History Extra podcast

Bernard Cornwell talks about the final novel in his Last Kingdom series and his next project – a new Sharpe adventure

Dr Johanna Dale explores how the seventh-century Northumbrian king Oswald became an important saint across medieval Europe.

Kiran Klaus Patel tracks the development of the EU over the postwar decades, considering whether it really did bring peace to the continent.

In the 1930s, Maurice Wilson had a wild plan to fly from England to Everest in a Gypsy Moth plane, and then climb to the top of the mountain solo. Ed Caesar tells his story.

Was the American west really as wild as the movies suggest? Karen Jones responds to listener questions about frontier life.

Howard Williams delivers a lecture on some of the most intriguing and contentious debates in archaeology today.

Margaret Macmillan explores why conflict has been an essential component of human history

Seb Falk highlights the surprising sophistication of scientific research in the Middle Ages.

Maggie Andrews discusses the complex history of widows, often historically viewed as figures of pity and poverty but also a driving force for social change

Victoria Panton Bacon shares remarkable first-hand testimonies from veterans of the Second World War