About this episode
From Snow White to Sleeping Beauty, the Brothers Grimm are best known for collecting and curating fairy tales. But, as Ann Schmiesing reveals, recording these stories for posterity was only one of their ambitious projects. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she charts the lives of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, exploring their extremely close relationship, love of folklore, political leanings and attempts to create a German dictionary.
(Ad) Ann Schmiesing is the author of The Brothers Grimm: A Biography (Yale University Press, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brothers-Grimm-Biography-Ann-Schmiesing/dp/0300221754/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Get every episode summarized
Each time HistoryExtra podcast publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from HistoryExtra podcast
Mary Beard on why the classics still matter
HistoryExtra podcast
Apr 21, 202641:34failed
Elizabeth II: life of the week
HistoryExtra podcast
Apr 20, 202649:44failed
Retracing Eleanor of Castile's final journey
HistoryExtra podcast
Apr 19, 202639:09failed
How Alfred the Great saved the Anglo-Saxons from the Vikings
HistoryExtra podcast
Apr 18, 202633:15failed