Christmas with the Three Wise Historians (2021)
In this Christmas special of Travels Through Time our three wise presenters Peter, Violet and Artemis get together to remember some of their favourite books and episodes from the last year on the podcast. Listen out for the end when they share what year they would like to spend Christmas in…
Thank you so much to all of our listeners for joining us over the course of the year and happy Christmas!
Click here to order the books discussed in this episode from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
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Featured episodes
An Execution and a Witch: Malcolm Gaskill (1649)
In January 1649 King Charles I was executed. This violent event came at the end of a tumultuous decade of civil war and religious strife. In this episode Malcolm Gaskill takes us on a tour of 1649 to see the death of a king, the birth of a movement and an accusation of witchcraft.
The Katyń Massacre: Jane Rogoyska (1940)
In 1943 the discovery of a series of mass graves in the Katyń Forest near Smolensk ignited one of the most explosive rows of the Second World War. The identity of the victims was clear enough. They were the Polish military elite and significant figures from wider Polish society. But who was responsible? In this episode the writer Jane Rogoyska takes us back to the scene of a sinister and bitterly contested crime: the Katyń Massacre.
The Quest for the Lost City: Edmund Richardson (1833)
In the early nineteenth-century a hitherto unremarkable man called James Lewis who was serving as a private in the East India Company decided to reinvent himself. He deserted and ran away to the little-known but beautiful city of Kabul in Afghanistan. Once there he immersed himself in a culture that was little known to those from the West. He soon came to dedicate himself to a strange and quixotic quest. He sought to find one of the great lost cities of the ancient world: Alexandria Under the Mountains.
Albert and the Whale: Philip Hoare (1520)
In 1520 the artist Albrecht Dürer was on the run from the Plague and on the look-out for distraction when he heard that a huge whale had been beached on the coast of Zeeland. So he set off to see the astonishing creature for himself. In this beautifully-evoked episode the award-winning writing Philip Hoare takes us back to those consequential days in 1520. We catch sight of Dürer, the great master of the Northern Renaissance, as he journeys out to reach the whale. At this moment, the fortunes of his life would turn.
The City of Tears: Kate Mosse (1572)
In this episode bestselling author Kate Mosse takes us to the heart of one of the most dramatic and violent episodes in French history – the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre.
Blood Legacy: Alex Renton (1839)
How does a person reckon with a disturbing episode in their family’s past? For the journalist and historian Alex Renton, this question became acute five years ago when he discovered the extent of his family’s involvement with slavery in the Caribbean islands of Tobago and Jamaica. In his book, Blood Legacy, Renton decided to confront this history head-on.
Show Notes
Peter's choices: The Ruin of all Witches by Malcolm Gaskill; Surviving Katyn by Jane Rogoyska
Violet's choices: Albert & the Whale by Philip Hoare; Alexandria by Edmund Richardson
Artemis's choices: The City of Tears by Kate Mosse; Blood Legacy by Alex Renton
People/Social
Presenters: Peter Moore, Violet Moller, Artemis Irvine
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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