Aspects of History

By Oliver Webb-Carter

The editor of Aspects of History, Ollie Webb-Carter, interviews historians and authors on the past - from the ancient world right up to the modern day. In each episode, Ollie seeks to get to the botto... more

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FAQs about Aspects of History:

How many episodes does Aspects of History have?

The podcast currently has 284 episodes available.

Aspects of History episodes:

June 27, 2025 Horace with Peter Stothard
Horace, born Quintus Horatius Flaccus in 65 BCE in Venusia, was one of ancient Rome’s most celebrated lyric poets. He lived through the turbulent transition from Republic to Empire and became closely associated with Emperor Augustus’s regime. Though he once fought on the losing side at the Battle of Philippi against Caesar, he later gained favour through the patronage of Maecenas, a key advisor to Augustus.
Horace is best known for his Odes, Satires, Epistles, and the Ars Poetica—works that blend wit, philosophical reflection, and poetic elegance, and so naturally he is a perfect subject for Peter Stothard, historian and author.
Looking for something to do at the end of June? You could do worse than head to the Chalke History Festival.
Peter Stothard Links
Horace: Poet on a Volcano
Chalke
Chalke History Festival
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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49min
June 24, 2025 Film Club: Apocalypto (2006)
Latest film club is the Maya epic from Mel Gibson. With a cast of unknowns, it put the civilisation overshadowed by the Aztecs back on the map.
Links
Ollie on X
Tim on X
Roger on X
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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55min
June 20, 2025 Ancient Greece through Artemisia & Olympias with Daisy Dunn
Boudicca, Cleopatra, Artemisia and Olympias are just a few if the many women of the ancient world that we know about, but it’s significant that we know about them from male writers. That gives a certain perspective, not necessarily inaccurate, but it can be. Today I’m speaking with a classicist who writes about antiquity having gone direct to the sources and translating them herself, and has written a quite wonderful history of ancient Greece and Rome that is unusual in the discipline for saying something new.
My guest is Daisy Dunn, author of The Missing Thread and we talk about some of the key female figures from Greece: Artemisia, a naval commander from the west coast of Asia Minor fighting for the Persians, and Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. We delve into a number of other areas for a most stimulating chat.
Looking for something to do at the end of June? You could do worse than head to the Chalke History Festival.
Daisy Dunn Links
The Missing Thread
Chalke
Chalke History Festival
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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44min
June 13, 2025 The Tank with Mark Urban
On 20 November 1917, after a bombardment of the trenches near the town of Cambrai, German troops prepared for an attack by their British opponents. Out of the gloom emerged steel mechanised vehicles. The tank. Within minutes the Germans were overrun and the Mark IV tank had achieved its first stunning victory, a major milestone for this military innovation.
Mark Urban joins to discuss his latest book, Tank, which selects 10 and includes iconic beasts such as the Tiger and the T-34. We talk about where tank warfare is heading, in the context of the conflict in Ukraine and the recent Strategic Defence Review, and how tanks have changed in over 100 years.
Gordon Corera is speaking to me as part of the Chalke History Festival, which runs from 23rd to 29th June. Aspects of History is sponsoring Gordon’s talk with the novelist Charles Cumming.
Mark Urban Links
Tank
Chalke
Chalke History Festival
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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55min
June 06, 2025 The Spy Who Tried to Kill the KGB with Gordon Corera
In March 1992 in Vilnius, Lithuania, an old man walked into the recently established British Embassy, holding a bag containing sausages. But those sausages were concealing documents liberated from the KGB archives in Moscow, and the old man was Vasili Mitrokhin, chief archivist of Russia’s secret police. His defection provided the West with vast amounts of material that provided information on the Cambridge Spy ring, but also ongoing operations including the Illegals – Soviet moles burrowed deep inside American society.
Gordon Corera joins to discuss his new book The Spy in the Archive. Gordon is speaking to me as part of the Chalke History Festival, which runs from 23rd to 29th June. Aspects of History is sponsoring Gordon’s talk with the novelist Charles Cumming.
Gordon Corera Links
The Spy in the Archive
Chalke History Festival
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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45min
June 03, 2025 Film Club: The Report (2019)
Part two of May’s Film club double bill is The Report, Scott Z. Burn’s movie on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the CIA’s torture program, so sit back and enjoy Roger Tim and I discussing The Report.
Links
Ollie on X
Tim on X
Roger on X
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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34min
May 30, 2025 The SAS & Paddy Mayne with Damien Lewis
In April 1945, during Operation Howard in enemy occupied territory, troops of the SAS were ambushed by German Panzerfausts. Several were pinned down and they suffered heavy losses. Along came Paddy Mayne who, in an act of suicidal bravery, drove along an open road to reach his men, all the while giving and taking fire. HE collected wounded, returned to safety before again heading out to retrieve more of his men.
For this action, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery recommended Mayne for the Victoria Cross, however the award never came. Now, many years later, Damien Lewis and others are at the forefront of a campaign to have the decision reviewed. Damien is a historian and author of SAS Great Escapes Four and he joins me to discuss the non award, and SAS stories and ethos.
Damien Lewis Links
SAS Great Escapes Four
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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41min
May 27, 2025 Film Club: Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Film Club for May is Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s controversial film of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Next week it’s The Report, on the CIA’s torture program but sit back and enjoy Roger Tim and me on discussing Zero Dark Thirty.
Links
Ollie on X
Tim on X
Roger on X
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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40min
May 23, 2025 The Korean War with Robert Lyman
Early in the morning of 25th June 1950 the Korean People’s Army – the North Koreans – crossed the 38th parallel and the Korean War had begun. It was a particularly brutal conflict, with up to 3 million civilian deaths, a million South Koreans and 1.5million North Koreans left dead.
But why did it begin, and why, after the near cataclysmic invasion had been repulsed, did the Americans overreach thus bringing China into the war?
Historian Rob Lyman joins to discuss this forgotten confrontation, one that began less than five years after the end of the Second World War. Rob is the author, along with the former head of the British Army Richard Dannatt, of Korea: War without end.
General Lord Dannatt & Robert Lyman Links
Korea: War Without End
Robert Lyman on X/Twitter
Ollie Links
Ollie on X/Twitter
Contact Ollie: [email protected]

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54min
May 20, 2025 Test Cricket with Tim Wigmore
On 15 March 1877 play began between England and Australia in Melbourne. So began an extraordinary tradition of the finest form of sport: the Test Match. An incredible innovation that involved two teams playing cricket for up to nine days in one case, it is unique in sporting contests. However Test Cricket is bound up by Empire, class and race. Great teams have been barred from competing, and there have been moments of high controversy including Bodyline and the D ’Oliveira Affair. One thing remains constant: the England batting collapse.
Joining today is cricket writer Tim Wigmore, journalist at the Telegraph and author of a wonderful new book, Test Cricket: A History. He joins to discuss all the above and more.
Tim Wigmore Links
Test Cricket: A History
Aspects of History Links
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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44min

FAQs about Aspects of History:

How many episodes does Aspects of History have?

The podcast currently has 284 episodes available.

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