The History Forum Past Talks

If you would like to rent a recording for 7 days (£10 individual talk, £37 for 4 talks), contact .

MI9: A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in World War Two’
Sunday 27 April, 2025, 7pm (London)
Speaker: Dr Helen Fry 

Life in a Medieval Gentry Household: Alice de Bryene of Action Hall, Suffolk
Sunday 13 April, 2025, 7pm (London)
GUEST SPEAKER: Ffiona von Westhoven Perigrinor

Aphra Behn: 17th Century Female Spy, Poet and Playwright
Sunday 6 April, 2025, 7pm (London)
Speaker: Melanie King

The Once and Future(less) King: The Rise and Fall of Juan Carlos I 
Sunday 23 March, 2025, 7pm (London)
GUEST SPEAKER: Emeritus Professor David T. Gies

The Rebel Empresses: Elisabeth of Austria and Eugenie of France, Power an glamour in the Struggle for Europe
Sunday 16 March, 2025, 7pm (London)
GUEST SPEAKER: Nancy Goldstone

Can Onions Cure Earache?: Medical Advice From the Eighteenth Century
Sunday 2 March, 2025, 7pm (London)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Virtual Tour of the Houses of Parliament
Sunday 16 February, 2025, 7pm (London)
GUEST SPEAKER: Loona Hazarika
(NB: There is no recording of this event)

Coffee and Coffee Houses: How the English Fell in Love with Caffeine
Sunday 2 February, 2025, 7pm (London)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Beer, Sausages and Marmalade: Oxford Food and Drink in the Nineteenth Century
Sunday 19 January, 2025, 7pm (London)
GUEST SPEAKER: Liz Woolley

Claude Monet and the First World War
Sunday 12 January, 2025, 7pm (London)
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr Ross King

‘Here We Make Italy’: The Risorgimento
Sunday 8 December, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr Ross King

The History of the Bubonic Plague
Sunday 1 December, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Paul Chrystal

Not Just Napoleon and Jane Austen: Lesser Known Episodes From the Year 1815
Sunday 24 November, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Historical Inaccuracies of Napoleon (the movie)
Sunday 3 November, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Jem Duducu

A Crystal Vision of Victorian Britain: The Great Exhibition of 1851
Sunday 20 October, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr Simon Wenham

The Duchess of Well-Being: Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough’s Pursuit of Health and Happiness
Sunday 6 October, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Odd Men and Necessary Women – Servants of a Great Palace
Sunday 22 September, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Antonia Keaney

Blenheim Palace: A Duke, a Battle and a Palace
Sunday 8 September, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

‘The Drink that Cheers but Doesn’t Intoxicate’: How the English Fell in Love with Tea
Sunday 28 April, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

After the Gold Rush: My Californian Mining Adventure (140 years too late)
Sunday 14 April, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Jeremy Burton
There is no recording of this talk.

English Prophets Without Honour: Mother Shipton, Joanna Southcott and John Wroe
Sunday 24 March, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Frenemies in Iberia: The Story of Spain v. Portugal
Sunday 10 March, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Professor David T. Gies

Rude, Lewd and Crude: Literature of the English Spa
Sunday 25 February, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Female Gladiators in Ancient Rome
Sunday 18 February, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr Ross King

Buxton’s ‘Bluebirds’: The Great War, Shell Shock and Canadian Nurses
Sunday 4 February, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Bonfire Of History: The Lost Treasures, Trophies and Trivia of Madame Tussaud’s Exhibition
Sunday 14 January, 2024, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Christopher Joll

Highlights of the British Museum
Sunday 10 December, 2023, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Loona Hazarika

Agent Sonya: Stalin’s Spy in Oxford
Sunday 26 November, 2023, 7pm (GMT)
GUEST SPEAKER: Emeritus Professor Anthony Glees

Spy Hard with a Vengeance: The Curious Case of Mrs Stan Harding
Sunday 19 November, 2023, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

Hydrotherapy: Three Weeks in Wet Sheets
Sunday 8 October, 2023, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

A Lot of Hot Air: How the English Fell in Love with Sweating
Sunday 1 October, 2023, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

From Spaw to Spa: The Making of Bath
Monday 25 September, 2023, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King

‘What Ever Did the Romans Do For Us?’: Bathing for Health and Pleasure
Sunday 17 September, 2023, 7pm (GMT)
SPEAKER: Melanie King