HistoryExtra Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast 2026-05-16T12:13:27.000Z https://www.historyextra.com/author/elliecawthorne/feed/atom Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[When was the first Eurovision and who won? Plus 9 facts on the history of the song contest]]> https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/eurovision-when-first-history-politics-voting-scandals-winnners/ 2026-05-16T12:13:27.000Z 2026-05-16T00:00:46.000Z Why did the Eurovision Song Contest begin?
Eurovision was started by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in 1956.
“I think a lot of people mistake the establishment of Eurovision as some sort of postwar expression of Europeanism, a desire for European integration,” says Dean Vuletic, a leading expert on the history of Eurovision, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast. “But it wasn’t really about that.”
In fact, the creation of the show was driven by commercial imperatives. “In the 1950s, television technology was still nascent and there was a lot of scepticism across Europe as to whether it was worth investing in. The European Broadcasting Union was formed as a way to pool resources in developing television technology, and in the production of programmes that could be shared. And the Eurovision Song Contest happened to be one of those programmes.”
When was the first Eurovision, and what was it like?
The first competition took place in 1956, in a theatre in Lugano, Switzerland. Seven countries entered, with two songs each. People were formally dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns, and performers were accompanied by an orchestra.
“Today, this seems rather quaint,” says Vuletic. “But it doesn’t mean that they were singing old fashioned songs. For example, one of Germany’s entries, ‘So Geht Das Jede Nacht’ by Freddy Quinn, was in an early rock and roll style.”
And politics were at play from the very beginning, says Vuletic. “This automatically sent a message to the rest of Europe about how the West German state was trying to reinvent its identity following the Second World War.”
The voting was done in secret and not made public. The contest was won by a Swiss singer, Lys Assia, who sang a chanson in French called ‘Refrain’. She returned to the contest again to represent Switzerland in 1957 and 1958.
9 facts about the history of Eurovision
1. Voting scandals are nothing new
In fact, they can be traced back to the very first contest in 1956. Voting was done live, but Luxembourg’s jury was unable to make it to the contest, leaving the Swiss jury to vote in their place. “Lo and behold, the Swiss entry won. So from the very beginning, you had politics, you had scandal and Eurovision was ready to go,” says Vuletic.
Another voting scandal erupted in 1963, when Norway had to give its results twice due to a technical error on the first attempt. Second time round, the Norwegian jury swapped its second-highest points to go to the Danish entry, meaning that Denmark won over a French language entry by Switzerland – the competition’s first Scandinavian win.
“This switch in the vote could have been because the Norwegians and their allies were rather annoyed that French language entries had dominated the wins since 1956,” says Vuletic.
2. Voting for your neighbours isn’t just political
“Studies have shown that there have been voting blocs in Eurovision – we’ve seen them in the Francophone part of Europe, the Balkans, in the former Soviet Union, between Britain and Ireland and among the Nordic countries as well,” says Vuletic.
“But they’re actually more cultural than political, based on common languages, and common popular music industries. If the voting blocs were purely political then we wouldn’t see as many votes being shared between countries like Croatia and Serbia or even Ukraine and Russia.”
3. Language is important
“I’m always asked why the UK has done so poorly in Eurovision in recent decades,” says Vuletic. According to history, the change in British fortunes came in 1999, with the introduction of new rules under which countries were no longer required to perform in one of their official languages. This led to more entries being performed in English. “This had always been one of the advantages the British and Irish entries had – and with the change in rules they lost that advantage,” says Vuletic.
“The contest likes to present itself as a promoter of cultural and social diversity in Europe. But when it comes to linguistic diversity, since 1999 it has done a very poor job,” argues Vuletic. “That is changing, though – as Måneskin’s Italian-language win in 2021 proves. And if there is more linguistic diversity in Eurovision, we might also be more likely to see a UK entry win, because it will stand out more.”
4. There was a rival communist singing competition during the Cold War
From the late 1950s, Western Europe’s European Broadcasting Union began to cooperate more with its Eastern European equivalent. Suggestions of a joint competition were rejected, and instead, Eastern Bloc broadcasting organisations created their own contest – called Intervision – based on the rules of Eurovision.
Whereas Eurovision remained closed throughout the Cold War to states that were not members of the European Broadcasting Union, Intervision allowed participants from outside Eastern Europe, making it the first truly pan-European song contest.
