A 335-year-long ‘war’ (in which not a single shot was fired) officially ended on 17th April, 1986, when the UK’s Dutch ambassador landed on the Isles of Scilly and declared an end to hostilities between the Netherlands and this tiny archipelago off the coast of Cornwall. The orig ...Show more
I Name This Ship Brittania
Queen Elizabeth II stood before 30,000 spectators at Clydebank to launch HMY Britannia on 16th April, 1953. The yacht’s name had been kept secret, and when the Queen finally declared it “Britannia”, the crowd responded with a surge of cheering applause. Commissioned shortly befor ...Show more
The story of Britain's railways isn't just about steam engines and steel tracks—it's about the people who built them, worked on them, and sometimes fought for their rights along the way. To mark the 200th anniversary of the first modern passenger railway in 2025, this episode exp ...Show more
The London Underground – often known simply as the Tube – is central to the city’s global identity. A pioneering feat of engineering at the time of its construction in the 19th century, on a typical weekday, the network now carries 5 million passengers between 272 stations, on 11 ...Show more
The US is well behind much of the world in building passenger rail, especially high-speed trains. But we do have one major advantage. This episode was produced by Devan Schwartz, edited by Naureen Khan, fact-checked by Melissa Hirsch, engineered by Patrick Boyd with help from And ...Show more
BACK TO THE FUTURE - It was a blistering summer's day. Sherlock and I had probably over-indulged at The Volunteer and in our giddy stupor we arranged a 'tourist day' in London while Mariana visited her family. Our fun stretched beyond the boundaries of the capital, to Gravesend i ...Show more