Misha Glenny and guests discuss the woman who, as a child bride, became mother to the boy who would eventually become the first king in the Tudor dynasty. Lady Margaret Beaufort (c1443-1509) was twelve when she married Edmund Tudor, half his age, and gave birth to their son Henry ...Show more
The Columbian Exchange
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the exchange of cultures and biology across the Atlantic and Pacific after 1492. That was when Columbus reached the Bahamas, a time when Europe had no potatoes, tomatoes, sunflowers or, arguably, syphilis in its most virulent form; the Americas had ...Show more
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the brutal events of 26 August 1346, when the armies of France and England met in a funnel-shaped valley outside the town of Crécy in northern France. Although the French, led by Philip VI, massively outnumbered the English, under the command of Ed ...Show more
Dawn breaks on the 7th October 1571 over the Gulf of Patras. On this day, the Holy League will face down the Ottomans in one of the most pivotal battles in Ottoman history. Listen as William and Anita are once again joined by Barnaby Rogerson to discuss the Battle of Lepanto, its ...Show more
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the events of 21st October 1805, in which the British fleet led by Nelson destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain. Nelson's death that day was deeply mourned in Britain, and his example proved influential, a ...Show more
Selim II leads the Ottomans. Marco Brigadin the Venetians. They will clash over the island of Cyprus. But who will be victorious, and who will be defeated (and flayed)? The two sides meet on this mediterranean island in the run-up to one of the greatest naval battles in history - ...Show more