Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:45 — 36.4MB)
Season 2021 – Talk 11 – Six Characters from History – the Burning House Debate
In Six Characters from History – the Burning House Debate six speakers put the case for our historical characters. Please decide which one deserves to be saved.
Click a thumbnail below to view the image gallery that accompanies the talk.
Sir Alexander Fleming:
Margaret Denyer tells us the story of Sir Alexander Fleming. We learn how he discovered penicillin in 1928. The importance of penicillin is described as the ‘single greatest victory ever achieved over disease’. Because of this he shares the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945.
Field Marshall Douglas Haig – Earl Haig:
Haig commands the British Expeditionary Force in France from late 1915 until the end of the war.
He has a favourable reputation during the immediate post-war years. It becomes tarnished in the 1960s because of the number of casualties in the World War 1 battles.
Niccolo Machiavelli:
An Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived from 1469 to 1527. In 1513 he writes the political treatise The Prince. It is not published until 1532.
He is a senior official in the Florentine Republic for many years. Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. Also a writer of comedies, carnival songs, and poetry.
Machiavelli often evokes thoughts of unscrupulous acts of the sort he wrote about in The Prince. He claims that his experience and reading history shows him that politicians have always used deception, treachery and crime. Whether the work is about his experience or a manual for tyrants is for you to decide.
Richard III
Lorna Thomas puts the case for Richard who dies at Bosworth and is buried under a car park in Leicester. Admittedly at the time it is the Grey Friars Priory.
Queen Victoria:
We hear the case for the Queen who becomes the Empress of India. She is the mother of nine children. Many of her children marry into the Royal Houses of Europe.
Donald Trump:
Donald rounds off our sextet of characters from history. Richard Thomas tells us about Donald Trump’s successes as president, in this short talk, because of his success in foreign affairs.
Listen to the podcast to hear our six speakers give their light-hearted talks.
Please note:
This podcast is a recording of a talk on Zoom and, in places, there are a few extraneous noises and sound glitches.
About this podcast:
This podcast is an edited recording of a talk first given to the Farnham u3a World History Group.
The Farnham u3a site is found here.
You can also listen using Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.
AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use as the theme music.
© The MrT Podcast Studio and Farnham u3a World History Group 2018 – 2022
