Danny Bird

I’m Danny, a Content Producer on HistoryExtra magazine. Working with leading historians, I commission, research, write and edit features that answer the questions readers are genuinely curious about, and I’m always looking for engaging ways to help readers keep pace with the latest expert insights and discoveries from the history they’re interested in. As well as writing, I’m a host on the HistoryExtra podcast, where you’ll find me speaking with historians about some of my favourite historical topics; namely modern Soviet/Russian and Spanish history! I joined the team in 2022, working initially as staff writer on BBC History Revealed, before moving to BBC History Magazine, which has since become HistoryExtra. I’ve been fascinated with the past since childhood and obtained a History BA (Hons) at the University of Sheffield, where I developed a special interest in the Spanish Civil War and the Paris Commune. I then gained my History MA from University College London, studying at its School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), where I researched the early Soviet state’s fixation with the Paris Commune. Prior to joining HistoryExtra, I was a civil servant and a freelance writer for Time and History Today magazine, writing on everything from the story behind Picasso’s masterpiece, Guernica, to the historical role of revolutions.

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El Cid: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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How Christianity came to dominate the Roman world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The spy next door: Moscow's century-long plot to infiltrate the west. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Nationalism: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ilustration of a pair of hands holding a book called 'Summer Reading 2025'. There is a bookshelf in the background

General History

28 of the best history summer reads for 2025

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The Paris Commune: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The Mitford Sisters | Part Two: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The Mitford Sisters | Part One: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Sisi & Eugénie: the empresses who redefined royalty. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nancy Mitford

20th Century

The real Nancy Mitford: meet the bestselling novelist who betrayed her sister

Diana Mitord

20th Century

The real Diana Mitford: society beauty and unabashed fascist

Unity Mitford

20th Century

The real Unity Mitford: meet the high society British Nazi who was rumoured to have had Hitler's child

Unity Mitford, Diana Mitford and Nancy Mitford

20th Century

The real Mitford Sisters: fascism, communism and Nazism collide in the true story behind Outrageous

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Women who ruled over Africa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The botanists of besieged Leningrad. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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How Queen Victoria's aunt broke free of an abusive marriage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Rosa Luxemburg: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The princess who fled Romanov Russia. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler Saluting

20th Century

The history of the Hitler salute, from its dubious Roman origins to its use by the far right

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Inside the mind of the Third Reich. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Catherine the Great: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The massacre that shattered the old Ottoman world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Germany's postwar reinvention. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Britain's wild republican decade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Police chase demonstrators during the 1936 battle of Cable Street

20th Century

When Mosley's fascists took on East End London and lost: the Battle of Cable Street explained

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Communism: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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How ancient India transformed the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George Orwell in front of a BBC microphone.

20th Century

George Orwell: the indomitable life of the writer who confronted totalitarianism

King Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty

Medieval

What was the Erfurt Latrine Disaster?

Former British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald sitting behind a desk

20th Century

Where does the term ‘champagne socialist’ come from?

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