
The history of British homes: everything you wanted to know
HistoryExtra podcast
03/16/25
•48m
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What was history's worst furnishing trend? Why, in 1953, were you more likely to own a television than a fridge? And how can you learn more about the history of your own house? Deborah Sugg Ryan joins Ellie Cawthorne to talk about the history of British homes, taking listeners on a whistle-stop tour through garden gnomes, deadly gas irons, dodgy DIY and carpeted bathrooms.
(Ad) Deborah Sugg Ryan is the author of Ideal Homes: Uncovering the History and Design of the Interwar House (Manchester University Press, 2020). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ideal-Homes-Uncovering-Manchester-University/dp/1526150670/?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
Fearsome Amazons. Men who turned into wolves. Tribes who never grew old. Ancient Greek and Roman sources are packed with extraordinary descriptions of the peoples living beyond their borders. Speaking to Spencer Mizen, Dr Owen Rees explores these classical superpowers' sense of cultural superiority and reveals what we can learn about the ancient world by exploring life on the frontiers of empires.
(Ad) Owen Rees is the author of The Far Edges of the Known World: A New History of the Ancient Past (Bloomsbury, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Far-Edges-Known-World-History/dp/1526653788/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
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Women's hidden role in religious reformation
March 17, 2025
•43m
The histories of religious reformations across the globe have largely focused on men. But women were also integral to these major transformations. Speaking with Emily Briffett, historian Merry Wiesner-Hanks explains how early modern women strove to shape the world around them – as wives, mothers, missionaries, mystics and migrants.
(Ad) Merry Wiesner-Hanks is the author of Women and the Reformations: A Global History (Yale University Press, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Reformations-History-Merry-Wiesner-Hanks/dp/0300268238/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
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