The Untitled History Podcast

byGareth Edwards

History

Deep dives into history’s fascinating rabbit holes. Untitled History Podcast is the podcast that takes you beyond the textbooks to explore the untold stories of the ancient and modern worlds. Join Gareth Edwards and a lineup of world-leading experts that lifts the lid on famous episodes and obscure global events alike. Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: ⁠https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host⁠ To comment and ask questions, please join our community:⁠ https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one mont...

Episodes(33 episodes)

Forgotten Crusader Queens of Cyprus

For three decades in the late 1400s, the throne of Cyprus would be fought over by two women, each with a claim on its title. Although mostly forgotten today, this political battle would draw in all of the great powers of the region, from Egypt to the papacy. The lives of Charlotte of Lusignan and Caterina Cornaro offer an incredible window into both the opportunities for power and politicking available to women at the time, and to the limits. Both would have legacies on the Italian renaissance that would continue after their deaths. <...

Published: Sep 17, 2026Duration: 43m 0s

Origins of the Celebrity with Greg Jenner

Celebrity feels like a modern idea. Something that owes its origins to the rise of Hollywood, television and reality TV. But its cultural origins run far deeper. People who could be - and were - treated as celebrities can be seen right back to the world of 17th century theatre and beyond. The relationship between celebrity, fame and renown has also always been fluid, shifting in the eyes - and papers - of past times as much as it does today. Guest Greg Jenner is a public historian who loves comedy. Host of BBC You’re Dead To Me po...

Published: Sep 10, 2026Duration: 53m 49s

Rescuing Pilots From the Channel

In this Extra Bit episode, Gareth and Matt Bone shine a light on the pilots of the Typhoon and Spitfire raids on D-Day's radar stations: the air-sea rescue crews. They cover the amphibious Walrus flying boats and the Spitfires that circled overhead to guide them in, the remarkable five-day ordeal of Canadian pilot Al Watkins after he ditched off Le Havre, and the raid on Guernsey's radar station that cost pilot Johnny Saville his life. They close with an unexpected detour into Hollywood, revealing how Bond production designer Ken Adam once flew Typhoons himself.Do you like our podcast? ...

Published: Sep 4, 2026Duration: 30m 7s

How the Allies punched the hole in German radar for D-Day

By 1944, the German’s had a highly-advanced radar system covering the entirety of the Channel coast. That radar would, if left intact, provide considerable warning of any unfolding allied invasion. The task of dealing with those radar stations ahead of D-Day fell almost entirely on the fighter-bombers of the allies, and the RAF in particular. In a remarkable, and often bloody, series of operations they walked the fine line between blinding the Germans entirely in Normandy, and leaving enough radar stations intact to detect the fake invasion that would unfold further up the French coast. As...

Published: Sep 3, 2026Duration: 49m 58s

1983: The year of crises that almost ended the world

In September 1983, the Soviet missile launch detection system falsely reported an inbound US missile strike. The actions of Stanislav Petrov that day, who refused to report the launch as true, have often been described as having saved the world. This is the story of 1983. The year the world almost ended. Petrov’s actions in the Soviet missile control centre at Serpukhov-15 near Moscow, arguably prevented a nuclear war. But what’s often not talked about is why the Soviets were prepared to launch a missile strike of their own, based only on a warning for a single detection system. In r...

Published: Aug 27, 2026Duration: 51m 49s

Agatha Christie goes to war

Agatha Christie is the world’s best selling author and rightly regarded as the queen of crime. But less well known is her medical service in both world wars, and its influence on her writing. Without WW1, there would be no Poirot. Agatha Christie trained as nurse and served as a red cross volunteer in WW1, encountering many Belgian refugees. She later trained to become a dispenser. In the second world war she served once again. In this episode we explore that work, and the experiences and people - and poisons - she encountered would pr...

Published: Aug 20, 2026Duration: 56m 50s

The history and cultural impact of Asterix the Gaul

The best selling comic series in the world is One Piece. But the second best selling, with almost 400 million copies sold, is neither British nor American. It is, in fact, the story of a small French village holding out against the Roman Empire. In this episode we’re going to look at the history, and cultural impact, of Asterix the Gaul. The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely... One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fo...

Published: Aug 13, 2026Duration: 1h 5m 35s

The myth and reality of medieval Crusader States

In the aftermath of the First Crusade, four Christian kingdoms were established in the near east. In this episode we explore the history of the Crusader States, and the many myths that surround them. Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli and Jerusalem. Four Christian kingdoms were all established after 1098. The popular image of these kingdoms is as fortified outposts, ruling over poor and often barren lands. Lands where they were treated as an occupying force. Yet the reality of the Crusader States is far more complex. The states were often in political conflict with themselves or newcomers from the west, as much...

Published: Aug 6, 2026Duration: 54m 25s

18th Century letter writing and the hidden history of women

In 1740, Samuel Richardson published Pamela, a novel purporting to be the letters of a young woman. In 1748, he followed this up with Clarissa, written on the same principle.Richardson’s subjects were fake. But the activity he showed them engaging in was very real. The creation of reliable and regular postal services after the English Civil War led to an explosion in letter writing, especially for women. Through letters they could build and maintain relationships, share opinions on society or politics and reflect on life. Just as we do through messaging platforms or social media today. Indeed the in...

Published: Jul 30, 2026Duration: 50m 14s

How Games Workshop changed the world with Jordan Sorcery

In 1975, three young men sat in a grotty flat in West London decided to launch a games company. Over the next few years, they would find themselves at the centre of the growing revolution in roleplay, and then miniature gaming. Today, we’re going to talk about the history of Games Workshop and the universe it launched: Warhammer Today, Games Workshop, with its line of Warhammer games, books and more stands as one of the most successful British companies in history. So successful has it been that as of December 2024 it is a member of the FTSE 100. But behind th...

