Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator
Period
1,600 CE - 1,700 CE
This bonus episode features Claire Jackson discussing her new biography The Mirror of Great Britain: A Life of James VI and I. Jackson chal…
Open episodeThis episode is an interview with George Hours about his book The Rage of Party, How Wig vs Tauri Made Modern Britain. The conversation tra…
Open episodeThis episode introduces Peter I (Peter the Great) and the geopolitical context of late 17th‑century Russia. Holland and Sandbrook trace Pet…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their multi-part series on Peter the Great, focusing on the tsar's late-1690s activities: …
Open episodeDominic Sandbrook interviews Professor Alice Hunt about her book on the English Republic and the revolutionary decade 1649–1660. They open …
Open episodeThis live-stream episode of The Rest Is History (hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook) surveys key moments in Anglo–Dutch relations acro…
Open episodeThis bonus Rest Is History episode is a listener Q&A in which Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss a wide range of historical puzzles …
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace the history of the modern suit from medieval and early modern shifts in fashion through its codific…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the long-running mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask. They review contemporaneous evidence:…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook speak with Dr. Mehreen Chidurazvi (also referenced as Maureen Cheeda-Razvi) about the history, cons…
Open episodeThis Rest Is History Club episode is a walking tour of Amsterdam that traces the city’s rise from a 13th‑century fishing and peat settlemen…
Open episodeThis episode is a guided historical tour of Amsterdam, tracing its rise in the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age — the building of the ring can…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History examines England's tumultuous 1650s after the 1649 execution of Charles I. Hosts Tom Holland and Domini…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Professor Malcolm Gaskell about witchcraft and early colonial life in 17th-century New En…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace the political, religious and performative history of English coronations from the Anglo-Saxon perio…
Open episodeThis episode is a wide-ranging, largely conversational live Q&A covering recent and upcoming Rest Is History material. Holland and Sandbroo…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook use the Canadian beaver as a lens on Canadian history, beginning with prehistoric Castoroides (the giant …
Open episodeDominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland host a wide-ranging survey of Japanese history with guest Chris Harding, senior lecturer in Asian history…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the history and modern meaning of Gorée Island and its House of Slaves in Senegal. They open with…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook visit the National Archives exhibition "Treason: People, Power and Plot" with Neil Johnston, head o…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host a wide-ranging conversation with literary historian Sarah Reed about the history of childbirth and m…
Open episodeThis is a bonus Rest Is History members episode in which hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook respond to critical feedback about their r…
Open episodeThis is a Rest Is History Club bonus episode in which hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook respond to listener feedback from Discord and…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the trial and execution of Charles I with guest Professor Ted Vallance. The episode situate…
Open episodeThis episode is Part 2 of The Rest Is History’s deep dive into the trial and execution of Charles I, featuring Professor Ted Vannance (Roeh…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore parallels and contrasts between the tumultuous 17th century and the present. They sketch the peri…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History, hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, examines Oliver Cromwell and the decade of the British Re…
Open episodeThis bonus episode of The Rest Is History (recorded at Goalhanger) features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook answering listener ques…
Open episodeThis episode is the concluding part of the hosts' Peter the Great series. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the late reign of Peter…
Open episodeThis is an impromptu bonus episode recorded in a hotel lounge in Bath. Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook chat about recent live event…
Open episodeThis live bonus episode is an informal Q&A and catch-up hosted by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. They discuss recent live shows (London…
Open episodeThis episode explores the symbolic figure of the Maid of Holland that emerged during the late 16th-century Dutch Revolt against Spanish rul…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the history of the Ashanti (Asante) Empire in what they frame as part of their 'World Cup O…
Open episodeThis Rest Is History episode features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interviewing William Dalrymple about his new podcast Empire (…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host novelist Alex Preston to examine the history and myths of smuggling in Britain. The conversation con…