- Read more | Did the Cold War ever really end?
“Intervision was staged in Czechoslovakia, and in 1968 the Prague Spring saw the Czechoslovak media liberalised and open to western influences. And by the late 1970s, there was an idea that Intervision should not just be pan-European, but global,” says Vuletic. Intervals acts were welcomed from West Germany and the US – including Gloria Gaynor.
And there were other innovations that might seem surprising for a communist-run competition. While Eurovision was plagued by recurrent complaints that commercial record companies were influencing the competition, Intervision embraced commercialism in the late 70s by staging two contests – one based on national entries, and another based on entries submitted by commercial record companies.
5. People have complained about the quality of the music for a long time
“There have long been criticisms about the quality of Eurovision’s music from media commentators, public viewers and even by the organisers of the contest itself,” says Vuletic. “As early as the 1960s, there was a feeling that the contest wasn't reflecting modern trends in popular music. Surveys were showing that young viewers weren’t interested.”
In the 1970s, rules were changed to try and keep up, allowing for more people on stage, bands, and electronic instruments rather than orchestral accompaniment. These changes began to see the contest not just keeping up with new trends but setting them.
“Just look at Abba’s 1974 win with ‘Waterloo’ – this not only launched Abba’s international career, but also helped Eurovision take off as a major force on the international popular music stage,” says Vuletic.
6. Political messages are officially banned – but that hasn’t stopped entrants from trying get around the rules
While Eurovision has always advertised itself as apolitical, there haven’t always been rules against political messaging.
“In 1976, the Greek entry protested the Turkish invasion of Cyprus,” says Vuletic. “Turkish television sent a letter to the European Broadcasting Union saying the song should be removed as it was political and anti-Turkish. But the European Broadcasting Union wrote back and said, ‘Look, we have no rules against politics, there can be political messages in Eurovision.’”
But things have changed a lot since then, and since 2000, political messages have been banned under rules about bringing the contest into disrepute. Nevertheless, acts have found ways of sneaking in messages over the years.
“The Ukrainian entry from 2005 is an example of that – a protest song that had been an unofficial anthem in the Orange Revolution,” says Vuletic. “Then there was the 2007 Israeli entry, ‘Push the Button’. Even though it was considered by many to criticise the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel, it wasn’t banned. In 2009, there was a Georgian entry ‘We Don’t Wanna Put In’, which came just after the Russian Army invaded Georgia and was read as criticism of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and that was withdrawn from the contest after it was requested that Georgia rewrite the lyrics or chose a new song. But the list is endless.
“I think the rules against politics are really about not scaring away potential sponsors and advertisers. So, you’ve just got to be subtle in how you get your messages across,” says Vuletic.
Interestingly, though, political songs haven’t always attracted votes. “In 1993, entries from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia both referred to the wars that were happening there, but they didn't win, despite widespread sympathy across Europe,” says Vuletic.
7. Russia was kicked out of Eurovision extremely quickly
On 25 February 2022, Russia was banned from participating in that year’s competition in Turin, just one day after the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to Vuletic, this was “certainly a big move on the part of the European Broadcasting Union”.
“In the past, it has taken its time to make such political decisions. For example [in 2021] when it came to Belarus, there was a whole process of consultation that it followed to exclude Belarus from the competition.”
In contrast, the decision was taken more quickly “after members of the EBU, especially from northern and eastern Europe, said, ‘Look, if Russia is there, we won’t be’.”
In response to its continued Eurovision ban, Russia resurrected the rival Intervision competition in 2025, which was won by Vietnamese singer Đức Phúc. It wasn’t the first attempt – in 2008 a one-off revival contest took place in Sochi, though this failed to gain much traction.
8. Not every winning country has been able to host the contest
In the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, Ukrainian hip-hop trio Kalush Orchestra took the top prize – though due to the country’s ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine was not able to hold the competition the following year.
As a result, the contest saw another famous moment in Eurovision history: the second-placed United Kingdom hosted the 2023 competition instead (the UK’s Sam Ryder had topped the jury vote with ‘Space Man’, but slipped to second during the public vote, which overwhelmingly backed Ukraine).
It was the first time since 1980 – after Israel had won the competition twice in a row, and declined to host again – that the contest was not held in the previous edition’s winning country.
