Neil Oliver: News, Comment, History

In this episode we travel with Neil to the ‘cradle of civilization’ as a vital building block in the construction of society is put in place – the moment Enheduanna, the world’s first known writer, has her poems etched into clay tablets and the concept of the ‘written word’ is conjured into being. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first episode Neil sets out his stall for the brand-new series, giving us a glimpse into his family’s personal history and a passionate explanation of why he feels it’s vital for us all to try to understand the past. To help support the making of Neil’s podcasts & get access to exclusive weekly videos sign up to 'Neil Oliver' on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/neiloliver Check out the...

In this, the last episode of the series Neil brings together the people who live, work, visit, are fascinated by and like him have a of love of the British Isles. Listeners from all over the world share their thoughts and ask Neil pertinent and diverse questions – love, life, whiskey, history, and the human story. Season 2, ‘A History of the World’ starts soon. To help support the making of this p...

In this episode Neil unties his walking boots and starts drawing the strands of history that run through the British Isles together. This week’s show is a celebration of the incomers and blow-ins, the folk who have come to these islands & woven a rich tapestry. Sacred places, formidable fortresses, and landscapes of breath-taking beauty it’s a set of islands that have had an influence on the w...

In this episode Neil takes us to the breathtakingly beautiful shingle headland at Dungeness – a place loved by artists, photographers, pop stars and fans of this archipelago’s raw natural coastline. On this windblown and storm-washed headland, that’s full of sky and sound, Neil explores the concept of how the land we grow up in becomes a part us – part of our actual physical being as well as our ‘...

Ep99 The Tower of London   In this episode we’re scaling the walls of one of the most famous fortresses in the whole of the British Isles – the Tower of London. Almost a thousand years old this beautifully kept Roya palace is now spic and span, and surrounded by the steel and glass of a thriving modern metropolis. But for centuries it was a place to dread. Packed to the rafters with history,...

In this episode Neil takes us to meet a great mind; a scientist whose work laid some of the foundations that have helped shape the world we live in. James Clerk Maxwell grew up surround by the soft rounded hills, lochs and handsome woodland in Dumfries and Galloway. From his country upbringing and a slow start at school he went on to dazzle on the scientific stage. Einstein and the scientists that...

In this episode a wave of devolution sweeps across the United Kingdom creating assemblies in Northern Ireland and Wales and a new parliament in Scotland. In 1999 as the balance of power across the whole of the British Isles starts to shift, the foundations are laid to cement a new age in Scotland. At the end of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile work begins on an ambitious building, which will herald Scotland...

In this episode the countdown begins; will it be the dawn of a second coming or herald chaos and catastrophe? This week, as the dials turn and the 9s mutate to 0s the new millennium arrives and we’re standing in a landmark building designed by one of the world’s great architects. What does this building tell us about Britain? Hope you’ve got your streamers! To help support the making of this podca...

In this episode Neil comes face to face with the exploits of the Solomon Brown lifeboat crew. With a hurricane battering the Cornish coast, 8 men set sail from Penlee Lifeboat Station in an attempt to save the passengers and crew of the Union Star. As the Union Star was being violently tossed ever closer towards deadly rocks a helicopter rescue pilot witnessed the bravery of the Solomon Brown crew...

  In this episode Neil takes us along one of London’s most celebrated and infamous streets, the place that became a byword for the British Press - Fleet Street. We’re in the midst of the pounding heart of the city with gossip, scandal, exposes and politics ringing in our ears – we’re at St Brides Church on Fleet Street. Named after the river Fleet upon which it was built. In the C16th Wynkyn...

In this episode Neil takes us to a set of three tiny spellbinding islands, shimmering with crystal clear water and pristine white sand – his ultimate desert island. This is the place he escapes to in his imagination when he needs to get away from the pressures of the world. In the C17th smugglers made one of the islands their secret hideaway. Another island was home to a self-styled king who swapp...

In this episode, as the Cold War and the threat of nuclear Armageddon sends a terrifying chill around the world Neil heads to Orford Ness in Suffolk. In the early C20th this isolated shingle spit, tucked away from prying eyes, came to the attention of the military who saw it as the perfect location for secret experiments. It was first used as a training base for the fledgling Royal Airforce during...

