Episodios

  • Six Plantagenet Kings and England's Rise: Guests: Dr Caroline Burt and Richard Partington

    Six Plantagenet Kings and England's Rise: Guests: Dr Caroline Burt and Richard Partington
    Jul 13 2025

    This Week on History Happy Hour: Between 1199 and 1399, English politics was high drama. These two centuries witnessed savage political blood-letting – including civil war, deposition, the murder of kings and the ruthless execution of rebel lords.

    In this encore episode, Chris and Rick discuss did into this tumultuous period with Dr. Caroline Burt and Richard Partington, authors of Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State. How did these six Plantagenet Kings, colorful and complicated, manage the development of an English state that would become one of the leading nations in the world.

    Dr Caroline Burt is a medieval historian and college lecturer at Pembroke College, Cambridge. She comes from Manchester, UK, and was in the first generation of her family to go to university. Her research focuses on the reigns of Edward I (1272-1307) and Edward II (1307-27) and on English governance during that period.

    Richard Partington is Senior Tutor at St. John's College, Cambridge. An Affiliated Lecturer in the Cambridge Faculty of History, he teaches medieval British politics, and has written and broadcast on politics, war, law and crime in the fourteenth century, especially during the rule of Edward III (1327-77).
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    1 h y 2 m
  • Insurgency in Somalia: Guest: Jonathan Carroll

    Insurgency in Somalia: Guest: Jonathan Carroll
    Jul 7 2025
    1 h
  • Murder in WWII London: Guest: Amy Helen Bell

    Murder in WWII London: Guest: Amy Helen Bell
    Jun 22 2025

    This week on History Happy Hour: It sounds like an episode of “Foyle’s War” come to life: murder and violence in wartime London, carried out under the cover of the wartime blackout imposed to protect against Nazi bombings.

    Chris and Rick tackle the real story of murders carried out as Nazi bombs blew the city apart with our guest, Amy Helen Bell, author of “Under Cover of Darkness: Murders in Blackout London.” How war exposed people to violence not only from the enemy.

    Sunday at 4PM ET on History Happy Hour, where history is always on tap.

    Amy Helen Bell is professor of history at Huron University College, University of Western Ontario. Her research focuses on the social and cultural history of twentieth-century Britain, particularly London. She is the author of Murder Capital, London Was Ours, and Life Sentence.
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    56 m
  • Capture of the U-505: Guest: Alexander Rose

    Capture of the U-505: Guest: Alexander Rose
    Jun 15 2025

    This week on History Happy Hour: In June, 1944, sailors from the mysterious 10th fleet boarded an enemy warship at sea for the first time since the War of 1812. What’s more, it was a submarine: The U-505.

    Chris and Rick have visited the sub together. Now we bring you the swashbuckling tale of its capture with our guest Alexander Rose, author of Phantom Fleet: The Hunt for Nazi Submarine U-505 and World War II’s Most Daring Heist.

    Sunday at 4PM ET on History Happy Hour, where history is always on tap.

    Alexander Rose is a journalist and author of numerous history books including Empires of the Sky, The Lion and the Fox, and Washington Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring. The latter was adapted into the AMC drama series, Turn: Washington Spies, for which he served as writer/producer. He has a doctorate from Cambridge, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Born in the United States, raised in Australia and educated in Britain, Alexander currently resides in New York.
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    1 h y 4 m
  • The Women of Ravensbrück: Guest: Lynne Olson

    The Women of Ravensbrück: Guest: Lynne Olson
    Jun 8 2025

    This week on History Happy Hour: Decades after the end of World War II, the name Ravensbrück, the all-women’s concentration camp, still evokes horror. Among the prisoners were a tight-knit group of women who had been active in the French Resistance. They banded together not only to survive, but to make sure the story was never forgotten.

    We’ll be talking about this with HHH alum Lynne Olson, author of The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück, back for her third time on the show.

    Lynne Olson is a New York Times bestselling author of nine books of history, many of which deal in some way with World War II. Titles include Empress of the Nile, Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, Citizens of London, Last Hope Island, and Those Angry Days. She has been a consultant for the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and the United States Holocaust Memorial in Washington D.C.
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    1 h
  • Eyewitness to D-Day: Guest: Garrett M. Graff

    Eyewitness to D-Day: Guest: Garrett M. Graff
    Jun 1 2025

    This week on History Happy Hour: The invasion of Normandy was one of history’s greatest military triumphs. As we approach the 81st Anniversary of D-Day, Chris and Rick explore the stirring events of June 6th with Garrett M. Graff, author of When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day.

    It’s a book built that looks at D-Day through the eyes of those who experienced it—from soldiers, nurses, pilots, children, neighbors, sailors, politicians, volunteers, photographers, reporters and so many more.

    Garrett M. Graff is a journalist, historian, producer, and speaker. He taught at Georgetown University for seven years, including courses on journalism and technology, and his writing and commentary has appeared in publications like the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, New York, Bloomberg. His book Watergate: A New History was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is also the author of The Only Plane in the Sky an oral history of 9/11. He lives in Montpelier, Vermont.
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    59 m
  • The Boats That Hit the Beaches: Guest: Andrew Whitmarsh

    The Boats That Hit the Beaches: Guest: Andrew Whitmarsh
    May 25 2025

    This week on History Happy Hour: On June 6, 1944, 4126 specially designed landing craft carried 132,000 Allied troops to the D-Day Beaches. In this episode, we take a deep dive into why so many different types of landing craft were, how they were built, and how well they did in the hour of crisis.

    Chris and Rick welcome Andrew Whitmarsh, author of D-Day Landing Craft.

    Andrew Whitmarsh has been the curator of the D-Day Story Museum in Portsmouth for more than twenty years. That museum is home to the last surviving intact ‘Landing Craft, Tank’ that took part in the Normandy Landings: LCT 7074 He is also the author of "Portsmouth at War" and "D-Day in Photographs". He frequently writes and lectures about D-Day.

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    1 h y 2 m