August 2023 - The MrT Podcast Studio

TH2023 01 The Portuguese Empire

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:26 — 50.8MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 01 – The Portuguese Empire

In The Portuguese Empire Richard Thomas tells the story of Europe’s first, longest and also last Empire.

Click a thumbnail below to view the image gallery that accompanies the talk.

Voyages of Discovery:

Henry the Navigator is the key. He finances and sends explorers into the unknown. This is a time when perceived wisdom, or religion, believes that the earth is flat and if you go too far you fall off the end.

Some of his captains agreed, others went far into the Atlantic and found the currents that let them sail north and back home.

Brazil:

Go too far and you bump into Brazil! This leads to the Portuguese colonisation of Brazil. It also leads to the Treaty of Tordesillas where Portugal and Spain, supported by the Catholic Church, divide up the Americas.

Portugal receives Brazil and, to support it’s ambitions, becomes the largest player in the abominable Slave Trade.

Africa:

In the early days the Portuguese work with African countries such as Benin.

Later, in Angola and Mozambique there is no partnership. The indigenous inhabitants are treated as slaves, or worse. No long term investments are made leaving these countries in a poor position after their independence.

The end of Empire

Revolution in Africa leads to the repatriation of many settlers. Then there is the surrender of Macau to China. The end of an Empire that lasted from 1415 to 1999!

Listen to the podcast and hear Richard tell the fascinating story.

About this podcast:

This is an edited recording of a talk given to the Farnham u3a World History Group and the Farnham u3a Medieval History Group.

It is not always possible to use all of the images presented in the original talk for copyright reasons.

The Farnham u3a site is here.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use the music in this talk.

USRJ S3 Ep13 Washington to Danville

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:03 — 17.4MB)

Washington to Danville on The Crescent – US Rail Journeys Series 3 Episode 13

Washington to Danville on The Crescent continues my journey into the evening on The Crescent as we travel towards New Orleans.

To view the photographs for this podcast:

Please click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:

Washington:

We change locomotives in Washington and say goodbye to the Amtrak Cities Sprinter (Siemens ACS-64) that has brought us from New York. There is a delay before our our GE Genesis power arrives and we leave Washinton behind schedule.

As we pass through the Federal centre of Washington again the shadows start to lengthen because it is now late afternoon.

Alexandria:

Our first stop after changing locomotives. I’m heading in the opposite direction to my journey yesterday. The line forks just south of Alexandria and we take the line towards Manassas.

Manassas:

The station dates from 1914 when it was built by the Southern Railway. Today it is a station on the Virginia Railway Express Manassas Line, as well as a stop for the Cardinal, Crescent, and Northeast Regional train routes.

The station appears on the cover of Manassas‘s 1972 self-titled double album and it also appears in the music video for the Steve Winwood song ‘Back in the High Life Again’.

Culpepper:

Culpeper station was built by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1904. The Cardinal and Crescent and two daily Northeast Regional trains stop here.

In 1985 the Norfolk Southern Railway tried to demolish a portion of the station but a citizens’ committee was formed to save the building. In 1995, the town got a $700,000 renovation grant under the Virginia Department of Transportation Enhancement Program. The renovated building opened to the public in 2000.

Charlottesville:

Charlottesville Union Station is used by the Cardinal, Crescent, and daily Northeast Regional passenger trains. It is Amtrak’s third-busiest station in Virginia apart from the Auto Train station in Lorton.

The station is in walking distance of the University of Virginia, which is the major employer in the area.

The station dates from 1885 and nearly 64,200 Amtrak journeys started or ended here in 2021.

Lynchburg:

The three storey Kemper Street station, which is built into a hillside, dates from 1912. The top floor is on Kemper Street while at the bottom, on the opposite side, are the platforms.

A a redevelopment project, budgeted at over $3 million, took place after years of continued use and neglect when Lynchburg City Council realised that renovations were necessary.

In April 2002 the newly restored Kemper Street station opened. Nearly 28,500 passengers used the station in 2021.

Danville:

We’re running about 50 minutes late when we reach Danville station, a historic railway station dating from 1899. In 1915, when the track was moved 133 feet to the northeast, the station was jacked up on rollers, and then crews used mules and stump pullers to roll the building. They reached the new site without cracking a single brick!

Over 3,700 journeys started or ended here in 2021.

Next up:

If you enjoy these podcasts please join me in a couple of weeks as I continue my journey south on The Crescent towards New Orleans.

Links:

To visit the Amtrak website please follow this link.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

Music:

AKM Music licenses Steam Railway and Happy Times for use in this podcast.

TH2022 Ep20 Robin Hood

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:14:07 — 67.9MB)

Season 2022 – Talk 20 – Robin Hood

In Robin Hood David Simpson tries to answer the question as to whether he is fact or fiction.

Click a thumbnail below to view the image gallery that accompanies the talk.

Who?

David tells us of a number of people who could have been the model of the legendary leader who robs the rich to give to the poor. These, either individually or as a group, may be the inspiration for the tales recounted by the Medieval balladeers.

Where?

This depends on the who because each of the people discussed above are from different parts of England. Maybe Yorkshire? Possibly the South East? Or even the South West. Sherwood Forest and Nottingham may be less likely as, apparently there has never been a Sheriff of Nottingham.

When?

Another problem is that the cast of possible players for the part of Robin inhabited different centuries. So which King? Richard I and John? Edward I, Edward II, Edward III? It all depends on the scoundrel you choose for the ‘Who‘.

The members of Robin’s backing group, The Merry Men, also influence the ‘When’ as, for example, Friars didn’t exist in the reign of Richard the Lionheart!

The story evolves:

In the early ballads there is tell of Robin as a yeoman, a few centuries later he morphs into an earl. By the time Walter Scott writes Ivanhoe the story evolves into something we, and Errol Flynn, are familiar with.

Listen to the podcast and hear David tell the fascinating story.

About this podcast:

This is an edited recording of a talk given to the Farnham u3a World History Group and the Farnham u3a Medieval History Group.

It is not always possible to use all of the images presented in the original talk for copyright reasons.

The Farnham u3a site is here.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use as the theme music. Joseph McDade licences The Tavern for use in this podcast.