Published: Jul 23, 2026Duration: 1h 0m 52s

Robin Hood: The Truth Behind the Myth

Lythe and listin Gentilmen, That be of freebore blode I shall tell you of a gode Yeman His name was Robyn Hode These are the opening words to The Gest of Robin Hood, first published by Wynkin de Worde in written form in 1506. They represent the first literary mention of a man who was almost certainly never real, but who has existed in the British consciousness since the middle ages. In this episode, we’re going to explore the medieval origins of Robin Hood, and how he has always reflected the society and time in which his story is be...

Published: Jul 16, 2026Duration: 49m 26s

How Piracy Actually Worked

Ask most people to describe a pirate and their ship, and they’ll likely conjure up an image of an eye-patch-wearing man commanding a huge ship. An image that, in most cases, could not be farther from the truth. From the middle of the 17th century onwards, European nations expanded their influence and trade into the Americas and the Indian Ocean. In doing so, they created an environment in which piracy began to flourish. That period, and the men and women who operated as pirates within it, have captured the imagination of the world ever since. Yet most of th...

Published: Jul 9, 2026Duration: 58m 54s

America’s influence on Tudor England

The 16th Century saw a two way exchange of objects, ideas and people between Europe and the Americas to a far greater extent than is often understood. Much of that exchange is visible in the everyday objects and trade that took place between these two different worlds. Exchange that can get lost when we frame history through the eyes and acts of individuals of recognition, renown or infamy. Today we’re going to explore the influence of the Americas on Tudor England and beyond. Guest Lauren Working is a historian at the University of York who specialises in literary so...

Published: Jul 2, 2026Duration: 51m 31s

When Radium Was Put in Everything

The discovery of Radium in 1898 opened up new frontiers of science and medicine. But the sheer difference between the behaviour of radium and every element that had been discovered before, led to wild claims about its properties. These claims, and the mystery surrounding the new element, led to a period sometimes known as the ‘Radium Craze’. For decades, this potentially dangerous element would be used for medical experimentation and in consumer products, with news of its effects - real and exaggerated - making headlines around the world. Guest: Lucy Jane Santos is a historian whose work ranges across beauty, scie...

Published: Jun 25, 2026Duration: 56m 19s

Demonology and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The period of the Second Temple was a time of cultural change for Jewish communities, including in how they regarded concepts such as magic and demons. But evidence for what that meant on the ground was limited until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946, and the wealth of scholarship that followed. The picture painted is of a society looking to understand how the world, and the beliefs of other cultures around them, should be considered in relation to the Hebrew bible and beyond. Guest Tupá Guerra is a Brazilian historian specializing in demons on the Dead Sea S...

Published: Jun 18, 2026Duration: 54m 38s

Everyday Clothing in Roman Judea

Jesus in flowing robes. Mary, his mother, in a veil. Mary Magdalene in red with loose flowing hair. Even the disciples in short tunics bare-headed. All these, and more, are part of the standard iconography of Christianity. Yet both here, and with Roman or Greco-Roman people in this period in general, many of our ideas about daily dress and styling are wrong. Today, we’re going to dig into what everyday dress was like in ancient Judea and beyond, busting some myths while also showing that, in many ways, people then saw fashion no differently fr...

Published: Jun 11, 2026Duration: 56m 46s

The Forgotten Kingdoms That Vanished: Britain After Rome

The withdrawal of Rome from Britain in the 4th Century wasn’t quick. The slow decline created an environment in which small kingdoms and communities emerged as independent, or semi-independent states. Today, we’re going to explore those lost kingdoms of Great Britain. Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a...

Published: Jun 6, 2026Duration: 53m 13s

Antarctica: The Nazi Whale Oil Mission

Between 1936 and 1939, Nazi Germany operated the thirds largest whaling fleet in the world. Its giant processing ships roamed the Antarctic, almost driving the Blue Whale to extinction. All to make one vital product: margarine. Nazi Germany was not the only nation to take up whaling on an industrial scale. In the 1930s, Great Britain and Germany bought almost 85% of all whale oil in the world. The Nazi obsession with national self-sufficiency led to them becoming one of the top whaling nations in just a few short years. It also created a Nazi strategic obsession with antarctica that...

Published: May 28, 2026Duration: 59m 3s

How Firearms Became Fashionable in the Renaissance

In the 15th century, guns were often seen as the devil’s weapon. Unchivalrous and “unmanly”, they were viewed with suspicion by the European elite. Within a hundred years, this had changed. Guns were now luxury items among the rich, sometimes in odd, novelty combination with axes, polearms or with multiple barrels. Today, we’ll be exploring why and when this changed. Today's Guest: Catherine Fletcher link to Catherine's "show notes": https://catherinefletcher.info/books/the-firearm-revolution/the-firearm-revolution-a-guide-to-primary-sources/ Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a rev...

Published: May 21, 2026Duration: 1h 3m 29s

The Surprising History Behind the Eurovision Song Contest

In May 1950, at the Imperial Hotel in Torquay, representatives from 23 European national broadcasters gathered to discuss future cooperation. The result was the creation of the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU. Today, the EBU’s biggest legacy is undoubtedly the Eurovision Song Contest. But just how big a deal is Eurovision these days? Guest: Jonn Elledge Books: The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything: All the Facts You Didn't Know You Wanted to Know (2021) Conspiracy: A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them (2022) A History of the World in 47 Bo...

Published: May 14, 2026Duration: 58m 33s