Posts from HistoryExtra, Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast.

Bristol, UK
On the podcast | Why have humans turned to ghosts and other supernatural forces in times of fear and uncertainty? Malcolm Gaskill explores centuries of strange beliefs – and the emotions that fuelled them 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay in 2007, after victory in the opening round of the presidential election, the Peronist politician Cristina Fernández de Kirchner became Argentina’s first elected female president. 📸 Getty
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On the podcast | Dan Jones surveys fortifications from across the ages and around the world to design his ultimate castle 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay in 1470, the 13-year-old Henry Tudor had an audience with Henry VI, who had recently been restored to the throne by the Earl of Warwick. It was later claimed that the king prophesied his nephew would one day rule England. 📸 Getty
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On the podcast | Chris Skidmore explores how Richard III's turbulent early years shaped his life and reign 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay in 1962, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to five years imprisonment for inciting workers to strike and for leaving South Africa illegally. By 1964, he was jailed for life for sabotage. 📸 Getty
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#OnThisDay in 1929, the American economy came crashing down. When the New York Stock Exchange opened in the morning, the market plunged by more than 10 per cent in the first few moments. Traders were sent into a frenzy as Wall Street collapsed. 📸 Getty
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On the podcast | How do you make history funny – without losing sight of the facts? 'Ghosts' co-creator Laurence Rickard takes us inside the writers’ room 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay in 42 BC, Marcus Junius Brutus, a key conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar, took his own life. After losing in battle, Brutus asked his old friends to help him. Supposedly, Strato held Brutus’s sword, upon which he “fell with such force". 📸 Getty
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#OnThisDay in 1797, Andre-Jacques Garnerin jumped from a balloon above Paris, making the world's first recorded parachute jump. 📸 Getty
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#OnThisDay in 1958, Stella Isaacs, Baroness Swanborough and Marchioness of Reading, became the first woman to take her seat in the House of Lords. During the Second World War she had founded the Women's Voluntary Service. 📸 Getty
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On the podcast | Andrew Kenrick unravels the amazing life of Juba – from a two-year-old Roman captive in 46BC, to ruling an African kingdom, married to Cleopatra's daughter 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay in 1968, Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of the murdered US president John F Kennedy, astounded the world by marrying the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. 📸 Getty
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On the podcast | Toby Green takes us to the west African port of Cacheu in the mid 17th century and reveals why one of its leading figures caught the attention of the Portuguese Inquisition 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay in 1469, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon married, creating united Spain. The ceremony took place roughly a week after they had met, and the royal couple even produced a (forged) papal bull for the event – because they were so closely related. 📸 Getty
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#OnThisDay in 1922, the British Broadcasting Company was founded by a group of leading wireless manufacturers. It was funded by a 10-shilling licence fee and made its first broadcast in November from the Marconi studio in The Strand, London. 📸 Getty
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On the podcast | Erin Maglaque explores the history of the female body – from 'nidgeting' to the supposed effects of a woman's imagination on her unborn child 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay 1793, The French Revolution claimed one of its most famous victims: Marie Antoinette. On the way up to the guillotine, she accidentally trod on the toe of her executioner, Henri Sanson. Moments later, he would raise her severed head to the crowd. 📸 Getty
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On the podcast | Judith S Lewis explores the role of the country house during the Second World War 🎧 Listen now on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts
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#OnThisDay in 1941, BBC Nine O'Clock News listeners heard a mystery voice attempting to pass acerbic comments on the news items being read. Newsreader Alvar Lidell carried on as usual but eventually announced: "It is the voice of the enemy" – a German propagandist. 📸 Getty
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