5x15: History's Untold Stories

About the show

or this special 5x15, five leading historians will each tell a surprising story from the past, from the medieval world to the modern age. History is usually told through great events and famous names. But some of the most revealing moments lie in the stories that are overlooked, forgotten or pushed to the margins. Focusing on a single moment, character or decision, they will reveal a larger truth about power, belief and human behaviour.

These stories invite us to rethink the past. Join us to hear five unforgettable stories, told live on stage.

The historians and their stories:
William Dalrymple on the story of zero: how Indian numbers conquered the world.

Kate Williams on who really killed Anne Boleyn Alice Loxton on England’s greatest love story and the building of the Eleanor Crosses.

Peter Frankopan on The United States at 250: the little-known background to the Declaration of Independence.

Gary Younge on the story of Georges Dukson, a Black resistance fighter erased from the Liberation of Paris.