You may also like: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

You may also like: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Author: Sony Music Entertainment June 11, 2026 Duration: 44:38
Hey Dan here. Here’s a podcast from none other than TIH alumna, producer Georgia Mills!  If you can’t get enough of historical failure after History’s Greatest Fails, give Cautionary Tales a listen. My royal favourites get one month free of a free subscription — look out for the gift link on our Patreon Court Gossip thread.  In the meantime, here’s a sample episode. It’s the tale of a poet who thought his poem about the Battle of Crecy was going to rival Shakespeare… evidently, it did not.  William McGonagall's poems are something else. The jarring meter, the banal imagery, the awkward rhymes: they made him a laughing stock in 19th Century Scotland and are still derided to this day. How does someone get that bad at poetry? Or have we been misunderstanding McGonagall all along? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is History: A Dynasty to Die For picks up the story after the death of Henry V, leaving England with an infant king, Henry VI. Historian Dan Jones guides listeners through the tumultuous reign that follows, a period defined by fragile regencies and escalating noble rivalries. This podcast delves into the power vacuums and personal dramas that set the stage for decades of conflict. The narrative explores how scandal, accusations of witchcraft, and the looming specter of madness intertwined with the brutal political machinations of the era. As factions vie for control both domestically and in England's French territories, the series charts the descent into the dynastic carnage known as the Wars of the Roses. Each episode builds a vivid picture of a kingdom teetering on the brink, where the crown itself becomes a lethal prize. The storytelling in this podcast focuses on the human ambitions and failures behind the historical events, offering a detailed and compelling audio experience. Listeners will hear a deep analysis of the key figures and turning points that shaped this pivotal century, moving beyond simple dates and battles to understand the motivations and consequences that defined a nation's destiny.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

This is History: The Tudors
Podcast Episodes
War — History’s Ultimate Failure [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:17
Elizabeth Day grew up in Belfast and would as a child walk past the most bombed hotel in Europe. Dan Jones recalls a Croatian widow whose husband went out for bread and never returned. In this final episode of History’s…
Ear Today, Gone Tomorrow: Van Gogh’s Guide to Artistic Failure [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:23
If you’re an artist, when would you like recognition to strike? Do you want it to be in your lifetime, only to be forgotten decades after your death? Or do you want to remain undiscovered, with your story potentially ech…
Why isn’t Leonardo Da Vinci remembered as an engineer? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:18
If you judge him by his own elaborate metrics, Leonardo da Vinci was a failure. Long before the Mona Lisa became shorthand for genius, Leonardo imagined himself as something else entirely: a military engineer, a designer…
How, exactly, does a woman ‘slip’ out of history? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:16
What would you do if your life was omitted, reduced to an overlooked footnote, or filed away as an anomaly? In this episode, Dan and Elizabeth turn a lens on the practice of history itself, interrogating the choices and…
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are the Ross and Rachel of history [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:28
To love is to risk heartbreak. And while for some, breakups result in renewal, maybe some therapy (or a few months’ spent wallowing), for the historical figures of this episode… a relationship’s end has broken many more…
Was Richard III a Failure? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:58
He died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. And we haven’t been able to stop talking about him since. Yes, it’s time to consider the story of England’s last Plantagenet king, Richard III — a centuries-old tangle involving…
Get in loser, we’re making history [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:06
We’re often taught that history’s written by the winners. But we’d like to argue that, in fact, it’s the losers who end up making history. In this brand new miniseries from Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day, History’s Greatest…
S9 E12 | Rise of the Yorks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:23
To learn more about the last time an English king was usurped, listen to Season 7, Bonus Episode 12, where Dan tells the story of Henry VI’s grandfather, Henry Bolingbroke. In 1399, he toppled Richard II to become King H…
S9 E11 | The Pact [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:39
Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al’s callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. It’s there where you can listen to this week’s bonus episode,…
S9 E10 | The Battle of St Albans [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:02
Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al’s callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. It’s there where you can listen to this week’s bonus episode,…