Episodes

Season 1 of '1666 and All That' comes to an end with a vividly revealing account of how the English state set out to support surviving victims of the Civil Wars of the 1640s. The day after the battle of Edgehill in 1642, the Long Parliament...

Author Henry Jeffreys has charted British history through its relationships - commercial, industrial and social - with alcohol. And as we discover when Henry talks to Paul and Miranda in this episode, the 17th century played a key role in shaping...

From Philippa Gregory to Robert Harris, historical novelists are increasingly turning to the 17th century for inspiration. In this episode, writer Julie Maxwell joins Miranda and Paul to talk about her new book 'The Image of the King', which tells the...

When Thomas Roe was sent by King James I to be ambassador to the Mughal Empire in 1615, he discovered a vast and sophisticated polity that far surpassed England in population, wealth and military might.  Paul and Miranda explore this early...

In the week that sees a new King Charles crowned in London, Miranda and Paul unearth vivid coronation stories from 17th-century England - including details of the ceremonies for the two previous bearers of that regnal name. As well as examples of...

In the second of two episodes examining the origins of the English - later British - empire, Paul and Miranda are joined by Gabriel Glickman of the University of Cambridge. Gabriel's new book, 'Making the Imperial Nation: Colonisation, Politics and...

The 17th century saw early English attempts to carve out territories in the New World, Africa and beyond, with lasting - and all too often tragic - legacies. In the first of two episodes examining the origins of empire and the politics of...

Fifty years after the publication of Christopher Hill's celebrated Marxist analysis of the English Civil War, 'The World Turned Upside Down', historian Michael Sturza has written a new book that reprises some of Hill's arguments and sets out to refute...

Paolo Sarpi is far from a household name, even among aficionados of 17th-century history. But Paul Lay believes Sarpi deserves greater recognition, and in this episode he explains why to co-host Miranda Malins.  Sarpi was a Venetian statesman,...

Oliver Cromwell is one of the giants of English history, a man who believed himself to be called by God to transform the political and moral structures of the nation, and to extend his writ, by whatever means necessary, into Ireland and Scotland. Yet...

In the latest episode of their podcast about all things 17th century, Paul and Miranda talk to historian Jonathan Healey, author of an ambitious new narrative history of the period. In 'The Blazing World', Healey brings a social historian's eye for...

The revealing and entertaining new podcast about all things 17th century. Historians have portrayed Oliver Cromwell as a very masculine, martial figure – a man who made his name in Parliament’s army during the British Civil Wars of the 1640s and...

Paul and Miranda set sail for the 17th century to explore the origins of one of the greatest adventure stories ever written: Daniel Defoe's 'The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'. Behind the ripping yarn of a castaway's struggle for survival lie some of...

The revealing and entertaining new podcast about all things 17th century. Paul and Miranda talk to historian Jessie Childs about her acclaimed book 'The Siege of Loyalty House', which takes us back to the fierce struggle of the Civil War of the 1640s...

Great storytelling meets rigorous research in this vivid new podcast that brings the 17th century to life.  In this episode, hosts Miranda Malins and Paul Lay tell a darkly compelling story that resonates powerfully in our age of conspiracies and...

Miranda and Paul recall the strange story of the Spanish Match. In 1623, the future King Charles I travelled incognito to Spain in search of a bride, a sometimes farcical escapade that sparked years of diplomatic intrigue. Their guest is historian...

Hosts Paul Lay and Miranda Malins kick off Series 1 with special guest Robert Harris. Robert discusses the events that inspired his latest novel, Act of Oblivion, set in the years following the Restoration of King Charles II. And he gives us revealing...

A new podcast devoted to all things 17th century. Historians and authors Paul Lay and Miranda Malins believe this dramatic century shaped the world we live in today. They combine historical rigour, entertaining storytelling and revealing guest...