The Belle Époque: everything you wanted to know
HistoryExtra podcast
03/30/25
•50m
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Paris's Belle Époque – or 'Beautiful Era' – conjures up images of cafés, can-can dancers and sunny walks along the River Seine. But was life in the French capital in the late 19th and early 20th-century really as exciting as the scenes painted by Toulouse-Lautrec? Jon Bauckham talks to Dr Mike Rapport about the real history behind the Belle Époque, revealing why there was also a darkness to the 'city of light'.
(Ad) Mike Rapport is the author of City of Light, City of Shadows: Paris in the Belle Époque (Bridge Street Press, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/City-Light-Shadows-Paris-%C3%89poque/dp/0349128162/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
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Previous Episode
Body in the basement: Dr Crippen and the 'crime of the century'
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In 1910, music hall performer Belle Elmore went missing. Her husband Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen claimed Belle had gone to America to visit a dying relative. But before long, Crippen's stories began to unravel and the doctor went on the run, triggering an international manhunt. Hallie Rubenhold re-examines Crippen's crimes in her new book Story of a Murder, and she spoke to Ellie Cawthorne about what this infamous case can reveal about medicine, the music hall and women's lives at the time.
(Ad) Hallie Rubenhold is the author of Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen (Transworld Publishers, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fstory-of-a-murder%2Fhallie-rubenhold%2F2928377304799.
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
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Next Episode
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•45m
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(Ad) Justin M Jacobs is the author of Plunder?: How Museums Got Their Treasures (Reaktion Books, 2024). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fplunder%2Fjustin-m-jacobs%2F9781789149487.
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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