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Dr David Musgrove, FSA

Dr David Musgrove, FSA

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I’m Dave, and I’m broadly in charge of all the content we produce across the HistoryExtra portfolio, so that’s the print magazine, the website, podcasts, video output, apps and live events. Obviously I don’t make all of it - that would be ridiculous. However, I do write the occasional article, as well as regularly conducting podcast interviews and making podcast series, and producing videos every now and again. I tend to front quite a lot of our live events as well. As a sideline, I have a particular interest in the Bayeux Tapestry. I’ve co-written a book about it, with Professor Michael Lewis (The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry). With the loan of the tapestry to the UK in 2026, I spend quite a lot of time commenting in the media on tapestry matters and doing public talks about it too. I’m also quite an enthusiast about the history of toilets and Victorian long-distance wheelbarrow pedestrianism, and have been known to discuss those matters on national media. I have a doctorate in medieval archaeology. That was an investigation into monastic drainage and land reclamation in the Somerset Levels (along with a side hustle in prehistoric beaver habitats in France). I’ve worked for HistoryExtra in various roles and guises for over 20 years and in that time, I have also written a couple of popular history books.

Video podcastPrehistoric stone circles: everything you want to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prehistoric stone circles: everything you want to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

Dismemberment & disgrace: the grisly fate of Simon de Montfort. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Decameron: sex, plague, and a medieval Love Island. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General History

A brief history of the toilet: wiping, washing – plus, who invented the flush?

Video podcastMedieval keep fit. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Climbing monks, wrestling kings and marching nuns: what people in the Middle Ages did to exercise. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval keep fit. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

Video podcastBeastly Victorians: preventing animal cruelty in the 19th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Beastly Victorians: preventing animal cruelty in the 19th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

What was life like as a peasant?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Clotilda: the last slave ship to America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Spying in the Troubles: the murky world of double agents in Northern Ireland. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The abolition of the Transatlantic slave trade: everything you want to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lothar II vs Theutberga: a marriage scandal that shook the ninth century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Plague, leprosy & murder: unlocking the secrets of medieval bones. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The curious story of the great wheelbarrow craze of the 19th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The incredible story of Victorian-era influencer Bob Carlisle, the tiger tamer who went to sea

Video podcastLife writing: how to create a Victorian bestseller. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastTemperance in the Victorian era: why did people stop drinking?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastVictorian newspapers: true crime and titillation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastThe madcap world of the Victorian circus. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastThe long-distance walking craze that fascinated Victorians. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 6Battling against Bovril. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 5Crazy about wheelbarrows. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 4Celebrity pedestrian. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 3Would you let a tiger lick your face?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 2Sail, steam & stormy seas. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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