Speaking of the UK’s chances in the competition, Vuletic says: “ Europeans do not dislike the United Kingdom. They love British popular music. It’s been a trendsetter across Europe, across the world in the postwar period. So it’s not about loving or hating. It’s just about having a great song that will capture the attention of Europeans.”
9. Boycotts and protests still continue
Further pushback and boycotts hit the 2024 contest in Sweden, with Israel’s inclusion a particular focus of debate.
Israel’s entry in 2024 was Eden Golan, whose participation came just months after the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. The original title of Golan’s song was ‘October Rain’, but in line with the policy on political messaging, it was heavily rewritten and renamed ‘Hurricane’.
Golan was admitted to compete and ultimately finished fifth, though the country’s participation was widely criticised amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war, with several pro-Palestinian protests taking place around Malmö Arena.
The 2024 contest was marked by further controversy when Dutch entrant and fan-favourite Joost Klein was disqualified over a “backstage incident”.
Further protests and broadcaster boycotts regarding Israel’s inclusion in the competition have followed, and as of May 2026, the debate continues.
In contrast to the first contest in a tiny theatre in Lugano in 1956, the competition now caters to an audience of millions outside the arena shows, with fan campaigns, online activism and disinformation now influencing the competition in ways not possible in previous decades.
But notwithstanding the change in scale, unity has always been a key message, explains Vuletic on the HistoryExtra podcast.
“ I think the important role of Eurovision today is what it has always been; to bring Europeans together. To have them watch the same show at the same time, share a common experience with millions of other Europeans, to vote in what I do call Europe’s biggest election together, and to together decide what their favourite song of the night is.
“I think that is the beauty of Eurovision. I think that is the power of Eurovision.”
Dean Vuletic is a leading expert on the history of Eurovision and the author of Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest (Bloomsbury, 2018). He was speaking to Ellie Cawthorne on the HistoryExtra podcast
]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[16 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars]]> https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/history-oscars-academy-awards-facts/ 2026-03-15T19:09:57.000Z 2026-03-15T19:00:13.000Z The Academy Awards were first held in 1929, and each year the film industry awards gold-plated statuettes – commonly called Oscars – in a glittering and star-studded ceremony.
Officially the Academy Award of Merit, everyone knows the golden knight holding a sword and standing on a reel of film as Oscar. Cedric Gibbons, art director at movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, gets the credit for designing the statuette but not for naming it.
- Read more | The best historical movies of all time
There are three theories. Hollywood journalist Sidney Skolsky always maintained he thought it up as a less-grandiose antidote to the pretentiousness of the award ceremony. Meanwhile, actor Bette Davis claimed she once remarked the statuette’s backside resembled that of her husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson. The most likely winner, however, is Margaret Herrick, a librarian at the Academy, who said the knight (not just his rear) looked like her uncle Oscar.
But how much do you really know about the history of the awards themselves, and the dramatic moments that have played out on the biggest night of the Hollywood calendar?
The history of the Oscars: 16 key moments
1929: The first ceremony takes place
Founded by Louis B Mayer, head of MGM studios, in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was intended as a non-profit organisation with the goal of advancing the film industry. The first Academy Award ceremony took place two years later at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, on 16 May 1929. Tickets for the private dinner cost $5 and the presentation ceremony hosted by Douglas Fairbanks (actor and first president of the Academy) lasted just 15 minutes.
The film industry was undergoing a dramatic change at the time, with the revolutionary introduction of new sound technology. Although hugely popular ‘talkies’ such as The Jazz Singer (1927) had been released before the first Academy Awards, they were not considered, because it was seen as unfair to compare them to silent movies.
- Read more | Stars, scandals and the end of silent films
The first-ever Academy Award was bestowed upon Emil Jannings, for Best Actor for his leading roles in silent films The Way of All Flesh (1927) and The Last Command (1928).
The first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture went to Wings, a 1927 silent movie that told the story of two pilots in love with the same woman. The film cost $2 million to produce, making it the most expensive movie of its time. Up until the release of The Artist in 2011, Wings was the only silent film to win Best Picture.
1934: The wrong Frank gets up on stage
Arguably one of the most awkward Academy Awards moments happened in 1934, when both Frank Lloyd and Frank Capra were nominated in the Best Director category.
Caught up in the excitement of the ceremony, Frank Capra heard Will Rogers, who presented the award, exclaim “Come on up and get it, Frank!” He duly ran up to the stage to claim his award, only to find that it was in fact Frank Lloyd who had won.
