Talking History Archives - The MrT Podcast Studio

TH2023 Ep20 Animal Welfare Legislation

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:31 — 31.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 20- A history of Animal Welfare Legislation in the UK

In ‘A history of Animal Welfare Legislation in the UK’ Richard Thomas tells us about the tortuous path culminating in the Hunting Act of 2004.

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

A long time coming:

The 1835 Act to abolish animal baiting also gives some protection to domestic and farm animals. The next successful Act, abolishing fox hunting, stag hunting and coursing is in 2004, a gap of 169 years.

Richard doesn’t go through all the twists and turns in the debate over those 169 years. He looks at some milestones, which gradually, shake the complacency of the Squirearchy.

Professor E A Freeman:

Perhaps the next important milestone is in 1869 when Professor Freeman publishes an article in the Edinburgh Quarterly. That’s already another 30 years!

He changes the nature of the debate. Freeman argues that hunting is both cruel and bad for hunters. He suggests the argument that hunting is a manly sport with the additional benefit of reducing vermin is no longer sustainable. Also he notes that the 1835 Act abolishes the sports of the poor, the working class.

He asks, ‘is there any difference in principle between fox hunting and bull baiting so that fox hunting can be right and bull baiting wrong?’ He answers ‘no’.

The real issue is the difference between the social class and the political influence of the two groups of supporters. At this time the poor, urban working class are entirely without political power. Freeman’s article is widely read and is quoted in every subsequent book about animal welfare. It marks the real beginning of the next phase of the debate.

Changing views in society:

Why do hunting and coursing come under the spotlight? Firstly, the gradual increase in the franchise in 1832, 1867 and other bills means an increasingly urban electorate. Whilst the working classes are not fully enfranchised until 1918, and women not until 1928, Parliament begins to reflect different views. There is a change from rural power to urban power.

Many liberals are sympathetic to the anti hunting movement, but only the Labour Party considers hunting something worth having a policy on.

The path to the 2004 Act:

In 1997 the Labour Party wins the election with a landslide majority. This leads to the 2004 Hunting Act .

Listen to Richard tell the full story .

About this podcast:

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

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

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use with this talk.

TH2023 Ep19 William Cobbett and Hunting

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:55 — 33.8MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 19- William Cobbett and Hunting

In ‘William Cobbett and Hunting’ Richard Thomas tells us about ‘field sports’ during William Cobbett’s lifetime.

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

William Cobbett:

A countryman learning, as a child and young man, all the skills one needs to be a successful farmer. He farms in Botley, Hampshire, lives to the age of 72 and dies on his farm near Woking.

In his life he does lots of other things. The best known journalist of his age; using his energy and influence to agitate for reform.

He joins the army. Goes into exile in the USA. Spends time in prison for seditious libel. He attacks virtually every politician of the time and publishes the Political Register each week for around 35 years, until he dies.

With his quill pen he writes 20 million words about things as varied as English grammar, history of the Protestant Reformation, the cottage economy and, most famously, his Rural Rides which is still in print. The Penguin edition is available from Waterstones.

His enjoyment of hunting:

Richard ignores all his writing and political agitation and tells us about his interest in field sports, particularly fox and hare hunting which, in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, are as natural as breathing to country people like Cobbett. Simply a part of daily life, a part of the rural culture everywhere in Britain.

In his autobiography Cobbett tells us that ‘there is a little hop garden near Moor Park in which I used to work from eight to ten years old, from which I have scores of times run in order to follow the hounds, leaving the hoe to do the best it could to destroy the weeds’.

The beginning of the animal welfare lobby:

In 1789 Jeremy Bentham writes ‘the question is not, can they reason, or can they talk, but can they suffer?’. Whilst Cobbett enjoys hunting he knows, as a farmer, that a well treated and well fed cow gives more milk, and that a well treated horse is much pleasanter and much safer to ride.

In Cottage Economy, he emphasises the importance of looking after the animals on which the farmers depend. He says ‘it is good for children to learn that the care is all.’

In reality there could be little change whilst the major landowners have control over parliament as before the 1832 Reform Act the urban vote hardly matters.

