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Britain: So Many Different Little Corners Mar 17, 2019

Show notes

Back in the deep, dark depths of winter, we met a Scottish photographer on the top of a Glasgow multi-storey car park. "The English think I am a nationalist," he tells Misha Glenny, "but you can be British and wave the saltire, the Saint Andrew's Cross." Which suggests the word British is still alive and kicking, despite the tendency to think we are about to fragment.

In this final episode, the programme travels to Scotland, Wales and Ireland to discover what binds us, and what divides us. Recording on location in a mid-Wales snowstorm and a Dublin rugby match, the presenter teases out the mystery of what Britain was historically, particularly in the days of empire. It also asks why the republic of Ireland decided to break loose. With contributions from Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert of Document Scotland, Fiona Watson, Murray Pittock, Tom Devine, Mike Parker, Fintan O'Toole, playwright Rosemary Jenkinson, and historian Patrick Geoghegan, currently on attachment to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Presenter Misha Glenny is a Sony award winning reporter and the author of McMafia. Miles Warde is series producer of the How to Invent a Country podcast which has now travelled to Germany, Spain, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA.

Britain: Insecurity… From Dover to Dublin and Beyond Mar 10, 2019

Show notes

In 1992 workers on the new link road between Dover and Folkestone made an amazing discovery - a Bronze Age boat, perhaps the oldest ocean going vessel in the world. Travelling to see this amazing artefact, presenter Misha Glenny starts to wonder about our island peoples, and the role the sea has played in the invention of Britain. Insecure, open to invasion, and determined to maintain its borders at all costs. This was as true in Dover as in other parts of this Atlantic archipelago - particularly in Ireland, Catholic Ireland.

In the third episode of the Invention of Britain, you'll hear what made our rulers feel insecure, and why Ireland was so often the Achilles heel, from the siege of Kildare in 1601 to the rebellion of the United Irishmen in 1798. With contributions from Roy Foster, Joan Redmond, Tom Devine, Fintan O'Toole and Jon Iveson of the Dover Museum.

Presenter Misha Glenny is a Sony award-winning reporter and the author of McMafia. Miles Warde produces the How to Invent a Country series which has now travelled to Germany, Spain, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA.

Britain: Anglocentrism… or Why Britons Never Will Be Slaves Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

In AD 937 a mighty battle, like something from Game of Thrones, took place somewhere on the British Isles. Nobody is exactly sure where. On one side there was the king of the Scottish highlands, the king of Strathclyde, and the king of Dublin as well. On the other, Athelstan, bracelet-bestower, baron of barons, lord among earls. It was England against the rest.

In part two of the Invention of Britain, Misha Glenny explores the role of England in the history of these islands - from the battle of Brunanburgh to the conquest of Ireland and Wales. There are location recordings in Anglesey, Caernarfon, Edinburgh and beyond. Contributors include Tom Holland, Suzannah Lipscomb, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Sara Elin Roberts, Dafydd Iwan and Joan Redmond. This episode travels as far as the English Civil War, better known these days as the War of the Three Kingdoms.

Presenter Misha Glenny is a Sony award-winning reporter and the author of McMafia. Miles Warde is the series producer of How to Invent a Country which also includes programmes on Germany, Spain, Italy and Brazil.

Britain: Like Quicksand for the Uninitiated Feb 24, 2019

Show notes

"Let's start with the monarchy - the Normans or Norsemen who'd settled in northern France; the Tudors, part Welsh; the Stuarts, they were Scots; then there's the Dutch, briefly, and the Hanoverians from 1714. There hasn’t been an English dynasty for almost a thousand years. And yet much of our history is centred on what London decides."

This is the story of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, from Offa's Dyke to Hadrian's Wall via Dublin and Derry, Edinburgh too. What has made this Atlantic archipelago come together? Three acts of union, plus an Anglo-Irish agreement in 1921. Our rulers may have come from everywhere, yet for centuries we were at war with ourselves.

Episode 1 considers England and Scotland, and the reasons behind the union of 1707.

Recorded around the country - on the borders, the battlefields, in the rooms where deals were done - these programmes are told with Invention's trademark clarity.

Presenter Misha Glenny is a Sony award winning reporter and the author of McMafia. Miles Warde produces the How to Invent a Country series which has now travelled to Germany, Spain, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA.

Contributors to the series include Diarmaid MacCulloch, Suzannah Lipscomb, Fiona Watson, Karin Bowie, Roy Foster, Fintan O'Toole, Tom Holland and Rebecca Rideal.

France: Le Petit Napoleon and the Franco-Prussian War Nov 15, 2018

Show notes

Two hours north east of Paris is a famous battlefield. The defeated French leader was called Napoleon, but the battle was not Waterloo. It was Sedan, and lining up against the French, the Prussians. The defeated French leader was Napoleon's nephew, le petit Napoleon, otherwise known as the emperor Napoleon III. This battle, in 1870, set up the dynamic that led to two world wars.

In the final Invention of France, Misha Glenny explores a crucial year for all western Europe. France was invaded, Paris bombarded, and Alsace occupied. January 18th 1871, a humiliating event - the proclamation of a new German empire, announced not in Germany but in the Palace of Versailles. Europe would never be the same.

With contributions from Thomas Kielinger, Jonathan Fenby, ambassador Sylvie Bermann, Andrew Hussey, Jeremy Black and Agnew Poirier. Plus contrubutions from Emile Zola's novel, Le Debacle.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

France: Maximilien Robespierre Nov 06, 2018

Show notes

On July 28 1794 one of the great names of the French Revolution met madame guillotine in front of the Parisian mob. Maximilien Robespierre lived quite nearby his place of execution, in Rue Saint Honore where he lodged with a master carpenter called Maurice Duplay. Robespierre was a pacifist, a man of the people ... yet no other name is more associated with the Terror than this man, and his death is among the most dramatic of all these bloody years.

