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

2024

9 episodes

Dragons

This episode traces the cultural and literary history of dragons from ancient myth to modern popular culture. Tom Holla…

RIHC: Crossroads Of Civilisations - Where East Meets West

This live Rest Is History episode, recorded while Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook were in Sarajevo, explores the noti…

RIHC: Medieval Battles, the Pyramids, and the Industrial Revolution

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook record a conversational bonus episode covering production anecdotes, upcoming s…

RIHC: The Brothers Holland, Masters of the Air and Ghostly Centurions

This bonus episode features Tom Holland hosting with James Holland (his brother) as the guest. They discuss the origin …

RIHC: Museums of the Western World (Livestream)

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host a members' live episode in which each selects three favourite museums (one from …

RIHC: The Ottoman Empire, James Bond and the Titanic Submersible

Titanic · Part 7

This bonus Rest Is History episode is a shorter Q&A-style instalment opening the podcast's multi-episode Titanic series…

Titanic: The Survivors (Part 6)

Titanic · Part 6

This episode (the sixth in the podcast's Titanic series) examines the immediate aftermath, public reaction and long-ter…

RHIC: Henry VIII, Thatcherism and Roman Counterfactuals

This bonus episode is a wide-ranging Q&A between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. They open by discussing their…

RIHC: Pointless Prime Ministers, The Rolling Stones and Medieval Giants

This bonus Q&A episode of The Rest Is History features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook answering listener quest…

2023

3 episodes

Windrush: The Story of Black Britain

This episode of The Rest Is History features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interviewing Trevor Phillips about…

RIHC: Tom Holland - This is Your Life (Livestream)

This live-stream episode of The Rest Is History features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discussing Holland's i…

RIHC: The Princes in the Tower, Fabricated Evidence and History in the News

In this on-the-road episode recorded in Adelaide, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook answer listener questions and discu…

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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