Cherry-picking The Rest is History
It turns out I quite like podcasts. This isn’t a surprise: for decades I have enjoyed “talk radio”, whether CBC Radio back in earlier days, or BBC Radio 4 after embarking on life as an ex-pat in the UK. Really, podcasts are just radio-on-demand, of course. Not really a new thing at all, even if podcasting is rather trendy now, and a new source of income generation (for some).
My all-time favourite is In Our Time, hosted by Melvyn Bragg. I quite like perusing the 1000+ episodes now via the quaintly-named Braggoscope (and interesting backstory on its coding). Recently, The Rest is Politics has claimed quite a lot of my listening time (along with its spin-off, Leading). But one that was a slow-burn for me was The Rest is History. It has been around for a few years now (launched in November 2020, I see), and I had listened to the odd episode, sometimes on recommendations of friends. However, one of the presenters (unnamed) fairly consistently got up my nose, and I didn’t return for more.
In the past few weeks, though, I’ve begun to pick the odd more recent episode ... then another, then another. I don’t know whether it’s me or them, but the annoyingness factor has subsided if not entirely, then at least appreciably—enough for it not to be a deterrent, anyway. So I thought I’d keep track of the episodes that I have most enjoyed, partly because I can imagine myself returning to these for a second listen.
- 326: The Year of Revolutions: 1848 2023-05-01
Sometimes there is a guest, as on this occasion with Cambridge-based historian, Christopher Clark. - 333: The Republic of Britain: Life under Cromwell 2023-05-18
Another guest author, Anna Keay, director of the Landmark Trust. - 343: Oppenheimer: The Father of the Atom Bomb 2023-06-22
- 344: Oppenheimer: The Witch Hunt 2023-06-23
This pair was made to coincide with the launch of the film, which was released to much fanfare. I haven’t seen the film, but I did enjoy these episodes. - 380. Captain Cook: History’s Greatest Explorer 2023-10-22
- 381. Captain Cook: To the Ends of the Earth 2023-10-25
Cook is one of those figures you learn about in school (or used to, when I were a lad), but his story is more compelling than I had realized. - 400. Victorian Britain's Maddest Mystery 2023-12-18
Who knew Roger Tichborne could be so interesting?! I didn’t.
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