Bristol History Podcast

This week I spoke with Mark Steeds and Roger Ball to discuss their new book, 'From Wulfstan to Colston: Severing the Sinews of Slavery in Bristol.' Covering over a thousand years of history, the book charts Bristol's long involvement in trading enslaved human beings. We discussed the two titular characters: St. Wulfstan, who was responsible for ending the slave trade between Bristol and Dublin in...

This week I met with Professor Madge Dresser to discuss the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963. The boycott against the Bristol Omnibus Company over its racist employment policy was the first black-led protest against racial discrimination in post-war Britain. We explored race relations in Bristol around the time of the boycott, and why its legacy continues to resonate so strongly today.

A brief bonus podcast with some thoughts on the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston on Sunday 7 June 2020.

This week I spoke with Pete Insole, Historic Environment Officer for Bristol City Council, to discuss the historical mapping tool ‘Know Your Place’. We also talked about the historic development of Bristol and about planning the future of the city.

Arriving at the end of the First World War, the 1918 'Spanish' Flu was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, killing between 40 and 200 million people worldwide. I spoke with journalist and historian Eugene Byrne - we discussed official strategies to combat the spread of the flu, as well as its local impact on Bristol.

This week I met with Mike Slater, West-Country Occult Historian, to discuss the history of witchcraft in the West Country. We spoke about the continuance of popular belief in magic, long after official witchcraft trials had ceased. We also explored 'witch scratching', the pernicious and long-lived idea that drawing a witch's blood would remove her curses.

Nowadays Bristol is internationally known as a centre of graffiti and street art culture. I met with John Nation - pioneer and promoter of graffiti culture and its artists since the early 1980s - to discuss how perceptions of the culture have changed. From being despised as 'vandalism' to hailed as a cultural export of the city, graffiti continues to elicit strong opinions, not least because it ra...

This week I met with the writer, poet, historian and playwright Dr. Edson Burton. We discussed (among other things) how his historical outlook shapes his cultural work; the legacy of Caribbean migration to Britain and how Brexit plays into wider narratives of place and identity.

As we approach December's election, the Bristol History Podcast asks: how did we get here? To this end I spoke with UWE Professor of History and Heritage Steve Poole about what elections in Bristol looked like some 300 years ago.

History of the late medieval and early modern periods has tended to focus on a small number of people who have left a big dent on the historical record: kings and queens, statesmen and landowners. Most people could tell you something about Henry VIII's wives or his eating habits - but how much do we know about what life was like for the ordinary men and women living under his rule? This week I met...

This week I met with Joe McSorley of the Avon Wildlife Trust to discuss the natural history of the West Country - from the earliest existing records of animal and plant life in the area, through the ramblings of Victorian naturalists, to today's systematic collection of scientific data. We also charted changing popular attitudes towards the natural world, the rise of the idea of conservation, and...

This week I met with Dr. John Reeks to discuss Bristol University and its historians. The university was founded in 1909 and dominates much of the landscape of the centre of the city, with almost 24,000 students enrolled in degree courses. We discussed the history of university and the work of some of the most illustrious historians produced by the institution.

Bristol was born as a trading hub, and for the best part of a millennium its identity has been bound up with its status as a centre for both national and international trade. I met with Dr Richard Stone, Teaching Fellow in Early Modern History at Bristol University, to discuss the history of Bristol's overseas trade, from its foundation to the present day.

This week I met with author and journalist Melissa Chemam to discuss her book 'Out of the Comfort Zone: From Bristol to Massive Attack.' Melissa looks to Bristol's social and political history as a way of understanding its artistic output. We talked about the culture that spawned the music of Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky, as well as the street art of Banksy.

This week I met with Dr. Keith McLoughlin of Bristol University to discuss the remarkable story of Concorde - the first supersonic passenger aircraft. We discussed the postwar origins of the project; difficulties with financing in the 60s and 70s; and why Concorde retains such a hold over the public imagination today, more than fifteen years on from its final flight.

This week I met with Bristol-based author and artist Benjamin Dickson to discuss his graphic novel 'A New Jerusalem' - a moving and stark tale of a family struggling to come to terms with life following the end of the Second World War. We discussed (among other things) the bombing of Bristol during the war, post-traumatic stress disorder and the birth of the welfare state in 1945.

This week I met with Bristol Bears' Club Historian (and verified superfan) Mark Hoskins to talk all things Bristol Rugby. We discussed the evolution of the club from its origins in the late-Victorian era and its role in the community during the World Wars, through to the pioneering captaincy of John Blake in the 1950s and the club's eventual adaptation to the age of professionalism.

This week I met with Dr. Jessica Moody of Bristol University to discuss the ways in which Bristol has publicly addressed its involvement in the Transatlantic slave trade. We touched on methods of commemoration (using Liverpool as a point of comparison)and explored some of the reasons behind Bristol's changing attitude towards her slaving past.

This week I met with author, historian and one man Bristolian institution: Mike Manson. In a whistle-stop tour through his literary career we discussed the importance of local history, the differences between writing fiction and writing history, and Mike's exploration of some of the less well known parts of Bristol's history.

Being Brunel is one of Bristol's newest and most innovative museums. An addition to the existing SS Great Britain site, it attempts to get behind the myth and into the mind of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the country's most famous engineers. I visited Being Brunel and spoke with Head of Collections Nicholas Booth about the idea behind the project, how it was realised in practice, and about the...

The English Civil War is often reduced to a stereotype of haughty Cavaliers and humourless Roundheads. Yet in reality it was was one of the bloodiest and most disruptive conflicts in our nation's history. I met with Dr. John Reeks of Bristol University to discuss the causes, course and consequences of the war from a Bristolian perspective.

This week I met with acclaimed historian and historical fiction writer, Lucienne Boyce. We discussed the history of the women's suffrage movement in Bristol, the continuities between the 18th century and our present day, and to what degree historical fiction can contribute to historical understanding.

As the fifth oldest zoo in the world, Bristol Zoological Gardens has been introducing Bristolians to wild animals since 1836. I met with Dr Andy Flack, Teaching Fellow in Modern History at Bristol University, to discuss the origins of the zoo, its role in civic identity and the extent to which our attitude towards animals has (and hasn't) changed over the past two centuries.

This week I met with author Jane Duffus, to discuss her new book 'The Women Who Built Bristol'. This work of collective biography tells the story of some 250 women connected with Bristol, ranging from the 12th century to the present day. We discuss the origins of the project, the history of the women's suffrage movement in Bristol and Jane gives a preview of a few of the most interesting women who...

This week I met with Steve Poole, Professor of History at UWE to discuss his book 'Bristol from Below' (co-authored with Nicholas Rogers). We explore the life of ordinary Bristolians in the long 18th century, discussing - among other things - riots, radicalism, arson and sodomy.