Capra called the journey back to his chair “the longest, saddest, most shattering walk in my life”, saying “I wished I could have crawled under the rug like a miserable worm. When I slumped in my chair I felt like one. All my friends at the table were crying”.
However, Capra’s humiliation didn’t last long: he won the Best Director gong the following year for It Happened One Night (1934).
1938: An imposter nabs an Academy Award
The Best Supporting Actress Award of 1938 went to Alice Brady for her role in In Old Chicago (1937). However, she was too ill to attend the ceremony. When her award was announced an unknown man took to the stage to collect it, apparently on her behalf. Before anyone realised something was wrong, the man had vanished. The mystery of the imposter’s identity – and what happened to Brady’s stolen statuette – was never solved.
Statuettes vanished again in 2000, when crates containing 55 Oscars disappeared from a loading bay. Some 52 of the statuettes were recovered soon after, found by citizen Willie Fulgear, who was rummaging in a bin behind a food store in LA’s Koreatown. According to The New York Times he was looking for boxes to use for an upcoming house move. Astonished by his unexpected discovery, Fulgear told reporters: “I’ve got more Oscars than any of the movie stars”.
Investigators believed that the culprits took the Oscars by accident, unaware of the crates’ contents.
1939: George Bernard Shaw becomes the first person to win an Oscar and a Nobel Prize
After winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, Shaw received an Academy Award for adapting his 1913 stage play Pygmalion into a film script. He didn’t attend the ceremony, however, reportedly saying: “They might as well send some honour to George for being king of England.”
1940: Results are leaked ahead of the ceremony
At the first Academy Awards in 1929, the winners had been announced to the public three months previously. However, the following year the Academy decided to create a sense of suspense and instead sent an advanced list of award winners to newspapers, embargoed for publication until 11pm on the night of the Oscars ceremony.
This system remained in place for the next 10 years. However, in 1940 the Los Angeles Times broke the embargo and announced the winners in their evening edition, meaning that nominees could find out their fate before turning up at the ceremony.
As a result of this fiasco, the following year (1941) the sealed envelope system was introduced and the results became a closely guarded secret.
1940: Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African-American Oscar winner
McDaniel made history in 1940 by winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role as ‘Mammy’ in the 1939 Civil War epic Gone With the Wind.
However, in the year that McDaniel won, the Oscars ceremony was due to take place in a hotel that upheld a strict racial segregation policy. Film producer David O Selznick reportedly had to call in favours just to have McDaniel allowed into the building. Despite being the recipient of a major award, McDaniel had to sit at the back of the auditorium on a segregated table away from the rest of her co-stars.
McDaniel was also banned from attending Gone With the Wind’s Atlanta premiere because of segregation laws.
1943–45: Oscar statuettes are made of painted plaster
The Oscars statuette, which depicts a knight with a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film, was designed by MGM’s chief art director Cedric Gibbons in 1929. In the early ceremonies the gongs were made from gold-plated solid bronze, which was later substituted for the pewter-like alloy Britannia metal.
However, as the Second World War raged, metal shortages meant that the awards had to be made from alternative materials. Consequently, all awards handed out between 1943 and 1945 were made of painted plaster. When the war was over, all recipients of plaster awards were invited to exchange them for metal ones.
1945: The first Academy Award comes in handy during the Second World War
Emil Jannings, winner of the first-ever Academy Award for his performances in silent films The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command (see 1929, above), was ruled out from the new Hollywood talkies because of his thick German accent.
Jannings therefore returned to Germany, where he became associated with Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda machine, starring in several films promoting Nazism. When the Allies stormed Berlin in 1945, Jannings reportedly carried his Oscar statuette around with him to win over American GIs and to demonstrate his former allegiance to the US.
1968: The ceremony is postponed
In 1968 the Academy decided to push back the ceremony from 8 April to 10 April following the assassination of Martin Luther King, whose funeral was scheduled for 9 April.
In 1981 the ceremony was postponed for 24 hours following an assassination attempt on US president Ronald Reagan, and the 2021 event was also delayed by two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
1973: Marlon Brando’s Oscar is rejected by Sacheen Littlefeather
Marlon Brando famously refused his Best Actor award for his performance in The Godfather (1972) in protest of Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans. He did not attend the ceremony, instead sending Native American activist and actress Sacheen Littlefeather to make a speech in his place.
