Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Contemporary Era (Post-1991)

166 Episodes 29 Series 132 Figures 41 Events 444 Books 319 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 166

2026

8 episodes

Tom Holland Meets Paul McCartney

In this special Rest Is History episode, host Tom Holland sits down with legendary musician Paul McCartney to discuss M…

New World Wine: The Drink of Emperors

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

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…

Fashion: World War II, Weimar Republic’s Dadaism, and Bobby Kennedy’s Death - History in Photos

Photography and History miniseries · Part 3

In the third episode of the Rest Is History photography mini‑series, hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook welcome ph…

Music: The Father of the Blues, Golden Age of Jazz, and David Bowie - History in Photos (FULL EPISODE)

In this episode of Rest Is History, hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook sit down with portrait photographer Chris F…

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…

2025

4 episodes

WWI: The Christmas Truce

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the 1914 Christmas Truce on the Western Front, examining what happened, who i…

RIHC: Disney's Legacy, with Bob Iger

Walt Disney / Disney (November 2025) · Part 3

This special bonus episode of The Rest Is History features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interviewing Robert …

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

This episode is a focused discussion of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The hosts examine the book's dystopian w…

RIHC: The Silk Roads, Ancient Asia, and Decentralising Europe

This bonus episode of The Rest Is History features host Tom Holland interviewing Peter Frankenplan, professor of global…

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Series in this era

29 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

Historical Love Island

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

Oil

2 episodes Aired: 2022-03-24

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

132 tagged

Vladimir Putin

28 episodes

Donald Trump

17 episodes

Tony Blair

16 episodes

George W. Bush

13 episodes

Boris Johnson

12 episodes

Diana, Princess of Wales

11 episodes

Queen Elizabeth II

11 episodes

Boris Yeltsin (Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin)

9 episodes

Charles III (King of the United Kingdom)

9 episodes

Gordon Brown

9 episodes

Historical events

41 tagged

Brexit (2016 referendum and aftermath)

15 episodes

September 11 attacks (11 September 2001)

13 episodes

Collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)

12 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)

8 episodes

2022 FIFA World Cup (Qatar)

6 episodes

Scottish independence referendum (2014)

6 episodes

Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee (2022)

5 episodes

Books

444 tagged

Dominion

Author: Tom Holland

18 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

319 tagged

Tom Holland

32 episodes

Dominic Sandbrook

11 episodes

Traditional Attribution or Various

8 episodes

Charles Dickens

7 episodes

George MacDonald Fraser

7 episodes

Robert Harris

7 episodes

Cormac McCarthy

5 episodes

Thomas Hughes

5 episodes

Francis Fukuyama

4 episodes

Robert Graves

4 episodes