The changes during the 19th and 20th Centuries that lead to the 2004 Hunting Act will be in the second part of Richard’s talk.

Listen to Richard tell the full story .

About this podcast:

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

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

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use with this talk.

TH2023 Ep17 Deborah

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:43 — 16.2MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 17- Deborah

In ‘Deborah’ Jim Hastie tells us the story about the First World War Tank D51, Deborah.

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

Jim tells us that Deborah is a very favourite lady of his. He says that this is her story in the Battle of Cambrai, the first major tank battle in November 1917.

Deborah was a female tank. A part of D Battalion in the Royal Tank Corps.

Male and Female tanks:

150 tanks are built, 75 male and 75 female. Male tanks have sponsons mounting a 57mm 6 pounder gun whilst female tanks have two cumbersome sponsons designed to carry two Vickers, water cooled, heavy machine guns.

Why Deborah? Tanks receive a name, often of wives or girlfriends, before their first battle. The names have the prefix HMLS – His Majesty’s Landship.

In 1917 there are two tanks with the name ‘Deborah’. This is the story of the second, now preserved in France.

Deborah II and Cambrai:

Second Lieutenant Frank Heap commands a new Mark IV female tank. Manufacturer number 2620, crew number D51 and the name Deborah with a crew of 7.

These tanks are not very reliable and Deborah is knocked out by shellfire. Today four of the crew are buried side by side at the British cemetery at Flesquieres Hill.

Recovery and display:

Cambridge schoolboy, Philippe Gorzinski, has a passion about World War I tanks and a desire to find relics in and around Cambrai.

In 1977 he meets local shopkeeper, Michael Bacquet, known locally as Iron Man. Iron Man contacts British service organisations and French civic authorities and a 60th anniversary reunion takes place. There are more than 60 men with an average age of 82 there.

In 1992, their investigation takes them Marthe Bouleux, a teenager in 1917, who tells them about a buried tank.

Listen to Jim tell the full story and also talk about Talbot House, in Poporinge, a refuge for all service personnel irrespective of rank.

About this podcast:

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

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

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use with this talk.

TH2023 Ep16 When newspapers were pressed

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:27 — 47.1MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 16 – When newspapers were pressed to be ‘right minded’

In ‘When newspapers were pressed to be ‘right minded” Andrew Cole tells us about the state’s efforts to control the press using taxes. A situation lasting for 140 years. We learn of the efforts to achieve today’s press freedom.

The issue:

Andrew tells us that we take today’s relatively free press in Britain today for granted. The authorities see the arrival of the printing press as a threat to those in authority. Their desire – control.

This talk explores how this is achieved. In particular Andrew looks at the use of taxation to suppress unwanted publications and encourage, in the view of the establishment, a ‘right minded press’. To many these taxes are taxes on knowledge.

Many see this as a fight for freedom bringing liberty, due scrutiny, and enabling the political awakening of the masses.

The story isn’t as glossy as that and historians, as always, have quite differing interpretations.

Taxes:

The attempt to control newspapers and their narrative involves taxation. This situation runs from 1712 to 1861, 140 years. Andrew tells us about the introduction of the taxes and their working. Andrew then tells us about their repeal and the consequences.

We learn of the taxes on the type of publication, on paper and on advertising. You need to listen carefully as some of the ways that the taxes operate and some of the wheezes to avoid them are complex.

We also learn about the growth of the press following the repeal of the taxes.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Andrew.

About this podcast:

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

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

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

TH2023 Ep14 Napoleon III and Eugenie

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:59 — 64.1MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 14- Napoleon III and Eugenie

In ‘Napoleon III and Eugenie’ Jo Watson tells us about the man who was Emperor of France from 1852 until his defeat by the Prussians in 1870 and his wife Eugenie.

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

Napoleon III:

Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is born in Paris in the early hours of April the 20th, 1808. His father is Louis Bonaparte, the younger brother of the Emperor Napoleon.

The union of his parents isn’t overly successful as they not particularly compatible. They spend long times apart, but produce three sons, all called Napoleon something or other.

