In this three part series we look at the eight recipients of the Victoria Cross who forfeited the award due to their later actions as well as other recipients who fell on hard times, and with particular reference to the case of modern Victoria Cross for Australian recipient Ben-Roberts Smith, accused of murder and war crimes in Afghanistan. Dur: 27mins File: .mp3

Yet another war believed to be over by Christmas. The Second Boer War was fought between the greatest empire the world had ever seen and a nation of farmers with a population fewer than that of Brighton, England. It took the might of the British Empire three years to subdue these farmers who were known as Boers. Dur: 37mins File: .mp3

Modern historical scholarship has little lenience for hyperbole and any event that appears exaggerated is heavily scrutinized. The Spanish Conquest of Mexico provides ample folklores for historians to examine. One tale depicts renowned conquistador Pedro de Alvarado vaulting across a canal to escape certain doom. An episode since identified as the Salto de Alvarado (Alvarado's Leap). Historians are now in broad agreement that Alvarado's Leap is but a legend. Alvarado's alleged narrow escape occurred during the Castilian's withdrawal known as the Noche Triste (Night of Sorrows) a crucial, indeed pivotal event in the Conquest of Mexico. However, what happened to the rear guard on that rainy dark night on Calzada de Tlacopan (Tacuba Causeway) remains a mystery. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

In late October 2024, under a Vienna sports field (Ostbahn-XI-Platz) on the Danube in the Simmering district, a site of ancient mass burial was discovered. 129 bodies were discovered (intermixed bones may mean there were up to 150 bodies buried), all male, mostly between 20 and 30 years old, all roughly 1.7 metres tall, and many with wounds consistent with ancient battle. Many skeletons had injuries to their skulls, torsos and pelvises. The radiocarbon dating of the remains put them in the range from AD 80-234. Finds included an iron pugio dagger, spear points, scales from suits of scale armour (lorica squamata) and the cheek piece of a helmet. Near the foot of one skeleton, archaeologists discovered shoe nails that came from distinctive Roman legionary caligae. These works were carried out by the Vienna City Archaeology Department in cooperation with the archaeological service provider Novetus GmbH. Initial research results were presented at the Wien Museum in early April 2025. Dur: 57mins File: .mp3

The French infantry passed by the farm at La Haye Saint and advanced up to the ridge where Picton's 5th Brigade were literally lying in wait. Dutch skirmishers retreated back to their parent regiments in Allied lines. The British troops of Picton's 5th Brigade were stationed 100 yards behind the Dutch who were now trading volleys with the ever-advancing wave of French troops. The Dutch could not sustain the defense and reformed with other regiments. The British troops under Picton then formed up 4 men deep (twice as deep as a standard British line) to match the French who had now also formed into battle lines. The contest between the 2 masses of infantry was hotly contested and the Allied centre began to falter. Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

The Congress of Vienna began in November 1814 and its aim was to provide a plan for a long-term peace within Europe after nearly 23 years of constant conflict and to redraw territorial boundaries so no single nation could become too powerful. Dur: 28 mins File: .mp3

"American Indian Wars" in the modern perspective focuses mostly on the American West in the second half of the 19th century with cowboys, Custer and the calvary, but the worst defeat of an American Army in the Indian Wars happened over eighty years earlier when George Washington was president. Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

Another poem, "Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain", refers to another campaign against the Angles of Bernicia. It also provides remarkable insights. Here, the leader of the Angles is named as Fflamddwyn – perhaps meaning "flamebearer" or "flamboyant one." It may refer to Theodoric of Bernicia (r. ca. 584-591) whose reign coincides with Urien's. The idea that it refers to Ida, the first king of Bernicia (r. 547-559), is probably too early to correspond to Urien and Owain's dates (although there is some crossover with the earliest dates of Urien's reign). Dur 22mins File: .mp3

The works of the sixth century AD Brittonic poet and bard, Taliesin, survive in a fourteenth century Welsh manuscript of the Llyuyr Taliessin, The Book of Taliesin. Taliesin is one of the most important figures in Welsh literature, one of the Five British Poets of Renown listed in the ninth century Historia Brittonum. Taliesin himself may have served at the courts of several kings and, although the book ascribed to him contains poems from others and from later ages, at least some of the poems are likely to be original. Others see the earliest poems as being from the ninth century (and so none are original). Several of the poems, however, describe reigns and battles which took place in sixth century Britain and shed light on what is usually regarded as a particularly dark age. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

On 5 March, 1804, a group of 233 convict rebels revolted against their incarceration in the British colony of New South Wales (corresponding to modern Sydney, Australia). They were met by the local garrison, consisting of only 28-30 regulars and a few loyalist militia, at a place some 40km north-west of Sydney soon dubbed Vinegar Hill. Dur: 29mins File: .mp3