Bring Me The Head of Oliver Cromwell

The BBC broadcast the first ever edition of Roy Plomley’s ‘Desert Island Discs’ - the world’s longest-running interview programme - on 29th January, 1942. Opening, as the show still does, with Eric Coates’s theme music ‘By the Sleepy Lagoon’, the episode welcomed comedian Vic Oli ...  Show more

Stud-and-tube bricks, which paved the way for Lego to become one of the most successful companies in Denmark, were patented on 28th January, 1958. But this family business had already been in existence for 26 years, mostly making wooden toys. It later emerged, however, that the p ...  Show more

John returns from his humiliating defeat at Bouvines to an unhappy kingdom. His barons have finally reached their limit, sick of John’s extortionate taxes, failed campaigns and vicious vendettas. They demand he changes his ways, or else it’s war. This is History is a Sony Musi ...  Show more

Edward I puts his plan of a united Britain into motion, building some of the most magnificent castles the world had ever seen. These castles could secure his legacy, but they are eye-wateringly expensive. Edward’s debts, alongside a near-death experience, sends him and Mediaeval ...  Show more

Today on the show, our hosts Giles Alderson, Lucinda Rhodes Thakrar & Andrew Rodger welcome the brilliant writer-director David Beton, who’s known for films and TV shows like I am Soldier (2014), The Hatton Garden Job (2017), and EastEnders (2021), to talk about their latest feat ...  Show more

John assembles a mighty Plantagenet alliance to return to France and reclaim what Philip Augustus stole from him. After a decade of preparations, the fate of his dynasty rests on the outcome of one bloody battle. This is History is a Sony Music Entertainment production. Fin ...  Show more