Single Malt History with Gareth Russell

I am joined by internationally best-selling author Dr Philippa Gregory, author of the new play "Richard, My Richard" and two of its stars, Richard III (Kyle Rowe) and Margaret Beaufort (Laura Smithers), for an exclusive interview about the new royal play garnering rave reviews in England.

Jay Britton is setting the world of immersive history alight and I'm thrilled she's joining me here for the Christmas - and season finale - of Single Malt History.

I'm joined by the Marquess of Anglesey to discuss his fascinating new book "The Great Survivor of the Tudor Age," about his ancestor Sir William Paget. Paget was Jane Seymour's secretary, and Anne of Cleves', an adviser to Henry VIII, Edward VI made him a baron, he supported Lady Jane Grey but then served Mary I, and died in the reign of Elizabeth. 

I am joined this week by Robert Child, author of “Immortal Valor: The Black Medal of Honor Winners of World War II,” to discuss his acclaimed research into the remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers who were awarded the World War II Medal of Honor – and the 50-year campaign by some to deny them the heroes’ recognition.

PUBLICATION DAY EPISODE - to celebrate the American release of my new book, "The Palace," I am reading an exclusive extract from the book - the prologue, describing the 1953 coronation ball of Queen Elizabeth II.

Nestled in the English countryside, Harvington Hall is an extraordinarily well-preserved Elizabethan manor house, with many secrets - some, quite literally, hidden within its walls. I'm joined by Phil Downing, Harvington Hall's manager, to explore the role Harvington played in a dark yet fascinating chapter of English history.

In the Middle Ages, the Mongols created one of the world's largest empire, fuelled by their religious belief that they had been given the Mandate of Heaven to rule the world. I'm joined in this episode by Dr Nicholas Morton, author of an exciting study of this staggeringly large empire, "The Mongol Storm".

Dame Penelope Wilton is beloved by millions for her role as Isobel Crawley in "Downton Abbey". Now, she is playing a very different kind of matriarch - Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother - opposite Luke Evans in the new West End play, "Backstairs Billy." Ahead of opening night, Penelope stops by Single Malt History to talk about her latest role with Queen Mother biographer, and Single Malt host, Gareth Russell.

I'm joined by Sunday Times bestselling historian, TV presenter, and author Dan Jones to talk about his new novel, the medieval warfare epic "Wolves of Winter" - its real-life inspirations and its role as a sequel to his hit book, "Essex Dogs".

Hampton Court had a history before Henry VIII. Join us to discover his father Henry VII's visit to the estate on a crisp autumn evening in 1500.

Vienna, 1917: As snow storms pummel the city, spies and princes in disguise carry documents with secrets that could topple an empire.

ACTOR/S

Paul Storrs as Edward Lisle-Strutt

In 1534, what drove the best-dressed man in Ireland to parade through the streets of Dublin and denounce Henry VIII? This episode of Single Malt History with Gareth Russell covers the remarkable actions of 'Silken Thomas' Fitzgerald, an earl suspected of witchcraft, a countess who nursed her husband in prison, and how Tudor Ireland reveals what Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell thought of one another long before the dramatic events of her downfall.

In 1066, England had three kings and, by the end of the year, a new queen. Pious and beautiful Matilda of Flanders followed her brutal husband's victory at the Battle of Hastings to become England's queen consort in the age of the Norman conquest.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's cousin Charles was involved in one of the forgotten - and harrowing - shipping disasters of the 20th century.

The remarkable and dramatic life of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.

‘Nine Tales from Victorian Belfast continues with a murder in east Belfast, unionist dinnerware, a Catholic sisterhood with a secret in the west, a party with the Titanic’s designer, and a servant’s life in the mansions of the south.

5. A Murder on Eliza Street

6. From Slob-Land to Snob-Land: A servant’s life on the Malone Road

7. The Duke of Abercorn gives a speech

8. The Sisterhood of Clonard

9. A party with Thomas Andrews

Content warning: Today’s episode contains discussions of domestic violence which some listeners may find distressing.

