Avsnitt

  • Martin Luther is one of the few people to have genuinely changed the world, igniting a religious revolution that tore Christendom in two, and undermined European tradition in ways that still reverberate today. But along with Luther’s uniquely tortured psyche, three events contributed to his extreme transformation from young lawyer to fervent monk: the loss of a dear friend, a near fatal accident, and a cataclysmic thunderstorm. It was at the University of Wittenberg that Luther’s truly revolutionary understanding of God, theology and scripture began to evolve. His scorn for the state of the Church bubbled underneath the surface, until one day, a friar called Johann Tetzel rolled into Saxony, claiming to sell awesome indulgences, which would allow sinful locals to shorten their stay in purgatory. Such staggering corruption drove Luther to take drastic action, and, marching to Wittenberg Castle’s Church, he legendarily nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door. Or did he?

    Join Tom and Dominic as they describe Luther’s tormented journey to priesthood, the events that lead up to the apocryphal nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses, and the truly radical nature of his newfound relationship with God and Christianity. 




    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com



    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
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  • The Reformation, launched in 1517, stands as one of the most convulsive and transformative events of all time, shattering Christendom and dividing Europe for centuries. Its outcome determined the fates of Kings and Emperors, and saw the souls of millions consigned to the fiery pit of heresy. The man behind it all was Martin Luther, a humble monk of obscure origins. Bold, intellectually arrogant, and a master of spin, the assault he unleashed on the medieval Church had him excommunicated by the Pope. But what was it about Luther’s humble upbringing in Saxony and his strained relationship with his intimidating father that led him down a path of insolence? And was the religious revolution that he sparked inevitable?

    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the early life of Martin Luther, the apocalyptic environment from which he and his radical ideas emerged, and the Catholic Church he would come to take on…




    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com



    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • "Then it is I drown again, with all those dim lost faces I never understood… Include me in your lamentations.”
    The aftermath of the Titanic’s sinking saw different reactions erupt across the Atlantic, and the responses of both mourners and onlookers were visceral. Guilt-ridden survivors were both ostracised and lauded. Heroes became legends - the unsinkable Molly Brown and the band that played on till the frozen end - while villains were condemned forever more. Reputations were splintered and characters blackened as the investigation went on. None more so than J. Bruce Ismay, the head of White Star, whose survival was viewed as a weakness of character. But the key question needed answering: was anyone really to blame, and if yes, who?

    Join Dominic and Tom, as they discuss the terrible aftershocks of the sinking of the Titanic, as they unpick truth from legend, and analyse James Cameron’s 1995 film, which famously immortalised this extraordinary story. 

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “A story of horror unparalleled in the annals of the Sea.”
    On the 14th of April 1912, Titanic, a floating palace sailing through the North Atlantic, found itself hurtling towards a formidable iceberg. Contrary to the panicked reactions of her crew who, fatefully, pulled the hulking vessel to starboard, the ship's passengers slept, laughed and played on, unaware of the danger ahead. Then came a terrible grinding sound, as the side of the ship grated against the iceberg, followed by a long, dead silence. At 12.15am a distress call went out, and the order went out to begin filling the lifeboats, women and children first. But, with far fewer lifeboats than passengers, who would be allowed to board them, and who would be left behind? What leverage did gender, class, and age provide when so many lives hung in the balance? By 1.55am, the lifeboats were scarce, and the panic of those still aboard the ship spiralled out of control, as the Titanic entered her death throes… 

    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Titanic’s collision with the iceberg, the reactions of her doomed passengers and crew, and the stories of courage, incompetence, and tragedy.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • It is Sunday the 14th of April 1912, and the passengers of the Titanic, from the tycoons in first class to the migrants in third class, have been enjoying a journey incomparable in its modernity. The weather, up until that point exceptionally clement, suddenly grew colder, stiller, calmer, and the ice warnings that had been coming through the ship’s sophisticated communications machine since Friday were growing evermore urgent. Ominously, they were left beneath piles of competing letters, unread. Then, at 11.40pm that night, a night of dancing and laughter, a cry came from the crow’s nest: “Iceberg ahead!”

    Join Dominic and Tom as they unpack the captivating lives and stories of the Titanic’s third class passengers, and recount the days and moments building up to the ship’s final hours.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The drama and tragedy of the Titanic’s sinking has spawned all manner of myths about those who left Southampton on the 10th of April 1912, and for four days luxuriated in the ship’s modern facilities, extravagant interiors, and plush cabins. Among them were many magnates and tycoons, such as J.J. Astor, the richest man onboard, and the American businessman Ben Guggenheim. Conspicuously absent, however, was J. P. Morgan, who cancelled his booking at the last minute, and five days later would find his greatest business competitors eliminated… Just as intriguing though, and often overlooked, were the Titanic’s second class passengers: middle-aged men with their teenage mistresses, a father who had his kidnapped his children, excited migrant families, and Joseph Laroche, a brilliant engineer and the only black man on board, for whom the Titanic provided the chance to start a new life- the same was true for many others.
    Join Tom and Dominic as they explore the dazzling, eccentric and endlessly fascinating First and Second Class passengers of the Titanic, whose extraordinary lives shine all the brighter for the terrible danger and tragedy waiting for them on the icy horizon…

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The Titanic was a product of the furious competition of the late Gilded Age, and no expenses were spared to make her the most extraordinary and luxurious ship ever built. The height of an eleven-story building, fully electric, and with first class suites designed for the world’s wealthiest, the Titanic embodied the Edwardian obsessions with grandeur and greatness. But the ship was also designed to accommodate immigrants, who made up the majority of its passengers, in third class, or “steerage”. But is their any truth behind the myths surrounding class-based mistreatment of the poorer passengers, in contrast to the over-pampered rich? Was safety sacrificed in favour of a hubristic lust for luxury and grandeur? 

    Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the Titanic’s sumptuous, modern interiors, her gargantuan proportions, and the stories of builders who brought her to life. They dive into a world of butlers, stewards, maids and crewmen, and look into the man whose name would later become synonymous with disaster: the Titanic’s captain, Edward Smith. 

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • "There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers."
    The sinking of the Titanic, on a freezing Sunday night in April 1912, claimed more than 1500 lives. But how this state-of-the-art ocean liner came to be is also a story full of drama, encapsulating the turn of the century’s spirit of competition and drive for modernity. The booming financial world of the 1900s, rising immigration, the excitement of speed and steam, and an ever-growing transatlantic rivalry between Britain and the U.S. all played a part in the liner’s inception. And from this era emerged three men who would shape the Titanic’s journey: J.P. Morgan, an American titan of business; Thomas Ismay, the English magnate who owned the ship’s parent company; and William Pirrie, a leading British shipbuilder. Between these three men and two pivotal cities - New York and Belfast - the origins of the disaster that defined a generation can be traced… 
    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the context behind the building of RMS Titanic. From the rivalries of the transatlantic liner industry, to the tensions surrounding the Irish Home Rule movement, the story of the “unsinkable” began in a tumultuous age.


    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*

    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London

    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a deity. More humble, and I believe truer, to consider him created from animals.
    A military grave from the 5th century BC was found to contain something extraordinary; a macaque monkey dressed as a roman legionary. Did he fight alongside his human fellows, or merely serve as their mascot? Whatever the case, it demonstrates the role of monkeys and chimps throughout human history. From antiquity, when to possess a monkey signified status, to the the east where they symbolised corruption and vice, to the fighting pits of regency London where the ape Jacco Macacco had fortunes lost and won on his violent exploits. So too the monkey accused of treason during the Napoleonic Wars, the noble Corporal Jackie, a South African baboon who nursed injured human soldiers during WWII, and Jenny; the orangutan who in her commonality with man influenced Darwin's theory of evolution. Less earnest but just as dazzling was the role of monkeys and chips in art and culture. From starring roles on television amidst the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, to the diva-like personalities of Elvis’ erratic Scatter and Michael Jackson’s infamous Bubbles.

    Join Dominic and Tom as they reveal history’s greatest apes, orangutans and monkeys, and the extraordinary lives they lead. From Roman legionaries, war veterans and train conductors, to superstars, football mascots and artists, these remarkable creatures have featured in every corner of human life, imitating us, befriending us and even influencing us.




    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • ‘For if a person fatigued with long and hard labour, or with a violent agitation of the mind, takes a good dish of chocolate, he shall perceive almost instantly that his faintness shall cease, and his strength shall be recovered’
    The Cacao tree was first domesticated by the Olmecs in Mesoamerica, possibly as early as 1500 BC, and was then first encountered by Europeans in the 16th century, when it is said that the Aztec Emperor Montezuma welcomed Hernan Cortes into his dominion with a mysterious dark drink. Indeed, Chocolate was originally consumed as a drink, and was a cornerstone of Aztec life, whether used as currency or as part of religious rituals. Brought back by the conquistadors to Europe, Chocolate slowly spread through the continent, particularly among the ruling classes, up until the industrial revolution of the 19th century, when technical advancements allowed for chocolate to be made into a food, at a far lower cost. This paved the way for Quaker families, such as the Cadburys or the Frys, keen to find an alternative to alcohol, to make the snack available to the masses…
    Tom and Dominic have partnered with Cadbury, in celebration of their 200th year anniversary, to explore the story of how chocolate, from its Mesoamerican origins, became a British favourite.

    Over the coming months, Cadbury will be announcing more plans for its 200th anniversary year, including ways that fans nationwide can get involved in the celebrations. For more information, visit: https://www.cadbury.co.uk/about/anniversary/200-years-of-cadbury/



    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*

    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London

    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook



    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • In the third century BC, a clash which had been brewing for centuries finally erupted: Rome, the ruthless imperialist upstart dominating Italy, against Carthage, the ancient but sinister apex predator of the Mediterranean. The conflict sparked in Messina in 263 BC, and went on for over two decades, as the fortunes of both powers rose and fell. Rome’s superior, land-based army proved the perfect match to the Carthaginians’ maritime might, though both forces rapidly adapted to the expertise of their foe. By 250 BC, Carthage was embattled and flailing, and in need of a hero, to restore the fate of Carthage, and ensure her survival…
    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the outbreak of the First Punic War, in which history’s greatest rivalry, Rome vs Carthage, finally came to blows. As the established power of Carthage was challenged by the rise of a new contender in Rome, but could either live in a world where the other survived?


    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*

    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London

    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook



    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “Every man is the architect of his own destiny”
    Long before Rome reigned over the Mediterranean, there was Carthage: the supreme predator of Antiquity. But how did Rome rise to become one of the most ruthless powers of all time, united in cold, disciplined violence? And what was it about the Roman people that made them the greatest threat Carthage would ever face? Whilst the Carthaginians depended upon foreign mercenaries, Rome’s legions were formed of Romans, all committed to protecting and furthering the interests of Rome. And unlike anyone before, the Roman people shared a collective sense of destiny, with Roman citizenship generously offered to all conquered peoples. But following the Sack of Rome by Gauls in 390 BC, the Romans would become even more ruthless, disciplined and bent on total victory…
    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the rise of Rome, history’s most famous superpower. By 285 BC her dominion of Italy was almost complete. Only one thing stood in her way: the formidable military leader Pyrrhus. He alone foresaw the destruction to come, and the “beautiful killing ground” that would emerge when, ten years later, Rome and Carthage would finally go to war…


    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*

    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London

    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook



    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “An aristocratic republic, secret and well-ordered, where individuals are subject to the harsh laws of the austere and disciplined rich…”
    The mysterious, wealthy and glamorous city of Carthage flourished between the ninth and second centuries BC, becoming one of the greatest naval and mercantile powers in the world. By the sixth century BC the Carthaginians were a force to be reckoned with, holding off assaults from various Greek rivals, and starting to colonise larger parts of the Mediterranean. Where once there had been a barren wasteland, now stood glittering villas and temples, bustling marketplaces, and vast walls stretching down to the sea. Yet Carthage also had a reputation for violence and cruelty. Bloody human offerings were made to the gods, with hundreds of Carthaginian children cast into the flames, whilst crucifixion was often inflicted on generals who fell short of Carthage’s exacting standards…
    Join Tom and Dominic as they explore the extraordinary rise of Carthage, a city of blazing innovation and sinister mystique. By the third century BC it seemed that no power could ever rival it. But little did the Carthaginians know that another city, a minnow from an Italian backwater, was on the rise. A city that may even one day challenge her supremacy: Rome.



    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*

    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London

    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook



    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “Carthago delenda est.”
    Carthage must be destroyed: this was the rallying cry of Cato the Elder, the senator endlessly pushing for war against Rome’s sworn enemy, Carthage. But what are the origins of this supposedly decadent and sinister city, and did the Carthaginians really sacrifice their children? Starting as a crafty, seafaring people called the Phoenicians, a mighty mercantile civilisation emerged, who would eventually come to be known as the Carthaginians. But who were the Phoenicians, and why are they so mysterious? From the Bible, the Iliad and the Odyssey, to Herodotus’ account of the Persian Wars, and the conquests of Alexander the Great, their shadow haunts Antiquity…
    Join Tom and Dominic as they investigate the Phoenicians, the first masters of the Mediterranean. Pioneers of seafaring, craftsmanship and writing, these were the people who gave birth to Rome’s most feared enemy, Carthage. Myths, legends, child-sacrifice, and the rise and fall of civilisations abound.



    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*

    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London

    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook



    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The horrific Guildford Pub Bombings of Saturday 5th October 1974 sent shockwaves through Britain, worsening the sense of crisis sweeping through the nation. It cast a dark shadow over the election campaign due to take place five days later. The future had rarely seemed grimmer, with a general sense of moral and economic panic, weariness and depression. For the fourth time, Labour’s Harold Wilson and the Conservative’s Edward Heath faced off, with Wilson able to scrape a three-seat majority. But could Wilson really revive the nation? Or would it be up to the new figure emerging from the Conservative Party, a certain Margaret Thatcher…
    Join Dominic and Tom for the conclusion to their series on one of the maddest years in British history, 1974. With dysfunctional governments, dark conspiracies, economic meltdown and ongoing terrorist attacks, can Britain survive the year?


    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com

    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • Following a tumultuous election in February 1974, Labour’s Harold Wilson has been re-elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Wilson, an unpretentious, kind man, has inherited a nation in crisis: train strikes in Norfolk, students fighting in Oxford, inflation, an ongoing oil crisis, a terrible cost of living crisis, striking miners, and weekly IRA terrorist attacks. He’s further hindered by his divided minority government, and the dysfunctional environment in Downing Street, in part due to his strange relationship with his private secretary and “political wife”, the frenzied Marcia Williams. What’s more, Wilson is suspected of being a KGB agent by the security services, and increasingly succumbs to paranoia. Is a right wing coup brewing, to put an end to industrial action? Will Wilson really be the man to drag Britain out of these trying circumstances?
    Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the first Wilson government of 1974, featuring imploding economies, psycho-sexual dramas, communist conspiracies, madness-inspired nudity, baying unions, and attempted murder… 


    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • Three days after one of the most devastating IRA attacks launched upon British soil, the Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath called an election, in circumstances that had never been more dire. Running against him was the veteran Labour leader, Harold Wilson, now as tired and beleaguered as his rival, and whose party was increasingly divided by internal conflict. Jeremy Thorpe, the charming but reckless leader of the liberal party, had also thrown his hat into the ring. As the election drew closer, the parties were neck and neck, and with the sense of national hysteria and economic chaos rising, escalated by a baying press and the likes of Enoch Powell, the stakes had never been higher. Could the longstanding Labour and Conservative duopoly finally be broken?
    Join Dominic and Tom for the second part of their series on 1974, one of the most disastrous years in British history, as they discuss the terrible circumstances surrounding the seismic February election, and its momentous outcome. 
      

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com


    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook


    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “Who governs Britain?”
    Britain in the early 1970’s was a state in crisis, and by 1974, things had never seemed bleaker. Held hostage by the Trade Unions, British industry was flailing. England’s sporting record was atrocious, the economy was tanking and the prospect of a miners’ strike loomed large. Violence was surging in Northern Ireland, as the IRA escalated its bombing campaigns, and the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War would send oil prices soaring, with the miners on the verge on plunging Britain into darkness. By the end of the year, the British people had voted in two general elections, had a three-day week enforced on them, and the Conservative party were on the cusp of electing their first female leader…
    Join Dominic and Tom for the first episode of their four-part epic on 1974, undoubtedly one of the darkest and most dramatic years in British political history…


    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*

    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London

    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com



    Twitter:

    @TheRestHistory

    @holland_tom

    @dcsandbrook



    Producer: Theo Young-Smith

    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • Geoffrey Chaucer stands as a founding father of English literature, and ‘The Canterbury Tales’ is an enthralling account of his age, holding a mirror up to the traditional hierarchies of 14th century England. Chaucer’s own life was spent navigating the rapids of a particularly tumultuous period, from fighting in the Hundred Years’ War alongside Edward III, to working for the infamous John of Gaunt, becoming embroiled in London politics, and surviving the gruesome Black Death. Chaucer even lived through the explosive Peasants’ Revolt, during which his own life hung in the balance…
    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the turbulent life and seminal work of Geoffrey Chaucer, a titan of English history and trailblazer of social change.


    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “For within the hollow crown that rounds the hollow temple of a king...”
    Richard II, son of the dashing Black Prince and grandson of Edward III, became King of England at only ten years old. By the age of fifteen he had overcome one of the most terrifying threats to the English Crown up to that point: the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. In the ensuing years, Richard’s rule became increasingly autocratic. This, coupled with the threat of foreign invasion and his dangerous proclivity for favourites, increasingly alienated Richard’s subjects, with rebel lords eventually taking up arms against the king. As the storm-clouds of civil war loomed large, King Richard II clung to his hollow crown….

    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the events that resulted in Richard’s deposition and mysterious death, and what his reign tells us the English monarchy in the 15th century.



    *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*
    Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London
    Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices