This is History: History’s Greatest Fails

We’re often taught that history’s written by the winners. But we’d like to argue that, in fact, it’s the losers who end up making history. 

In this brand new miniseries from Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day, History’s Greatest Fails aims to answer the simple, but complex, question: Why do losers make history? 

From Richard III, to Vincent Van Gough, to the purposefully forgotten female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, this series is going to help you better understand how the idea of failure changes over time, and what lessons failure has for all of us.  

Dan and Elizabeth are old friends, fellow history graduates, and fellow authors and podcasters. 

Dan Jones is host of This Is History — A Dynasty to Die For, a narrative podcast that charts the bloody and complex drama of England’s Plantagenet dynasty, now up to its 10th season. 

Elizabeth is host of How To Fail, a podcast that has brought together hundreds of luminaries and thinkers including Kate Winslet, Yuval Noah Hariri, and Malala Yousafzai, to reflect on failure in the present. 

Over six episodes, History’s Greatest Fails will dissect failure of all kinds, from troubled historical rulers, to the failures of remembrance, to the failures that have created the happy accidents that last for generations.

As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And for the bonus episodes of this miniseries, Dan and Producer Al are hearing from the favourites directly — join us as they discuss the royal favourites’ special fail mentions. 

So, join us for the debut episode of History’s Greatest Fails, premiering on Tuesday April 7. 

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A Sony Music Entertainment production. 

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Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day  

Producer - Alan Weedon 

Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman

Executive Producer - Simon Poole 

Production Manager - Jen Mistri 

Production coordinator - Eric Ryan 

Head of content - Chris Skinner

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To learn more about the last time an English king was usurped, listen to Season 7, Bonus Episode 12, where Dan tells the story of Henry VI’s grandfather, Henry Bolingbroke. In 1399, he toppled Richard II to become King Henry IV. 

By 1460, England has emerged into a polycrisis. 

King Henry VI has been relegated to a pawn. His son and wife have been disinherited, with Richard, Duke of York, now heir presumptive. Violence pulses through the countryside. 

In this pivotal chapter of the Wars of the Roses, it appears that Yorkist forces have finally overwhelmed the Lancastrians in the battle for the crown.  

But then, Richard, Duke of York is killed in an ambush. It throws everything into disarray, and Queen Margaret of Anjou makes one last attempt at violent restoration. 

It appears the clock has run out for the Yorkists. That is, until the eleventh hour, when Richard's son, Edward Earl of March, is propelled into the decisive moment. 

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A Sony Music Entertainment production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts 

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. 

Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

–

Written and presented by Dan Jones

Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman

Executive Producer - Simon Poole 

Production Manager - Jen Mistri 

Production coordinator - Eric Ryan 

Mixing - Amber Devereux

Head of content - Chris Skinner

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al’s callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. 

It’s there where you can listen to this week’s bonus episode, where Dan gives an explainer on Warwick's piracy, the value of Calais, and the risks of another royal usurpation. Plus, hear more about Dan’s meltdown over a parking ticket. 

All is not well in a simmering kingdom. 

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick — a key ally of Richard Duke of York — is holding the last skerrick of English territory in France: Calais. He’s the top military boss over there, but in recent months he’s been behaving like a high‑born pirate king. 

Queen Margaret of Anjou decides enough is enough. She summons him back to England for a crackdown, but in the process, she sends Warwick, York — and his towering heir Edward, Earl of March — into open revolt. England erupts into a series of battles between Lancastrians and Yorkists at Blore Heath, Ludford Bridge, and Northampton. 

What emerges is a full blown succession crisis. 

–

A Sony Music Entertainment production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts 

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. 

Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

–

Written and presented by Dan Jones

Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman

Executive Producer - Simon Poole 

Production Manager - Jen Mistri 

Production coordinator - Eric Ryan 

Mixing - Amber Devereux

Head of content - Chris Skinner

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al’s callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. 

It’s there where you can listen to this week’s bonus episode, where Dan gives you a primer on the pirate-cum-warlord, the Earl of Warwick. Plus, Dan makes good on his promise to tell the story of when he absolutely lost it over something rather inconsequential. 

All the drift and failure of Henry VI’s reign is coming home to roost. The fizzer of a king’s dodging arrows and men coming his way — and they’re not holding back. 

It’s 1455, and in the old Roman town of St Albans, the royal court are met with a battle. Richard, Duke of York — along with the Nevilles — are leading an insurgency that wants to topple the Queen’s favourite, Edmund, Duke of Somerset. 

Amid all the fracas, the king tries to intervene. He dabbles in kindergarten-level peace making by literally making his warring nobles hold hands. 

The loveday beckons. 

–

A Sony Music Entertainment production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts 

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. 

Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

–

Written and presented by Dan Jones

Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman

Executive Producer - Simon Poole 

Production Manager - Jen Mistri 

Production coordinator - Eric Ryan 

Mixing - Amber Devereux

Head of content - Chris Skinner

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al’s callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. 

It’s there where you can listen to this week’s bonus episode, where Dan discusses what likely triggered Henry VI’s descent into silence, while he also gives a primer on England’s warring noble families: the Nevilles, Percys, and Courtenays. 

Henry VI isn’t responding to anyone. Not to his physician, nor to his newborn son, Prince Edward. He’s just inert, catatonic. 

If the king’s health is said to be a mirror of the health of the realm, then England’s in big trouble (which it is). The Hundred Years’ War is on the verge of being decisively over in France’s favour. England has lost Gascony, Normandy, and Maine, with only the small Garrison at Calais left. 

This a full-blown crisis that is usually left to the king to solve, but instead, Parliament decides to make Richard Duke of York the Protector of the realm — angering Queen Margaret and York’s nemesis, Edmund Duke of Somerset.  

Then something remarkable happens: Henry wakes up.

–

A Sony Music Entertainment production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts 

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. 

Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

–

Written and presented by Dan Jones

Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman

Executive Producer - Simon Poole 

Production Manager - Jen Mistri 

Production coordinator - Eric Ryan 

Mixing - Amber Devereux

Head of content - Chris Skinner

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices