Have you ever wondered what beautiful British edifice overtook the great pyramid as the

world's tallest building?

Or what Stalin did before he became leader of the Soviet Union, well you can find the

answer.

To these questions and hundreds more like them in our new book, The History Hit Misscellanie

is the perfect present for any history fan.

It's available to buy now from your favourite bookshop or visit historyhit.com slash book.

Outside his English histories, Shakespeare rarely set his place in England, preferring

foreign locations, Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and the Mediterranean, as well as the ancient

cities of what we now call North Africa, Turkey and Syria.

In the same way that women were performed by boys in female costume, African, Middle Eastern,

Hispanic and Jewish characters in Shakespeare's place were staged by white men using a series

of racial symbols and stereotypes.

But how did Shakespeare's original audiences conceive race and racial difference?

And how has this understanding changed?

Races about race in Shakespeare are still relatively uncommon outside the academy.

Many devotees of Shakespeare remain unwilling to interrogate why some of Shakespeare's most

beloved plays feature troubling racial language, or why his use of racist jokes can still

provoke laughter impact theaters.

But we needn't fear examining these things, it doesn't necessarily make Shakespeare a

racist.

Joining me today is Professor Farah Karam Cooper of King's College London and co-director

...