The story of why, and how, an arrow ended up in Harold's eye in the Bayeux Tapestry is tied to the politics of the early 19th century, to Napoleon's ambitions and Britain's national pride, and the work of two antiquaries, Anne and Charles Stothard, who travelled to northern Franc ...Show more
Roman Scandinavia
In the late 160s AD, the Roman armies of Marcus Aurelius recruited large numbers of troops from the islands east of Jutland, in what is now Denmark. After Marcus’ death in 180, his German campaigns were abandoned and the Romans withdrew to the Danube. Some of the demobilised troo ...Show more
This week, we drop in on a conversation between Mary Beard and two former TLS editors; and Anne Enright joins us to talk about turning poet in her new novel.'Emperor of Rome: Ruling the ancient Roman world', by Mary Beard'Big Caesars and little Caesars: How they rise and how they ...Show more
With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Eimear McBride on the dark side of bad sex writing and why a new anthology is nothing to be snickered at; Diana Darke on the stories of two young women who have fled war in the Middle East and the new pressures they face; and Jenny Hendrix jo ...Show more
This week, Ben Hutchinson on the making of Franz Kafka, a century after the writer's death; and an interview with Roz Dineen about her vision of climate catastrophe and societal collapse.'Kafka: Making of an icon', Weston Library, Bodleian, Oxford, until October 27Accompanying bo ...Show more
This week, Lisa Hilton on the truth behind life as a 'grand horizontale'; and Juliette Bretan explores why Virginia Woolf served up boeuf en daube in To the Lighthouse.'Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power', by Sonia Purnell'Eur ...Show more