Arriving a few weeks earlier than expected he’s rather weak at birth so he’s bathed in wine and wrapped in cotton wool. Was he just a premature child, or as the scandal mongers were later very fond of saying, fathered by someone else?

He involves himself in political intrigue, failed putsches and becomes a feared ladies man. A few years elapse and he heads to London with his extensive inheritance. Louis sets up house in Mayfair with 17 servants and a monogrammed carriage and begins to mix with high society.

He seduces eligible young ladies when their mothers aren’t looking, notches up a couple of engagements and joins country house set. He attends shooting parties, reads voraciously in their libraries and hobnobs with eminent politicians all the time preparing for another shot at power.

In 1853 he marries Eugenie

Empress Eugenie:

26 year old Eugène Montejo, educated partly in Paris, is a regular visitor to the court. She is also one of the most beautiful women in Europe. She also impresses Napoleon with her horsemanship and conversation.

She’s a good Catholic girl and is determined not to be another notch on his bedpost. He definitely tries, but she never relents. ‘What is the way to your heart’, he asks. ‘Through the church, sire’, she replies.

Jo Watson has written a book about Empress Eugenie and you can find more about it here.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Jo.

About this podcast:

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

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

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use with this talk.

TH2023 Ep 13 The History Divide

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:32 — 53.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 13- The History Divide

In ‘The History Divide’ Margaret Denyer, Alan Freeland, Andrew Cole, David Simpson and Richard Thomas give their views on the question ‘Whilst the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 ended the Allies war with Germany, did it lead to the outbreak of World War II in 1939?’

The Paris Peace Conference:

David Simpson opens by telling us about the Peace Conference and the key players.

Just four men, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, U. S. President Thomas Woodrow Wilson, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando, known as the Big Four, control the discussions.

So what are the goals of the Allies? France wants revenge by weakening Germany, Britain wants to punish Germany, but with restraint. The U. S. has the most idealistic position wanting an end to imperialism and the creation of the League of Nations.

There is much conflict and much discussion, before they all agree.

The main 5 provisions:

The five main provisions are to:

Establish the League of Nations.
Reduce German armed forces.
Germany to accept full and sole responsibility for the war, the so called War Guilt Clause.
Germany to pay the Allies a sizeable sum in reparations. This figure will not be known until 1921.
A reduction in German territories and colonies which has far reaching implications well beyond the borders of Europe.

Our speakers discuss the financial implications of the treaty, the issues that the settlement has on many other nations and the League of Nations. At the end we leave it to you to decide whether it led to the Second World War or not.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from our speakers.

About this podcast:

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

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

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

TH2023 Ep 12 The Earth Transformed

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:01 — 36.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 12- The Earth Transformed

In ‘The Earth Transformed’ Alan Freeland reviews Peter Frankopan’s book which changes our view of history by looking at the effect of climate on events.

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

The Silk Roads:

Alan tells us how the book ‘The Silk Roads‘ changes his retirement plans. This is a book by Peter Frankopan that he rates very highly. This book is an important account of the forces that have shaped the global economy and politics over many centuries.

It is a long read:

The Earth Transformed runs to 736 pages (the paperback) and Alan tells us that he has to re-read many of the pages to understand things. He also says that the text doesn’t flow well. This is no reflection on the material, rather one of style.

The book:

Peter Frankopan is one of the world’s leading historians. He tells us that the natural environment is a crucial, if not the defining, factor in global history. Volcanic eruptions, solar activities, atmospheric, oceanic and other shifts have a fundamental effect on history.

We learn about how the desire to centralise agricultural success results in the bureaucratic state. And how growing demands for harvests result in the shipment of enslaved people.

These lessons of profound importance as we face a precarious future of rapid global warming.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Alan.

Unfortunately I have not been able to remove all the external noises.

About this podcast:

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

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

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

TH2023 Ep 11.04 Going to the Pictures

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:15 — 14.9MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 11 04- Going to the Pictures

In ‘Going to the Pictures’ Tim Davies tells us about the history of the projected image in the ‘silent era’.

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

The Magic Lantern:

The talk starts in the age of the Magic Lantern. These project pictures such as paintings, prints and photographs. The slides are usually transparent glass plates. First appearing in the 17th century they are often used for entertainment by travelling showmen, conjurers and storytellers.

In the 17th century the only artificial light is from candles and oil lamps giving very dim projected images. By the 1820s we start to see the much brighter Limelight and then in the 1860s the electric arc lamp, which removes the need for combustible gases and hazardous chemicals.

The magic lantern can project moving images with movement achieved in a number of ways such as two glass slides projected together. One has the stationary part of the picture and the other the moving part, maybe a train passing through a landscape.

What the Butler saw:

The Mutoscope is an early motion picture device appearing in 1895. It is a coin-in-the-slot peep-show which only one person at a time can view. It operates like a flip book with black-and-white prints attached to a circular core. A reel typically holds about 850 pictures, giving a viewing time of about one minute

The Birth of the Cinema in Britain:

Leeds claims the world’s first moving picture shot by Louis Le Prince in 1888. In 1889 and William Friese Greene makes the first celluloid film in Hyde Park.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Tim.

Unfortunately I have not been able to remove all the external noises.

About this podcast:

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

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

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

TH2023 Ep11 03 Sarah Bernhardt

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:03 — 14.7MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 11 03- Sarah Bernhardt

In ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ Jo Watson tells us about the life of the legendary French actress.

Please note: this talk was given in June 2023, the centenary year of Sarah Bernhardt’s death.

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

Early years:

Sarah Bernhardt is born as Henriette-Rosine Bernard in Paris on 22 October 1844. Her mother is a courtesan with a wealthy or upper-class clientele. For a long time there is no record of her father, however his family pay for her education, insist on a Catholic baptism, and arrange for a large sum money when she comes of age.

Career:

She becomes a stage actress and stars in some of the more popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These include La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils, Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, Fédora and La Tosca by Victorien Sardou.

She also plays male roles, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Rostand calls her “the queen of the pose and the princess of the gesture”, and Victor Hugo praises her “golden voice”. She makes several theatrical tours around the world, and she is one of the early famous actresses to make sound recordings and to act in films.

Advertising:

She is also linked with the success of artist Alphonse Mucha, she publicises his work and he creates posters of her. Mucha becomes a sought-after artist because of his Art Nouveau style.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Jo.

Unfortunately I have not been able to remove all the coughs and some external noises.

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 Ep11 02 Max Miller

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:54 — 13.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 11.02 – Max Miller

In ‘Max Miller’ Adrian Martin tells us the life story of the music hall comedian billed as the ‘Cheeky Chappie’. You’ll appreciate from that billing that his humour is not always politically correct. Indeed it could be described as ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink… you know what I mean’ humour. There are a couple of examples in this talk.

Early Life?

He is born born as Thomas Henry Sargent in November 1894 in Kemptown, a part of Brighton. His father is a labourer and his mother a flower seller. There are six children including Thomas and his parents are poor.

Often unable to pay rent they move frequently and he attends a number of schools. He leaves school at the age of 12.

He tries his hand at labouring, delivering milk, selling fish and chips, caddying at the Brighton and Hove Golf Course, and trains to be a motor mechanic.

World War 1

On the outbreak of war in 1914 he volunteers for the army and joins the Royal Sussex Regiment . He serves in France, India and Mesopotamia, where he suffers temporary blindness for three days. This experience stays with him all his life.

Demob:

When he leaves the army work is short supply, and his mother has died in the 1918 flu pandemic. He gets a booking at the Shoreditch Hall in 1919 but only lasts a week because of his inexperience.

Miller returns to Brighton and sees an advertisement for artists to join Jack Sheppard’s concert party in an alfresco theatre on Brighton beach. He joins as a light comedian for the 1919 summer season. His future wife, Frances Kathleen Marsh, is a contralto in the group.

Kathleen is from a middle-class family and her elder brother serves as a Brighton alderman for 43 years, becoming mayor from 1949 to 1950.

It is Kathleen, an astute businesswoman, who suggests that he should change his name to Max Miller.

Listen to Adrian tell the full story.

This is an edited recording of a talk given to the Farnham u3a World History Group . Sadly in a few places there is slight distortion on the recording.

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

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.

TH2023 Ep11 01 Dame Margaret Rutherford

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:45 — 16.2MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 11.01 – Dame Margaret Rutherford

In ‘Dame Margaret Rutherford’ Wendy Senior tells the story of the life of this famous British actress.

Early Life?

There is tragedy in her early life involving both of her parents. Her father is the journalist and poet William Rutherford Benn who marries Florence Nicholson on 16 December 1882 in Wandsworth, South London.

He suffers a nervous breakdown shortly after the marriage, and is admitted to Bethnal House Lunatic Asylum. They release him so that he can travel under his family’s supervision. He then murders his father, the Reverend Julius Benn, by bludgeoning him to death with a chamber pot, before slashing his own throat with a pocket knife.

Following the inquest, William Benn is certified insane and is sent to Broadmoor. He is discharged seven years later, in July 1890, and reunites with his wife.

Margaret is the only child of William and Florence and is born in 1892 in Balham. The family plan a new life far from the scene of their recent troubles. They emigrate to Madras (now Chennai). The three year old Margaret returns to Britain to live with her aunt Bessie Nicholson in Wimbledon, after her pregnant mother hangs herself from a tree.

The family tell Margaret that her father dies of a broken heart. However, when she is 12 she learns that her father has been in Broadmoor since 1903. He stays there until he dies on 4 August 1921. She fears, for the rest of her life, that she might succumb to similar illnesses. In later years she suffers from intermittent depression and anxiety.

Education:

She first goes to Wimbledon High School (now a theatre space, the Rutherford Centre). When she is 13 she starts to board at Raven’s Croft School in Seaford.

She develops an interest in the theatre and performs in amateur dramatics, however the teachers at the school suggest that she should teach the piano.

Acting:

Her aunt, in her will, leaves a legacy that allows Margaret to enter the Old Vic School to train as an actress. In her autobiography she writes that Aunt Bessie has been her “adoptive mother and one of the saints of the world”.

She establishes a name in comedy and appears in many successful British plays and films. “I never intended to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at all”, she writes in her autobiography.

Her first appearance in London’s West End is in 1933. It takes six years for her to become well known when she plays Miss Prism in John Gielgud‘s production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Globe Theatre in 1939. Rave reviews follow in 1941 when she plays Madame Arcati in Noël Coward‘s Blithe Spirit.

Listen to the full story in Wendy’s talk.

This is an edited recording of a talk given to the Farnham u3a World History Group . Sadly in a few places there is slight distortion on the recording.

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

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.

TH2023 Ep10 The Border Reivers

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:14 — 65.2MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 10 – The Border Reivers

In ‘The Border Reivers’ David Simpson tells us about these bandits who plundered the English / Scottish border counties from the 13th Century to the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

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

Who?

Border raiders from every class in society operating in the north of England and south of Scotland. People for whom loyalty to family is much more important than to country.

The rustling of livestock their principle business. According to Bishop Leslie of Ross ‘they have a persuasion that all property is common by the law of nature; and is therefore liable to be appropriated by them in their necessity’.

Why:

In the 300 years between the end of the 13th Century and the Union of the Crowns in 1603 the border counties of Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Dumfriesshire, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland are pretty poor and desolate.

This is not land for arable crops and so people keep cattle to provide an income and food. Neither the Scottish nor English Crowns have estates here and therefore do not have a financial interest. These lands are also far from the lawmakers of Edinburgh and London.

A dinner of spurs:

It is said that the wife of one famous Border Reiver demonstrated that her larder was empty by serving her husband his spurs on a plate instead of his dinner. The message is clear either mount up and go reiving, or go hungry.

Their legacy:

Some view the Border Reivers as loveable rogues, others compare them to the Mafia. Whatever your opinion, their legacy remains in the fortified dwellings called pele towers, their ballads and words now common in the English language such as ‘bereave’ and ‘blackmail’.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from David.

Unfortunately I have not been able to remove all the coughs and some external noises.

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 Ep 09 Mao Zedong

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:54 — 66.7MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 09 – Mao Zedong

In Mao Zedong Alan Freeland tells us about the life of Mao and Chinese Communism until his death in 1976.