When Littlefeather explained Brando’s actions, the audience was clearly unsure how to react – some people cheered, others booed. A confused Roger Moore, who attempted to present the award, apparently took the statuette home with him after Sacheen Littlefeather refused to accept it.
- Listen now | Hollywood history: everything you wanted to know
Brando was not the first person to have refused an Oscar: in 1936 Dudley Nichols rejected his Best Adapted Screenplay award for The Informer (1935) due to ongoing strike action by the Screen Writers Guild.
Later, after receiving a Best Actor nomination for his titular role in Patton in 1971, George C Scott informed the Academy that if he won he intended to refuse the award. Everyone was therefore very surprised to hear him announced as the winner. Goldie Hawn, who presented the award, exclaimed “Oh my god!” when she read the result.
Unsurprisingly, Scott did not attend the ceremony, which he reportedly dismissed as a “two-hour meat parade”.
1974: Tatum O’Neal becomes the youngest-ever Oscar winner
The 10-year-old received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Paper Moon (1973), in which she starred opposite her father, Ryan O’Neal. She accepted her award wearing a mini tuxedo and platform shoes.
1998: Titanic wins 11 Oscars
With 14 nominations and 11 wins, the blockbuster epic Titanic (1997) dominated the Academy Awards in 1998. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, it tells the tragic story of the passenger ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1912.
Films with historical settings have long performed well at the Oscars, from 1931’s Best Picture winner All Quiet on the Western Front, through to recent films such as Lincoln (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Oppenheimer (2024).
Other notable historical films that have swept the boards include the 1959 Charlton Heston epic Ben-Hur (11 wins), 1996’s The English Patient (nine wins) and 1939 Civil War drama Gone With the Wind (eight wins).
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dances with Wolves (1990), Schindler’s List (1993) and Shakespeare in Love (1998) each took home seven awards.
2002: Halle Berry wins Best Actress – and makes history
In March 2002, Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the romantic drama Monster’s Ball. The film, in which Berry plays the widow of an executed death row prisoner, was critically acclaimed for its depiction of poverty and racism in the American South, with her emotionally charged performance earning most of the plaudits.
But the moment carried wider historical significance, too: Berry became the first African-American woman to win the award. The importance of the achievement was not lost on the Ohio-born star, who tearfully dedicated the award to “every nameless, faceless woman of colour that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened”.
But while Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win the Best Actress award in 2023, Berry remains the only African-American recipient.
2010: Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first woman to win Best Director
The 82nd Academy Awards saw Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker scooping six gongs, including Best Picture. But arguably the most significant accolade was that awarded to Kathryn Bigelow, who became the first woman to win the Best Director award.
There have been two further female recipients since then: Chloé Zhao for Nomadland (2021) and Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog (2022).
2017: La La Land is accidentally named Best Picture instead of Moonlight
At the 89th Academy Awards in 2017, romantic musical La La Land and coming-of-age drama Moonlight were in contention for the coveted Best Picture prize, with many commentators suggesting it was a two-horse race between the films.
It seemed settled, then, when the ceremony reached its climax and veteran actors Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway – who were presenting the award – opened an envelope apparently revealing that La La Land had been triumphant. The film’s cast and crew, including lead actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, made their way on stage to deliver their acceptance speeches and begin the celebrations.
Yet it transpired that Beatty had inadvertently been handed the envelope announcing Stone’s earlier Best Actress win, leaving Dunaway to read out the only film title visible on the card: La La Land. The actual Best Picture envelope – which revealed Moonlight as the true winner – was still in the hands of an accountant from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the firm that oversees the Oscars voting process.
Once the blunder became apparent, La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz halted the proceedings and held up the correct card showing that Moonlight had indeed won Best Picture, prompting the film’s stars to come forward and accept the accolade instead.
2022: Will Smith slaps Chris Rock
With the film industry returning to normal following the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 94th Academy Awards was always likely to be memorable – though not in the way most people expected.
Before presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature, comedian Chris Rock made an unscripted joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, who had shaved her head after being diagnosed with the autoimmune condition alopecia areata. Incensed, Pinkett Smith’s husband, Will Smith, strode onto the stage and slapped Rock across the face, before returning to his seat and shouting, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f******g mouth”.
The bizarre spectacle prompted speculation that the incident had been staged, but the slap was genuine – and the situation grew more awkward when Smith later returned to accept the award for Best Actor for his role in King Richard.