CAST LIST

Colm Doran as Reverend Narcissus G. Batt

Ashley Montgomery as a member of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Paul Storrs as James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn and Thomas Andrews Jr.

Single Malt History is back for its fourth season with a special two-part premiere. Join us for tales of aristocrats on the outskirts, murders in the east, servants in the south, and monks in the west, as the town became a city while radical politics and conservatism populism collided. I'm joined by some of Belfast's best actors to bring to life transcripts from the time period, and singer-songwriter Emily-Rose Edgar whose performance of a 19th century refrain gave me goosebumps.

Today's four tales:

1. Lord Londonderry's Suicide

2. A Letter from Carnlough

3. A Poem for Mrs Scriven

4. The Death of Mary Ann McCracken
 

Content warning: Today’s episode contains discussions of suicide, depression, self-harm, and eating disorders which some listeners may find distressing

EPISODE'S CAST

Jake Douglas as Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry

Maryann Maguire as Mary Ann McCracken

Cáilum Carragher as Lord Byron and John Martin MP

Danny Cunningham as Dr Charles Bankhead and John Mitchel

Colm Doran as The Northern Whig's journalist

Ashley Montgomery as Maggie McKinley

Paul Storrs as the editor of The Belfast Vindicator and Lord Londonderry's coroner

And, 'The Fields of Athenry' sung by Emily-Rose Edgar

A slightly unexpected ending to season 3 and what's ahead in season 4. So, a farewell and a thanks. 

I am joined by Dr. Valerie Schutte to discuss her fascinating research into the world of sixteenth-century books and her forthcoming cultural biography of Anne of Cleves, Queen of England (b. 1515, d. 1557).

When homosexuality was made a death penalty offence for the first time in English history by Henry VIII in 1533, it looked like the new laws might claim hundreds or even thousands of lives. But, sixty years later, a young poet was openly writing poems about his love for another man in a London ruled over by Henry's daughter. What was the reality for Tudor people who fell in love or lust with their own gender? Did it change under the Stuarts? Exploring the impact of the laws, the complexities of Elizabethan culture, and the scandals that rocked Stuart high society, this episode of Single Malt History discusses the ways in which sexuality was punished, hidden, proclaimed, and analysed in the early modern period.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains frequent use of sexual language and a discussion of assault which some listeners may find distressing. 

Some exclusive anecdotes from the Queen Mother's life on the day my biography of her hits the shelves in Britain, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa.

From 1897 to 1939, floating palaces and luxury liners were surrogates for the feuds between the rival countries. In the latest episode of Single Malt History, I discuss the grandeur, absurdity, and tragedy of History's most luxurious cold war.  I’m joined by actors, bringing to life the eyewitness testimonies of some of those who were involved - from crew members to victims, socialites and sceptics.

CAST

Cáilum Carragher as John Dempsey

Jake Douglas as John Malcolm Brinnin and Sir Tommy Lascelles

Peter Evangelista as Morgan Robertson

Debra Hill as Kate Gilnagh

Rebecca Lenaghan as Noëlle, Countess of Rothes

Maryann Maguire as Alice, Dowager Duchess of Buckingham

Ashley Montgomery as Mary-Josephine Barratt

Some reflections on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II (1926 - 2022) and the many royal figures who attended her funeral.

In a sleepy Irish seaside village in 1957, a priest called on a housewife for a cup of tea one rainy afternoon to chat about what school was best for her daughter. A few hours later, the woman backed out of her driveway in such a panic she smashed her car into the gatepost. She kept driving. Within days, a scandal had swept over everybody involved.

Wallis Simpson divided a nation and continues to divide opinion. I'm joined by Anne Sebba, author of the acclaimed Simpson biography "That Woman," who the real Wallis Simpson was - and Anne's new hit read, examining what really happened to the alleged American Communist spy, Ethel Rosenberg.

Content warning: This episode contains brief discussions of domestic and sexual abuse, which some listeners may find disturbing. 

The extraordinary stories of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katherine Parr, their marriages to the notorious King Henry VIII, and how they ended up memorialised in the rhyme Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.

Content warning: This episode contains frequent discussions of miscarriages and fertility struggles, which some listeners may find distressing.

Our interview with Professor James Walvin, author of the new book A World Transformed: Slavery in the Americas and the Origins of Global Power. Professor Walvin discusses working on the history of enslavement over the past four decades and his most recent work, in which he explores how the brutal enforced transportation and labour of millions of Africans continues to have significant consequences today. Slavery shaped many of the dominant features of Western taste: items and habits or rare and costly luxuries, some of which might seem, at first glance, utterly removed from the horrific reality of slavery. Dr. Walvin traces the global impacts of slavery over centuries, far beyond its legal or historical endpoints, arguing that the world created by slave labour lives on today.

Content warning: This episode contains discussions of child abduction, physical coercion, racism, human trafficking, and child abuse which some listeners may find distressing.

Jean Findlay, author of the new novel "The Queen's Lender," stops by Single Malt History to discuss what drew her to the dramatic world of 16th-century Scotland and its artistic Danish queen.

The brutal real-life history that inspired Agatha Christie's iconic 1934 detective novel.

WARNING: Contains discussions of home invasion, suicide, and pregnancy loss, which some listeners may find distressing.

Dr Tim Ashby joins us today to discuss the thrilling life of Elizabethan spy, and fellow Ashby, William. And I catch-up on the books I've been reading, including Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (why I love the TV adaptation), Elizabeth Fremantle's The Poison Bed, and Jane Ridley's biography of King George V. An eclectic bag today!

Franz Ferdinand's death is one of the most famous in history. But who was this man killed on 28th June 1914 by 'the shot heard round the world'? And how did it lead to the First World War?

WARNING: This episode contains discussions of suicide which some listeners may find distressing.

Single Malt History is back with a trip to the 11th century in the company of Don Hollway, author of THE LAST VIKING.

I am joined by my friend Kate McCaffrey to discuss her genuinely astonishing research into the sixteenth-century network whose secrets she discovered hidden in Anne Boleyn’s Books of Hours.

Why did the House of Windsor refuse to save the Romanovs? And why, in 1919, did the British royals then launch a secret mission, headed by a dashing spy, to save the Emperor of Austria?

This episode is about a thrilling story from secret meetings at Buckingham Palace through war-torn Austria to a small hunting lodge where a fallen emperor lay trapped with his wife and children.

Featuring: Rebecca Lenaghan (Empress Zita), Paul Storrs (Lt.-Col. Edward Lisle Strutt)

In the 1940s, the Nazis were producing a series of anti-British and anti-American costume dramas, when a high-ranking Nazi's attention settled on the 'Titanic' disaster. 

In this episode, I discuss what happened and read an exclusive of my author's note to "The Ship of Dreams," my book about the 'Titanic,' which was not included in the audio version. (Authors' notes usually aren't!) Why did I write the book and what is it about that night in 1912 that has kept both moral heroes and moral monsters enthralled for over a century?

It’s not often you find out that you’re related to your guest, but that’s what happened in the new episode when I was joined by award-winning New York Times bestselling author, Deanna Raybourn, author of the Veronica Speedwell and Lady Julia Grey mysteries. We talk about how Anne Boleyn helped inspire her love of history, our love for Murder on the Orient Express and Suzannah Lipscomb’s podcast, Catherine de Medici and Marie-Antoinette, what we can learn from the Victorians, the ways in which anti-Semitism shifts in novels written on either side of 1945, and how Deanna writes, researches, and creates her hugely popular historical novels.

Some strong language. Some spoilers (for books written in the 1930s, but spoilers nonetheless)

I’m joined by Robert Peal to discuss two Irish Protestant aristocratic women who fell in love, a survivor of slavery who became a bestselling author, sultans and Stuart princes, a radical who befriended King George III, the ‘pirate queens of the Caribbean,’ and many more, who feature in Rob’s debut book, “Meet the Georgians: Epic Tales from Britain’s Wildest Century”.

The tumultuous life of a handsome Gascon knight who became the lover of England's king, Edward II. How did he become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland? What happened that terrible night at Warwick Castle? How did the consequences of their love affair shape politics for a decade? And what happened to Edward II when he suddenly disappeared in 1327?

I am joined in today's episode by Dr. Elizabeth Norton, who chats about her biography of Henry VIII's fourth wife Anne of Cleves, England's first crowned queen Elfrida, and her research into the controversy between Thomas Seymour and the future Elizabeth I. 

At the start of the 1920s, a firmly right-wing aristocrat became embroiled in the political chaos surrounding Irish independence, alongside the maintenance of the British state in Northern Ireland. How, and why, did the ultra-conservative Lord Londonderry decide to try a truly radical plan to save the new state's working-class children from inheriting the sectarian bitterness of previous generations? In this episode I talk about the Londonderry dynasty's role as they witnessed the Home Rule campaign, the struggle for Irish independence, the violence of the trenches in the First World War, and the creation of Northern Ireland.

I’m joined by Dr. Owen Emmerson (from TV’s “The Boleyns”, “Who Do You Think You Are?”) and Claire Ridgway (“On This Day in Tudor History”, The Anne Boleyn Files) to discuss their new book “The Boleyns of Hever Castle,” exploring the private lives of an aristocratic dynasty and what everyday life was like in a manor house at the dawn of the Tudor era.

Olaudah Equiano's life took him from a blissful childhood in the African kingdom of Benin to the slave auctions of Barbados. He endured life on a tobacco plantations in Virginia, fought battles off the coast of Portugal, he sailed to the Arctic, met Queen Charlotte in Georgian London, and addressed anti-slavery conventions in Belfast.

I am joined by friend of the show, Dr Lauren Mackay, to discuss Eustace Chapuys, whose fascinating life took him from studying near the Holy Shroud of Turin to the heart of the Habsburg and Tudor courts on the eve of the Reformation. He wrote in cyphers, spied for an emperor, and stood witness to rebellions, miscarriages of justice, and diplomatic scandals. Did this erudite clergyman really become Anne Boleyn's mortal enemy, as has been claimed? And how did he become a confidant of Emperor Charles V and Katherine of Aragon's last - and perhaps most loyal - friend? 

Dr. Linda Porter discusses her acclaimed biographies of Tudor queens - Mary I and Katherine Parr - as well as her recent bestseller “Mistresses,” on the scandals, politics, adultery, tragedy, and glamour at Charles II’s court.

On 16th October 1793, "the most hated woman in France" was publicly beheaded. How had the former queen fallen from life at Versailles to death before a crowd of thousands? From her controversial trial to her last letter and final journey, Marie-Antoinette's execution became a cultural Rubicon. Seen by some as a moment of revolutionary justice and by others as a warning about the dangers posed by political extremism, the execution also helped solidify the growing ideology of western European conservatism, being cited by some of conservatism's so-called 'founding thinkers' as an embodiment of everything they need to fight against.

As a personal tragedy, a grizzly death, and a cultural turning point, the death of Marie-Antoinette remains controversial and fascinating. 

Single Malt History is back for its second season with an episode about Isobel of Gloucester, the queen England never had. Isobel's life is a window into misogyny, monarchy, terrible betrayal, kidnapping, and courage at the heart of the Middle Ages. She was the first, forgotten wife of one of England's most unpopular rulers - and she might even have been Queen of Ireland, too, had things gone differently. Isobel's story is a cocktail of revenge and rebellion.

I sit down with Nichelle Tramble Spellman, award-winning producer and showrunner of AppleTV+'s TRUTH BE TOLD to discuss historical fiction, the writing process, favourite reads, ghost stories, bodice rippers, and the power of story telling.

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