What Did The Vikings Really Look Like?

In the first half of the 1700s, Britain was overwhelmed by gin. But it might not have been as fun as it sounds.Today, we're hearing about what the so-called gin-craze was, the impact that it had on regular people, and the government's attempts to control it.Kate is joined by Prof ...  Show more

Demonic blood-sucking creatures have existed for thousands of years before Dracula showed up all sexy, suave and problematic.Who were these figures who inspired what we know today as vampires? Why are a lot of these supernatural creatures female figures? And why did left-handed r ...  Show more

Vikings have long been depicted as that stereotype of the hairy, nameless warrior, leaping ashore from his longboat, ready to terrorise a hapless local population in a northern European country. But there were also seers, artisans, travellers, and writers, too whose stories ca ...

We know the Vikings best as brutal, seafaring, pagan raiders – and that’s an important part of their lives and histories. But it’s only one aspect: what about their love lives, experiences of travels, and attitudes to religion? Speaking with James Osborne, Eleanor Barraclough unp ...  Show more

793 - 1035 - Glorious literature tells us that the Vikings were savage raiders who sailed the seas and plundered from others.  This episode investigates what we do know about the Vikings and their history and whether those preconceptions are completely fair.