Willy Willy Harry Stee...

In this special episode of Willy Willy Harry Stee, Charlie Higson takes a moment to look at the history of the English flag, the Union Jack and the Cross of St George.

Where did they come from? What do they mean? What do they represent?

With the current outbreak of flag raising around the country and furious arguments about what these flags represent, Charlie un-furls the truth to help us understand the real origins of the flags of the United Kingdom.

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In this edition of Charlie Higson's Summer Reading History Book Club, he looks at the history between England and India.

Before the East India Company and before the British Empire, England was an unimportant backwater. Seeking better fortunes, 16th and 17th century merchants ventured to the empire of the mighty Mughals, attempting to sell coarse woollen broadcloth that nobody really wanted.

It was a land ruled from the palatial towers by women – the formidable Empress Nur Jahan Begim, the enterprising Queen Mother Maryam al-Zamani, and the intrepid Princess Jahanara Begim. Their collision of worlds helped connect East and West, launching a tempestuous period of globalisation spanning from the Chinese opium trade to the slave trade in the Americas.

Joining Charlie to explain this fascinating story is Dr Lubaaba Al-Azami, whose book 'Travellers in the Golden Realm' traces the origins of a relationship between two nations – one outsider and one superpower – whose cultures remain inextricably linked to this day.

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Joining Charlie Higson on this edition of the Summer Reading History Book Club is comedian, musician and writer, Al Murray.

As well as being the man behind the Pub Landlord, Al is also able, in his own words, to 'bang on' about his love of World War II history for a long time.

Which suits us just fine.

Al is the author of Watching War Films With My Dad, Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War, Arnhem, Black Tuesday and Victory '45 - The End Of The War in Eight Surrenders, co-written with his We Have Ways podcast co-host, James Holland.

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In this edition of his Summer History Book Reading Club, Charlie Higson invites Amy Licence back to the podcast to talk about her new book, The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women. 

As part of her self-confessed mission to shine a light on forgotten but important women in history, Amy has scoured the records from Europe and beyond to tell the stories of mistresses and martyrs, witches and muses, pirates and jesters, doctors and astronomers, escapees and murderesses, colonists and saints. 

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As the summer sun beats down......probably.....Charlie Higson brings you another great historical book to get your sunglasses into.

The Light Ages by Seb Falk, A Medieval Journey Of Discovery.

It's easy to form an impression of how backward and ignorant everybody was in the Middle Ages, BUT in his book, Seb explores the time through the life of an extraordinary monk, John of Westwick and he uncovers an age when people were eager to learn about the workings of the world and indeed of the stars in the universe, demonstrating just how much more people knew, than we give them credit for.

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How's the summer reading going? Well, today's episode of The Willy Willy Harry Stee Summer Reading History Book Club features a book that will grip you from start to finish, one definitely worth adding to your suitcase.

The book is Sceptred Isle and the author chatting to Charlie Higson is Helen Carr who's been a guest on the show a few times.

Helen's big interest is the Middle Ages and her book is A New History of the Fourteenth Century, an extraordinary time with some extraordinary characters right across the board.

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In this episode of The Summer History Reading Book Club, Charlie Higson is talking to Tom Phillips, author of a series of very funny books known as the ‘Brief History’ series.

These books include Humans - A Brief History of How We Fucked It All Up which was published in 2018. He followed this up with Truth - A Brief History of Total Bullshit, in 2019 – and then Conspiracy - A History of Bullshit Theories and How Not To Fall For Them, published in 2022 and as his most recent book is A Brief History of the End Of The Fucking World published this year, it's pretty clear what the main topic is in each book!

Tom is a journalist with a passion and dedication for fact-checking, which makes these books even more interesting as they separate fact from fiction.

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Yes, Summer is here and for many, that means a break and the chance to dig into a good book.

In this special set of episodes, to run through July and August, Charlie Higson delves headfirst into some of the current crop of history books and invites the authors onto the podcast.

In 1603 England was on the edge of crisis. Queen Elizabeth I had died, bringing the Tudor line to an end.

Enter King James, who reached London after an unprecedented procession from Scotland. James established a new dynasty on the English throne and the first 'united' kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales was born. The Stuarts had arrived.

But first, this new 'Great Britain' had to play catch up. England was behind, but James's global ambitions began to shift the tide. Ships departed London for America, Russia, Persia, India and Japan, and as the fledgling East India Company became ever closer to the crown, the seeds of the future British Empire were sown.

Professor Anna Whitelock's new book The Sun Rising: James I and the Dawn of a Global Britain tells this fascinating story and is the subject of this episode of Willy Willy Harry Stee.

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