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

Childhood:

Mao was born on 26 December 1893 and spends his childhood at Shaoshan village in Hunan. His father, once an impoverished peasant, becomes one of the wealthier farmers in the area. He is a stern disciplinarian who beats Mao, who finds that if he meekly accepts the beating it is worse than when he stands up to his father.

He finishes his primary education at the age of 13 and then, aged 14, his father makes him go through an arranged marriage to 17-year-old Luo Yixiu. Mao refuses to recognise her as his wife and in later years bans arranged marriages.

Changsha:

In his quest to become a teacher, Mao enrolls at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha. This merges with the First Normal School of Hunan, widely seen as the best in Hunan.

Professor Yang Changji urges him to read the radical New Youth newspaper, written by his friend Chen Duxiu who is a dean at Peking University and also a supporter of Chinese nationalism.

In 1915 the popular Mao is elected secretary of the Students Society where he organises the Association for Student Self-Government and leads protests against school rules.

In April 1917 he publishes his first article in New Youth and instructs his readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution. At this time he is also elected to command the students’ volunteer army which defends the school from marauding soldiers.

Becoming more radical:

Mao moves to Beijing, where Yang Changji has taken a job at Peking University. Yang, who thinks that Mao is exceptionally ‘intelligent and handsome’, arranges a job for him as assistant to the university librarian, Li Dazhao. Li is a co-founder of the Chinese Communist party in 1921.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Andrew.

Unfortunately coughs and colds abounded at the time of this recording and I have not been able to remove all of them..

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 Ep07 The Glorious Revolution

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:10 — 47.8MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 07 – The Glorious Revolution

In The Glorious Revolution Andrew Cole tells us about the events of 1688 and questions whether it really was a revolution.

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

James II and Catholicism:

James converts to the Catholic faith in 1669 while his brother, Charles II, is on the throne. When Charles dies on 6th February 1685 he has no legitimate children and so James becomes King even though he is a Catholic.

James succeeds to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland and has widespread support in all three countries. This is because the principles of eligibility based on divine right and birth are widely accepted by those with power.

Although people are willing to tolerate his Catholicism this doesn’t extend to other members of the Catholic religion. James tries to give preference to Catholics but Parliament resists. He then tries to rule by decree.

Monmouth:

Although Charles has no legitimate heir there are illegitimate offspring. The eldest is James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth. He co-ordinates a rebellion in England’s West Country with one in Scotland under Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyle.

The rebellion ends at the Battle of Sedgemoor with the defeat of the rebels. Monmouth, a nephew of James, is executed and many of his followers suffer at the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys. Some are executed and others are transported to the colonies.

Birth of a Catholic Heir:

James has two daughters, Mary, the wife of William of Orange and Anne. Whilst they are his heirs people are willing to tolerate his Catholicism. On 10 June 1688 James’ wife gives birth to a son, James Francis Edward, later to become the ‘Old Pretender’.

Discussions with William about taking the crown intensify. James flees.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Andrew.

Unfortunately because of issues during the recording of this talk there is occasional distortion although it does not stop you hearing Andrew’s words.

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 Ep05 Wellington

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:00 — 47.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 05 – Wellington

In Wellington Derek Sibley tells us about a few things that we might not know about the 1st Duke of Wellington.

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

Early life:

Arthur Wesley (at this time this is the correct spelling) is the sixth of nine children born to Anne Wellesley, Countess of Mornington and Garret Wesley. His father has a short career in politics representing the constituency Trim in the Irish House of Commons. In 1758 he becomes 2nd Baron Mornington.

Arthur spends most of his childhood at his family’s two homes. One, Mornington House is a large house in Dublin, and the other is Dangan Castle in County Meath.

Early military career:

His military career starts in Ireland. He rapidly moves through the ranks, changing regiments on a number of occasions. He also serves as a member of Parliament in the Irish Parliament. It is in the early 1790s that he is attracted to Kitty Pakenham, to her father’s displeasure.

