Georgian wallpaper and an enduring fashion tr...

To celebrate the men's football World Cup this year, join host Amy Matthews as we dribble through the surprisingly long history of the beautiful game. Historian Will Wyeth and curator Peter Moore unpack a fascinating cabinet of curiosities, from a Victorian leather football disco ...  Show more

When Henry VIII separated from the Catholic Church, he was left feeling vulnerable to invasion from France and Spain. His answer was to build England’s first national coastal defence network. Rising like medieval spaceships along the English coast, these ‘device forts’ were a ser ...  Show more

A wasp leads to the invention of paper in ancient China. Rich Europeans have to find another way to decorate their walls when coal fires ruin their valuable tapestries. Anger over wallpaper helps ignite the French Revolution. And a silent killer is found hiding in plain sight on ...  Show more

This week Neil MacGregor's history of the world is looking at how the global economy became cemented in the 19th century, a time of mass production and mass consumption. He tells the story of how tea became the defining national drink in Britain - why have we become so closely as ...  Show more

The story of a Chinese concubine who rose to power from behind a curtain of yellow silk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

This week, Cassidy and April take you inside their book Fashion and the Art of Pochoir to learn all about the painterly hand-stenciling technique that redefined fashion illustration in the Art Moderne and Art Deco eras. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpod ...  Show more