Travels Through Time

Anthony Tucker-Jones: Winston Churchill and Victory in North Africa (1943)

In this episode the military historian Anthony Tucker-Jones shares his latest research on one of the great figures in British history: Winston Churchill. To get a close look at Churchill’s personality and his modus operandi, he takes us back to the year 1943 – a pivotal year at the heart of the Second World War.
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The fall of Tunis in May 1943 marked the first liberation of an occupied city by the Allies. It was a significant moment, the military historian Anthony Tucker-Jones argues, as important at the time as the victory at Stalingrad.
Winston Churchill was one who relished the news when it arrived in London. Always keen to be in the thick of the action, Churchill was soon climbing aboard a plane bound for Tunisia where he would address the victorious troops in person in the ancient surrounds of Carthage.
Churchill’s idiosyncratic manner is something that has long interested Tucker-Jones. In this episode he describes Churchill’s personality, his faults and his peculiar strengths through the prism of events in 1943. This was a time when his wartime popularity was at its height and a time when the fate of the Second World War swung firmly in the Allies’ favour.
 
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Scene One: 7 May 1943. The Allied liberation of the Tunisian capital Tunis.
Scene Two: 1 June 1943. Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s visit to the Roman amphitheatre at Carthage, to congratulate 3,000 men of the British 1st Army on their victory.
Scene Three: 17 August 1943. The Liberation of Messina.
Memento: Churchill’s sun helmet from his trip to Carthage
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Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Anthony Tucker-Jones
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Christopher de Bellaigue: Suleyman the Magnificent (1534)

This week we travel back to the Islamic year 941 which straddles 1534/5 of our own calendar, a particularly deadly year in the reign of the Ottoman Emperor, Suleyman the Magnificent. 
There was no shortage of extraordinary rulers in the sixteenth century: Ivan the Terrible towered over Russia, England had its own Gloriana, Elizabeth I, Charles V governed the vast Holy Roman Empire, while in India, the Emperor Akbar transformed Mughal culture. But every one of these mighty potentates cowered in the shadow of the man who ruled the Ottoman Empire between 1520 and 1566 - Suleyman the Magnificent.
In his compelling new book, The Lion House, the award-winning writer and expert on the Islamic world, Christopher de Ballaigue takes us deep inside the Ottoman corridors of power in this dramatic period of their history.
Show Notes
Scene One: Transylvania. The death of Alvise Gritti, son of the Venetian Doge, merchant, millionaire and chief procurer of everything from guns to parmesan at the Ottoman Court, at the hands of the Hungarians.
Scene Two: Baghdad. Having recently taken the city, Suleyman awakes from a nightmare in which his treasurer Iskender Celebi, who has recently been hung on the Sultan’s order, tries to strangle him. 
Scene Three: Baghdad. Suleyman receives a letter from his beloved wife Hurrem, back in Istanbul, reminding him of the delights of home.
Memento: the extraordinary solid gold quadruple crown made in Venice for the Sultan, valued at 144,000 ducats and dripping with unimaginable jewels. 
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Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Christopher de Ballaigue
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen: A History of the Library (1850)

Of all the accomplishments of human civilisation, the creation of libraries, making the preservation and transmission of knowledge possible, is surely the greatest. In this episode the academics Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen take us back to 1850, a pivotal moment in the history of public libraries. 
Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen’s new book, The Library, A Fragile History, takes on the ‘long and tumultuous history’ of these noble institutions, from the clay tablets of ancient Nineveh to the problematic Google Books project (inspired, like so many other attempts to ‘encompass the world’s knowledge’, by the library of Alexandria). This is an unflinching look at library history, one that does not shy away from the neglect, the destruction and the moments when knowledge was lost.
Show Notes
Scene One: London, The House of Commons. The debate surrounding the Public Libraries Act is in full swing, giving us the chance to understand what this act meant to the development of libraries, and why it failed to gain so little support outside Parliament. 
Scene Two: Bordeaux, France. The great municipal library of Bordeaux, one of the finest public collections in France, and one of many similar Bibliotheques municipales. Although France had a system of public libraries that were, on paper, the envy of the world (due to the size and reputation of their collections), in reality they were tombs of books: rarely used, badly funded and frequently looted. 
Scene Three: New York, USA. The famous public library building was still decades in the future, but New York had a highly diverse system of different libraries, for different publics, that explain why a great central collection was so long in the making. 
Mementos: Arthur, One of the books stolen by Count Libri that went missing in the mists of time in order to return it to its rightful bibliothèque municipale. Andrew, mid 19th century ‘triple-decker’ edition of The History of Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray.
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Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Lulu Jemimah: The Last Pre-Colonial King of Buganda (1885)

