Explore every episode of the podcast Your History

Hulk Hogan helped turn wrestling into a global spectacle. Known for his flamboyant physique, yellow moustache and trademark bandana, he was one of WWE’s most iconic stars. But the story of Terry Bollea, the man behind the persona, was every bit as fascinating as the one he performed in the ring.

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The Black Sabbath star, known as the Prince of Darkness, leaves behind a legacy that's shaped heavy metal rock music and inspired a generation of fans and musicians.

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From the barracks to the presidential villa, Muhammadu Buhari was a strong and disciplined leader who left a lasting mark on Nigeria’s history – first as a firm military ruler in the 1980s, and three decades on, as its democratically elected president.

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The pioneering yet reclusive artist was one of founding figures of British pop art whose bold, vibrant work helped define a movement.

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Lord Tebbit was one of the most combative figures in British politics, and was known as Thatcher's 'enforcer'. A key architect of 1980s union reform, he survived the Brighton bombing and later left frontline politics to care for his wife, Margaret, who was severely injured in the bombing.

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He was one of Britain’s most intrepid and inspiring foreign correspondents - a journalist who dodged bullets, bombs and dictators to bring distant wars into the nation’s living rooms. From Kinshasa to Kabul, Sandy Gall reported with grit and clarity, surviving more near-death experiences than he cared to count. Though best known as the voice of ITN’s News at Ten, it was far from the studio and on the frontline that he found his purpose as a journalist.

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Nina Kuscsik was a trailblazing athlete who challenged the patronising rules of her sport and helped open the door for generations of female distance runners. She made history as the first woman to win both the Boston and New York Marathons in the same year and led the fight to secure a marathon event for women in the Olympics.

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Actress, model and music publicist, Madeleine Kasket, helped the fledgling radio station Classic FM to find its footing. Her connections included the greats of the classical music world - the tenor Plácido Domingo, cellist Julian Bream, and flautist James Galway. For a decade from the mid 1980s her partner was the harmonica player Larry Adler. The society photographer Baron was so taken with her look that he published a photograph of her for the Evening Standard in the same pose as the famous bust of the Egyptian queen, Nefertiti.

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David "Syd" Lawrence - the first British-born black cricketer to play for England - was fearsome fast bowler whose career was cruelly cut short by injury. He fell horribly in the middle of his delivery stride as he was about to bowl on the last day of the Third Test between England and New Zealand in Wellington on February 10, 1992. He said that it “felt like a sniper had shot me in the knee” and although he never played for England again, it was typical of his bravery that he attempted a comeback for Gloucestershire in county cricket not once but twice.

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Alfred Brendel, one of the most influential pianists of the 20th and 21st centuries, was born in a small Czech town and came of age during the Second World War. Self-taught and fiercely intellectual, he brought clarity, wit and emotional depth to the works of composers like Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart - leaving a lasting mark on classical music.

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Gerry Francis was the first black South African to play in the English First Division. A child of the apartheid era, he came to Britain to prove himself against white players after being inspired by Nelson Mandela. He shone briefly on the pitch, but he believed his playing career was cut short by what he called the "racist attitudes in the boardroom".

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Brian Wilson was the musical genius behind The Beach Boys and didn’t just write songs, he created an idea of California as a state of bliss. From sun-kissed harmonies to the psychedelic heights of Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations, he was the creator of the Beach Boys’ musical golden era. But behind the blissful soundscapes, lay a turbulent life and a troubled man.

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“I decided that it would be a lot better if they weren’t used, a lot better if they were impossible to build." Richard Garwin was credited as the physicist who turned a crude design of a hydrogen bomb into something close to a blueprint in a couple of weeks. “I understood what many of these hydrogen bombs would mean” he said later "But if I hadn’t designed it, somebody else would have, probably within the year or so." He was also a remarkable inventor in many other fields of physics and who went on to influence the creation of many aspects of modern life we now take for granted.

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Described as a musical “joy maker,” Michael Tretow was the sound engineer behind all of Abba’s first eight albums and every one of their hit singles between 1973 and 1982. Experimenting with different recording techniques, he helped develop Abba’s remarkable signature sound.

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Yuri Grigorovich, a revered and sometimes divisive figure in the history of the Bolshoi Ballet. As a leading choreographer of the 20th century, he played a pivotal role in shaping a bold, contemporary vision for Russian ballet.

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Joseph Nye, coined the two word phrase: “soft power” as a way of encapsulating a new way to see US foreign policy - a path through influence rather than military force and it became a catch phrase for many nations to rethink their place in the world.

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Karen Durbin championed feminism, free expression, and sharp writing. A defining voice at New York's The Village Voice and its second female editor-in-chief.

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The uncompromising frontman of Pere Ubu, the art-punk band whose experimental sound left a lasting mark on modern music - inspiring generations of artists to take risks and push boundaries.

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Virginia Giuffre was one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend. She alleged they trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17, a claim Prince Andrew has always denied. Following her death aged 41, her family have described her as a "fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking".

Warning: This episode of Your History contains references to sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

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This episode of Your History tells the story of Anne Harper - miners’ strike campaigner, activist and fierce voice for working-class women.

