Ellie Cawthorne

Bristol

Podcast and Books Editor at BBC History Magazine (UK)

Podcast and Books Editor at HistoryExtra Podcast

I make podcasts and magazines about things that happened in the past for @historyextra / BBC History Magazine (views my own, terrible at twitter, she/her)

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Articles

Mary Wollstonecraft: the firebrand feminist thinker with a rule-breaking life

Sep 26, 2024 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

That life took Wollstonecraft from humble beginnings to the heart of Enlightenment Europe, via a front row seat for the French Revolution, a treasure hunt for stolen silver along the Norwegian coast, and several personal scandals. Mary Wollstonecraft’s early lifeBorn in 1759 in Spitalfields, London, as the second of seven children, Wollstonecraft did not have the most promising of beginnings.
Famous Suffragettes: 8 People Who Campaigned for Votes for Women

Jun 12, 2024 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

Lytton was converted to the cause after meeting suffragettes while campaigning for prison reform. Soon she was speaking across the country and petitioning her influential political connections on behalf of the Pankhursts. In 1909, Lytton was imprisoned in Holloway but was swiftly released when officers learned of her illustrious family background.
Duke of Wellington: Guide To The Famed Commander's Life and Career

Mar 26, 2024 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

“Wellington was a household name across Europe – an internationally revered figure both as a general and as a statesman, even described by some as the liberator of Europe.”On the podcast | Dr Zack White discusses the life and career of the Duke of WellingtonBut Wellington was a controversial figure, especially when it came to his later political career.
The Huxleys: how one family shaped our view of nature

Oct 5, 2023 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

Known as “Darwin’s bulldog”, Thomas Henry Huxley fought a tireless battle against the opponents of evolutionary theory. His grandson Julian lived among the animals of London Zoo and made nature documentaries with a young David Attenborough. Alison Bashford is the author of a Cundill Prize-shortlisted book on the Huxley family, An Intimate History of Evolution.
The Cultural Revolution: a Chinese catastrophe

Oct 3, 2023 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

For the decade between 1966 and 1976, Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution wreaked immense havoc on China – with up to 2 million killed, and another 36 million persecuted for perceived political or cultural sins. Tania Branigan is the author of a Cundill Prize-shortlisted book Red Memory, which draws on personal testimonies to chart the story of this terrifying decade.
One day in the British empire

Sep 28, 2023 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

On 29 September 1923, the British empire was at its territorial height. But even as British power stretched across the globe, were the seeds of the empire’s destruction already sown? Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, Matthew Parker charts what was happening across diverse territories in September 1923, through the testimonies of those on the ground, from Samoa and Nigeria to New Zealand and India. Matthew Parker is the author of One Fine Day: Britain's Empire on the Brink (Little, Brown, 2023)
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Sep 28, 2023 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne |Emily Briffett

By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. I’m Ellie, HistoryExtra’s podcast editor, and along with our podcast editorial assistant Emily, I write the podcast newsletter. Every two weeks we round up some of the very best new content from the podcast, as well as highlighting fascinating interviews from our huge archive.
How has fear shaped history?

Sep 24, 2023 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

With the climate crisis, war in Ukraine, a recent pandemic and the rise of AI, it can feel like there is more to be fearful of today than ever before. But according to historian Robert Peckham, human society has always been shaped by fear – and not always in the ways you might expect. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, Robert reveals how fear has been a force for both good and ill, from the Black Death and colonisation to the abolition movement and 19th-century concerns about technology.
Scandals that shocked Georgian Britain

Sep 17, 2023 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

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Tokyo’s devastating 1923 earthquake

Aug 31, 2023 | historyextra.com | Ellie Cawthorne

Exactly 100 years ago today, on 1 September 1923, the streets of Tokyo began to shudder. It was the first warning sign that something terrible was coming – a devastating earthquake that would level much of the city. But, as historian Dr Christopher Harding tells Ellie Cawthorne, the Great Kantō earthquake wasn’t just a natural disaster – it also exposed deep lying social and political divides. Christopher Harding is the author of The Japanese: A History in Twenty Lives (Allen Lane, 2020)