristan Hughes and Professor Ronald Hutton delve into the ancient Druids of Britain and France.

They discuss how Julius Caesar encountered this feared enemy in his Roman conquest of Gaul, and Cicero had meetings with a Druid lea ...

Many of them pre-date modern religions and defy what science tells us about the world - from saluting magpies, to wearing lucky pants. Yet why do superstitions still have such a strong hold on our lives?Today we’re joined by Sally Coulthard, author of Superstition - the History o ...  Show more

It’s that time of year again, Halloween. A word which conjures up images of pumpkins, ghosts, and of course…witches.But have you ever wondered what the ancient origins of witchcraft is? How did the black-hat-broomstick stereotype emerge? And what causes the waves of witch trials ...  Show more