The rapper and former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star is currently serving a 10-year ban from attending Academy Awards events, due to expire in 2032.
This article was first published by HistoryExtra in February 2016
]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[Chevalier D’Eon | A cross-dressing 18th-century CELEBRITY spy?]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/chevalier-deon-georgian-scandals-5/ 2026-04-17T10:05:20.000Z 2026-02-24T09:45:53.000Z As a celebrity, spy, diplomat and fencing champion, the Chevalier D’Eon had many extraordinary adventures and took on many identities over the course of their long life.
But there was one aspect of their story that fascinated the Georgian public more than any other – the question of whether the Chevalier was a man, or a woman.
In this episode of History’s Greatest Scandals, Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne share not just one scandal, but a string of them, as they chart the Chevalier’s swashbuckling escapades.
Watch the full episode, or listen ad-free at the link below:
View Green Video on the source website ]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[The Zong massacre | A murderous insurance scam that exposed slavery’s horrors]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/zong-massacre-georgian-scandals-4/ 2026-04-17T10:05:38.000Z 2026-02-17T09:45:08.000Z In the 1780s, an extraordinary insurance claim made its way through Britain’s courts – against the lives of more than 130 enslaved people who had been intentionally thrown overboard a slaving ship in the Caribbean.
In this episode of History’s Greatest Scandals, Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne revisit the notorious Zong massacre, and explore how it exposes the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.
Watch the full episode, or listen ad-free at the link below:
View Green Video on the source website ]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[The CRASH that bankrupted Britain | Everything you wanted to know about the South Sea Bubble]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/the-crash-that-bankrupted-britain-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-south-sea-bubble/ 2026-04-17T10:05:52.000Z 2026-02-10T09:01:44.000Z In 1720, everyone from bankers and barons to ordinary housewives rushed to buy South Sea Company stock, sold on the idea that this was a get-rich-quick scheme that couldn’t go wrong.
But, before long, the bubble burst. In this episode of History’s Greatest Scandals, Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne uncover a story of greed, risk and delusion in the world’s first major financial crash.
Watch the full episode, or listen ad-free at the link below:
View Green Video on the source website ]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[How did people understand pregnancy BEFORE modern medicine?]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/pregnancy-past-video/ 2026-02-06T10:18:04.000Z 2026-02-06T10:17:32.000Z What did people in the past do to not only diagnose pregnancy, but to ensure the health of mothers and babies in the nine months before birth?
To find out, HistoryExtra’s Ellie Cawthorne took a brief look back at the wonderfully strange, surprisingly clever and occasionally downright bizarre history of pregnancy – it's a far from comprehensive but fascinating snapshot into this subject.
View Green Video on the source website]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[High society’s most DANGEROUS liaison | Henrietta Grosvenor and the king's brother]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/dangerous-liaison-georgian-scandals-2/ 2026-04-17T10:06:51.000Z 2026-02-03T10:46:26.000Z In a tavern in 1769, aristocrat Henrietta Grosvenor was discovered in a comprising position with a man who was not her husband.
Her lover was none other than the king’s own brother – and their illicit affair promptly kicked off one of Georgian Britain’s messiest divorce cases. In this episode of History’s Greatest Scandals, Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne revisit this 18th-century soap opera and explore what it can tell us high society marriages in the era.
Watch the full episode, or listen ad-free at the link below:
View Green Video on the source website ]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[History's Greatest Scandals: secrets of the Georgian era]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/historys-greatest-scandals-the-secrets-of-the-georgian-era/ 2026-04-21T12:00:17.000Z 2026-01-28T10:53:57.000Z In this podcast series, Ellie Cawthorne and Professor Hannah Greig follow on the trail of forgers, expose illicit liaisons, meet cross-dressing celebrity spies and get involved in some high-stakes gambling, as they search out some of the most salacious stories of the day, and explore what they can reveal about this fascinating period of history.
]]> Ellie Cawthorne <![CDATA[The MILLION pound forgery | Mrs Rudd vs the Perreaus]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/million-pound-forgery-georgian-scandals-1/ 2026-04-17T08:22:45.000Z 2026-01-28T10:47:14.000Z In 1775, a respectable lady, a mild-mannered apothecary and his fast-living identical twin stood accused of pulling off a scam that had earned them a grand fortune of £7,500 – roughly £1.5m in today's money. But as the trial of Mrs Rudd and the Perreaus unfolded, the defendants turned on one another, and the plot thickened – who was the real orchestrator of the scheme, and who would hang for it?