This week we meet a misunderstood king who resisted colonial rule. 
History is full of kings and queens with bad reputations. And yet, on closer inspection, we often find these reputations weren’t always entirely justified. That’s the argument that my guest today, Lulu Jemimah, makes for King Mwanga II – the last pre-colonial king of Buganda before British colonial rule.
King Mwanga is known mostly for his part in killing 45 young pages who were Christian converts between 1885 and 1887, later known as the Uganda martyrs. Some scholars have argued that Mwanga was bisexual and that he had the pages killed after they refused his sexual advances in court. 
But what if Mwanga’s reign and reputation were more complicated than the picture this story paints? Mwanga came to the throne aged sixteen and inherited a kingdom which was under threat from European powers engaged in a “Scramble for Africa”.
Our guest is the writer, producer, and media consultant Lulu Jemimah. With over ten years’ experience she has worked across different platforms from print to radio, stage, and screen. She has also been involved in communicating research to broader audiences across topics like health, economics, history and politics.
Show Notes
Scene One: September, 1855. A meeting is held between Mwanga and his chiefs to discuss European influence on the continent.
Scene Two: October, 1885. The execution of Bishop Hannington
Scene Three: 15th November 1885. The execution of king’s close friend and confidante Joseph Mukasa Balikudembe by the Prime minister. 
Momento: The snake that tried to kill King Mutesa.
People/Social
Presenter: Artemis Irvine
Guest: Lulu Jemimah
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Ronen Steinke: The Arab Doctor and the Jewish Girl (1943)

In this episode of Travels Through Time we meet two extraordinarily brave people who formed an unlikely friendship in Hitler's Berlin. 
Their names were Dr Mohammed Helmy – a Muslim Egyptian doctor who had been living in Berlin since coming to study there in 1922 – and Anna Boros, a sixteen year old Jewish girl. When the Nazi regime's persecution of Jewish people started to escalate, Anna's mother approached Dr Helmy to ask for his help. His solution was to form a unique and daring plan that would fool the Gestapo just enough times to save Anna's life. 
Anna and Dr Helmy's story is the subject of a new book by our guest today, the journalist and author Ronen Steinke. Ronen is also a political commentator for Süddeutsche Zeitung,  Germany's leading broadsheet newspaper and has published a number of works in Germany on the Nazi period. His most recent book Anna & Dr Helmy: How an Arab Doctor Saved a Jewish Girl in Hitler's Berlin is published by Oxford University Press. 
Show Notes
Scene One: 1943. The Berlin mosque. A place that had fascinated Berliners and inspired the imagination of intellectuals and artists, a place that had been open to visitors and had attracted visitors like Albert Einstein - and a place where a particular friendship with the city's Jews had been visible since the mid-1920s. Now in 1943, this mosque was forcibly placed under the control of the Nazi-friendly Mufti of Jerusalem, a guest of honour of the SS.
Scene Two: 1943. The doctor's practice of Dr Mohammed Helmy in the well-to-do Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The Gestapo barge in, they are looking for a Jewish girl who has gone to ground in order to escape deportation: Anna. They don't find her however, they are met only by the doctor and his Arab assistant, and so they leave empty-handed. The beauty of this scene is: They have been duped.
Scene Three: 10 June 1943. The appartment of Dr Mohammed Helmy in the rough Moabit neighbourhood of Berlin. Nighttime. A secret meeting. Along with a fellow Egyptian, Dr Helmy helps the Jewish girl Anna whom he is hiding to convert to Islam. The idea is to save her life.
Momento: An instrument from one of Berlin’s jazz clubs.
People/Social
Presenter: Artemis Irvine
Guest: Ronen Steinke
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Dr Priya Atwal: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire (1837)