In the second Invention of France, Misha Glenny explores the impact of the Revolution through the life of this man. Robespierre troubles many French people - the plaque on his house has been scratched away in the past. Why has he taken virtually all the blame for the executions and chaos of these years? Perhaps he plays a similar role to Oliver Cromwell, except French history is not the same as ours, not all.

"Revolution is the spine of recent French history - 1789, 1830, 1848, 1870, 1936, 1968."

With contributions from Marisa Linton, Ruth Scurr, Joel Felix, Jonathan Fenby and Jeremy Black.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

France: Joan of Arc Oct 18, 2018

Show notes

On a bridge at Montereau in northern France, two warring groups met to resolve their differences. Then in a moment straight out of Game of Thrones, supporters of one group struck the leader of the other full in the face with an axe. The kingdom was convulsed by civil war, its very existence under threat. Just four years earlier, at Agincourt, the English had won a famous victory - now the way lay open for the English king, Henry V, to claim all France as his own. And it was the murder on the bridge that made this possible. In later years, holding up the dead man's skull, a guide used to tell his audience, "Through this hole the English entered France."

In the first Invention of France, presenter Misha Glenny explores a crucial period in history, when France faced extinction ... until the arrival of Joan of Arc. With compelling contributions from Helen Castor, Anne Curry, the French ambassador in London Sylvie Bermann, Desmond Seward and Professor Francoise Michaud-Frejaville.

"This is the territory that in all these Invention programmes - about Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil - we love to explore. How did these countries attain the shape and character they have today. In France they like to talk about l'hexagone, the hexagon; and if you look on the map that is exactly how modern France appears. But there was nothing inevitable about this strong, sturdy shape." Misha Glenny

Future programmes focus on Maximilien Robespierre and Napoleon III, le petit Napoleon.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

Brazil: Getulio Vargas and the USA Oct 03, 2018

Show notes

From giant factory farm for Europeans to modern BRIC economy, the story of Brazil's transformation is captured in this final programme in the life of Getulio Vargas - moderniser, dictator, and finally democratically elected president. In the final part of the Invention of Brazil, Misha Glenny explores the life of Vargas, the man who changed Brazil.

"I was struck by how short he was ... the crowd went wild with adulation, an enormous mass of people. Their spontaneous shouts made me think I was in Italy, watching one of those fascist rallies." Unnamed public official, seeing Vargas for the first time.

Vargas came to power in 1930 and proved an expert at keeping himself in power. Initially he styled himself on Mussolini - the story of why he took Brazil into the Second World War on the side of the Allies is central here. As also are the events leading up to his suicide while still in power. With contributions from anthropologist Lilia Schwarz, Professor David Brookshaw, Peter Fry, and author Ana Maria Machado whose father was arrested by Vargas several times.

Presenter: Misha Glenny Producer: Miles Warde.

Brazil: The British Sep 21, 2018

Show notes

Misha Glenny continues his exploration of the little known but extraordinary events that have shaped Brazil. This week, two unexpected events in Brazil's path to independence. The first occurred in 1808, when the entire Portuguese court moved across the Atlantic to escape Napoleon. They lived in Rio de Janeiro, which they enjoyed so much that they stayed on for another 13 years. The second occurred in 1822 when the King of Portugal's son, Dom Pedro, declared 'Independence or Death', breaking Brazil free from her European overlords. We reveal that the British were heavily involved in both events.

"As quid pro quo for escorting the Portuguese across the Atlantic, the British ended up arm twisting the Portuguese royal court into signing a very one sided treaty, which in fact ended up giving the British more rights than the Brazilians themselves." Patrick Wilcken, author Empire Adrift.

A fast paced and astounding story of war and slavery, featuring Luciana Martins of Birkbeck College, Emeritus Professor David Brookshaw, and the best-selling Brazilian author Laurentino Gomez, author of 1808: How a Weak Prince, A Mad Queen, and the British Navy Tricked Napoleon and Changed the World.

Presenter: Misha Glenny Producer: Miles Warde.

Brazil: The Portuguese Sep 14, 2018

Show notes

Forget the beach volleyball, carnival, and the rest - here's the truth about Brazil. The murder rate is among the highest in the world. The economic inequality is visible wherever you go. Behind the happy cultural imagery there lies a much darker Brazil, the result of an extremely dark colonial history when this land was little more than a giant farm worked by slaves.

In The Invention of Brazil, Misha Glenny traces the gaps between the image and reality, beginning with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500. More slaves were transported to Brazil than anywhere else, more than the United States, more than anywhere.

"There were many Africans who served as interpreters," Joao Reis explains, "who could tell the slaves: 'You are not going to be eaten by those whites'. And that was the African fear - that they were being brought to an unknown world by whites where they would be eaten."

Misha Glenny and producer Miles Warde travel from the favela of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro up the coast to Salvador, the first capital of Brazil, and then back to Sao Paulo, economic powerhouse of the south. On the way they meet contributors including the anthropologist Peter Fry; Americo Martins of Rede TV; historian Lilia Schwarz; and bestselling author Laurentino Gomez. Further contributions from Luciana Martins, David Brookshaw and Patrick Wilcken, author of Empire Adrift.

From the team behind The Invention of Germany and The Invention of Spain.

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