The Commonwealth of England between 1649 and 1660 is one of the least talked about, yet most defining, periods in British history. Paul Lay comes on the show to discuss this momentous decade, when Britain was a republic.

One of the greatest rulers of the 16th century was Akbar the Great, a man whose power and influence extended over much of the Indian subcontinent, after he unified the vast Mughal state. But recently, Akbar's reputation has plummeted as modern India has examined the controversial aspects of his r...

Tensions were high in England in late October 1605, when a Catholic English nobleman, Lord Monteagle, received a mysterious letter telling him to avoid the opening of Parliament in a few days time. The letter would come to foil the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the Protestant ...

What did Charles II do in the English Civil Wars? Why was he known as the merry monarch? When did things start to go wrong for Charles II? What happened during the Great Fire of London? How did Charles II die? Stuarts and Restoration London historian Rebecca Rideal answers some of the key questio...

On the 26 February 2021, around 38 metres of wall collapsed at Hurst Castle, one of a series of vital coastal forts built by Henry VIII in the 16th century to protect England from threat of invasion by the European powers. Recently, Dan went out on his kayak to assess the damage at the castle whi...

Sean Cunningham, Head of Medieval Records at the National Archives, answers key questions about Henry VII. From his unexpected rise to the throne to his founding of England's most famous royal dynasty: the Tudors.

Nicola Tallis comes on the show to talk about the extraordinary Margaret Beaufort: 'Mother of the Tudors' and the ancestor of all subsequent royals.

Julian Humphrys phones Dan Snow to talk about the Battle of Bosworth, its significance and why we need to come together to prevent the site from being built on.

Dan talks to one of the foremost experts on the Reformation and discusses whether Iain Duncan Smith was right to draw parallels between Brexit and the 16th century split with Rome. Producer: Peter Curry

In this episode, Dan chats to British naval historian and maritime artist, Richard Endsor, about seventeenth century ship building. It was the developments of this period that would enable Britain to extend it's maritime reach across the oceans, eventually encompassing territory on every continent.

Allen Arnold is an Interpretive Ranger for the National Park Service. The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, the fort was designed by the Spanish engineer Ignacio D...

Dan Snow meets Leanda de Lisle, whose new biography of Charles I attempts to re-evaluate the reign of Charles I.

Charles Spencer @cspencer1508, 9th Earl Spencer, is a British nobleman, peer, historian, journalist, and broadcaster. His new book is entitled To Catch A King: Charles II's Great Escape.

It came from Asia via the Middle East and Italy. But, says 17th Century historian, Rebecca Rideal, the parallels with the Black Death, The Plague, are not helpful. It was great to catch up with Rebecca again on the podcast. She tells me what effect plague had on British people and society when it...

Poison, swordplay and bloodshed. Shakespeare’s characters met their ends in a plethora of gruesome ways. But how realistic were they? And did they even shock audiences who lived in a time of plague, pestilence and public executions, a time when seeing a dead or dying body on the way home from the...

Estelle Paranque launches into a passioned explanation of Elizabeth I and how she masterfully handled the European powers of her day. She talks about French attempts to win her hand, her defence of the Huguenots, and handling the problem of the Spanish. Producer: Peter Curry

Dan talks to Helen Castor about her book on Elizabeth I and the way she governed.

James Evans @jamesevansuk is a historian and television producer and Emigrants is his second book. He has worked since producing historical documentaries for Niall Ferguson, David Starkey and Michael Wood, as well as helping to write some of the accompanying books. He wrote an acclaimed account o...

Antony Robbins, Communications director Museum of London.

Jessie Childs is an award-winning author and historian. In this fascinating interview, she explores the Catholic predicament in Elizabethan England - an age in which their faith was criminalised, and almost two hundred Catholics were executed. In exposing the tensions masked by the cult of Gloria...

Jerry Brotton is Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London and director of the college's MA in Renaissance Studies. This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World is out now.

Jessie Childs is an award-winning author and historian. Her books are 'Henry VIII's Last Victim' and 'God's Traitors'.

Dan talks to Henry Lytton-Cobbold about his family, Knebworth House, and its connection with rock and roll.

Martin Kemp, an emeritus professor at the University of Oxford, is one of the foremost experts on Leonardo Da Vinci. He has recently worked on a translation and collation of the Codex Leicester and he talks Dan through Leonardo's most interesting and prescient ideas. Producer: Peter Curry