Talking History with Patrick Geoghegan

'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal'. In this episode we find out how these iconic words in the US Declaration of Independence changed the history of America forever and how it impacted the world. Featuring: Prof Stephanie McCurry, Professor of U.S. History at Columbia University; Prof Eliga H. Gould, Professor of American History at the Rothermere American Ins...

Featuring: Dr Sonja Tiernan, National Coordinator of the Irish Humanities Alliance, Royal Irish Academy, and the author of ‘Eva Gore-Booth: An Image of Such Politics’ and ‘Eva Gore-Booth: Irish Radical Poet, Rebel and Reformer’; Dr Mary McAuliffe, historian, lecturer, and Director of Gender Studies at UCD; and Dr Catherine Healy, historian-in-residence at EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum.

In this episode, we look back at our excavation of the medieval history of Medieval Dublin - with Ruth Johnson, Dublin’s City Archaeologist; Paul Duffy, archaeologist, historian and author; Dr Grace O’Keeffe, a medieval historian based in Dublin and the editor of Archaeology Ireland; and Dr Catherine Swift, Department of History, Mary Immaculate College Limerick.

In this episode, we look at Mussolini and Fascist Italy in myth and memory and explore the regime through the eyes of Mussolini's daughter Edda, once described as the most dangerous woman in Europe. Featuring: Prof Paul Corner, University of Siena, and author Caroline Moorehead.

In this episode, we discuss the rise to power of the Nazis and what it meant for ordinary Germans. Featuring Prof Nick Stargardt, Professor of Modern European History at Magdalen College, Oxford University, and Katja Hoyer, historian and journalist, Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

In this episode, we explore the life and times of the Irishman who defeated Napoleon and went on to become the prime minister of Britain and find out his complicated relationship with this country. Featuring: Dr Síle McGuckian, historian and lawyer; Gareth Glover, military historian; and Prof Michael Broers, Emeritus Professor of Western European History at Oxford University.

We mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of one of the most influential books ever written, Gulliver's Travels, & we find out how Jonathan Swift created one of the landmarks of world literature. Featuring Dr Jason McElligott, Director of Marsh’s Library; Prof Daniel Cook, Chair of English and Scottish Literature at the University of Dundee; Dr Clíona Ó Gallchoir, Head of English at Uni...

‘Seven Sisters: Captives and Rebels in Revolutionary Europe's First Family’ with Veronica Buckley, historical biographer; ‘Gothic: Building Castles in post-Union Ireland’, with Dr Judith Hill, architectural historian; and ‘Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade’, with Dr Hannah Durkin, historian specialising in transatlantic slavery and African diasporic art a...

We explore the economic and social history of the Irish in England, with our panel: Prof Louise Ryan, Senior Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre at London Metropolitan University, Prof Neil Cummins, Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics, Cormac Ó Grada, economic historian and professor emeritus of economics at Un...

We're exploring the extraordinary world of visionary artist and poet William Blake and we'll be finding out how this radical thinker influenced writers and artists from WB Yeats to U2 and beyond. Featuring: Anne Hodge, the exhibition curator and Curator of Prints & Drawings at the National Gallery of Ireland; Alice Insley, Curator of British Art c. 1730–1850 at Tate and co-curator of the Willi...

We discuss the life and work of Marcel Proust and explore his connections with Ireland. Featuring: Dr Max McGuinness, Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies at Trinity College Dublin, and co-editor of ‘The Irish Proust: Cultural Crossings From Beckett To McGahern’; Prof Patrick ‘Paddy’ O’Donovan, Emeritus Professor of French at University College...

Featuring: Dr Rosina Buckland, Curator of Japanese Collections in the Department of Asia at the British Museum and Lead Curator of the Samurai exhibition; Joe Nickols, curator in the Japan section of the British Museum, co-ordinating the Samurai exhibition; and Prof Oleg Benesch, Professor of Modern History and Head of the Department of History at the University of York, who specialises in the his...

Rasputin rose from obscurity to become the most controversial figure at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. This episode features: Sir Anthony Beevor, writer and historian, and Dr Helen Rappaport, author, media consultant, and historian specialising in the British and Russian history from 1837 to 1918.

