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Archives Media Player: find, play and download our audio and video podcasts

  • Audio contentCat. Ref, FO 1093/252

    Foreign Office and Cabinet Office file release: May 2013

    Gill Bennett, formerly Chief Historian at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, introduces highlights of new files from the Permanent Under-Secretary’s Department (FO 1093), the government department responsible for liaison with the UK’s intelligence agencies, and the Cabinet Secretary’s archive (CAB ...

  • Video contentThe Cradle at work, Gold Mining, Australia 1900, cat. ref. COPY 1-446

    Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19

    The ‘Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19′ research project is a major collaborative research project between the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies (MCAS), King’s College London and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra, Australia. The ultimate ...

  • Video contentJourney's End

    The Journey’s End Battalion: The 9th East Surrey and R C Sherriff in the Great War

    ‘Journey’s End’ is a well-known play about the Great War. The author, R C Sherriff, saw all his front line service with 9th Battalion East Surrey Regiment. The podcast explores in particular Sherriff’s experiences with the battalion and his reactions ...

  • Video contentHenry-VIII-illuminated-initial

    The Children of Henry VIII

    John Guy tells the story of the family drama of England’s wealthiest and most powerful king. It is a tale of jealousy, mutual distrust and often bitter sibling rivalry, simmering beneath the magnificent pageantry and stormy politics of the Tudor ...

  • Audio contentHillsborough document

    Hillsborough: the tangled web

    As a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, Christine Gifford led the Panel on the discovery and disclosure of the information subsequently put in the public domain in support of the Report of the Panel in September 2012. In this ...

  • Audio contentBotswana (Bechuanaland), 1960s, cat. ref. INF10/61

    An introduction to the fifth tranche of colonial administration records released at The National Archives

    The National Archives is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to transfer and release colonial administration records, referred to as the ‘migrated archives’ between April 2012 and November 2013, in accordance with the published timeline on the FCO website. ...

  • Video contentdining-room-linley-sambourne-house-copyright-18-stafford-terrace

    A momentous question: decorating the Victorian home

    The rise of an increasingly affluent Victorian middle class and the availability of mass manufactured goods, including furniture and textiles, contributed to an intense interest in the concept of ‘home’ and questions of taste. Magazines and books giving advice on ...

  • Audio contentCato Street Conspiracy 1820 sketch of hayloft, cat. ref. TS11-202

    A system of spies and informers: intelligence gathering in the period 1780-1830

    The years 1780 to 1830 were a tumultuous time in British history with parliamentary reform societies, food riots, Luddite disturbances, Captain Swing and Cato Street. Using the records of the Home Office, this podcast focuses on just how the government ...

  • Audio contentHearth tax return, including Thomas Farrinor of Pudding Lane (Great Fire of London) 1666., cat. ref. E179-252-32-4

    Hearth Tax: an introduction

    The hearth tax was levied on householders in England and Wales between 1662 and 1689. Records of the assessments, returns and exemptions are a fruitful source for family, local and social historians, as they provide a remarkable insight into wealth, ...

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Mini series

  • A series of free talks, in which high profile authors share their experiences of using original records in their writing.

    Writer of the month

  • Podcasts on the thousands of images taken from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, held at The National Archives.

    Australasia through a lens

  • Created to mark the 90th anniversary of the Armistice, these podcasts bring alive individual experiences of those who served in the First World War.

    Voices of the Armistice

  • Military records specialist William Spencer explores the true stories behind popular war films, using original records to depict actual events.

    War on film

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