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Pope Francis has died aged 88 after contracting pneumonia, ending a tumultuous pontificate of 12 years in which the Argentine pope championed liberal causes, shook up the Church’s bureaucracy and clashed with conservative Catholics. The Times obituary of Pope Francis is read by Kaya Burgess, religious affairs correspondent.

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Nobel prize winning author with an insatiable intellectual curiosity who also ran a failed attempt to become president of his native country - Peru .

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Drummer Clem Burke powered the sound of punk and new wave, and played with Dylan, the Ramones and Iggy Pop as well as Blondie. This week we explore the life of rock's tireless rhythm machine, and some of the science behind his seismic beat.

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Cold War Royal Navy captain who trailed a soviet ballistic submarine for more than ten thousand miles without being detected. He would go on to command the 10th Submarine Squadron, which operated the Polaris nuclear deterrent.

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A Hollywood legend renowned for roles in Top Gun and The Doors, but with a career marked by dedication to craft and a volatile on-set persona. From his early days at Juilliard to his battle with throat cancer, Kilmer’s journey was as dramatic as his performances.

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Constable Trevor Lock found himself at the centre of one of Britain’s most infamous events - the Iranian Embassy siege. The six-day stand-off ended with the dramatic storming of the building by the SAS in 1980. Despite his vital role in saving countless lives, Trevor Lock never courted publicity: He simply did his duty.

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This week The Times publishes an obituary of Anne Frank, eighty years after her death. She was fifteen when she died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, after two years in hiding. Her diary has been published in more than eighty languages and provides a vivid insight into the life of a young jewish girl who has become an emblem of the suffering of all Holocaust victims.

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The Australian socialite who chased a fairytale title across continents, only to be left jilted at the altar by a so-called Ottoman prince. But she would rewrite her story, later marrying for love and becoming an unexpected countess.

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Two-time heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist who lost one of the most famous boxing matches in history on one night in an African jungle clearing. Later in life he became a devout Christian and returned to the ring to become the oldest champion ever at age forty five.

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Formula 1 legend who built a team from nothing and built it to win races, working with some of the leading drivers of his generation. But he was also a canny businessman with an eye for the deal.

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The author of saucy sex guides linking fantasy and pornography while championing the right of everyone to have the sex life of their own choosing. The Associate Editor of The Times Magazine. Jane Mulkerrins tells the details - at least those we were able to print - of the life of Tuppy Owens. 

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The self-taught 'people's painter' from Scotland who battled rejection from critics and art experts alike only to become one of the most successful artists in Britain.

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Glittering, attacking player who battled his American chess rival Bobby Fischer in a gripping world title match in 1972.

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The two-time Oscar-winning actor starred in some of Hollywood’s most iconic films, including ‘The French Connection’ and ‘Unforgiven.

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The R&B singer was the first artist to win consecutive Grammy awards for record of the year, including for her hit The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

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Suzanne Massie, an American scholar of Russian history who played an important role in the thawing of relations between US President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union in the 80s, and who some believe may have ‘helped to end the Cold War’.  

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The decorated wartime pilot, Jack Hemmings, co-founded the world’s largest humanitarian airline, the Mission Aviation Fellowship and, in 2022, at the age of 100, became the oldest person to perform aerobatics in a Spitfire.

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The BBC producer who created Question Time. Maxwell's programme changed the landscape of political debate on British TV, but she frequently clashed with the show’s presenter Robin Day.

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Ken Capstick, the right-hand man to the miner’s union leader, Arthur Scargill, and who played a prominent role fighting the Thatcher government’s plans for mass pit closures.

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Prince Karim Al-Husseini, the Aga Khan. A billionaire philanthropist, who was for nearly seven decades the spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims.

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The Norfolk farmer who became a household name, and divided the nation, after going to prison for shooting and killing a child burglar.

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Princess Birgitta, the Swedish royal who grew up in palaces, but settled in a bungalow in Munich. And Kirsten Simone, the much-loved Danish prima ballerina who turned heads with what was, at the time, considered a daringly erotic interpretation of Carmen.

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Three greats, all from very different fields of work; film-maker David Lynch, known for ground-breaking films including Mullholland Drive, Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man; the stalwart of stage and screen, distinguished actress Joan Plowright; and the incredible Manchester United and Scotland football legend Denis Law.

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Jean-Marie Le Pen, a French far-right politician who built a substantial following but whose antisemitism and xenophobia meant opponents on all sides united against him. And, the American singer Sam Moore, one half of the duo Sam & Dave who were best known for their 1967 hit Soul Man.

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David Lodge, an academic and author, revitalised campus novels with his witty takes on university life, Catholicism, and sex. And, Swiss-born New York socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein, who sadly was also known as “the poster child for plastic surgery gone wrong.”

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Further reading: What happened to the Bride of Wildenstein and her $2.5 billion?

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Jimmy Carter was the only US President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for his work done after leaving office. He was by common consent, the “best former president America has ever had”. And Manmohan Singh was India's reluctant Prime Minister who changed the lives of millions.

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