Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Contemporary Era (Post-1991)

175 Episodes 33 Series 142 Figures 42 Events 474 Books 340 Authors

The post-1991 contemporary era (1991–present) episodes examine politics, culture, sport and public health. Series include American Crusades (Christianity and US foreign policy and warfare), Australian Prime Ministers (federal leadership across the 20th–21st centuries), Disease (the history and impact of infectious disease), Great World Cup Saga (national histories framed by the FIFA World Cup) and Historical Love Island (which historical figures would fare in contemporary dating scenarios). Episodes treat topics such as historical fiction, dragons in culture, civil-war patterns and World Cup politics. Figures discussed include George Lucas, Kemi Batenock, Penny Mordaunt, Robert Reich, David Stockman, Nicholas Fraser, Satnam Sanghera and Anthony Scaramucci. Events covered include the 2014 World Cup, 2012 London opening ceremony, the 2001 UK election, the 2024 US presidential election, the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, Redfern Park speech and Russia’s early-1990s privatization; books cited include Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Britannia Unchained, Benjamin Barber’s Jihad vs. McWorld and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Timeline Subway

Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 175

2026

12 episodes

Did the Illuminati Control the French Revolution?

The French Revolution - Season 4 (September 2026)

Tom Holland speaks with historian Michael Taylor about the real Bavarian Illuminati and the conspiracy theories that gr…

The History of Satire, with Ian Hislop

Dominic Sandbrook interviews Private Eye editor Ian Hislop at the Rest Is History Festival at Hampton Court Palace abou…

Were the Troubles Inevitable?

This bonus Q&A sees Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook revisit their four-part series on the Troubles through listener q…

The Death of History

In this Rest is History bonus episode, host Tom Holland welcomes Omar Mohammed – known as the Mosul Eye – to discuss hi…

Why A United Ireland Isn't Part of the UK

In this bonus episode recorded at The Rest Is History Festival at Hampton Court, Dominic Sandbrook speaks with historia…

Tom Holland Meets Tom Holland + The Odyssey Review

In this Rest Is History members‑only special, the host (Dominic Sandbrook) interviews actor Tom Holland about Christoph…

South Africa: Mandela and the Death of Apartheid (Part 6)

2026 World Cup · Part 6

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore the extraordinary political significance of the 1995 Rugby Wo…

USA: The Star-Spangled Banner (Part 1)

2026 World Cup · Part 1

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook launch a six‑part series timed with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, using na…

Wine in the New World

In this bonus episode of The Rest Is History, host Tom Holland welcomes wine historian Henry Jeffries, author of Empire…

Wine and the Birth of Civilisation

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace the eight‑thousand‑year saga of wine, from its prehistoric root…

Revolutions: Iran, the Prague Spring, and Ceaușescu’s Fall - History in Photos (FULL EPISODE)

In this Rest Is History Club episode, hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook sit down with veteran photographer Chris …

Medieval Combat, Jimmy Carter’s Killer Rabbit, and the Northern Pit of Death

This episode is a Rest Is History Club announcement by hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook promoting the Rest Is Hi…

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Series in this era

33 series

Great World Cup Saga

4 episodes Aired: 2022-11-17 – 2022-11-29

The End of the Soviet Union

4 episodes Aired: 2022-03-07

12 (or 13) Days of Christmas

3 episodes Aired: 2021-12-25

2026 World Cup

2 episodes Aired: 2026-06-07

Historical Love Island

2 episodes Aired: 2022-07-11 – 2022-07-13

Queen's Platinum Jubilee

2 episodes Aired: 2022-05-30

Silicon Valley

2 episodes Aired: 2021-11-27

Titanic

2 episodes Aired: 2024-03-11 – 2024-03-13

World Cup of Prime Ministers

2 episodes Aired: 2021-11-27

Afghanistan

1 episode Aired: 2021-11-27

Historical figures

142 tagged

Vladimir Putin

28 episodes

Donald Trump

19 episodes

Tony Blair

17 episodes

Boris Johnson

14 episodes

George W. Bush

13 episodes

Queen Elizabeth II

12 episodes

Diana, Princess of Wales

11 episodes

Gordon Brown

10 episodes

Boris Yeltsin (Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin)

9 episodes

Charles III (King of the United Kingdom)

9 episodes

Historical events

42 tagged

Brexit (2016 referendum and aftermath)

17 episodes

September 11 attacks (11 September 2001)

14 episodes

Collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)

11 episodes

Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022– )

11 episodes

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation (2014)

9 episodes

COVID-19 pandemic

9 episodes

Iraq War (2003 invasion of Iraq)

9 episodes

2022 FIFA World Cup (Qatar)

6 episodes

Scottish independence referendum (2014)

6 episodes

2008 global financial crisis

5 episodes

Books

474 tagged

Dominion

Author: Tom Holland

20 episodes

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic

Author: Tom Holland

15 episodes

Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Author: Tom Holland

8 episodes

Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age

Author: Tom Holland

7 episodes

Tom Brown's School Days

Author: Thomas Hughes

5 episodes

Blood Meridian

Author: Cormac McCarthy

4 episodes

Flashman (series )

Author: George MacDonald Fraser

4 episodes

In the Shadow of the Sword

Author: Tom Holland

4 episodes

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Author: George Orwell

4 episodes

Bleak House

Author: Charles Dickens

3 episodes

Authors

340 tagged

Tom Holland

34 episodes

Dominic Sandbrook

11 episodes

Robert Harris

8 episodes

Traditional Attribution or Various

8 episodes

Charles Dickens

7 episodes

George MacDonald Fraser

7 episodes

Cormac McCarthy

5 episodes

Thomas Hughes

5 episodes

Francis Fukuyama

4 episodes

Robert Graves

4 episodes