Hidden Histories

Were the Dark Ages really that dark? Seb Falk argues that science and religion weren't at odds with each other in the medieval era, but two sides of the same coin. His main story focuses on the life of John Westwyk, a medieval monk, and through John's eyes we understand how the medieval man or woman might have viewed the world.

He talks about the medieval equivalent of the smartphone, the legendary story about trying to steal the testicles and anal glands of beavers, and how to attract a unicorn with nothing but a virgin and a forest glade.

Seb Falk is a historian, teacher, broadcaster and historical consultant. Find out more about Seb and his work here: https://www.sebfalk.com/about-seb

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Victoria Donovan chats to Helen about how present-day Russia and the USSR have grappled with the legacy of Russia's buildings. The atheist USSR frequently deployed images of ruined Orthodox churches in the aftermath of the Second World War - it was great propaganda. But this posed problems - the USSR was an atheist state, and did not want to be seen harking back to fervently to the religiosity of the Kievan Rus.

Debates about what should and shouldn't be preserved under Communism helped to form anti-socialist groupings. Those who became fervent preservationists sought to undermine the USSR, while town planners and ministers often demolished the building blocks of Russia's history.

Victoria Donovan is a Senior Lecturer in Russian and Director of the Centre for Russian, Soviet, Central and East European Studies at the University of St Andrews. Her book is Chronicles in Stone. Read more from Victoria here: https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/blog/2020/11/05/victoria-donovan-chronicles-in-stone/

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Sam Goodman talks to Helen about the end of the British empire and how Britains choose to remember and interact with their former colonies, particularly India. Sam also talks about where alcohol fit into the British Empire - from guides that advised the drinking stout to fortify oneself, to the formation of cultures of drinking in India and at home, to the story about the inadvertent creation of the India Pale Ale.

Sam Goodman is Lecturer in English and Communication at Bournemouth University. Read Sam's Blog: https://imperialmeasuresblog.wordpress.com/

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Michael Talbot starts with a broad overview of the Ottoman Empire's interests and what power it held, before moving on to a problem that would haunt the Ottomans consistently - pirates. These weren't necessarily pirates in a Disney sense - war between the British and the French consistently spilled over into the Meditterenean, and often Ottoman goods and shipping came under attack.

Michael explores the Ottoman response, and how they sought to protect their shipping from pirates, corsairs and all sorts, with mixed results. Michael also approaches this story from the Ottoman perspective, a side of the story that we don't often get to hear.

Read some of Michael's work here: https://www.historytoday.com/reviews/interpreting-ottoman-empire

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Christienna Fryer talks to Helen about the emancipation of slaves in Jamaica in 1838. While the colonial government thought that a similar plantation system might exist with the addition of wages, their formerly enslaved subjects disagreed. Christienna talks about how Jamaicans resisted British rule, and particularly about the Morant Bay rebellion in 1865, which caused brutal British repression. The likes of Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle and J. S. Mill discussed whether the British response could be justified and came to very different conclusions.

Christienna looks at how people in Jamaica resisted and challenged colonial structures and systems, and how in challenging them, they helped to reshape them. She talks about one particular case in the Kingston Lunatic Asylum that would change how the British approached asylums all over the empire, as well as much more.

Christienna Fryar is a lecturer in Black British History at Goldsmiths, University of London. Find out more about her here: https://www.cdfryar.com/

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Charles Masson set out one day to hunt down the lost cities of Alexander the Great. He was an private in the East India Company's army until he deserted, and was as such trying to both locate and excavate a mysterious lost city, whilst also being on the run. His story is full of hardship, and Edmund Richardson discusses why a man would choose to abandon his station, journey into the middle of a previously unexplored region (at least by Westerners), and start hunting for the lost city of Alexandria under the Caucasus.

Later, when the British invade Afghanistan and threaten his excavation, he is faced with a terrible choice: either join with the British and abandon his friends, or betray those who were close to him.

Stories about Alexander the Great abound, and hearing these stories may have inspired Charles Masson's passion. One of the more famous accounts is the Alexander Romance, a long series of tales about his adventures, a lot of which are probably fictionalised - at one point Alexander takes a submarine to the bottom of the sea. As Edmund himself notes, the Romance has been "translated and adapted into everything from an Icelandic Alexanders Saga to an Ethiopian Romance - so it's travelled much further than even Alexander himself." Try this translation of the Greek version of the Romance by Richard Stoneman if you're interested: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/351/35185/the-greek-alexander-romance/9780140445602.html

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Brendan McGeever talks to Helen about the relationship between anti-semitism and the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution in 1917 was a complex event, with myriad factions vying for power. In the chaos, a wave of anti-semitic attacks occurred, and many of the those vying for control did little to stop this. The Bolsheviks, lead by Vladimir Lenin, opposed anti-semitism but had to confront it within the movement and the wider working class. This produced a fascinating and at times contentious relationship between the Bolshevik leadership and Jewish socialists within the party.

Brendan McGeever is a Lecturer in Sociology at Birkbeck, University of London.

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Catherine Fletcher talks about the Italian Renaissance, giving a run-down of her new book, The Beauty and the Terror. She talks about Florence, and the beginnings of the renaissance, discussing Lorenzo de' Medici as well as the Borgias, as well as the influence of Girolamo Savanorola.

She also talks about the more brutal aspects of the renaissance, from the potential that the Mona Lisa was funded by money earned from slavery, to the brutal retribution courtesans who transgressed the rules could face. The courtesan Angela Zafetta, model of Titian's Venus of Urbino, is reputed to have faced a punishment far worse than the usual for one such act of transgression. Fletcher also talks Machiavelli: what he said and what he didn't say, and why he matters.

Catherine Fletcher is a Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Tom Scott-Smith and Helen talk about the history of famine relief and humanitarian aid, and how it has changed over time. Humitarian aid is intensely political, and the form that humanitarian aid takes today is heavily influenced by its past. That form is important, because the type of aid that refugees receive has a big impact on their lives; the quality and quantity of food matters.

Tom also talks nutritional science, showing how overproduction of milk, soy and corn in the 1930s, have been responsible for the nutritional content of humanitarian food today. He and Helen also discuss the liberation of Belsen, and whether there is any truth to the story that those being liberated from Bergen-Belsen were more interested in getting their hands on lipstick, rather than food.

Tom Scott-Smith is Associate Professor of Refugee Studies and Forced Migration.

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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Helen talks to Joanna Cohen about the relationship between patriotism and consumption and how American attitudes towards consumption changed over the 19th century, particularly in response to the American Civil War. The ways people thought about the American flag, for instance, are particularly insightful as tools for understanding their attitudes towards these topics, as are societal attitudes towards women and commerce.

More generally, she works on the relationship between capitalism, consumption and emotion, and her 2017 book Luxurious Citizens looks at a shift in consumer attitudes, from patriot-citizen to patriot-consumer. Cohen has thought at length about how people relate themselves to the marketplace. She explores the origins of detaching oneself from the marketplace, and trying to find an authentic 'self', differentiated from the consumer goods that one wears and purchases.

Joanna Cohen is a historian of 19th century America, and a Senior Lecturer in American History at Queen Mary University of London.

Find out more here: https://www.ukri.org/news/100-new-generation-thinkers/

Producer: Peter Curry

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