Open episodeThis episode, the final instalment of the hosts' 12 Days of Christmas special, pairs two historical vignettes. First, Tom and Dominic recou…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss Magna Carta with guest Ted Vallance, Professor of History at Roehampton and author of A Radical H…
Open episodeThis episode is a Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night special. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook narrate the background, planning and aftermath of t…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host David Hunt to survey Australian history from its deep prehistory to early European contact. Hunt rev…
Open episode
Period
1,517 CE - 1,648 CE
Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the early life and political context that produced Elizabeth I. They open with Edmund Spenc…
Open episodeThis episode traces the early life and formative influences of the future Elizabeth I. After Anne Boleyn's execution, the infant Elizabeth …
Open episodeThis episode examines the transition from Mary I to Elizabeth I, challenging the caricature of Mary as simply "Bloody Mary" by situating he…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the early months and political foundations of Elizabeth I's reign, focusing on her coronation (14…
Open episodeThis Rest Is History Club bonus episode is a wide-ranging Q&A between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook for club members. They outlin…
Open episodeThis bonus episode is a travel-oriented addendum to The Rest Is History’s extended series on Mary, Queen of Scots. Tom Holland recounts a t…
Open episodeThis episode launches a multi-part series on Mary, Queen of Scots. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook open with a dramatic excerpt (from a G…
Open episodeThis episode traces Mary Stuart's transformation from a five-year-old Scottish queen-in-exile to a glamorous figure at the French court, he…
Open episodeThe hosts discuss the early Scottish reign of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, focusing on her 1561 return from France and the immediate clash …
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace the volatile politics of Mary Stuart’s mid-1560s reign, focusing on her marriage to Lord Darn…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History examines the murder of Lord Darnley (10 February 1567) and the political fallout for Mary, Queen of Sco…
Open episodeThis episode examines the collapse of Mary, Queen of Scots' rule in Scotland after the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley. Tom and Dominic…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History recounts the 1560–1561 Amazon expedition led initially by Pedro de Asura and dominated by the notorious…
Open episodeThis episode examines the life and career of John Dee (b. 1527), an Elizabethan polymath whose activities straddled what we now separate as…
Open episodeIn this bonus episode Tom Holland interviews historian Peter Marshall about his book Storm's Edge: Life, Death and Magic in the Islands of …
Open episodeThis episode is an introductory survey of Martin Luther and the wider Reformation, led by hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. Using Ri…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace Martin Luther's transformation from a troubled student to an Augustinian monk and then to a univers…
Open episodeThis episode (episode three of a series on Martin Luther) traces Luther’s escalation from disputant to revolutionary reformer. Holland and …
Open episodeThis episode recounts Martin Luther's dramatic summons to the Diet of Worms (April 1521), his confrontation with imperial and ecclesiastica…
Open episodeThis episode (part five of the Martin Luther series) examines the ferment of 1524–1525, tracing how Luther’s theological innovations were o…
Open episodeThis bonus Q&A episode of The Rest Is History has hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook answering listener questions and previewing forth…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook record a Q&A/bonus episode addressing listener questions and preview upcoming shows. Tom joins from…
Open episodeThis episode is the first of a two-part examination of Lady Jane Grey and the 1553 Tudor succession crisis. Holland and Sandbrook set the s…
Open episodeThis episode — the second part of a two-part feature on Lady Jane Grey — recounts the rapid rise and fall of the teenage claimant known as …
Open episodeThis episode explores the symbolic figure of the Maid of Holland that emerged during the late 16th-century Dutch Revolt against Spanish rul…
Open episodeIn this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook focus on Geneva in the mid-16th century, using the 1553 execution of Michael Servetus to …
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their World Cup marathon with an episode focused on Korean culture, specifically the gisae…
Open episodeIn this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Dr. Francis Young about his book Magic in Merlin's Realm: A History of Occult P…
Open episodeIn this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Kyle Harper about his panoramic history of disease, focusing on the Columbian E…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History (3 January) is part of the hosts' multi-day anniversary series. Tom Holland opens discussing Martin Lut…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook with guest Susanna (Susie) Lipscomb, Professor of Hist…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview historian Tracy Boorman about Elizabeth I, exploring how the queen’s image, politics and …
