Travels Through Time

In this episode prize-winning author Nandini Das takes us back to 1630s England to see a country still grappling with the legacies of the Reformation. Elsewhere we see the beginnings of Enlightenment and watch as questions about citizenship and belonging are raised in new and intriguing ways.

The Stuart Age, like the Tudor one that preceded it, is among England's most cherished. In her new book, This Little World, Nandini Das examines the history of this time not from the central but from the illuminating perspective of the ‘merchants, migrants, sailors, travellers and spies’ who, drawn together, helped forge a nation.

Find out more about Nandini Das's This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England.

Scene One: Elizabeth Cary kidnaps her youngest children from London and smuggles them off to continental Europe to be brought up as Catholics. 

Scene Two: In Virginia, Thomas Key leaves for England, leaving behind the mixed race daughter borne by an African enslaved woman.

Scene Three: In Oxford, John Tradescant the Elder is given the contract for the new Botanical Garden.

Memento: The Iliad of the Casket.

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Nandini Das

Producer: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka

Partner: ACE Cultural Tours.

Alexander the Great is one of the most famous figures in history. Today our guest, Edmund Richardson, takes us back to see him in the year 331 BCE – the remarkable year when Alexander's story transformed from the impressive into the truly spectacular.

At the beginning of 331, many of those in Alexander's army might have supposed that it was time to return to Macedon after a successful campaign on the coast of the Mediterranean. Instead, Alexander founded a city in his own name on the northern coast of Egypt, struck out to consult the oracle at Amun, then turned back to meet his great enemy, King Darius of Persia, in one of the greatest battles in history. Gaugamela. 

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Edmund Richardson's book, Alexander: God, King, Man.

Scene One: The foundation of Alexandria in Egypt. 

Scene Two: Alexander journeys to the oracle of Amun.

Scene Three: Alexander's defeat of Darius at Gaugamela.

Memento: The Iliad of the Casket.

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Edmund Richardson

Producer: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka

Partner: ACE Cultural Tours.

In the autumn of 1983 the world came very close to nuclear disaster without even knowing about it. US President Ronald Reagan would later recall the 'really scary' events of that year, which, as our guest Taylor Downing explains, were among the most dangerous of the Cold War Era.

The nuclear scare of 1983 was generated by a series of factors that coalesced in terrifying style. There was the bellicose rhetoric of a new president, the paranoia of the aging political elite in the Kremlin and the disorienting pace of technological change.

Downing guides us through the various elements of this frightening story in this episode, which climaxes with a moment of high drama in November 1983.

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Taylor Downing's book, 1983: The World At The Brink.

Scene One: 23 March 1983. The White House Oval office; Reagan publicly announces on TV his Strategic Defense Initiative, known as his Star Wars policy.

Scene Two: 26 Sept 1983; Serpukhov-15 Early Warning Satellite station 80 miles south of Moscow; Lt Col Stanislav Petrov takes a shift in what becomes a dramatic night.

Scene Three: 9 November 1983; NATO Command HQ, Mons Belgium and Kuntsevo Clinic outside Moscow; Able Archer 83 reaches its climax.

Memento: The Soviet situation board.

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Taylor Downing

Producer: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka

Partner: ACE Cultural Tours.

Live from Dr Johnson's House off Fleet Street in London, in this episode the biographer and historian Paul O'Keeffe takes us on an immersive dive into the year 1806. This was a time when both the British and the French attempted to come to terms with the fall out of the Battle of Trafalgar.

News of Trafalgar was received in Britain with great ambivalence. The sheer scale of the victory was thrilling, but it was marred by the death of Admiral Nelson. King George III reflected the national mood when he declared that it was a victory that had been bought at too dear a price.

While Britons buried Nelson and set about commemorating the battle, in France there would be ramifications of a rather different kind of Admiral Villeneuve – whose strange death is described by O'Keeffe as 'either a murder of an extremely tenacious suicide'.

Our thanks to Min Kym for the music, the fine folk at Dr Johnson's House for all the support and for everyone who came along to an enjoyable night. 

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Paul O'Keeffe's book, Trafalgar: Battle and Aftermath.

Scene One: 9 January 1806. Walking up to St Paul's with the seven sailors of HMS Victory during Nelson's funeral.

Scene Two: 22 April 1806. Inside the 'locked room' to solve the mystery of Admiral Villeneuve's death.

Scene Three: April 1806. Sadler's Well Theatre to witness a re-enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Memento: A piece of the flag carried by the sailors into St Paul's.

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Paul O'Keeffe

Producer: Maria Nolan

Music: Firelight performed by Min Kym.

In this episode we talk to the journalist and author Jim Windolf about a 'testy, interesting and weird' month in the mid-1960s when Bob Dylan and The Beatles came into close and sometimes volatile contact. May 1966 would be recalled by Neil Aspinall, The Beatles' road manager, as 'Dylan Month'.

This month came at a loaded moment for each of the acts. Both of them were, by this point in the Sixties, cultural sensations. But they were also burned out from the years of touring and seeking to transcend the identities that had first brought them fame. The following month Dylan would release his classic album, Blonde On Blonde, while The Beatles would reply later in the summer with Revolver.

Here Windolf takes us to look at the relationship between these musicians at close quarters. Much was happening, he explains, although not all of it was stated openly.

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Jim Windolf's book, Where The Music Had To Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other and the World. 

Scene One: Early May 1966. Bob Dylan arrives in London and checks into the May Fair Hotel in the Mayfair district of London. 