In this episode of History’s Greatest Scandals, Professor Hannah Greig and Ellie Cawthorne revisit this sensational courtroom drama, and consider what it can tell us about the Georgian age.
Watch the full episode, or listen ad-free at the link below:
View Green Video on the source website ]]> HistoryExtra <![CDATA[What happened to Shakespeare's daughters? A guide to the playwright's family life and descendants]]> https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/the-shakespeare-family-saga/ 2026-02-03T18:05:24.000Z 2026-01-26T12:32:00.000Z He is one of the greatest writers of all time, and our longing to know as much as we can about him continues.
We know that William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to John and Mary Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, and that he was their first child to survive past infancy. During the Elizabethan period, infant mortality was very high, and his parents had already lost two daughters before young William was born.
The exact date of his birth is unknown, but his baptismal record survives, showing that Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakespeare (William, son of John Shakespeare) was baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon’s Holy Trinity Church on 26 April 1564. His birthday is now celebrated on 23 April, since it was common for baptisms to be held three days after a birth.
As a film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's historical novel, Hamnet, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, is released, find out more about the playwright's home life and how his family influences shaped him – plus what happened to his daughters after the story of Hamnet concludes.
William Shakespeare's birth family: who were his parents?
The story of Shakespeare’s family – one of upward social mobility – is reflected in their homes. Start in the small village of Wilmcote, three miles north of Stratford-upon-Avon, where the playwright’s mother, Mary Arden, grew up in a small farmhouse built around 1514 by her father, Robert.
Mary was the youngest of eight daughters by his first wife; his second, Agnes Hill, brought with her two sons and two daughters. When Robert made his will in 1556, he named young Mary as one of his two executors and left her a substantial amount of land and money, which suggests that she was a woman of exceptional ability.
Mary Arden married the up-and-coming glover (and later wool dealer and money-lender) John Shakespeare, probably in 1557. Before long they moved into his substantial double-house in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, now known as Shakespeare’s Birthplace. Mary had eight children, but only six survived infancy. John gave the town loyal service, rising through the ranks from the relatively humble role of ale-taster to become alderman and, in 1568, bailiff (or mayor.) His application for a coat of arms was unsuccessful in 1576, but he was granted one 20 years later, when he was said to be worth £500 – a sum not to be sneezed at. He died in 1601.
In 1594 John’s eldest son, William, had become a shareholder in the troupe of players called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, based in London. Three years later William demonstrated his commitment to his home town of Stratford by buying New Place, the largest house in the borough.
Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway
In 1582, at the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway (also known as Agnes), who was already around three months pregnant with their daughter Susanna. The Hathaways – tenant farmers with 90 acres of land in the nearby village of Shottery – were acquaintances of the Shakespeares, and William may have met Anne while helping with the local harvest.
To ensure the pregnancy didn’t cause a scandal, Shakespeare had to apply to the Bishop’s Court in Worcester for permission to hold a wedding at short notice. Between 1570 and 1630 the records show that only three men in Stratford-upon-Avon were married below the age of 20 (the average age to marry was 26). Shakespeare was the only one of those whose wife was already pregnant.
William and Anne also had three children, an elder daughter, Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet.
Shakespeare's family at New Place
New Place in Stratford was demolished in the 18th century but archaeological excavations carried out under the auspices of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust have added to our knowledge about the size and layout of the property. It had five gables, a courtyard, three floors, and between 20 and 30 rooms – more than enough to accommodate the entire extended family, if necessary. Indeed, Thomas Greene, Town Clerk from 1603 to 1617 and a member of the Middle Temple, who described himself as William’s cousin – the word could be flexibly used – lodged there with his family.
There would also have been ample space for William’s unmarried brothers, Richard, Gilbert and Edmund, of whom little is known. We do know that Edmund, 16 years younger than William, became an actor in London like his brother, had a bastard child, and died when he was only 27. He was buried in what is now Southwark Cathedral on the last day of 1607 to the sound of the ‘great bell’ – the tolling of which cost someone, probably William, £1. Gilbert, who witnessed the deed of purchase for New Place in William’s absence, worked at one time as a haberdasher in London. Of Richard we know only that he was baptised in Stratford on 11 March 1574 and buried there on 4 February 1613.
