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75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Subject to Change

I talk to the world"s best historians and let them tell the stories. And the stories are wonderful! (And occasionally I change the subject and talk about films, philosophy or whatever!).

history film reviews

All Episodes

76:13

Tiberius - a good emperor, a broken man

Subject to Change ·

2025/01/15

In this episode Professor Ed Watts and I look at the brilliant career and sad life of the Emperor Tiberius. We try to understand how this most capable and intelligent man came to be seen by history as one of the most monstrous of the Roman emperors.In researching for the podcast I came across a really stirring defence of Tiberius in the shape of a monograph by Norman Douglas. On looking into who Norman Douglas was I discovered that he was a great literary figure of the first half of the 20th ...

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58:21

Christ's Samurai with Jonathan Clements - part 2

Subject to Change ·

2024/12/27

This is part 2 of my podcast with Jonathan Clements on Japan's Christian century. In this episode we get on to the rebellion itself. Sensitive listeners may want to brace themselves!You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here.

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58:46

Christ's Samurai with Jonathan Clements - part 1

Subject to Change ·

2024/12/19

A two part podcast on Japan's Christian century. Jonathan Clements wrote a brilliant book called Christ's Samurai about the Shimabara rebellion of 1638. We cover the story in two parts - this is part 1 and tells of the early successes and later disasters of the efforts to bring christianity to Japan. Part 2 will cover the story of the rebellion itself.You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here.

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55:46

In the Kingdom of Ice - with Hampton Sides

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2024/12/02

Hampton Sides loves to tell stories of people fighting against impossible odds.The story of the Jeannette's voyage is right in that vein. His book is called In the Kingdom of Ice and the subtitle sums it up - the Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette.Look forward to hearing about US naval officer George de Long's polar expedition of 1879, including:a rich and eccentric newspaper ownera syphilitic navigatora mentally unbalanced German cartographera wonderful love storyand courag...

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56:55

Spring Heeled Jack - with Mike Dash

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2024/11/09

Spring Heeled Jack was an uncatchable villain from Victorian times. His speciality was attacking young women, raking their faces and clothes with metal claws and sometimes breathing fire in their faces. We have good evidence for his existence with newspaper reports and police and courts involved. But the more historian Mike Dash peels away the layers the harder it becomes to be sure of anything. A proper historical investigation into a proper mystery!

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55:09

Giles Milton on Nathaniel’s Nutmeg

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2024/10/07

The 'spice wars' between the Dutch and the English in the 1600's were quite something. Giles Milton told the story in his remarkable book Nathaniel's Nutmeg. What I hadn't realised until reading this was how feeble and disorganised the English were compared to their competitors. And the Dutch in particular were as ruthless as they were capable.Visits to the court of Ivan the Terrible, a knight of the realm imprisoned in a cupboard under the stairs, horrific torture, courage and persistence be...

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64:15

Rebel Island - Jonathan Clements on the history of...

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2024/09/12

We are back with Jonathan Clements for part 2 of our podcast on the history of Japan. In this episode we start with the remarkable story of Taiwan's 50 years as a colony of Japan. And Jonathan then takes the story through the White Terror up to the current day.And to remind you:Rebel IslandJonathan's blog

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50:03

Rebel Island - Jonathan Clements on the history of...

Subject to Change ·

2024/09/10

Jonathan Clements has written a number of histories of East Asia. His latest, Rebel Island, is a history of Taiwan from the earliest times up to today. If you have any interest in the history of the region this book is an absolute must read. And while it is a serious and meticulously researched history it is also genuinely gripping with 'Blimey! I didn't know that!' moments on every other page. Really terrific stuff.We ran rather long so I split it into two parts. Part 1 takes us all the way ...

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84:08

The 4th Crusade and the final fall of the Roman...

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2024/08/23

Delighted to have Professor Ed Watts back on the show. This time he is talking about the 4th Crusade which turned into one of history's great catastrophes. People give many possible dates for the fall of the Roman Empire and Ed argues persuasively for 1204 when the crusade reaches its heartbreaking climax.

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61:01

In Sulla's shadow - Ed Watts reappraises Caesar

Subject to Change ·

2024/07/24

Professor Ed Watts is a reliably brilliant guest on the show. In this episode he looks at Sulla's career and the blight the cast on the Roman Republic. Ed argues that it is impossible to understand any the great characters - Caesar, Cicero, Cato, Pompey and so on - without understanding the scarring effect of Sulla's rule. In Ed's view Caesar emerges from all this as a man with terrible ambition and many faults but ultimately redeemed by his refusal to follow Sulla's example. Refreshingly rev...

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56:21

Mother Leakey and the Bishop

Subject to Change ·

2024/06/01

I can't remember enjoying a story more than Peter Marshall's Mother Leakey and the Bishop. The way Peter tells the story is absolutely brilliant with walk on parts from some very famous characters. At heart though it is a ghost story and the story of how an Anglican Bishop came to be hanged for the crime of sodomy in Dublin in the winter of 1640. Peter is one of the leading historians of the Reformation and won the Woolfson prize for his book Heretics and Believers. And as I say i...

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38:24

Kaldellis on Byzantium - part 2

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2024/05/02

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65:21

Anthony Kaldellis on Byzantium (Part 1)

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2024/04/30

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51:53

Hampton Sides - the last voyage of Captain Cook

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2024/04/08

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48:00

The Sin Eater

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2024/03/01

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66:15

Ed West - From the Romans to Alfred the Great

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2024/02/08

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63:39

John McWhorter and Scott Sumner - talking movies

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2024/01/21

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50:39

Dikötter on Dictators

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2024/01/07

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78:27

The Lives of East Germans - Katja Hoyer

Subject to Change ·

2023/12/09

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62:29

Britons never will be slaves?

Subject to Change ·

2023/10/25

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103 results

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