Scene Two: 13 May 1966. Dylan checks into the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, then goes on a tour of Beatles' sites.

Scene Three: 26 May 1966. Dylan plays the Albert Hall and the next morning steps into a limousine with John Lennon.

Memento: Dylan's suede Levi’s jacket.

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Jim Windolf

Producers: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Winds of Change by SoundIdeasCom

Few parties in history can match the Georgian 'Masquerade'. And among Georgian masquerades the one given by the King of Denmark in London in 1768 was particularly enchanting. It brought those of the greatest means and highest rank together in London theatre that was filled with artful costumes and glittering jewels.

This week's guest, Meghan Kobza, tells us all about the Georgian masquerade – who started it, where did it come from, how much did it cost to get in – and she takes us inside the theatre in 1768. One character who catches her eye is the unfortunate Agneta Yorke whose night turns out to be a comedy of errors.

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Meghan Kobza's book, The Masquerade A History of Extravagance and Intrigue.

Scene One: October 1768. At the masquerade habit warehouse scene on Tavistock Street operated by the Spilsburys.

Scene Two: October 1768. Getting ready to go out with Agneta Yorke.

Scene Three: October 1768. At the King of Denmark's Masquerade.

Memento: Agneta Yorke's dress

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Meghan Kobza

Producers: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka

This week the Cambridge professor Rory Naismith takes us back to the eighth century to glimpse what we can of Offa King of the Mercians. Offa was a mighty figure in this early moment in the history of Britain and he is remembered chiefly for the extraordinary earthwork – Offa's Dyke.

But what more can be said about Offa's life? In this episode Naismith explains that he was a ruler of considerable gifts whose reputation stretched far beyond his considerable kingdom. He corresponded with Charlemagne and was connected with the Islamic World and, when he died, he left a great void behind.

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Rory Naismith's book, Offa: King of the Mercians.

Read more about Offa at Unseen Histories.

Scene One: Offa of Mercia receives a letter from Charlemagne that is one of the first diplomatic exchanges between two Medieval monarchs.

Scene Two: 29 July. Offa’s dies.

Scene Three: December 796. Offa’s son and heir Ecgfrith dies unexpectedly.

Memento: Offa’s side of the correspondence with Charlemagne

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Rory Naismith

Producers: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka

This week's episode takes us to Paris in La Belle Époque. There, among all the splendour and sophistication, we watch the great Impressionist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painting one of his great portraits.

But there is more to this history than first meets the eye. As our guest Catherine Ostler explains, the year 1881 was a critical one in Jewish history. By that point in time Jewish communities were thriving in Paris, where they sought to consolidate their position in society. But a dramatic event in Russia was poised to change everything.

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Catherine Ostler's book, The Renoir Girls: A Hidden History of Art, War and Betrayal. 

Scene One: 19 January 1881. The wedding of Leopold de Rothschild and Marie Perugia in London.

Scene Two: January–March 1881. Renoir paints Alice and Elisabeth at the Cahen d'Anvers family house in Paris.

Scene Three: 13 March 1881. Tsar Alexander II is assassinated in St Petersburg.

Memento: Renoir's Pink and Blue painting.

Presenter: Peter Moore 

Guest: Catherine Ostler

Producers: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka

As Britain's 'special relationship' with the USA falters, we look back at a very relevant epislode from our archive. In this the author and journalist Philip Stephens takes us back to a crucial month in post-war British politics. December 1962, he explains, set Britain’s relationship with the rest of the world for the next half century.

Featuring in this episode is the elderly British prime minister, Harold Macmillan; the charismatic US president John F Kennedy; and the trenchant French statesman Charles de Gaulle. In this one month these three men would set out their contrasting visions of what kind of country Britain would be.

The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Philip Stephen’s book, Britain Alone: the path from Suez to Brexit (Faber)

Scene One: 5 December 1962. Dean Acheson’s speech to the cadets of the Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Scene Two: 15 December. Macmillan's visit to Rambouillet to meet with Charles de Gaulle.

Scene Three: 19 December 1962. Macmillan travels to the Bahamas to meet President John F Kennedy.

Memento: The text for Dean Acheson’s ‘West Point Speech.’

Presenter: Peter Moore

Guest: Philip Stephens

Producers: Maria Nolan

The Netherlands is a small nation with a big history. But in the 1940s it suffered a series of disastrous events. First came the invasion of the Nazis in 1940. Then the very next year the Japanese attacked their old empire in the east. The horrors of World War Two were then followed by the Indonesian National Revolution and, by 1950, the Dutch were a 'pocket superpower' no longer.

In this episode the journalist and hiker Nicholas Walton takes us back to examine this challenging moment in Dutch history. It was a time of reckoning with the past but also a moment of bright new beginnings.

Nicholas Walton is the author of Orange Sky, Rising Water: The Remarkable Past and Uncertain Future of the Netherlands.

Scene One: 1 January 1950, The dining table of a typical Dutch family.

Scene Two: 12 January 1950, The Lloydkade in Rotterdam when troop ships like the SS Waterman, SS Grote Beer and SS Zuiderkruis all were bringing soldiers home to a freezing Netherlands.

Scene Three: 26 July 1950. A barracks in Indonesia. This was the official date that the KNIL, the Dutch colonial army, was officially dissolved.

Memento: A green/white temporary house as lived in by the Moluccans

Presenter: Peter Moore

Guest: Nicholas Walton

Production: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka