Inside Story with Lucinda

Why is Italy called Italy? How old is curry? Which people from history would best pull off a casino heist? Who was the richest person of all time? When was the first Monday? What were history's weirdest medical procedures that actually worked? How much horse manure was splattered on the streets of Tudor London? How fast was the medieval Chinese postal system? What did the Flintstones get right about the Stone Age? Who gets to name historical eras, and what will ours be called in 100 years' time? How do we know how people sounded in the past? How old is sign language?

These are the kind of questions that Lucinda Hawksley will be asking Greg Jenner, author, BBC podcaster, and public historian – you may well recognise his name from Horrible Histories on TV and his podcast You’re Dead to Me. Greg has made it his mission to provide answers to things you always wondered about, but didn't know who to ask. In his new book, Ask a Historian, Greg whisks us off on an entertaining tour through the ages, revealing the best and most surprising stories, facts, and historical characters from the past. 

Bouncing through a wide range of subjects – from ancient jokebooks, African empires, and bizarre tales of medicinal cannibalism – Ask a Historian spans the Stone Age to the Swinging Sixties, and offers up a deliciously amusing and informative smorgasbord of historical curiosities, devoured one morsel at a time. Join Lucinda and Greg at 12pm on Thursday, 13th January – and don’t forget to bring your own questions to ask in the chat.

To purchase the book, click here.