The National Archives Podcast Series

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Latest Episodes:

Blindness in Victorian Britain Sep 21, 2016

Show notes

This talk traces how blind and visually-impaired people in the Victorian era became increasingly vocal in seeking control and ownership over the social and political issues that directly affected them, and introduces some of the era's most prominent and influential blind campaigners.

Heather Tilley is a British Academy postdoctoral research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She has recently curated an exhibition at Birkbeck on the history of assistive reading technologies for blind people and a display of prominent blind and visually-impaired people for the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

A tourist's guide to Shakespeare's London Sep 13, 2016

Show notes

Discover what it was like to wander the streets of Shakespeare's London. Though large portions of the city from Shakespeare's time have since been destroyed by fire, war and developers, a surprising number of buildings and places still survive.

Author David Thomas discusses the sights, cuisine and pastimes of 16th century Londoners, while providing insight into what it was like to be a tourist during Shakespeare's lifetime.

Please note that there are occasional disruptions to the sound quality during this recording.

Magna Carta: Law, Liberty and Legacy Sep 06, 2016

Show notes

In this podcast, Julian Harrison discusses Magna Carta's fascinating history and legacy, focusing on some of the key loans made by The National Archives to the British Library's 'Magna Carta' exhibition in 2015.

Julian Harrison is a curator of Pre-1600 Historical Manuscripts at the British Library, and is also co-curator of 'Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy'. He is a specialist in medieval history, and is also editor of the Library's award-winning Medieval Manuscripts blog.

Prisoners of war in the Far East Aug 31, 2016

Show notes

Prisoners of war in the Far East experienced some of the most horrifying and traumatic conditions of the Second World War. But what of the experiences of family members and loved ones left at home during this time?

In this podcast, writer Hilary Custance Green talks about her new book 'Surviving the Death Railway', which is based on her father's personal experiences. Using original records from our collection, Hilary explores how prisoners and their loved ones coped at this time and attempted to rebuild their lives at the end of hostilities.

England's Immigrants between 1330 and 1550 Aug 23, 2016

Show notes

This talk explores a new research database which provides an insight into immigration in England in the late medieval period. The database holds around 65,000 names of immigrants who were living in England between 1330 and 1550.

Dr Jonathan Mackman and Dr Jessica Lutkin introduce this new resource, a project by the University of York, in partnership with the Humanities Research Institute and The National Archives.

Simply a Jacobite woman? The life experience of Lady Nairne Aug 17, 2016

Show notes

Lady Nairne was a noted Jacobite who played an important part in rousing support for the risings of both 1715 and 1745. This talk draws upon letters and papers to examine the experiences of Lady Nairne and other Jacobite women during and after the risings.

Dr Nicola Cowmeadow is a Carnegie Scholar with an ongoing interest in women in history - her doctoral thesis was on 'Scottish Noblewomen, the Family and Scottish politics, 1688-1707' (2012). She is also the Local History Officer for Perth and Kinross working in Local and Family History at AK Bell Library, Perth.

Worn out by war: Disabled soldiers and their pensions Aug 10, 2016

Show notes

How can military records help us to reconstruct and understand the lives of disabled people and their families in the 18th and 19th centuries? This talk will explore how the pension records of the Royal Hospital of Chelsea (home of the famous Chelsea Pensioners) can be used to gain insight into the lives of disabled veterans.

Dr Caroline Nielsen is a lecturer at the University of Northampton and specialises in the history of disability and war.

First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill Aug 03, 2016

Show notes

Sonia Purnell presents the inspiring but often ignored story of one of the most important women in modern history - the original 'First Lady'. Discover the fascinating story of her influence on Britain's wartime leader, through the Churchills' 'wilderness years' in the 1930s, to Clementine's desperate efforts to preserve her husband's health during the struggle against Hitler.

Sonia Purnell is a journalist and author.

Writer of the month: Mike Pitts on 'Digging for Richard III: How Archaeology Found the King' Jul 27, 2016

Show notes

To accompany the publication of his book 'Digging for Richard III: How Archaeology Found the King', Mike Pitts discusses the achievements, disputes and controversies surrounding the discovery of Richard III's skeleton.

Mike Pitts is an archaeologist and award-winning journalist and broadcaster. He has recently co-directed an excavation at Stonehenge and led a pioneering study of an Easter Island statue. For the last ten years Mike has edited Britain's leading archaeological magazine, British Archaeology.

Big Data and the gendering of Parliamentary language Jul 22, 2016

Show notes

Luke Blaxill discusses the ways in which Big Data techniques can introduce quantification into long-standing historical debates. His example is the case of female MPs in the House of Commons. How is the language they use different to that of male MPs and do they represent "women's issues" more effectively than men? Blaxill uses text mining techniques to investigate the feminist claim that women's contributions in the Commons are substantively different to men's and whether any "gender effect" is strengthening or weakening with the rise in female numbers, especially since 1997.

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