In this episode of Travels Through Time we attend a magnificent Sikh royal wedding which was as much carefully orchestrated political theatre as it was the union of two people before god.
Indian weddings are famous for their exuberance and that of Prince Nau Nihal Singh, who married Bibi Nanaki Kaur Atariwala in 1837, may well have been the most extravagant of all time.
This lavish month-long celebration was an emotional moment for the young Prince’s grandparents, Ranjit Singh, ‘the lion of Punjab’, Maharajah and founder of the splendid Sikh dynasty that ruled northern India from 1799-1849, and his beloved wife, Maharani Datar Kaur. They oversaw the wedding preparations and presided over the whole extravaganza.
But while the guests feasted and the dancing girls performed, Ranjit Singh and his advisors were busy negotiating with representatives of the East India Company over the division of power in the Punjab and beyond.
Click here to order Dr Priya Atwal’s book Royals and Rebels, the Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire from an independent bookshop near you.
Show Notes
Scene One: March 6th, 1837. The 'vatna' ceremony performed by his family (particularly his grandmother and the senior queens) where the couple are smeared with a paste made of turmeric as part of his pre-wedding celebrations.
Scene Two: Early April, 1837. The wedding ceremony at the home of Sham Singh Attariwala, local warlord and father of the bride.
Scene Three: End of March, 1837. The military parade performed by the groom in front of Maharajah Ranjit Singh's British guests at the end of the month-long celebrations.
Memento: One of the Maharani’s incredible outfits, including the jewels!
People/Social
Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Dr Priya Atwal
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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David Bosco: The Struggle to Rule the Ocean (1982)

In this delightfully modern episode of Travels Through Time we are setting sail for an adventure on the high seas.
Our guest is David Bosco, author of The Poseidon Project, The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans, in which he charts the efforts of international organisations to create consensus and establish a structure of globally recognised rules for the oceans.
In this episode David takes us back to 1982, a fraught year on the high seas when Britain was battling Argentina in the South Atlantic for control of the Falkland Islands and the waters around them. In the Arctic, a British adventurer had just completed the famous Northwest Passage. He did so just as disagreement between Canada and the United States over the legal status of the Passage became acute. Meanwhile, final preparations were underway for the signing of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. But there was a cloud over the celebrations—the world’s leading maritime power, the United States, had decided not to sign.
Click here to order David Bosco's book The Poseidon Project, The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans from an independent bookseller. 
Show Notes
Scene One: January 1, 1982, The North Pole. Sir Ranulph Fiennes and his wife Virginia Fiennes celebrated the New Year with the rest of their expedition at a snow-covered base camp. 
Scene Two: June 8, 1982, the South Atlantic Ocean, approximately 500 miles northeast of the Falkland Islands. An aircraft bombs the tanker Hercules during the war between Argentina and the United Kingdom for control of the Falklands. 
Scene Three: December 10, 1982: Rose Hall Hotel, Montego Bay, Jamaica. The site for the signing of the new United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. 
Memento: The signed treaty from the convention in Montego Bay. 
People/Social
Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: David Bosco
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Edward Shawcross: The Last Emperor of Mexico (1867)

