The History Chap Podcast

Send me a message "It's like the Black Hole of Calcutta" is a phrase regularly used to describe an overcrowded or stuffy room. But where does it come from? Well, it is actually based upon a real historic event. In 1756,  a large number of British prisoners were crowded into a tiny cell in Calcutta, India. Measuring just 14 x 18 feet, they spent a night in this jail in tropical tempe...

Send me a message Join my free weekly newsletter In November 1883, an Egyptian army numbering 10,000 and led by British officer, William Hicks (Hicks Pasha) was annihilated by the warriors of the Mahdi in Sudan. Just 300 troops out of that 10,000 army managed to reach the safety of Khartoum. This battle (the battle of Shaykan) featured at the beginning of the 1966 film "Khartoum" starrin...

Send me a message During the Indian Revolt of 1857-59, a young 29-year old warrior queen, rose up and led her people against the British Empire. This is the story of the Rani of Jhansi. Part 5 in my series on the Indian Revolt of 1857 (Rebellion / Sepoy Mutiny / Indian Mutiny / First War of Independence). Join my free weekly newsletter Visit Website Support the show

Send me a message For nearly 5 months a British garrison of 1,500 troops and a similar number of civilians were surrounded by Indian rebels at the Residency at Lucknow. This is the incredible story of a failed rescue, a rescue which ends up being besieged too, and finally their rescue by the general who commanded the "Thin Red Line" during the Crimean War. En-route we meet the first civi...

Send me a message The Cawnpore Massacre in 1857 was a defining moment in the 1857 Revolt in India. This is episode 3 in my series on the Indian Sepoy Mutiny / Rebellion. Join my free weekly newsletter After a three week siege, the British garrison at Cawnpore surrendered to the Indians who had risen against British rule. Despite being offered safe passage, the British soldiers and civilians were a...

Send me a message Join my free weekly newsletter This is part 2 in my series on the Indian Rebellion against British rule in 1857 (sometimes called the Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Mutiny). Having left their barracks in Meerut, the sepoys arrived at the ancient Mughal capital of Delhi. Greeted enthusiastically by many in the local population and in the court of the last Mughal emperor they took control...

Send me a message Part 1 in my series on the Indian Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-58. Join my free weekly newsletter The Indian Mutiny, or Sepoy rebellion or First War of Independence was the most critical challenge to British rule in India in the 19th century. It resulted in the loss of thousands of British and Indian lives, it saw savagery that rivals any modern conflict and saw the snuffing out of th...

Send me a message For a period of 20 years, Britain was almost continually at war with France. Firstly with the Revolutionary regime and then with Napoleon Bonaparte. Victories at the Battles of Waterloo (on land) and Trafalgar (at sea) became defining moments in Britain's growing self confidence and helped propel her into a position of global dominance. The 19th century would be Britain&apos...

Send me a message The period from 1740 - 1790 saw Britain emerge as a world power - with interests spanning the globe, a booming economy and growing control of the world's oceans. Join My Supporter's Club Support the show

Send me a message How did the German House of Hanover ever end up on the British throne? This episode explores how it happened and the ensuing fight with the supporters of a rival dynastic claim - The Jacobites. Join my Supporter's Club For 100 years, four Hanoverian kings named George sat on the throne. They were to oversee the last major land battle ever fought on British soil, the conquest...

Send me a message In this episode in my History of Britain, we explore the tumultuous years between 1660-1689 when the Stuarts are restored to the throne but then James II is usurped by his daughter and her husband, William of Orange, in the "Glorious Revolution". Join my Supporter's Club Support the show

Send me a message Join my Supporter's Club Support the show

Send me a message Join my Supporter's Club Support the show

Send me a message In this episode, we discover the reasons that drove King Phillip to launch his mighty Spanish Armada against England. The subsequent defeat of the Armada was seen by many as the high-point of the Elizabethan Age. Queen Elizabeth stood at the peak of her power - Gloriana - and her country basked in a new self confidence as explorers took the oceans and playwrights took to the stag...

Send me a message This is one of those stories from British history that has fascinated people down the generations. In a world ruled by men, two women ascend the thrones of England and Scotland. Relatives and rivals - Elizabeth I of England and Mary Queen of Scots. Join my Supporter's Club When Elizabeth succeeded her sister to the English throne, she did so as a Protestant and, seen by many...

Send me a message When we talk about the Tudor’s we tend to think of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. Two larger than life monarchs, whose reigns (covering 83 years) account for 70% of the Tudor dynasty’s reign. But sandwiched between these two towering monarchs, are three more people who were proclaimed King or Queen of England and who are often forgotten.  Two were crowned - Edward VI and Mary...

Send me a message Henry VIII, no talk about English (or Welsh history) would be complete without him! Famous for marrying 6 wives, executing 2 of them and divorcing another too. Father of Elizabeth I. To many English & indeed foreigners, if you ask them to name a king or queen of England - Henry Viii springs to mind. This larger than life character, who reigned for 37 years is almost a badge o...

Send me a message The Tudors are probably the most famous, the most talked about royal dynasty in England or, indeed, in Britain’s history. Yet they did not arrive on the throne through the natural line of succession. Their arrival was entirely due to victory on the battlefield during the medieval civil war known as the Wars of the Roses. In 1485, Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III at the Battl...

Send me a message On the 24th June 1314 Robert the Bruce and his outnumbered Flower of Scotland faced Edward II’s English army and send them packing home. In truth the majority of Edward’s army weren’t sent packing from Scotland, they never got off the battlefield alive. The Scots still savour this  victory at the battle of Bannockburn. The victory at Bannockburn not only ensured Scottish independ...

Send me a message The Wars of the Roses is one of those events, or periods, in English history that many of us have heard about but actually we don’t really know very much about what they were about, who was fighting who and what happened. Today, that will all change. Join my Supporter's Club In this talk you will get an overview about when they happened, the background to why they happened a...

Send me a message Join my Supporter's Club It was the feast of John the Baptist - 24th June 1348. The busy little port of Melcombe Regis sits on the north side of Weymouth Harbour in Dorset. It had only received its charter 80 years before hand but in that time it had established itself as a busy port in this part of the south west of England. That day boats were arriving from France, bringin...

Send me a message Join my Supporter's Club The Kings of England occupied a slightly strange place in medieval France. You need to understand that nation states in the way that we understand them in the 21st century were not a concept that existed in the same form in the early Middle Ages. Kings would grant lands to powerful magnates who would rule those areas with a considerable degree of aut...

Send me a message The History of Wales is largely forgotten when we tell the story of Britain.  The best most people get is “Finally Edward I conquered Wales and built lots of castles which survive to this day”, but it is a fascinating story that deserves to be told in its own right. It is complicated - we are not talking about one country called Wales but a patch-work of small kingdoms (Gwynedd,...

Send me a message England's road to parliamentary democracy has been a long and winding one, with plenty of rocks along the path. And yet it is the liberties and curtailments of royal power from over 800 years ago that echo through to today and have inspired countless others - not least the founding fathers of the USA - on their own journeys to freedom. This is the story of King John being fo...

Send me a message Less than 60 years after the Norman Conquest, William's son, King Henry I was facing a succession crisis. It was a crisis that would, ultimately, lead to a civil war and the first time in England's history that a woman would be proclaimed Queen of England. This crisis ushered in a new royal dynasty...one that was to rule England for over 300 years...the Plantagenets. Jo...