Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Thematic / Biographical series

31 Episodes 7 Series 4 Figures 2 Events 97 Books 86 Authors

This thematic/biographical era spans prehistory to modern political history, grouping episodes by topic or life to illuminate specific events, movements, and leadership. Series include "12 (or 13) Days of Christmas" (significant events from Dec 25–Jan 4, from early Christian history to African modernization), "America in 1968" (Vietnam, political upheaval, social change), "American Crusades" (Christianity’s influence on US foreign policy and warfare), "Amsterdam" (city’s rise from a 13th‑century fishing village to a financial hub), and "Australian Prime Ministers" (federal politics from 1901 onward). Sample episodes cover Britain’s greatest prime ministers, Viking history and popular culture, church architecture, French history in film, Rome’s worst emperor and Jacobite uprisings. Figures and topics discussed include Jeffrey Parker, Amani Reynos, Eva Perón’s secret burial (1955), poll taxes, Doggerland submergence, the Younger Dryas, Neanderthal extinction, and the Cretaceous–Paleogene event. Recommended books cited include The Geometry of Love, Face of Battle, History of the English‑Speaking Peoples, and A History of the World.

Timeline Subway

Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 31

2025

1 episode

RIHC: Famous Composers, Mozart’s Requiem, and Musical Riots

Royal Albert Hall Orchestral Shows · Part 2

This New Year bonus episode features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook with guest conductor Oliver Zeffman. They …

2024

4 episodes

Mozart: History's Greatest Prodigy LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall

This episode is a live, staged Rest Is History show recorded at the Royal Albert Hall focused on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozar…

RIHC: Tudor Scuba Diving, Dinosaur Hunters and Britain's Greatest Cartoonist

Dominic Sandbrook interviews historian and social-media creator Alice Loxton about her work popularising history via sh…

RIHC: Vikings, Last of the Mohicans, and Nuclear Ragnarök

This bonus Q&A episode of The Rest Is History features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook (joined briefly by Tabby…

History's Greatest Monkeys

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook present a themed episode, "History's Greatest Monkeys," surveying notable prima…

2023

2 episodes

RIHC: Britain's Greatest Prime Ministers (Livestream)

This Rest Is History club episode features Dominic Sandbrook presenting his personal top ten British prime ministers wh…

History's Greatest Dogs

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook present a whimsical but informative episode listing their seven greatest dogs i…

2022

5 episodes

USA vs England: The 200-Year Rivalry

Great World Cup Saga · Part 9

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore the longue durée of Anglo‑American relations in a thematic episode fram…

French History on Film

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host film critic Muriel Zagad to present “a history of France in ten …

Haunted London (Ep 4)

London Week · Part 4

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook walk listeners through a tightly focused ‘Hidden London’ tour around Newgate, Smithfi…

How Prime Ministers Fall

Recorded on the evening of 6 June, this special Rest Is History episode frames the Conservative confidence vote in Bori…

Oil: The Making of the Modern World

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Helen Thompson about the central role of oil in modern geopolitics. T…

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Series in this era

7 series

Jack the Ripper - The Whitechapel Murders

5 episodes Aired: 2025-12-08

Joan of Arc

4 episodes Aired: 2026-01-05

Great World Cup Saga

1 episode Aired: 2022-11-25

London Week

1 episode Aired: 2022-07-18

Oil

1 episode Aired: 2022-03-24

Royal Albert Hall Orchestral Shows

1 episode Aired: 2025-01-01

World Cup of Kings and Queens

1 episode Aired: 2021-11-27

Historical figures

4 tagged

Armand D'Angor

1 episode

Jeffrey Parker

1 episode

John Klee

1 episode

Mike Macbeth

1 episode

Historical events

2 tagged

Quaternary Ice Age (ongoing)

1 episode

Younger Dryas

1 episode

Books

97 tagged

The Five

Author: Hallie Rubenhold

4 episodes

Dracula

Author: Bram Stoker

2 episodes

Flashman (series )

Author: George MacDonald Fraser

2 episodes

Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution

Author: Stephen Knight

2 episodes

Martin Chuzzlewit

Author: Charles Dickens

2 episodes

Sherlock Holmes

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

2 episodes

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

2 episodes

The Complete History of Jack the Ripper

Author: Philip Sugden

2 episodes

The Sign of Four

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

2 episodes

The Three Musketeers

Author: Alexandre Dumas

2 episodes

Authors

86 tagged

Hallie Rubenhold

4 episodes

Arthur Conan Doyle

3 episodes

Charles Dickens

3 episodes

Philip Sugden

3 episodes

Alexandre Dumas

2 episodes

Bram Stoker

2 episodes

George MacDonald Fraser

2 episodes

Robert Harris

2 episodes

Robert Louis Stevenson

2 episodes

Stephen Knight

2 episodes