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

2023

3 episodes

The Real Da Vinci Code (Ep 1)

Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade · Part 1

The hosts mark the twentieth anniversary of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and use it to trace a 20th-century lineage of…

RIHC: Dominic's pet peeves, fake emperors, and bad reviews

This bonus episode is an informal, wide-ranging conversation between Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. They open with …

RIHC: Press Darlings, Jesus, and Northumbria

This members-only bonus episode is an informal New Year’s catch-up between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook reco…

2022

9 episodes

2022: A History

In this year-end episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook review the major political, cultural and personal highlights…

RIHC: London fashion week, dressing for a coup, and medieval dentistry

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook open with light chat about colds, dentistry and recent sporting news …

RIHC: Decline in Christianity, the title is vital, and historical psychology (livestream)

This is a December live show hosted by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. The pair respond to listener comments, previe…

RIHC: Podwashing, Tom’s opera, and Pixar

In this listener-questions episode Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland trade banter and respond to audience comments prim…

Wales: The Roar of the Red Dragon

Great World Cup Saga · Part 13

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Professor Martin Jones about Welsh identity and the history of Wales.…

RIHC: Tom in Romania, multiculturalism, and the World Cup

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook record a conversational episode touching on recent and forthcoming Rest Is Hist…

Costa Rica: Civil War

Great World Cup Saga · Part 4

In this World Cup-themed episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the history of Costa Rica, concentrating on …

Australia: The Mystery of the Somerton Man

Great World Cup Saga · Part 3

This episode of The Rest Is History examines the Somerton Man, an enigmatic death discovered on Somerton Park Beach nea…

Qatar: A History

Great World Cup Saga · Part 1

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook open a World Cup themed series with a comprehensive history of Qatar, from its ancien…

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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