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host Roger Clark, author of Ghosts, a Natural History, 500 Years of Searching for Proof. The conversation…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine Henry VIII and his six wives, weaving biographical sketches with political and religious context.…
Open episodeThis episode is a Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night special. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook narrate the background, planning and aftermath of t…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History runs through the hosts' "World Cup of Kings and Queens of England," recapping the earlier rounds and de…
Open episodeThis bonus episode features Claire Jackson discussing her new biography The Mirror of Great Britain: A Life of James VI and I. Jackson chal…
Open episodeIn this bonus Q&A episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook answer listener questions on a wide range of topics. They discuss England's his…
Open episodeIn this Rest Is History weekly bonus episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook chat informally about recent and upcoming shows, listener qu…
Open episodeThis bonus episode is a wide-ranging Q&A between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. They open by discussing their ongoing Martin Luth…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the legend of Pope Joan — a purported female pope said to have reigned disguised as a man a…
Open episodeThis episode (the first of a multi-part series) examines the opening phase of the Spanish encounter with the Mexica/Aztecs, focusing on Her…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History, hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, narrates Hernán Cortés's 1519 expedition from Cuba to the…
Open episodeThis episode (episode four of the hosts' Aztec series) follows Hernán Cortés and his men while based in Tenochtitlan, exploring the culture…
Open episodeThis episode is the eighth and final instalment of an eight-part series on the fall of the Aztecs. Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook …
Open episodeThis episode is a fast-paced, quickfire question edition of The Rest Is History hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. They discuss a…
Open episodeThis bonus episode is a wide-ranging conversation between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. They open by discussing personal collect…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook visit the National Archives with treason expert Ewan Roger to preview the new exhibition 'Treason: …
Open episodeThis episode continues the hosts' History of Portugal series, tracing Portuguese expansion from the death of Henry the Navigator through th…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host a wide-ranging conversation with literary historian Sarah Reed about the history of childbirth and m…
Open episodeThis is a bonus Rest Is History members episode in which hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook respond to critical feedback about their r…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the trial and execution of Charles I with guest Professor Ted Vallance. The episode situate…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore parallels and contrasts between the tumultuous 17th century and the present. They sketch the peri…
Open episodeThis episode examines whether modern social media is genuinely novel by tracing historical precedents for rapid, divisive public debate. Th…
Open episodeThis special episode of The Rest Is History is devoted to St Cuthbert. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss Cuthbert’s seventh-century…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the long historical roots and character of "culture wars," debating whether the phenomenon …
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the real history behind Shakespeare's Macbeth, contrasting the effective 11th-century king Macbet…
Open episode
Period
1,450 CE - 1,550 CE
Tom Holland interviews Rachel King, curator of Renaissance Europe at the British Museum, about a spectacular Tudor gold heart pendant and c…
Open episodeThis bonus episode of The Rest Is History features host Tom Holland interviewing Peter Frankenplan, professor of global history at Oxford a…
Open episodeIn this bonus episode tied to the Medici series Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook recount the remarkable story of the Medici giraffe that a…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook introduce a multi-episode series on the Medici, beginning with Cosimo de' Medici (born 1389). The e…
Open episodeThis episode examines Lorenzo de' Medici's rise and the Pazzi Conspiracy. After outlining Lorenzo's family background, education and temper…
Open episodeThe episode examines late 15th-century Florence, focusing on Lorenzo de' Medici's rule and the rise of Girolamo Savonarola. Holland and San…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History continues the hosts' ongoing Medici series, focusing on Girolamo Savonarola’s rise and fall in Florence…
Open episodeThis bonus episode features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discussing recent and upcoming series work (Medici, Hannibal, Ireland, …
Open episodeIn this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Professor John Dickey (UCL) about his book Delizia and the longue duree of Ital…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Archduke Eduard (Edward) Habsburg, Hungary's ambassador to the Holy See, about his book The Hab…
