Travels Through Time

Zoë Playdon: The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes (1967)

This week we uncover a fascinating legal case that had major implications for transgender rights in the U.K., but that has been hidden for the last fifty years.
Ewan Forbes was born in 1912 into an aristocratic Scottish family. He grew up in Aberdeenshire, studied medicine, started practising as a doctor in his local community and married. His patients and neighbours were aware that Ewan had been christened Elisabeth, but that, apart from a few exceptions, he had been viewed as a boy by himself and others since he was a child. In 1952, Ewan had successfully corrected the sex on his birth certificate from “female” to “male”.
In this episode we hear the story of what happened to Ewan some fifteen years later, when his older brother died and the question of who was the rightful heir of the family’s baronetcy sparked a legal battle which was to be of huge significance to the history of LGBTI rights.
Our guest is the academic Zoë Playdon. Zoë is the Emeritus Professor of Medical Humanities at the University of London. She holds five degrees, including two doctorates. For over thirty years Zoë has worked pro bono in the front lines of LGBTI human rights. She is a former co-Chair of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Doctors and Dentists, and in 1994 she co-founded the Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity with Dr Lynne Jones MP.
As ever, maps, images and much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order Zoë Playdon's book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.

Jamie Mackay: Garibaldi and the Birth of Italy (1860)

This week we are sweeping through Sicily and Southern Italy in the company of the original revolutionary hero, Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi.
In the mid nineteenth century, change was in the air as new political movements began questioning the status quo. Powerful ideas like socialism, republicanism, liberalism and nationalism were spreading through Europe, harnessed by charismatic leaders determined to bring about dramatic social change. None were more charismatic than Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Our guide on this epoch-making trip is Jamie Mackay, a writer who is based in the beautiful town of Fiesole just north of Florence. This episode relates to his book The Invention of Sicily which tells the story of this fascinating island, fought over and coveted by almost every civilisation in history, a romantic melting pot where cruelty and disaster were never far away.
As ever, maps, images and much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order Jamie MacKay's book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
 

Christina Lamb and Judith Mackrell: Looking for Trouble with Virginia Cowles (1938)

Flinging off her heels under shellfire in Civil War Spain. Taking tea with Hitler after a Nuremberg rally. Gossipping with Churchill by his goldfish pond. The pioneering 1930s female war correspondent Virginia Cowles did all of these things.
In this special episode, we’re joined by not one, but two experts to discuss the life of the trailblazing Virginia Cowles.
The first is the author Judith Mackrell, whose most recent book, Going with the Boys, follows six women journalists, including Virginia, who reported on the Second World War. The second is multi-award winning journalist and senior foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times, Christina Lamb, who has written the foreword to the re-issue of Virginia’s memoir. 
We join Virginia in 1938 as she reports from a Europe on the brink of the Second World War. 
As ever, maps, images and much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order Virginia Cowles' and Judith Mackrell's book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
Show notes
Scene One: September, Nuremberg. Virginia attends a Nuremberg Rally and afterwards has a mind boggling conversation with Unity Mitford, a close friend of Hitler’s.
Scene Two: August, Prague. Virginia speaks to Czech citizens who fear imminent German aggression. 
Scene Three: October, London. Virginia has a conversation with Neville Chamberlain in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement. 
Memento: Christina chooses Virginia’s high heels, and Judith chooses one of the Nazi government’s traditional new year posters depicting an image of a helmeted German soldier with the caption “1939”.
People/Social
Presenter: Artemis Irvine
Guest: Christina Lamb and Judith Mackrell
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1938 fits on our Timeline 
 

Tracy Borman: Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada (1588)

Historians often refer to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as being England’s Golden Age. And of all the forty-five years in which she was the monarch, the year 1588 stands out as the most dramatic. It was a year of peril, a year of valour and a year of heartbreak.
In this episode bestselling historian and novelist Tracy Borman takes us back to the anxiety-ridden days of 1588. We watch on as the queen makes a speech that will pass into legend. We hover close by as one of her most famous portraits is painted. And we see the end of a tragic tale, as Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, dies.
While various events compete for attention throughout that summer – the arrival of the Armada, Leicester’s health - Elizabeth remains at the heart of everything. As Tracy Borman argues (and Violet Moller agrees), she was a queen to outrank all of the others.
As ever, maps, images and much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order Tracy Borman’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
Show notes
Scene One: 9 August, 1588. Tilbury. As Philip II’s Armada is blown up the English Channel by a decidedly Protestant wind, Elizabeth rallies her troops at Tilbury, dressed in a breastplate and plumed helmet.
Scene Two: August/September, 1588. The painting of the Armada portrait. Elizabeth celebrates victory over Philip of Spain by ordering a pearl-spangled dress to wear for a glittering new portrait, filled with symbolism and hidden meaning.
Scene Three: 4 September, 1588, Oxfordshire. Elizabeth’s closest friend and love of her life Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, dies in Oxfordshire leaving her heartbroken.
Memento: The plumed helmet that Elizabeth wore when she delivered her Tilbury Speech.
People/Social
Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Tracy Borman
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1588 fits on our Timeline 

