Artist Althea McNish and history of the Met Gala

Artist Althea McNish and history of the Met G...

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The creation of Inspector Montalbano and Australia's first Big Thing

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Giuliana Pieri, an expert in Italian noir from Royal Holloway, University of London.We start with the author Andrea Camilleri on the creation of his ficti ...  Show more

Mexican history: A love song and a gas explosion

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Michelle Meinhart, a reader in musicology and cultural history at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. We start by hearing about a Mexican song that captivated lov ...  Show more

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In preparation for International Women's Day this Wednesday, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb takes a look at a Queen whose reputation has largely been shaped by her husband's midlife crisis. History does not see much further than Katherine of Aragon's so-called failure to provide ...

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Elizabeth I of England and Ireland reigned for 45 years over a golden age of peace, prosperity and flourishing art and culture. And she shocked the medieval world by doing it all without a man. But that certainly wasn’t for lack of proposals. Elizabeth had at least 16 suitors in ...  Show more

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We had plans today to release the first two episodes of American History Hit but due to the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week, we’ve decided to take some time and do something a little different.


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Helen Rappaport, "In Search of Mary Seacole: The Making of a Black Cultural Icon" (Pegasus Books, 2022)
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Raised in Jamaica, Mary Seacole first came to England in the 1850s after working in Panama. She wanted to volunteer as a nurse and aide during the Crimean War. When her services were rejected, she financed her own expedition to Balaclava, where her reputation for her nursing—and ...  Show more