This week on Nowt But History, we dive into the bizarre, brutal and often unbelievable life of Rome’s most infamous emperor — Nero.

From a teenager suddenly handed the keys to the Roman Empire, to a ruler accused of murdering his own family, performing on stage like a wannabe rock star, and possibly fiddling while Rome burned, Nero’s reign is one of the wildest stories in Roman history.

Was he truly the mad tyrant history remembers, or was some of it ancient propaganda from the enemies he left behind?

Join us as we untangle the myth from the madness — covering palace conspiracies, power struggles, questionable artistic ambitions, and the dramatic downfall of the man who once ruled the most powerful empire on earth.

Because when it comes to Nero… the line between emperor and absolute chaos gets very thin.

In January 1879, in the aftermath of the disaster at Battle of Isandlwana, around 150 British soldiers found themselves defending a tiny mission station at Battle of Rorke’s Drift against thousands of Zulu warriors.

It should have been a massacre.

Instead, it became one of the most famous last stands in British military history — barricades made of biscuit boxes, a hospital turned into a death trap, and 11 Victoria Crosses awarded in the aftermath.

In this episode, we separate myth from reality and unpack how one desperate night in southern Africa became legend — and what it cost both sides.

From the windswept grasslands of the Eurasian steppe rode a force that would make the Roman world tremble.

In this episode, we dive into the life of Attila the Hun — the man Roman writers called the Scourge of God. Forged in the saddle and raised in a world of shifting alliances and brutal warfare, Attila transformed a confederation of nomadic tribes into a power that extorted, invaded, and reshaped empires.

We explore his uneasy dealings with the crumbling might of the Western Roman Empire and the wealth of the Eastern Roman Empire, the devastation along the Danube, and the legendary march into Gaul that led to one of antiquity’s most dramatic showdowns.

Who was Attila really — barbarian warlord, political mastermind, or product of a collapsing world order?

And how did one man become the embodiment of Rome’s deepest fears?

Saddle up. The storm is coming.

On a cold Chicago morning in 1929, the North Side and South Side gang war reached its bloodiest conclusion — and it all came down to bad timing, bad luck… and one man who couldn’t get out of bed.

This episode dives into the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, the violent chess match between George “Bugs” Moran and Al Capone, and the simmering feud that turned Prohibition-era Chicago into a war zone. We break down how Capone’s empire tightened its grip, how the plan was set in motion, and how Moran accidentally dodged death thanks to nothing more heroic than staying under the covers.

From bootlegging and betrayal to police uniforms and Tommy guns, this is a story where organised crime collides with absurd chance — proving once again that history’s biggest moments sometimes hinge on the smallest, laziest decisions.

No roses. No romance. Just bullets, bodies, and the luckiest lie-in in criminal history.

The Viking Age is supposed to be winding down… so why does everything feel like it’s kicking off even harder?

In Part 4 of our Viking series, kingdoms clash, crowns wobble, and the North Sea turns into a motorway for invasion. We’re talking shifting power, uneasy alliances, and the slow realisation that the Viking world is changing — whether anyone likes it or not.

As old gods fade and new rulers rise, England becomes the ultimate prize, ambition runs wild, and the age of raiders starts to blur into something far more dangerous: kings with Viking blood and imperial dreams.

Battles, politics, bad decisions, and the calm before some very famous storms — this is the Viking Age on the brink.

From 865 to 1016, England wasn’t just being invaded — it was being rewritten.

In this episode, we dive headfirst into the Viking Golden Age, when longships ruled the horizon and Anglo-Saxon kings were forced to either adapt… or disappear. We follow the thunderous arrival of the Great Heathen Army, watch Alfred the Great fight, negotiate, and occasionally scrape England back from the brink, and explore how the Danelaw carved the country in two.

As the centuries roll on, the stakes only get higher — from uneasy truces to full-blown Scandinavian rule. We track the rise of Sweyn Forkbeard and the iron grip of Cnut the Great, culminating in the creation of the North Sea Empire: a Viking superpower stretching across England, Denmark, and Norway.

Blood, battles, treaties, and a lot of uncomfortable English kings — this is the era where England stopped being purely Anglo-Saxon and became something entirely new.

In the second instalment of the Norsemen, we head further into the Viking Age. Where raiding is a career choice, diplomacy is optional and helmets still stubbornly lack horns. From bloody ambitions to everyday Norse life, things escalate fast… and we’re only just warming up .

In episode two of Nowt But History, we head further into the Viking age, where raiding is a career choice, diplomacy is optional, and helmets still stubbornly lack horns. From bloody ambitions to everyday Norse life, things escalate fast… and we’re only just warming up.

In Episode One of our Viking series, Nowt But History heads north (obviously) to find out where the Vikings actually came from.

Before the raids, longships and the reputation, we look at life in Scandinavia, what pushed the Vikings out into the wider world and why Britain suddenly found itself on the wrong end of a surprise visit.

This episode sets the scene - the land, people, beliefs and the beginnings of Viking Expansion.