Empire: World History

Latest Episodes:

314. Rudyard Kipling: Villain or Visionary? (Part 3) Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

Should we still read Kipling today? What family tragedy did Kipling face in the later half of his life? How did he fan the flames of jingoism during and after the First World War?

William is reunited with Anita to discuss Rudyard Kipling’s later life and legacy and to debate whether we should revere or despise him...

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Email: empire@goalhanger.com

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Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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313. Rudyard Kipling: Escaping India & Writing The Jungle Book (Part 2) Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

What inspired Kipling to write his two most famous works: The Jungle Book and Kim? Why did Kipling hate London and swiftly move to the US? How did Kipling develop such astute observational writing about Anglo-Indians in his early twenties?

William is joined once again by Andrew Lycett, author of Rudyard Kipling, to discuss his rise to fame and how although he left India, his writing became evermore obsessed with the subcontinent…

And of course, you can still join for yourself any time at empirepoduk.com or on apple podcasts.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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312. Rudyard Kipling: Son of Empire (Part 1) Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

Rudyard Kipling was one of the most evocative writers of India, yet he was a jingoist and an imperialist until his dying day. So how do we grapple with this conundrum, why was Kipling such a man of contradiction? In this episode we explore his early life.

How did he go from a spoiled child in India who spoke Hindustani with his nanny, to living in an abusive foster home in Portsmouth which he called The House of Desolation?

William is joined by Andrew Lycett, author of Rudyard Kipling, to discuss Kipling’s colourful but turbulent early life.

And of course, you can still join for yourself any time at empirepoduk.com or on apple podcasts.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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311. Cricket In India: Beating The Brits At Their Own Game (Part 2) Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

How did Britain’s imperial game become so popular in India? Why were India’s princes the ‘nepo babies’ of cricket? How does the legacy of Partition continue to affect matches in India and Pakistan today?

Anita and William are joined once again by Tim Wigmore, author of Test Cricket: A History, as they unpack how a colonial sport grew to define a nation, mapping onto India’s historic and political tensions.

And of course, you can still join for yourself any time at empirepoduk.com

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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310. The Origin of The Ashes & The Killer Cricket Scandal (Part 1) Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

How is the history of cricket completely intertwined with the history of the British Empire? What was the Bodyline Controversy of the 1930s and how did it nearly kill a player? Who was Don Bradman and why is he believed to be the greatest sportsperson of all time?

Anita and William are joined by Tim Wigmore, author of Test Cricket: A History, to discuss the history of the cricket rivalry between England and Australia.

And of course, you can still join for yourself any time at empirepoduk.com

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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309. Tintin, Nazis, & Soviets Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

What was the origin story of Hergé, the Belgian illustrator who created The Adventures of Tintin? How did an unlikely friendship transform Hergé’s life and lead him to draw Tintin crying in a comic strip for the first and only time?

Anita and William navigate the turbulent hot waters of Tintin’s history from anti-Soviet propaganda, to featuring authentic Chinese calligraphy, to becoming one of the most successful comic book series in the world.

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For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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308. Asterix and Obelix, Babar The Elephant, & Colonial Cartoons Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

How did a story made up by a mother for her sick children turn into Babar The Elephant? Why did two immigrants to France create such a patriotically French cartoon in Asterix and Obelix? How should we feel about racist depictions of people of colour in beloved children’s cartoons today?

Listen as William and Anita explore the controversial debates about two of the most beloved cartoons from twentieth-century France: Asterix the Gaul, and Babar The Elephant.

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com

Email: empire@goalhanger.com
Instagram: @empirepoduk
Blue Sky: @empirepoduk
X: @empirepoduk
Producer: Anouska Lewis
Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe
Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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307. Austen vs Brontë: Unmasking Slavery Heiresses Nov 13, 2025

Show notes

What is the true history behind the “madwoman in the attic” in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre? How was Jane Austen’s aunt deeply connected to slavery in Barbados? Who were the British heiresses who married Caribbean plantation owners and inherited vast wealth made through chattel slavery?

William and Anita are joined by Miranda Kauffman, author of Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance, and Caribbean Slavery, to discuss how Austen and Brontë were connected to, and wrote about, these often-ignored slavery heiresses.

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

306. Joseph Conrad: From Russian Exile To The Heart of Darkness Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

How did a Polish sailor become one of the greatest writers in the English language? Why were Conrad’s parents exiled to the harsh conditions of northern Russia? Should we continue to read The Heart of Darkness in spite of its outdated views?

Anita and William are joined by Maya Jasanoff, author of The Dawn Watch, to discuss the adventurous life of Joseph Conrad and how his work shaped readers' understanding of imperialism.

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

305. Orwell: Dark Secrets, The CIA, & His Forgotten Failures (Part 4) Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

Why was Orwell’s wife, Eileen, written out of his story when she co-wrote Animal Farm? How did the CIA twist the novel into anti-communist propaganda? As a writer who was so ahead of his time on imperialism and totalitarianism, why did Orwell fail when it came to the patriarchy?

Anita and William are joined by Anna Funder, author of Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life, to discuss the women who are missing from Orwell’s biography despite being crucial to his development as a writer.

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: empire@goalhanger.com

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices