Episodes
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Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence explore historical connections to today's big issues.
Recent political convulsions have revealed a rift between the UK's capital and its regions. So this week Tom and Iszi consider other moments in history when London has been out of sync with the rest of the country - from the Romans to the 1700s. Examining how John Bull came into being and looking at the particular history of Northumbria, they look at the relationship between London and the rest of the UK.
Presenters: Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
With this year's Oscars imminent, Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence meet the cineasts who help us understand history and the history of cinema.
Hannah Grieg, historical consultant on the Oscar-winning film The Favourite, and the screenwriter of Churchill, Alex von Tunzelmann, discuss the portrayal of history on the big screen.
Tom meets Kevin Brownlow, whose work finding and restoring film from the silent era earned him an Oscar in 2010.
And Matthew Sweet tells the story of Vic Kinson, a bookkeeper from Derbyshire, who created the IMDB of his day.
Produced by Craig Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Missing episodes?
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Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence continue to explore the historical connections behind today's headlines.
As the first electric commercial aircraft takes flight in Vancouver, Tom and Iszi look at the lengths people have gone to over the past millennium to reach for the skies.
Tom goes to the spot where Eilmer of Malmesbury, an 11th century English monk, made one of the earliest attempts at flight in the British Isles. Inspired by the Greek fable of Daedalus, he strapped wings to his hands and feet and jumped from the abbey tower. He broke both his legs.
And Iszi visits the Science Museum to find out about the first woman in space. At the age of 26, Valentina Tereshkova, orbited the earth 48 times over 3 days and parachuted out of the capsule to land safely in Siberia.
Producer: Kim Normanton
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence present the show that explores the historical connections behind today's issues.
As fascination with genealogy and our own family history has become almost a national obsession, this week's programme looks at the historical aspects of what makes up a family and how attitudes to incestuous relationships have shifted over time and throughout cultures. From Ancient Egypt to the nuclear family, from the Victorians and the National Vigilance Association to Jacobean literature, how has incest been defined, discussed, outlawed and - occasionally - even encouraged?
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
After the feast of the festive season comes the pain of the January fast. Well, to help us better understand our relationship with the food we eat, Making History goes on the spice trail with historians Roger Michel and Matthew Cobb. Curator Victoria Avery tells us why pineapples were all the rage in Elizabethan times and Dominic Sandbrook offers up a potted history of fast food in the UK - with a side of fries and a banana milkshake.
Feast and Fast: The Art of Food in Europe, 1500 - 1800 at the Fitzwilliam Museum runs until 26th April.
Producer: Craig Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence present the show that explores the historical connections behind today's issues.
In this New Year's Eve programme, Tom and Iszi look at what history has had to say about the future. They explore when "the future" emerged as a concept and why some people thought they could foretell it
They look at the time when the future became political and ask what we can know about our ancestors' fears from the science fiction they produced.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence continue to explore the historical connections behind today's headlines.
Today - with a resurgence in nationalism from Beijing to Barcelona and with flag-flying dominating the world news, Tom and Iszi look into the origins of this powerful force.
Author, critic and long-time scholar of fairy tales, Marina Warner, recalls regimes who have used them as a political tool for their own sinister ends.
And with the possibility of a second referendum in Scotland being discussed, Tom goes to the spot where Robert the Bruce was buried to consider the challenges of teaching a balanced history curriculum in schools.
Producer: Kim Normanton
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence are back to explore the historical connections behind today's issues.
In this programme - The First Draft? After the most tumultuous parliamentary session many can remember, Tom and Iszi meet top journalists to ask whether they consider they are history's first chroniclers. From Today programme newsgatherers to ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the team discuss who really "makes history".
Producer: Craig Templeton-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
In the last of this series Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence look at the stories around another line in history - battle lines. From the fable of the Nazi invasion across one of Britain's oldest battle lines on Suffolk's beaches, through Thucydides and on to cross-dressing soldiers across the ages.
Presenters: Iszi Lawrence and Tom Holland
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
Series Editor: Simon Elmes
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence follow history’s story-laden lines and linkages to uncover connections and compelling stories. This week, with food banks and the effects of austerity never far from the headlines, Tom and Iszi examine breadlines and hunger, from the Scottish clearances to the Rowntrees in York.
Archaeobotanist Professor Dorian Fuller talks about the significance of the recent discovery of the world’s oldest bread – which dates back 14,500 years to the time of hunter-gatherers before the beginning of farming.
Producer: Kim Normanton
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence follow history’s lines and linkages to uncover connections and compelling stories.
This week - Supply Lines
With supply lines after Brexit so much in the news lately, Tom and Iszi look at historical aspects of getting goods across continents and through barriers, natural and man-made. From Hannibal and his elephants to the surprising origin of just-in-time delivery methods, the programme uncovers the historical origins of modern supply lines.
Presenters: Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence explore the stories revealed by history's lines and linkages to uncover connections and compelling stories.
This week - power lines. Tom makes a beeline for the Science Museum to find the first ever transatlantic telegraph cable, and discovers a recording of a Paul Robeson concert marking a historic moment in telecommunications.
Iszi goes pylon spotting and hears about a pioneer who helped found the Electrical Association for Women.
Producer: Craig Templeton-Smith
A Pier production for Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence follow history’s lines and linkages to uncover connections and compelling stories. This week, with the imminent arrival of a new Royal baby, Tom and Iszi examine bloodlines - from some of the Queen’s own surprising ancestors, to the vagaries of dog breeding.
Adam Rutherford discusses how DNA testing has informed the study of history and the programme asks if race really is a question of genetics, or a cultural construct.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
With Donald Trump’s Mexican wall back in the news, Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence follow history’s lines and linkages to discover how Britain’s borders have been used to separate communities.
Tom travels to Offa’s Dyke to find out how the 176-mile-long, 8th century earthwork divided the Anglian kingdom of Mercia from Powys.
In Belfast, the so-called peace lines are barriers that often cut across streets separating nationalists from unionists. But now a new scheme is under way to neutralise their effect. Making History examines how Belfast is changing.
And, crossing the border - how the development of passports formalised frontier control.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence follow history’s lines and linkages to uncover connections and compelling stories.
As the new HS2 rail link between London and Birmingham begins its first construction phase, Tom joins the railway archaeologists who’ve been excavating one of London’s ancient graveyards along the new line.
And, further down the communications corridor, the programme explores the history of protest in the face of transport progress.
Also, with centuries-old woodlands being displaced by new roads and railways, we look at Britain’s ancient sylvan history.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland and Iszi Lawrence consider fascinating and multi-faceted aspects of history.
The new series of this long-running programme focuses on lines - historical and historic lines and routes that may be physical or conceptual and that criss-cross our geographical and cultural landscape. It looks at why and how they came about and discusses what they offer us in our understanding of our past and present.
Programme 1. The Prime Meridian - the journey from Stonehenge to Jazz
As it's New Year's Day, it seems the perfect opportunity to explore the history of the Prime Meridian at Greenwich and our relationship with Time. We start at Stonehenge and finish at the National Jazz Archive, located on the meridian at Loughton in Essex. Along the way, Tom and Iszi take in the Romans, French-Anglo rivalry and which animals can hear a beat.
Tom Holland is a writer and historian who has written a number of popular and successful works including Dynasty and Rubicon.
Iszi Lawrence is a comedian and broadcaster who's appeared on Making History as a guest but is now the new co-presenter.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 -
Tom Holland is joined by the history podcaster and stand-up comedian Iszi Lawrence.
In Britain's recent past, a long hot summer has often coincided with racial unrest on our streets - 1981 is perhaps the most notable example. But while we remember events in Brixton, Toxteth and Tottenham, have we forgotten the tensions in Southall during the 1960s and 70s which, some argue, paved the way for better race relations in the UK? Lovejit Dhaliwal visits a Heritge Lottery project in Southall re-examining the importance of the town's Youth Movement.
King Edmund of East Anglia lost his life in a period of our history when the country we now know as England was still being defined. He was our patron saint until the 14th century but now he's largely forgotten - and so his is resting place. Historian Dr Francis Young has a hunch that he's still in Bury St Edmunds, not in a church but under a tennis court.
Fifty years ago, a programme that some know as 'dieselisation' reached its climax on Britain's railways and saw the end of steam in public service. Many mourn the passing of steam trains but, as Helen Castor found out on a trip to Swindon, keeping these beasts going was dirty, dangerous and laborious.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. -
Helen Castor is joined by Flora Samuel, Professor of Architecture in the Built Environment at the University of Reading.
Tom Holland and Dr Matthew Green take a trip down the Thames to Thamesmead, an overspill "new town" that received its first inhabitants fifty years ago this month, but which is better known as the location used by Stanley Kubrick in his dystopian classic A Clockwork Orange. But was this brutalist solution to London's slum housing doomed from the start, or were some of the ideas of Le Corbusier and those who influenced the design of this place fairly similar to the better accepted work of Ebeneezer Howard and the Garden City movement?
Iszi Lawrence is in Fitzrovia with writer, broadcaster and Victorian historian Kathryn Hughes to find out why the lack of public toilets meant women were so inconvenienced in the Victorian and Edwardian period. What lay behind the then-accepted notion that women shouldn't "go" in public?
Monks in Leicestershire are brewing up a storm, the first batch of a new Trappist ale. But what's the historic connection between abbeys and brewing?
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. -
Tom Holland presents the history programme which connects the past with today.
Enthusiasts for Victorian church architecture are furious that the pews designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in Bath Abbey have been dismantled and removed and are to be sold. Supporters of the plan say that it will create a huge space which the Abbey can then use for community events. Of course, back in medieval times most churches had no furniture, so why was it introduced and what can it tell us about the people that installed and sat on it? Iszi Lawrence visits Somerset to find out more.
It's the season of village fetes, country fairs, music festivals, cricket and world-class tennis and everyone is more than usually interested in the weather forecast. We think of this as a very modern service and are amazed even at the accuracy of meterologists during the planning of D-Day in 1944. But weather forecasts have been made for centuries and those making them knew more about the science behind them than we may think. Helen Castor visits Merton College Library in Oxford, which in the fourteenth century was the Met Office of its day.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. -
Helen Castor is joined by Professor Lucy Robinson from the University of Sussex.
A new exhibition at the Barbican in London features the photography of Dorothea Lange who is best known for her coverage of the dust-bowl depression of mid-west America in the 1930s. Many of her now iconic images were actually staged - but does that alter their historical importance? Helen takes in the exhibition with the historian of race in modern America, Dr Melissa Milewski.
The 70th anniversary of the NHS at 70 is being marked across the BBC. In one of the more unusual ideas, Radio 3 are creating a symphony from the sounds that are commonplace in the health service. The inspiration for the piece comes from the "radio ballads" back in the late fifties and early sixties, produced by Charles Parker and featuring the music of Ewan McColl. Olivette Otele is a French-African historian who had never come across these radio programmes - so what can she glean about life in Britain sixty years ago by listening to them again?
And Tom Holland has a song of the road too. He's in Cambridgeshire, in the middle of Britain's biggest archaeological dig, where the A14 meets the A1 and a new historic landscape is being revealed.
Producer: Nick Patrick
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