In this episode we come face to face with a chilling reminder of just how close Hitler came to conquering Britain. During World War 2 he got a toe-hold on British territory when his army captured the Channel Islands – the first time they’d be wrestled from British control in over 1000 years. This week Neil travels to Alderney, one of the islands in the archipelago, to witness the terrifying atroci...

In this episode Operation Overlord is go as Allied troops begin practicing for D-Day. The plans to invade and liberate Europe are drawn up with amphibious landings on 5 beaches in Normandy - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Hitler's defences are well prepared, ready and determined, so allied training rehearsals are vital, and it's crucial they are as realistic as possible. Neil heads to Slapton...

In this episode we meet Winston Churchill, a man who has helped define the British Isles: a luminary figure, complex, charismatic and inspirational. Prime minister of Britain during World War II he was a man who inspired a nation in its time of need. Neil travels to Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where was Churchill was born, and to the village of Bladon next door, where he is buried....

In this episode we hear the deafening roar of industry and see the spark fly as some of the world’s great ships are built. We’re on the banks of the river Clyde, a river that powered a city; as the say goes, ‘Glasgow made the Clyde and the Clyde made Glasgow’. At one time the Clyde shipbuilders build a fifth of all the ships in the world - everything from luxury transatlantic flagships that crosse...

In this episode we set sail with Neil to visit one of the world’s great natural harbours, Scapa Flow in Orkney. This vast harbour is a beautifully bleak, windswept spot drench in drama, tragedy and power. For thousands of years, it played a vital role in maritime travel, trade and conflict. The Vikings anchored in its safe waters in the C11th. The British admiralty enlisted it in the Napoleonic wa...

In this episode we are walking down Whitehall, one of London’s most famous streets, to remember the dead of the First World War. Fabian Ware joined the British army at the outbreak of the war, but because he was 45 years old, the authorities would let him fight on the front line and put him in charge of a mobile ambulance unit instead. Appalled by the number of casualties and troubled that the dea...

In this episode Horatio Herbert Kitchener, the secretary of state for war, declares, Your Country Needs You! The First World War meant that Britain had to raise a new army from volunteers, so the call was raised. Five strong, stout brothers from the Souls family, who lived in the Gloucestershire village of Great Rissington, signed up to join the army and become soldiers. After training they shippe...

In this episode we’re travelling over the sea to Skye, an island of ancient jagged crags and rare breath-taking beauty, which feels as though it’s washed in heaven’s tears. When the first world war was declared, there was a seismic shift and everything changed forever. All of Britain felt it’s pain and devastation, but it hit the Highlands the hardest. A conflict of such magnitude, billions of spe...

In this episode we join Neil as he steps aboard the Titanic, one of the most iconic ships in the world. For Neil this a pivotal moment in history, which marks a point when the world changed forever. When the Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage it was the largest human-made object that had ever moved across the face of the planet. 900 feet long (240m), 92 feet wide (28m) and weighing in at 50,000...

In this episode, powered by their fabulous fecundity and political astuteness, the Stuart family line inherited the Scottish and English crowns and spread their power and influence right across the British Isles. The C19th saw a canny member of the Stuart clan spotted a gilt-edged opportunity in Cardiff. As the industrial revolution swept across the world, iron, steel and coal were in great demand...

In this episode we’re putting on our best and strolling along a stylish promenade in Scarborough, the ‘ Nice of the North ’ to pay homage to the Great British seaside tradition. The tentacles of Scarborough’s history stretch back thousands of years. On it’s cliffs is an Iron Age Fort. The Viking also took a fancy to the place and much later in the C13th Henry III fortified what was then an importa...

In this episode we stride around the Elizabethan battlements of a town held ready for war! Berwick-upon-Tweed is a place packed to bursting with thousands of years of rich history. Celtic Britons made it their home, followed by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. It was a wealthy, flourishing port before any of the modern nation states – England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland – even existed. Sitting on...