Neil Oliver: News, Interviews, History

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33. Magna Carta Jan 05, 2021

Show notes

This week, Neil travels to see an iconic document that shook the world.

In 1215 a battling king squared up to his rebellious barons in a power struggle produced Magna Carta and a new political order. A charter of rights that started to pin back the monarchy, Magna Carta declared not even a king is above the law. Never again would an English monarch have absolute power. Magna Carta and a follow-up document the Charter of the Forest helped lay the foundations for parliamentary democracy, shaping the world we live in today.

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32. Durham Cathedral Dec 29, 2020

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This week Neil travels back in time, almost 1000 years, to what became the city of Durham and the construction of a majestic building whose beauty and power have resonated down through the centuries ever since – Durham cathedral.

Our ancestors have always been driven by the need to build. In the years following the turn of the first millennium a great wave of energy ran across Europe and through the British Isles. In 1093 the Normans started building a cathedral whose towering pillars, cavernous interiors and powerful presence make it truly feel like a mountain raised by humans.

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31. The Great War Dec 22, 2020

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This week Neil’s journey takes us in search of the battle whose ferocity, violence and savagery shocked the whole of the British Isles and shaped its borders for ever – the battle of Brunanburh.

The repercussions from this momentous battle, fought in AD 937, have reverberated right up to the present day. Long remembered as the Great War this was the battle that sliced the long island in two!

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30. A Great King, Hyde Abbey, Winchester Dec 15, 2020

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This week Neil takes us in search of the remains of one the greatest Kings ever to reign in the British Isles.

Not far from Winchester’s city centre, in amongst modern residential streets, Neil is on the trail of the location where Alfred the Great’s bones were buried. Alfred the Great took on the Vikings and won. On the field of battle he was a brave and determined soldier. As a ruler his intellect and charisma helped put in place many of the practical and philosophical foundations that have shaped the British Isles. The hunt for his remains gives us a telling snapshot of the man and the history that followed his death

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29. King Alfred the Great versus the Viking, The Alfred Jewel Dec 08, 2020

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This week Neil takes us back in time to meet a king who stopped the Vikings in their tracks.

Sitting in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford is a precious golden artefact called the Alfred Jewel, which is over a thousand years old and inscribed with the words, ‘Alfred ordered me made’. This jeweller’s masterpiece tells us so much about the man who commissioned it – King Alfred the Great - a ruler whose actions had a profound effect on shaping the British Isles

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28. The Vikings Great Heathen Army, Repton, Derbyshire Dec 01, 2020

Show notes

This week Neil winters with the Great Heathen Army, the mighty Viking force that was poised, ready to sweep across the British Isles.

After the Vikings defeated the powerful Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia they chose to over-winter their army in its capital, Repton in Derbyshire.

It was here they rested and recuperated, plotting and planning their next military moves. It was also where they buried their dead. The grave of a formidable Viking, known as the Repton Warrior, who died of terrible injuries was found here, buried with his battle sword. The Vikings, who had died in battle were heading for Valhalla, but come the good weather their comrades were intent on pressing on and conquering the whole of the British Isles.

Also discovered at Repton was a mass Viking grave of great significance. At its centre was, what's thought to be, the grave of one of the Great Heathen Army's leaders - the legendary warrior, Ivar the Boneless.

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27. The Vikings Are Here! Brough of Birsay, Orkney. Nov 24, 2020

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This week Neil takes us with him to a place of stunning beauty with a dark and brutal past.

For years the Vikings well-deserved reputation for violence and brutality left a bloody stain right across the British Isles. They were masters of devastating ‘hit-and-run’ attacks, then at the end of the ninth century things took a turn…. for the worse! Vikings arrived on the Brough of Birsay in Orkney, driving off, or in an act of systematic genocide slaughtering the local Pictish men. But what was different this time was the Vikings hadn’t just come to pillage and plunder……they’d come to stay!

Piecing together the archaeology and history Neil tells a compelling story of an island trampled beneath Viking feet…… and he reveals what his DNA says about his own ancestors!

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26. The Vikings, Lindisfarne, Northumberland. Nov 17, 2020

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In this episode Neil takes us to an island stained with the first bloody fingerprints of an invader who would change the British Isles forever.

Heading to the Northumberland coast, at low tide, Neil walks to the tidal island of Lindisfarne. During the 7th century this small island became home to a thriving priory that grew to be rich and famous around the world. Its wealth drew the attention of the Vikings who in a smash-and-grab raid plundered its treasure, maiming and murdering anyone who stood in their way. Home to a picturesque castle that stands on a basalt crag facing the mighty North Sea, Lindisfarne is an island that has seen much!

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email: history@neiloliverloveletter.com

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25. King Arthur, Northumberland Nov 10, 2020

Show notes

This week, on his journey around the British Isles, Neil takes us to Northumberland to meet the legendary, King Arthur.

Climbing the battlements of the imposing Bamburgh Castle, swirling with mist and myths, legends and history, Neil explores the legend of King Arthur, the fabled hero, who resonates with us still in the 21st Century. The site is heavy with history. A place of majestic kingdoms and ritualistic cruelty. The episode takes in the retreating Romans, the advance of the Anglo-Saxons and the looming presence of the Vikings, and woven throughout it is the story of King Arthur – the hero who is said to be sleeping, ready to return when these Isles need him again.

Check out the INSTAGRAM account – NEIL OLIVER LOVE LETTER

email: history@neiloliverloveletter.com

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24. Iona, Inner Hebrides Nov 03, 2020

Show notes

In this episode Neil’s journey takes us to a magical island where the landscape, the light and the very air you breath come together to soothe the soul.

This week Neil sails from Oban, on the west coast of Scotland, to the island of Mull, from there he takes another boat to island of Iona. On the edge of the British Isles, Iona is steeped in ancient history long lost in time, said to be the place where some Scottish, Irish and Norwegian Kings are buried. It's now famous as a holy island where a group of very early Christian evangelists came to keep their faith alive. It's an island of breath-taking beauty that has the power to restore you.

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email: history@neiloliverloveletter.com

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