Robert Lyman: A War of Empires (1944)

On this Remembrance Day the eminent historian Robert Lyman takes us to Burma, a country that was the crucible of action for a range of competing powers in the Second World War. In Burma the invading Japanese confronted the British, India, Chinese and Americans in a story that really became, as Lyman makes plain, ‘a war of empires.’
*
For thirty years Robert Lyman has been studying the war in the Far East. While not as well-known as the conflict with the Nazis in Europe, events in south east Asia were crucial. The fortunes of the allied armies there did not only lead to VJ Day in 1945, they also had a powerful effect in shaping the post-war world that followed.
In this episode Lyman takes us back to the Indian/Burman border on the cusp of 1944. He explains how a revitalised Indian army and an incredibly talented British general, Bill Slim, were about to combine to tremendous effect.
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Robert Lyman is the author of the new book, A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma and Britain. Click here to order Robert’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
This episode is supported by Osprey Publishing.
Show notes
Scene One: The Chindwin River, December 1943, on the border between India and Burma. Men of the Madras Regiment, Indian Army
Scene Two: 1st June 1944, Chief of Imperial General Staff’s office (General Sir Alan Brooke), War Office, Whitehall, London
Scene Three: 10 September 1944, Sittaung, Chindwin River. Men of the 11th East African Brigade, 14th Army.
Memento: A katana (a Japanese samurai sword)
People/Social
Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Robert Lyman
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1944 fits on our Timeline 

Robert Sackville-West: The Missing of the First World War (1915)

The Armistice in 1918 might have brought an end to the violence. But for many families it did not mean the end of the story. In 1918 the whereabouts of more than half a million British soldiers alone remained unknown. These were often very young people, drawn from all walks of life, right across Britain.
They were people who had simply vanished into the battlefields.
In this episode Robert Sackville-West takes us back to the desperate days of the First World War a century ago. He shows us how Britons – from Rudyard Kipling to E.M. Forster – confronted the distressing situations they found themselves in, and how the bereaved attempted to come to terms with their loss.
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Robert Sackville-West is a writer and he runs the Sackville family’s interests at Knole, the house in Kent where his family have lived for the past 400 years.
Click here to order Robert’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
Show notes
Scene One: 2 October 1915, a distressing telegram arrives at Bateman’s, the home of Rudyard Kipling.
Scene Two: 15 September 1915, Sir Oliver Lodge is playing golf at Gullane, on the east coast of Scotland.
Scene Three: November 1915, The novelist E.M. Forster arrives in Egypt as a Red Cross ‘searcher’.
Memento: An identity tag.
People/Social
Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Robert Sackville-West
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1915 fits on our Timeline 

James Clark: The Dissolution of the Monasteries (1540)

Long into the sixteenth century monasteries remained a familiar and vital part of English society. Wherever you were in the kingdom – Yorkshire, Cornwall, London, the Lakes – it was almost certain that there was a monastery just a short walk away. 
And yet within a few short years in the 1530s, 850 of these institutions vanished for good. The dissolution of the monasteries really was, today's guest, James Clark argues, ‘the great drama of Henry VIII’s Reformation’. It was the process that had 'the most immediate impact on the largest number of people.'
In this episode Clark takes us back to 1540, a year at the very heart of this dramatic, contentious, violent story.
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
James Clark is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is the author of the recently published book, The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History.
Click here to order Clark’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
Show notes
Scene One: Just before Easter. Canterbury Cathedral
Scene Two: 7 May, 1540 Clerkenwell Priory.
Scene Three: 4 August, 1540. Newgate Gaol, London
Memento: Epsam’s habit
People/Social
Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: James Clark
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1540 fits on our Timeline 

Malcolm Gaskill: An Execution and a Witch (1649)

On a cold midwinter’s day in 1649, King Charles I stepped onto a platform in Whitehall. He knelt down and said a prayer. Then he stretched his arms forward to signal that he was ready to die. As the axe swung down, the crowd that had gathered emitted a sound that was later recalled as a ‘collective groan.’
The killing of a king, an unheard of act, brought a shocking end to a destructive decade of civil war in England. In this episode of the historian Malcolm Gaskill explains how that act was seen in its own time and what fears it generated for the future.
London might have been the centre of people’s interest in 1649, but elsewhere other tantalising events were taking place. Gaskill takes us from Whitehall to Surrey, where we see the founding of a radical new movement called The Diggers. Then we travel across the Atlantic Ocean to see the frontier community of Springfield in Massachusetts. This is the setting, as Gaskill explains, for a curious case of witchcraft.
Malcolm Gaskill is Emeritus Professor of Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. He is one of Britain’s leading experts in the history of witchcraft, and he is the author of the captivating new micro-history, The Ruin of all Witches: life and death in the New World.
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order Malcolm’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
Show notes
Scene One: Tuesday 30 January: Whitehall, London. The execution of King Charles I.
Scene Two: Sunday 1 April: St George’s Hill, Walton, Surrey. The Start of the Diggers
Scene Three: Wednesday 30 May: Springfield, Massachusetts. The Slander Trial of Mary Parsons
Memento: The top of King Charles I’s silver cane
People/Social
Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Malcolm Gaskill
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Colorgraph
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1649 fits on our Timeline

Justine Picardie: Miss Dior (1947)

Writer and journalist Justine Picardie takes us back to 1947 to meet resistance fighter Catherine Dior. The youngest sister of the renowned French designer, Catherine’s story of survival during World War 2 is one of great courage and it is being told at last.
*
In 1947, Christian Dior launched his debut collection in Paris and became a sensation. His designs were characterised by enormous, fairy-tale-like skirts and hyper-feminine silhouettes. It was christened the ‘New Look’ by the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Carmel Snow, because it stood in such stark contrast to the sober women’s fashion of recent years.
Yet what makes the glamour of Dior’s collection even more compelling to us today is the dark backdrop it was set against. Few knew then that just eighteen months before, Dior’s youngest sister, Catherine, had been liberated from the German concentration camp at Ravensbrück.
Justine Picardie explores Catherine’s story in 1947 – the year that her brother made his break in a Paris still haunted by the war.
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order Justine’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
Show notes
Scene One: 3 February, 1947, the War Crimes Court in Hamburg, Germany: the last day of the trial of 16 defendants (nine men and seven women) accused of crimes committed at Ravensbrück concentration camp. 
Scene Two: 12 February, 1947, 30 Avenue Montaigne, Paris: in his newly established couture house, Christian Dior is making his debut, with a collection that will revolutionise the world of fashion.
Scene Three: Late May, Provence, 1947: at the family farm that Catherine Dior inherited from her father, she is undertaking the annual harvest of rose de Mai, that will be used as a vital ingredient in her brother’s perfumes.
Memento: A very small bottle of the original Miss Dior.
People/Social
Presenter: Artemis Irvine
Guest: Justine Picardie
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1947 fits on our Timeline 

Garry J Shaw: Ancient Egypt and Tutankhamun (c.1335 BC)

Tutankhamun. That one word is enough to conjure up enticing images of Ancient Egypt: dashing chariots, mighty temples, little skiffs sailing on the Nile and, most of all, the king's own transfixing Golden Mask.
But who really was Tutankhamun, this figure who has come to represent so much?
In this episode we are joined by the Egyptologist Garry J. Shaw who takes us back to the age of Tutankhamun in the second millennium BC. This was, Shaw explains, an exhilarating time to be alive. Great temples were being built. Money was flowing into the kingdom in tribute. Egypt was recognised as a strong regional power.
This was the world that Tutankhamun was born into. He became king, Shaw explains, at about the age of nine. His short reign was significant and the manner of his death was mysterious. Did he die in a chariot accident? Was he bludgeoned about the head?
And did this king really, Shaw ponders, really use a walking stick?
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Garry J Shaw is the author of Egyptian Mythology: A Traveller’s Guide.
Show Notes
Scene One: c. 1343 BC. Tutankhamun is in Memphis, in the old palace of Tuthmosis I.
Scene Two: c. 1333 BC. Tutankhamun dies and is buried in the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes.
Scene Three: c. 1328 BC. The coronation of Horemheb in Thebes
Memento: Tutankhamun’s walking stick
People/Social
Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Garry J Shaw
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
Or on Facebook
See where 1335 BC fits on our Timeline