In this episode: An Accidental History of Tudor England - From Daily Life to Sudden Death, with historian Prof Steven Gunn; Exile: The Captive Years of Mary, Queen of Scots, with author Rosemary Goring; and Élie Bouhéreau: the collections and communities of a Huguenot refugee, by Amy Boylan, special collections librarian in Marsh’s Library.

In this episode: we hear from Dr Claire O’Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in English at Loughborough University and Editor-in-Chief of Brontë Studies, the official journal of the Brontë Society; Prof Melissa Fegan, Professor of Irish and Victorian Literature at the University of Chester; and Dr Sophie Franklin, Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of English, Drama and Film at University College Dublin an...

In this episode: to mark International Women's Day, we discuss a number of prolific women across history - 'A History of France in 21 Women', by Katherine Pangonis, the author Maria Edgeworth and the 225th anniversary of her novel Belinda, and Hever Castle historian Dr Owen Emmerson tells us about how and why Anne Boleyn's image has changed over the centuries.

In this episode: Dr Danica Cerce from the Steinbeck Review; Dr Susan Shillinglaw, Director of the Steinbeck Center, California; Dr Nicholas P Taylor, Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, San Jose State University; and Dr Tara Guissin-Stubbs, Associate Professor in English Literature and Director of Studies in English Literature and Creative Writing at Oxford University.

Featuring: Dr Bernadette Whelan, professor emeritus at the School of History and Geography at the University of Limerick; Dr Colum Kenny, Professor Emeritus, Dublin City University; and Prof Eunan O’Halpin, Fellow Emeritus in History at Trinity College Dublin.

In this episode: Nationalist Michael Davitt and how he inspired reform movements around the world; the aristocrat who became a champion of Catholic emancipation; and the history of intelligence. Featuring Ciara Daly, curator of the Michael Davitt exhibition at Trinity College Dublin; Síle McGuckian, author of Anglesey in Ireland, 1828-1833: Worse Than War; and Dr David Brydan, King's College Londo...

In this episode, the 125th anniversary of the birth of Brendan Bracken, the Irish born adventurer who became Winston Churchill's greatest supporter, with biographer Charles Lysaght; the 400 year fight to end slavery in the Americas, with historian Carrie Gibson; and treasure and ghosts in the London clay, with author Victoria Shepherd.

We're looking at the life and legacy of one of the American Revolution's greatest villains, Benedict Arnold, and we'll find out how his name became synonymous with treachery and betrayal. Featuring: Dr Eliga Gould, Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford; Dr Tom Sebrell, history lecturer at University College London; Dr Charlene Boyer-Lewis, professor of history and director of American...

In this episode, we find out about the first staging of Seán O'Casey's play The Plough and The Stars 100 years ago and why it provoked such furious debate and even riots. Our panel features: Dr Ciara Murphy, Lecturer in Drama at TU Dublin and Vice President of the Irish Society of Theatre Research; Mairéad Delaney, Archivist at the Abbey Theatre Archive; Dr Bess Rowen, assistant professor of theat...

In this episode, we're finding out about the making of Ancient Egypt - the makers, materials, and remarkable innovations of one of the most iconic civilisations in human history. Featuring Helen Strudwick, Lead Curator of the Made In Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Prof Joyce Tyldesley, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Manchester; and Salima Ikram, Distin...

10 years on from David Bowie's death, we reflect on the life and music of one of the most influential cultural figures of our age, and assess his remarkable legacy. Our panel is Prof Eoin Devereux, Co-Director for the Centre for The Study of Popular Music and Popular Culture at the University of Limerick, Dr Leah Kardos, Senior Lecturer in Music at Kingston University London, and Harriet Reed, Ass...

In this episode, we're going back to 1066 as we debate the Norman Conquest and what it meant for England and indeed Ireland. Featuring: · Prof Judith Green, Professor Emeritus at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh; Prof Clare Downham, Professor of Medieval History at the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool and author of ‘Medieval Ir...