He is sent to join the Duke of York’s campaign in Belgium and the Netherlands. The campaign is a failure however he learns much. He later comments ‘at least I learned what not to do, and that is always a valuable lesson’.

India:

The British East India Company uses the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1798 to increase it’s rule. They fight against the Sultan of Mysore, Tipu Sultan. Wellington succeeds in his mission and the company gains control over this part of India.

Whilst in India Wellington is promoted to Brigadier General in July 1801.

Peninsular War:

Wellington shows his prowess as a commander fighting from Portugal, through Spain and France to Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo. You can find out more about the campaign in Portugal in Peter Duffy’s talk.

Politics, marriage and later life:

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Derek.

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 Ep04 Farnham Workhouse

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:33 — 31.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 04 – Secrets of the Farnham Workhouse

In Secrets of the Farnham Workhouse Ian Wallace tells us a story that is not for the faint hearted. He reveals the workings of the Farnham Workhouse in the nineteenth century.

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

Good Intentions:

In the mid-19th Century Farnham is a prosperous town. Historically wealth had come from wool, then the corn market and between 1600 and the 1970s from hops and brewing.

1849 sees the arrival of the railway and in 1854 the opening of the army town, just to the north, in Aldershot. To this day Castle Street shows the historic wealth of this market town.

Farnham believes it looks after the poor. An example of this is the Andrew Windsor Almshouses dating from 1619. A new workhouse is built in 1791 to replace one in the town centre.

Report on the Farnham Workhouse:

Drs Joshua Stallard and Francis Anstey publish a report in 1867. The report criticises virtually every aspect of the workhouse. The report notes that it is:

Poorly ventilated with dirty walls and narrow beds.
Poor sanitary facilities, two towels per week for each ward and no toilet paper.
Only one nurse during the day, none at night.
No forks for the inmates to use when eating food.

According to the report, the master of the workhouse, James Sargent, could easily come from the pages of Dickens. The guardians dismiss him after the furore following the report. According to the Daily Express he was the great, great grandfather of Jeremy Corbyn.

Health care:

Virtually nil at the time of the report. Florence Nightingale, who has local connections, and Louisa Twining are involved in moves to improve healthcare in Britain.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Ian.

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 Ep03 Pets in History

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:52 — 56.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 03 – Pets in History

In Pets in History Alan Freeland tells us a story that starts with the ‘hunter gatherers‘ and ends in the 20th Century.

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

Domestication:

Alan considers the effects of domestication on the previously wild animals. Dogs are good when hunting and guarding whilst cats kill the mice that eat the store of grain.

As humans move from hunting to farming the different aspects of these animals become important.

Early images:

We hear of early images of dogs in Saudi Arabia and of the statue of a cat that dates from the 14th to 13th century BCE.

By c 2300 BCE the dogs in the images look similar to many of breeds that we see today. In the same way those of cats dating from c 700 BCE would be familiar to all of us.

Pets:

We hear how the animals grow close to humans, although remembering all the time that the cat owns us, not the other way round!

Add to this a bit of Noah’s Ark, some patron saints, mystery, witchcraft, the occasional wombat and a rabbit and you have an entertaining and informative hour ahead of you!

Listen to the podcast and hear Alan tell the whole story.

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 Ep02 4 Mail Rail

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:32 — 10.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 02.4 – Mail Rail

In Mail Rail Tim Davies tells us about a railway that had no passengers until after it closed.

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

A railway with no passengers:

Deep beneath London’s choked streets there’s a six and a half mile railway. Operating for 19 hours a day from 1927 to 2003 with no drivers, no guards nor any passengers. To many it is one of the most successful railways in the world.

The Post Office Underground Railway, a solution to the transport of large volumes of mail across a foggy and congested city!

Early steps:

In 1855 the Secretary of the Post Office, one Roland Hill, submits a report for a system to transport mail in underground tubes which would be propelled by air pressure. Initially for use between the post office headquarters to another post office building in Holborn. Later a further eight other offices might be linked in. The system is workable but expensive.

In 1863, the Post Office reviews a new pneumatic railway from the Pneumatic Dispatch Company. It runs nine feet below the ground between Euston Station and Eversholt Street. Wrought iron railcars are sucked along the tube in about a minute.