Open episodeIn this special bonus episode recorded in New Zealand, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook chat informally from Lake Rotorua about their trav…
Open episodeThis episode (the first of a multi-part series) examines the opening phase of the Spanish encounter with the Mexica/Aztecs, focusing on Her…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History, hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, narrates Hernán Cortés's 1519 expedition from Cuba to the…
Open episodeIn this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their multi-part narrative of Hernán Cortés's expedition into the Basin of Mexic…
Open episodeThis episode (episode four of the hosts' Aztec series) follows Hernán Cortés and his men while based in Tenochtitlan, exploring the culture…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their multi-part series on Hernán Cortés and the fall of the Aztec Empire. The episode rec…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History, hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, recounts the aftermath of Hernán Cortés's captivity in Te…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook narrate and analyse the climactic stages of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec capital. They recount…
Open episodeThis episode is the eighth and final instalment of an eight-part series on the fall of the Aztecs. Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook …
Open episodeThis episode examines Christopher Columbus's origins, character and the political and maritime context that produced his voyages. Holland a…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook narrate the preparation, voyage and immediate aftermath of Christopher Columbus's first Atlantic expediti…
Open episodeThis episode (part three of the podcast’s series on Christopher Columbus) follows Columbus’s return to Spain and his rushed second voyage t…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace Christopher Columbus's later voyages, his declining health and reputation, and the immediate …
Open episodeThis bonus episode is a wide-ranging conversation between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. They open by discussing personal collect…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook present a travel-style cultural and historical tour of Poland framed as its “seven wonders,” drawn from a…
Open episodeThis episode continues the hosts' History of Portugal series, tracing Portuguese expansion from the death of Henry the Navigator through th…
Open episodeThis episode of The Rest Is History (a 12 Days of Christmas special, Day 2) is split into two main segments. First, Tom Holland and Dominic…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine England's long, tangled relationship with Italy, moving from Roman encounters and Anglo-Saxon ima…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the early life and political context that produced Elizabeth I. They open with Edmund Spenc…
Open episodeThis episode traces the early life and formative influences of the future Elizabeth I. After Anne Boleyn's execution, the infant Elizabeth …
Open episodeThis episode launches a multi-part series on Mary, Queen of Scots. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook open with a dramatic excerpt (from a G…
Open episodeThis episode traces Mary Stuart's transformation from a five-year-old Scottish queen-in-exile to a glamorous figure at the French court, he…
Open episodeThis episode examines the life and career of John Dee (b. 1527), an Elizabethan polymath whose activities straddled what we now separate as…
Open episodeThis episode is an introductory survey of Martin Luther and the wider Reformation, led by hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. Using Ri…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace Martin Luther's transformation from a troubled student to an Augustinian monk and then to a univers…
Open episodeThis episode (episode three of a series on Martin Luther) traces Luther’s escalation from disputant to revolutionary reformer. Holland and …
Open episodeThis episode recounts Martin Luther's dramatic summons to the Diet of Worms (April 1521), his confrontation with imperial and ecclesiastica…
Open episodeThis episode (part five of the Martin Luther series) examines the ferment of 1524–1525, tracing how Luther’s theological innovations were o…
Open episodeThis episode is the first of a two-part examination of Lady Jane Grey and the 1553 Tudor succession crisis. Holland and Sandbrook set the s…
Open episodeIn this episode of The Rest Is History hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook welcome Bart van Loo to discuss Jan van Eyck and Flemish art…
Open episodeThis episode is an extended interview with Bart (van Leeuw) about the Dukes of Burgundy and the rise and fall of the Burgundian polity in t…
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview historian Camilla Townsend about her book The Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs. Townsend …
Open episodeIn this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine Game of Thrones as a cultural phenomenon and a lens on popular understandings of …
Open episodeTom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine Henry VIII and his six wives, weaving biographical sketches with political and religious context.…
Open episodeIn this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host historian Seb Falk to discuss medieval science and to challenge the stereotype of th…
Open episodeHosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Professor Ronald Hutton (University of Bristol) about paganism across time and place. Hut…
Open episode