William’s sister Joan, born in 1569, married a hatter, William Hart, some time before 1600. They had four children: William, Mary, Thomas and Michael. Joan’s husband died in 1616 only a week before his famous brother-in-law, who left Joan life tenancy of part of the Henley Street house, along with £20 and “all his wearing apparel”. She lived there until her death in 1646 when the house, along with the adjoining dwelling, passed to her son Thomas, and then to his son, another Thomas, by the will of Shakespeare’s granddaughter, Lady Elizabeth Barnard. The property, identified as the Birthplace on the earliest surviving map of the town (dated 1759), remained in the family till 1806. The line continued; John Shakespeare Hart, a chair-maker, was buried in Tewkesbury Abbey in 1800 with a memorial that mistakenly described him as “the sixth descendant from the poet Shakespeare”. Subsequent family members emigrated to Australia.
When Shakespeare died in 1616, the bulk of Shakespeare’s estate went to his daughter, Susanna, who, with her husband John Hall, moved into New Place while Anne was still there. Anne lived at New Place for another seven years until her death in 1623.
What happened to William Shakespeare's children?
Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet – the name a variant of Hamlet – died in 1596, aged only 11. Presumably, like his father, he had been a pupil at the free grammar school, though its records from this period don’t survive.
Susanna, born six months after her parents married, seems to have been an accomplished woman with a mind of her own. She was reported to the Ecclesiastical Court for refusing to take communion at Easter 1606 when, in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, the authorities were especially anxious to round up possible Roman Catholic sympathisers. The case was dismissed. The following year she married the strongly Protestant physician John Hall, and her father gave her the substantial gift of 107 acres of land in Old Stratford as a marriage settlement, while apparently retaining a life interest.
In 1613 her marriage was afflicted by scandal when one John Lane claimed that Susanna had caught a sexually transmitted infection from a married hatter and haberdasher named Ralph Smith. She successfully sued Lane for defamation of character in Worcester Consistory Court. Lane, who did not turn up to defend himself, was excommunicated. These events are dramatised in Peter Whelan’s successful play The Herbal Bed (1996).
The Halls are believed to have lived in the large and handsome house on the outskirts of the town now known as Hall’s Croft, which dates from 1613 and may have been built for them; when Shakespeare died in 1616 they moved into New Place. Shakespeare left most of his property to Susanna and appointed the Halls as his executors.
Susanna lived until 1649. Her epitaph reads “Witty” – that is, intelligent – “beyond her sex, but that’s not all, / Wise to salvation was good Mistress Hall.” In this period, education for girls lagged far behind that for boys, but there were petty schools in the town where both boys and girls could learn to read, write and do their sums. Susanna’s signature survives in the records of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Shakespeare’s younger daughter, Judith, seems to have been a bit of a handful. At the age of 31, less than two months before her father died, she married Thomas Quiney, son of a prominent townsman, in Holy Trinity Church – but was excommunicated because they had not obtained the special licence required for marriage in Lent. There was reason to marry in a hurry: soon afterwards Quiney was accused of “incontinence” with Margaret Wheeler, who had been buried with their illegitimate child. He pleaded guilty. Shakespeare made changes to his will seemingly designed to protect Judith’s interests. She and Thomas went on to have three sons, all of whom died young; they called the eldest, born soon after his grandfather died, Shakespeare. Judith lived until 1662.
Shakespeare’s last direct descendant was Elizabeth, born to Susanna and John Hall in 1608. He left her most of his silver plate (easily convertible into cash if she wished). She married Thomas Nash and they lived in New Place. After he died she married John Barnard, a prosperous widower with several children, in 1649. When her mother died soon afterwards the couple moved into New Place. A staunch Royalist, Barnard was made a baronet in 1661. Later they moved back into his ancestral home, Abington Manor in Northamptonshire, an even more splendid house than New Place, where Elizabeth died childless in 1670.
So a family story that began in a modest farmhouse ended with Shakespeare’s granddaughter in a great manor house. What would Mary Arden have made of that?
Does Shakespeare have any living descendants?
Shakespeare has no direct living descendants, but there are still descendants of his sister Joan and her husband William Hart.
His childhood home on Henley Street in Stratford remains in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Stanley Wells is a leading authority on Shakespeare. He is honorary president of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and professor emeritus at the University of Birmingham
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