Marking the release of Gladiator 2, in this episode we explore the brutal world of gladiators - and how they rose from captivity to become icons of the Roman Empire.

Featuring: Dr Jerry Toner, Director of Studies in Classics at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, Kathleen M. Coleman, James Loeb Professor of the Classics, Harvard University, and Dr Andrew Fear, Lecturer in Classics, University of Manchester.

We're marking the 35th anniversary of one of the most seismic events of the 20th century: the fall of the Berlin Wall. We'll find out why it was built, how it fell, and how it brought an end to the Cold War.

Joining Patrick Geoghegan is: Prof Patrick Major, Professor of Modern History at the University of Reading; Katja Hoyer, historian, author of ‘Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990', and visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London; and Frederick Taylor, historian, author of ‘The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989' and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain.

In this episode:

• Captive Queen: the Decrypted Story of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Dr Jade Scott

• When Courage Calls: Josephine Butler and the Radical Pursuit of Justice for Women, by Dr Sarah C. Williams

• and Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age, by Dr Eleanor Barraclough

This special Talking History episode, live from the Supreme Court in Dublin, in conjunction with Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival, centres on Bram Stoker and the ‘Petty Sessions: Weird and Wonderful Court Cases from Victorian Ireland’ . Hosted by Tommy Graham, editor of History Ireland.

The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland was Bram Stoker’s second book of nonfiction. For many years this book was considered to be the standard reference work for petty sessions (local courts dealing with minor criminal and civil cases) clerks in Ireland – the equivalent of today’s District Courts. In this episode, we’ll explore these fascinating tales from the Petty Sessions of the 19th century and how they help us understand the Ireland of Bram Stoker’s time as well as the author himself. With guests Paul Kelly, President of the District Court, Zoe Reid, Keeper at The National Archives of Ireland and Professor Jarlath Killeen, Head of the School of English, Trinity College Dublin.

With thanks to David Slevin, Seafra O’Donovan, Jack Lawlor, Eric Rowntree and Marese O’Sullivan from Newstalk, Tara Brady of the Courts Service; and Joe Murphy, Tom Lawlor, and Maria Schweppe and volunteers from the Bram Stoker Festival.

In this episode of Talking History, our October books special: when Britain became a republic and why it ended in failure, with Prof Alice Hunt of the University of Southampton; magic and religious controversy in the 16th century, with Dr Violet Moller, author of Inside the Stargazer’s Palace: The Transformation of Science in 16th-Century Northern Europe; and how the CIA became an instrument of a new covert empire, with Prof Hugh Wilford of California State University.

In this episode, Patrick Geoghegan explores the history of modern Sinn Féin, alongside Prof. Agnès Maillot, Head of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies at Dublin City University; Dr Brian Hanley, Teaching Fellow in Twentieth-Century Irish History, Trinity College Dublin; Dr Liam Weeks, Head of the Department of Government and Politics, University College Cork; Dr Matthew Whiting, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Politics, University of York; and Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan.

We're looking at the history of American presidential debates as we explore some of the worst mistakes and iconic quips candidates have made and debate whether they can be the making or the breaking of a future president.

Featuring Dr Daniel Rowe of the University of Oxford, Dr Sandra Scanlon of UCD, Dr Daniel Geary of Trinity College Dublin, and Dr Lewis Defrates of Maynooth University.

This episode of Talking History centres on the life and legacy of Oliver Cromwell and the massacres in Ireland. Featuring Prof John Morrill, emeritus professor of British and Irish history at the University of Cambridge, Prof Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at the University of Bristol, Prof Micheál Ó Siochrú, Head of the School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin, and Alice Hunt, Professor of Early Modern Literature and History at the University of Southampton. Hosted by Patrick Geoghegan.

We're shining a spotlight on one of the most significant yet overlooked figures in art history, Berthe Morisot, and we'll find out how she became a founding member of the Impressionist movement. Featuring art historian Dr Sinéad Furlong-Clancy, specialist in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French Painting and a specialist lecturer for the National Gallery of Ireland and the Hugh Lane Gallery; Dr Timothy Stott of Trinity College Dublin; Janet McLean, curator at the National Gallery of Ireland; and Dr Sabine Kriebel from University College Cork.

As the iconic musical comes to Dublin, we explore the life and legacy of one of America's most influential founders, Alexander Hamilton.

In this episode of Talking History, the kaleidoscopic history of London from the Swinging 60s to the 1980s, with John Davis, emeritus fellow in modern history and politics at The Queen’s College, University of Oxford; spycraft in the age of Elizabeth I, with Nadine Akkerman, professor of early modern literature and culture at Leiden University and OED bibliographer Pete Langman; and humanitarianism and the reconstruction of European intellectual life after the First World War, with Tomás Irish, Associate Professor in Modern History at Swansea University.