Into the 20th Century:

London’s mail suffers severe delays because of traffic congestion and thick fog. In 1909 a committee forms to review the use of underground pneumatic and electric railways for moving the post. In February 1911 it recommends an electric railway with driverless trains, using the example of a railway in Chicago that moves materials into the city and waste out of the city.

Although the tunnels are complete by 1917 it takes another 10 years for the railway to start operating.

Listen to the podcast and hear Tim tell the whole story.

About this podcast:

The Postal Museum is on Phoenix Place, London, WC1X 0DA and opens from Wednesday to Sunday between 10.00 and 17.00. Learn about all things ‘postal’, ride on Mail Rail or do a tunnel walk.

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

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

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.

TH2023 T02 3 The Camel

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:25 — 14.1MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 02.3 – The Camel

In The Camel Richard Thomas tells us about the importance of the ‘Ship of the Desert’ throughout history.

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

The Ship of the Desert :

The camel has shipped slaves, salt and gold across the Sahara desert and shipped spices from Asia for many centuries.

The Silk Roads, which run from Central Asia to places on the eastern edge of Europe, are around 4,000 miles long. These routes joined China and Europe in trade using the Asian two humped Bactrian camels.

A camel train might have a thousand camels, walking 25 miles a day, each carrying over 300 pounds in weight with a round trip often taking over a year.

Camels:

Camels, rather than the much more elegant, but less tough horse, are useful in hot desert conditions like the Sahara, the Middle East, and the deserts of Central Asia.

94% of camels are the one hump dromedary whilst the other 6% are the Bactrian. Both can be domesticated, but it’s the dromedary whose role in history that Richard focuses on.

They can live to 40 or 50 years and have a top speed of around 40 miles an hour. A camel can drink 200 litres of water in 3 minutes and then go without water for 10 days. Their humps aren’t like tanks with water sloshing around, they’re fatty tissue which, when it’s metabolized, releases water.

Their thick coat protects them from extreme heat and cold, their outer hair is fairly waterproof and can and is used for tents, clothing, bedding and blankets. Richard has a camel hair blanket that he brought back from Oman. It’s not very comfortable for sitting on, but it’s alright in the garden.

The finer inner hair can be used for clothing and was quite popular in the West in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Where do I find them?

Most camels operate in the desert strip across the middle of the globe. Estimates suggest there are over six million in Somalia where they’re the main form of transport, a further 3 million in Sudan and a million in Australia where they went there for use as transport across the desert in the 19th century.

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

About this podcast:

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

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

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.

TH2023 T02 2 The Railways

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:21 — 18.6MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 02.2 – The Railways

In The Railways Roger Hobbs tells two stories. First he talks about the development of the railways of Britain and then he tells us about the Great Western Railway.

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

The birth of the railways :

Many take 1825 as the birth date of Britain’s railways because the Stockton and Darlington carried its first passengers in September 1825. This ignores the fact that the first plateways had been in operation for many years before that.

The plateways carry goods on carts, usually pulled by horses. The cast iron L shaped ‘rails’ providing a smooth surface for the carts. The oldest continually operating railway in the world is the Middleton Railway in Leeds which dates from 1758.

The Stockton and Darlington:

This is the first railway to use steam locomotives. The engineer is George Stephenson who has experience of steam engines at the collieries at Killingworth. Stephenson recommends the use of malleable iron rails rather than cast iron ones.

The line opens on 27th September 1825 with the brand new engine Locomotion 1 built at the Stephenson works in Newcastle.

Liverpool and Manchester railway:

George Stephenson is the engineer for this railway. One of the major obstacles is Chat Moss which he finds a way to cross. His solution is still in use today!

The railway company holds the Rainhill Trials in 1829 to decide on the best locomotive provider. The winners? George and his son Robert Stevenson with the Rocket.

The Great Western Railway:

We hear of the building of the Great Western Railway and of its engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His genius and his flaws, of Bristol Temple Meads Station, Box Tunnel and the ‘broad gauge‘.

Listen to the podcast and hear Roger tell the rest of the story.

About this podcast:

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

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

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.