It’s been 80 years since Britons heard the news that the war in Europe was over. But how did those who lived through VE Day remember the moment? With the help of the BBC WW2 People’s War archive, this Long Read written by John Willis reveals a day of partying, remembrance and continuing sacrifice.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the May 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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In the 19th century, a magic new drug took the medical community by storm, riding a wave of scientific endeavour. But, as this Long Read written by historian Douglas Small reveals, it wasn’t long before the dark side of this miraculous substance began to emerge.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the March 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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Battered by the Vikings, outshone by King Alfred, Mercia has long been painted as the also-ran of the Anglo-Saxon world. Yet, as this Long Read written by Max Adams considers, this mighty Midlands kingdom was at the very heart of the emergence of England.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the March 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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This year has seen Donald Trump retake the US presidency, repeating his vow to ‘make America great again’. But he’s not the first to wield such a slogan, as this Long Read written by Phil Tinline explores. Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan stood for election with the same promise. Did he deliver?

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the March 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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Fortune telling was all the rage in the 16th and 17th centuries, and practitioners would stop at nothing to tap in to the supernatural. This Long Read written by Martha McGill tells a story of Highland seers, tarot cards and encounters with the spirit world.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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It was a moment of possibilities, dislocation – and dread. This Long Read, written by Dan Todman, tells the story of the 1.5 million urban Britons evacuated to the countryside at the start of the Second World War.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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Slavery, exploitation and racism. These tragedies have long dominated histories of Africa. But there’s another way to tell this story. And, as this Long Read written by Luke Pepera explains, it’s one that puts Africans right at the centre of their continent’s extraordinarily rich and vibrant past.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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King John’s sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215 is one of the most feted moments of the Middle Ages. Yet, as this Long Read written by David Carpenter explains, it was in fact a charter issued by his son 10 years later that became fundamental to England’s history.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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Marco Polo’s adventures in Asia earned him lasting fame. But are his accounts of these travels essentially works of fiction? In this Long Read, historian Peter Jackson investigates whether we can trust this medieval travel-writing superstar.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the January 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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The experiences that radicalised Guy Fawkes and his gunpowder plot co-conspirators into violent extremists sound all too familiar today. This Long Read, written by Lucy Worsley, tells a story of religious clashes, state-sanctioned torture and comrades-in-arms willing to die for the cause.

HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the January 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

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