Today we’re off to the nineteenth century to examine an event that Karl Marx called ‘One of the most monstrous enterprises in the annals of international history.’
Edward Shawcross takes us back to meet Maximilian, the Last Emperor of Mexico.
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The 1860s were a decisive decade in the emergence of the modern world. As Britain’s empire expanded, and the United States emerged entire from a debilitating Civil War, an audacious French scheme to place an Austrian archduke on an invented throne in Mexico played tragically out.
One of the chief architects of this plan was the daring French leader, Napoleon III. In Napoleon’s mind the effort to insert a Catholic emperor into a contested part of the world was an inspired piece of statecraft. Yet to many others the enterprise was quite different. It was hubristic, high-flown, destined to fail.
Today’s guest tells us about this whole astonishing story. The Last Emperor of Mexico is Edward Shawcross’s debut book. Widely praised, it tells the extraordinary true story of Maximilian of Mexico.
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com. For more about The Last Emperor of Mexico look here.
"A superbly entertaining and well-researched account that sets a new standard for histories of the doomed escapade."--Financial Times
Show notes
Scene One: 13 February 1867, Mexico City (and its outskirts). Ferdinand Maximilian, so-called emperor of Mexico, rides out to confront his enemies.
Scene Two: Querétaro. Early morning of May 15 1867, Maximilian is cornered in a shell-shattered former convent.
Scene Three: 19 June 1867, Querétaro another convent, this one is Maximilian’s prison cell. This is the day of his death.
Memento: Maximilian’s silver crucifix.
People/Social
Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Edward Shawcross
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Roderick Beaton: Herodotus and the Birth of Written History (447 BCE)

This week we are going back to witness the birth of historyas a written discipline.
Our guide on this long journey into the ancient world has spent his lifestudying and teaching Greek language and culture, but it was when he retired from academia that Professor Roderick Beaton found the time to write the book he had been dreaming about since he first visited Greece as a teenager. The Greeks, A Global History is a masterful, sweeping journey through 3500 years of history that tells the stories of Greek people, their language and their culture.
In this episode, Roderick takes us back to the year 447BCE and the moment when Herodotus of Halicarnassus, newly arrived in Athens, sat down and began to write his Histories and in doing so, laid the foundations of the discipline of History itself.
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order Roderick Beaton’s The Greeks: A Global History from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
Show Notes
Scene One: Herodotus of Halicarnassus arrives in Athens and begins writing his monumental Histories.
Scene Two: Pericles, the many-times elected statesman of the Athenian democracy, persuades his fellow-citizens to embark on a huge andcontroversial building programme on the Acropolis of Athens.
Scene Three: Outside the small town of Coronea, an Athenian expeditionary force is defeated by the city’s neighbours, the Boeotians. The defeat marks the beginning of division of the ancient Greek world into blocs led by Athens and Sparta, and is the harbinger of the Peloponnesian War in which the Greek city-states fought themselves to exhaustion and stalemate.
Memento: One of the rolled scrolls on which Herodotus wrote his Histories.
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Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Roderick Beaton
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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Nick Rennison: Scenes from a Turbulent Year (1922)

In our first episode of 2022, we’re travelling back exactly a hundred years.
We visit three self-contained moments – the trial of Hollywood’s much-loved comedian ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle for the murder of Virginia Rappe, the assassination of the Weimer Republic politician Walther Rathenau and the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. Each one sheds light on a different facet of the modern world that was 1922. 
Our guest is Nick Rennison, whose most recent book 1922: Scenes from a Turbulent Year charts this extraordinary year in world history month by month. Nick is a writer, editor and bookseller with a particular interest in modern history and crime fiction. His other works include Sherlock Holmes: An Unauthorised Biography and The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide to Crime Fiction. He is a regular reviewer for both the Sunday Times and Daily Mail. 
As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com.
Click here to order 1922: Scenes from a Turbulent Year.
Show Notes
Scene One: November, 1922. Valley of the Kings, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb
Scene Two: June, 1922. Berlin, the assassination of Walther Rathenau by right wing extremists
Scene Three: January, 1922. Hollywood, scandals such as the 'Fatty' Arbuckle trial and the murder of William Desmond Taylor which ultimately shaped the kind of films produced in America over the next four decades
Memento: A first edition copy of James Joyce's Ulysses
People/Social
Presenter: Artemis Irvine
Guest: Nick Rennison
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Unseen Histories
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