Masters of disinformation: how British spies played dirty in the Cold War

In 1944, as Allied troops pushed across Europe after D-Day, the Allies faced a terrifying new threat: Hitler’s V2 weapons, striking without warning at supersonic speed. In this episode, Emily Briffett speaks to author, historian and journalist Guy Walters about his new book, Stealing Hitler's Rocket, which uncovers the extraordinary secret mission to smuggle parts of the Nazi 'vengeance weapon' out of occupied Europe and into British hands. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST How do you go about uncovering a secret Nazi cache of stolen treasure? Read the HistoryExtra article Guy mentions in the episode here: https://bit.ly/4dFfCUH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The United States often presents its birth as a straightforward struggle for liberty – but reality was far more messy. In this first episode of HistoryExtra's four-part series on the American Revolutionary War, Elinor Evans is joined by Adam IP Smith to explore the colonies before independence, the fallout of the Seven Years’ War, the Stamp Act crisis, and the road to the ‘shot heard around the world’ at Lexington and Concord in 1775. Together, they unpack the constitutional disagreements, competing ideas of liberty, and the growing mistrust that transformed protest into conflict. ––––– GO BEYOND THE PODCAST To find all the further reading mentioned in this series, head to our curated list, which includes archive podcast episodes and video clips on battles, key figures and more, all available in the HistoryExtra app: https://bit.ly/42OYGpt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why did Protestant missionaries travel the globe across the course of centuries, only to convert remarkably few people? Alec Ryrie – author of new book The World’s Reformation – tells Elinor Evans about the neglected global history of early Protestant missions, how preachers travelled across Asia, Africa and the Americas centuries earlier than many assume, and why so many of their ambitious efforts ended in confusion, contradiction and failure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Many histories of the 16th century tell stories of monarchs and courtiers – but there is, of course, much more to the century than that. Speaking to Charlotte Vosper, Nandini Das charts the ways in which migration and movement shaped the Tudor and Stuart periods, and traces the lives of the early modern individuals who embarked on new lives in other lands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stretching from Greece to India, Alexander the Great’s empire was one of the largest in human history, and he’d conquered it all by the time he was 30 years old. So how did this young king of a small Greek kingdom defeat the mighty Persian empire and become a godlike figure in the process? Alexander’s astonishing story is explored by Edmund Richardson in a new biography and, in this HistoryExtra podcast episode, Edmund is joined by Rob Attar to explore Alexander's remarkable life and mysterious death. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Want to hear more from Edmund Richardson? Check out this episode where Edmund traces the hunt for one of Alexander the Great's lost cities: https://bit.ly/4neFMSi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have royal women's stories been misconstrued? Speaking to Charlotte Vosper, Kate Williams argues that many of them have been, tracing the lives of a whole host of queens – from Hatshepsut to Queen Victoria – to explore how and why these women have so often been viewed through a particular lens. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST If you’d like to hear more from Kate Williams about the real lives of royal women, check out her HistoryExtra Academy series, in which she takes us on a tour of queens through time across six videos: https://bit.ly/4wL7gU8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The final chapter of Cleopatra’s life is shrouded in mystery. Did she really take her own life? Was an asp involved? And why don’t we know where her tomb is? In this final episode of our four-part Sunday Series on the ancient queen’s life and times, Islam Issa – professor of public humanities at Birmingham City University – tackles these questions, and explores just why Cleopatra continues to fascinate us, thousands of years later. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Captivated by Cleopatra? Matt Elton has curated a collection of essential reading, listening and viewing from the HistoryExtra vaults to help bring the ancient queen to life: https://bit.ly/3Pgs3hv And don’t miss our HistoryExtra Academy, Royal Women with Professor Kate Williams, for more on some of the past’s most powerful female leaders – from Cleopatra to Elizabeth II: https://bit.ly/3PRpwue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They 'haunted' an Indonesian general with a talking ghost and planted fake hippies in a Bulgarian youth festival. But did they change the course of the Cold War? Rory Cormac introduces Spencer Mizen to the comically absurd – and dangerously controversial – tactics deployed by a group of misfits and mavericks charged with raining down confusion on Britain's adversaries in the 1950s and 60s. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST To hear more from Rory Cormac on the HistoryExtra podcast, listen to him discussing Queen Victoria's spy network here: https://bit.ly/4sHYQKJ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the summer of 1940, the Royal Navy attacked a French fleet moored off the coast of north Africa, killing almost 1,300 sailors. Winston Churchill described his decision to greenlight the operation as the toughest he ever had to take. But was it the right decision? Edward Abel Smith talks to Spencer Mizen about an incident that would shake Britain's wartime relations with France. ––––– GO BEYOND THE PODCAST To hear more from Edward Abel Smith, don't miss our podcast episode on the remarkable life of Nicholas Winton, the British Schindler, who helped hundreds of Jewish children escape Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War: https://bit.ly/4e80MrF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Henry Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey, lived a life of extravagance, luxury and theatre – and for this, he was the subject of much intrigue in the late 19th century. In this episode, Michael Hall speaks to Charlotte Vosper about the man dubbed the 'Dancing Marquess' – and whose story has now been dramatised for the big screen in new film Madfabulous. ––––– GO BEYOND THE PODCASTIf you'd like to hear more from Michael about queer lives connected to the National Trust and its properties, check out our discussion of his latest book A Queer Inheritance: https://bit.ly/3RzQszl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices