Subject to Change
I talk to the world's best historians and let them tell the stories. And the stories are wonderful! (And occasionally I change the subject and talk about films, philosophy or whatever!).
Subject to Change
Latest Episodes
The Odyssey - No sex, terrible food
Armand D'Angour (Professor of Classics at Oxford University and Fellow of Jesus College) gives his take on Chrisopher Nolan's Odyssey and (more to the point) talks about the poem and the poet. Along the way we talk about Emily Wilson's blisteri...
The U-Boat Stink
At the start of WW2 the U-Boat threat gave the British sleepless nights. But even during the Happy Time (of which there were two) when ships were being sunk at a terrific rate the German effort was too little, too late. And then the war in the ...
Lucy Hughes-Hallett on Gabriele D’Annunzio: Poet, Lover, Monster
This one is about Gabriele D'Annunzio. Italian poet, born in 1863 . . . I can already sense your attention drifting. But hang in there! A more lurid description would be that he is the poet who seduced over a thousand women. It is s...
Crimea (part 3): The Nazis, Stalin and the bitter end
Professor Donald Rayfield picks up Crimea’s story in spring 1942, when Germany turns south for the Black Sea and oil. Some Tartars can't imagine anyone worse than Stalin. Some can't imagine anyone worse than Hitler. Tragically, they are both ri...
Crimea (part 2): from the Golden Horde to Catherine the Great
Donald Rayfield returns for the second of three episodes on Crimea — this time taking the long view, from the Mongol Golden Horde to Catherine the Great's annexation and the early Soviet period.At its height the Crimean Khanate ...
