HistoryExtra Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast 2026-09-25T14:36:53.000Z https://www.historyextra.com/author/spencermizen/feed/atom Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[The Soviet spy who couldn't love]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/the-soviet-spy-who-couldnt-love/ 2026-09-25T14:36:53.000Z 2026-09-25T14:36:53.000Z In 1981, a Soviet spy walked into MI6 HQ in Tehran and offered to defect to Britain – if, in return, Britain could help him improve his performance in bed.
In this episode, Ben Macintyre introduces Spencer Mizen to an extraordinary agent with a sexual secret – a secret that changed the course of Iranian history and may, just may, have averted nuclear war.
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[How WW2 transformed Asia]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/how-ww2-transformed-asia/ 2026-08-17T11:31:16.000Z 2026-08-17T11:31:16.000Z For decades, the history of the Second World War has been told through predominately western eyes. That, writes historian Hans van de Ven, simply has to change.
Hans's new book, Blood Dawn, sets out to reset the focus, exploring the conflict's story from an Asian perspective. In this episode, Hans tells Spencer Mizen how WW2 supercharged the fight for independence from European domination across India, China and Indonesia – and, in doing so, transformed a continent
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[How Christianity conquered the Roman empire]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/how-christianity-conquered-roman-empire-podcast/ 2026-08-10T14:50:50.000Z 2026-08-10T14:50:50.000Z The Roman empire was home to a multitude of religious cults in the first century AD. However, only one – Christianity – rose to global domination. But why?
That's a question that Tim Whitmarsh sets out to answer in his latest book, Rome's Age of Revolution. In this episode, Tim talks Spencer Mizen through a story that encompasses Christian entrepreneurs, Greek intellectuals and the surprising parallels between Jesus and the Emperor Augustus.
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[Bess of Hardwick: life of the week]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/bess-of-hardwick-life-of-the-week-podcast/ 2026-07-21T15:28:30.000Z 2026-07-21T15:28:30.000Z Bess of Hardwick fell out spectacularly with Mary, Queen of Scots and was dumped in the Tower of London by Elizabeth I. Yet nothing could get in the way of this extraordinary social climber.
In this episode, Tracy Borman tells Spencer Mizen about a woman who accrued vast wealth, repeatedly rattled the Tudor court and ultimately earned the grudging respect of the Virgin Queen.
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[When football became a weapon of the Cold War]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/when-football-became-a-weapon-of-the-cold-war/ 2026-07-06T16:02:31.000Z 2026-07-06T16:02:31.000Z The Cold War cast a shadow over all aspects of life – including the world's favourite sport. All sides of the ideological divide used football to score political goals.
Tony Shaw and Alan McDougall talk Spencer Mizen through some of the most explosive Cold War footballing clashes in a story that takes in Pele, Eusebio, North Korean upsets and a galloping major.
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[Cannibalism, heartbreak and Madame Guillotine: George Forster's extraordinary life]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/cannibalism-heartbreak-and-madame-guillotine-george-forsters-extraordinary-life-podcast/ 2026-06-26T08:19:04.000Z 2026-06-26T08:18:30.000Z He sailed to Antarctica with Captain Cook, rubbed shoulders with Benjamin Franklin and helped found a revolutionary republic.
It’s little wonder, then, that Andrea Wulf describes George Forster – the 18th-century traveller, botanist and champion of human rights – as “one of the most fascinating figures you've never heard of”.
In conversation with Spencer Mizen, Andrea explores a life that reads like an adventure story.
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[Masters of disinformation: how British spies played dirty in the Cold War]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/masters-disinformation-how-british-spies-played-dirty-cold-war-podcast/ 2026-06-12T10:41:43.000Z 2026-06-12T10:41:43.000Z They 'haunted' an Indonesian general with a talking ghost and planted fake hippies in a Bulgarian youth festival. But did they change the course of the Cold War? Rory Cormac introduces Spencer Mizen to the comically absurd – and dangerously controversial – tactics deployed by a group of misfits and mavericks charged with raining down confusion on Britain's adversaries in the 1950s and 60s.
Hear more from Rory Cormac on the HistoryExtra podcast, listen to him discussing Queen Victoria's spy network here
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[Churchill's toughest decision]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/churchills-toughest-decision-podcast/ 2026-06-10T08:10:04.000Z 2026-06-10T08:09:23.000Z In the summer of 1940, the Royal Navy attacked a French fleet moored off the coast of north Africa, killing almost 1300 sailors. Winston Churchill described his decision to green-light the operation as the toughest he ever had to take. But was it the right decision? In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Edward Abel Smith talks to Spencer Mizen about an episode that would shake Britain's wartime relations with both the French and the Americans.
To hear more from Edward Abel Smith, don't miss our podcast episode on the remarkable life of Nicholas Winton, the British Schindler, who helped hundreds of Jewish children escape Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[Weimar's descent from democracy to barbarism]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/weimars-descent-from-democracy-to-barbarism/ 2026-06-03T06:51:04.000Z 2026-06-03T06:50:29.000Z Weimar is a small German city. Yet it looms large in European history. In the 1920s, it was synonymous with liberalism, internationalism and the fine arts. Yet, within a decade, many of its residents had embraced Nazism and Hitler was professing his love for the city. Here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, historian and author Katja Hoyer reveals how the city that gave its name to Germany's great social democratic experiment succumbed to tyranny.
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GO BEYOND THE PODCAST
If you'd like to hear more from Katja Hoyer talking about German history on the HistoryExtra podcast, then you can check out this Life of the Week episode on Otto von Bismarck
]]> Spencer Mizen <![CDATA[Alan Turing: life of the week]]> https://www.historyextra.com/membership/alan-turing-life-of-the-week/ 2026-06-02T09:43:08.000Z 2026-06-02T09:43:08.000Z Alan Turing is one of the most celebrated of all British scientists. His work in cracking Nazi codes at Bletchley Park and his role in the evolution of the computer has earned him worldwide acclaim. Yet he died at the age of just 41, two years after being prosecuted for committing homosexual acts. Here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, David Kenyon, the research historian at Bletchley Park, explores a brilliant life marred by tragedy
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