Simon and Rachel speak with William Dalrymple, the award-winning historian and travel writer. While still at university in 1986, William set off to follow on foot the outward route of Marco Polo from Jerusalem to Mongolia and wrote a bestselling account of the journey, "In Xanadu". In 1999, after three other books of travel, he concentrated on writing history. "White Mughals", published in 2003, won the Wolfson Prize. "The Last Mughal" won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize. These books have now been combined with two others, "The Return of a King" and "The Anarchy," to form a quartet on the rise and fall of the East India Company. We spoke to William about "In Xanadu", his Company Quartet of history books, and the art of writing a book proposal.

You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.