Travels Through Time

In today’s beautifully described episode the author and journalist Luke Turner takes us back to 1943 to present us with a refreshingly different view of World War 2. The war, Turner reminds us, was a cultural experience as well as a military contest. One feature of this cultural environment has been largely neglected by generations of scholars. This is the unusual degree of freedom some members of the British armed forces had to explore issues of sexuality and gender. The stories that feature in this episode are covered in much more depth in Luke’s fascinating new book. Men at War: Loving, Lusting, Fighting, Remembering 1939-1945 is published this week. For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: 3-4 April 1943. RAF Lissett, Bridlington, East Yorkshire. Scene Two: 16 April 1943. Off the coast of North Africa with Wing Commander Ian Gleed of the RAF. Scene Three. November 1943. A couple of hundred miles north of the Allied line with Lieutenant Dan Billany. Memento: The cockpit door from Ian Gleed’s hurricane. People/Social Presenter: Artemis Irvine Guest: Luke Turner Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1943 fits on our Timeline

As Britain's 'special relationship' with the USA falters, we look back at a very relevant epislode from our archive. In this the author and journalist Philip Stephens takes us back to a crucial month in post-war British politics. December 1962, he explains, set Britain’s relationship with the rest of the world for the next half century. Featuring in this episode is the elderly British prime minister, Harold Macmillan; the charismatic US president John F Kennedy; and the trenchant French statesman Charles de Gaulle. In this one month these three men would set out their contrasting visions of what kind of country Britain would be. The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Philip Stephen’s book, Britain Alone: the path from Suez to Brexit (Faber) Show Notes Scene One: 5 December 1962. Dean Acheson’s speech to the cadets of the Military Academy at West Point, New York. Scene Two: 15 December. Macmillan's visit to Rambouillet to meet with Charles de Gaulle. Scene Three: 19 December 1962. Macmillan travels to the Bahamas to meet President John F Kennedy. Memento: The text for Dean Acheson’s ‘West Point Speech.’ People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Philip Stephens Producers: Maria Nolan

The Netherlands is a small nation with a big history. But in the 1940s it suffered a series of disastrous events. First came the invasion of the Nazis in 1940. Then the very next year the Japanese attacked their old empire in the east. The horrors of World War Two were then followed by the Indonesian National Revolution and, by 1950, the Dutch were a 'pocket superpower' no longer. In this episode the journalist and hiker Nicholas Walton takes us back to examine this challenging moment in Dutch history. It was a time of reckoning with the past but also a moment of bright new beginnings. Nicholas Walton is the author of Orange Sky, Rising Water: The Remarkable Past and Uncertain Future of the Netherlands. Show notes Scene One: 1 January 1950, The dining table of a typical Dutch family. Scene Two: 12 January 1950, The Lloydkade in Rotterdam when troop ships like the SS Waterman, SS Grote Beer and SS Zuiderkruis all were bringing soldiers home to a freezing Netherlands. Scene Three: 26 July 1950. A barracks in Indonesia. This was the official date that the KNIL, the Dutch colonial army, was officially dissolved. Memento: A green/white temporary house as lived in by the Moluccans People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Nicholas Walton Production: Maria Nolan Theme music: Firelight by Minka

The late eighteenth century history was a time in Europe when a brilliant old world collapsed and raucous new one rose to replace it. In this episode the biographer Veronica Buckley explains how the Hapsburgs, one of the great European families, responded to this revolutionary change. It was a stern challenge but inspired by one of the great matriarchs in European history, Empress Maria Theresia, her son Emperor Joseph II, his successor Leopold and their sister, Marie Antoinette, reacted as best they could in that perilous year, 1790. Veronica Buckley is the author of Seven Sisters: Captives and Rebels in Revolutionary Europe's First Family Read an in-depth article about this story on Unseen Histories. Show notes Scene One: 20 February 1790, Emperor Joseph II dies in Vienna Scene Two: October 1790, The French revolutionary Comte de Mirabeau meets with Emperor Leopold II in Frankfurt to discuss a possible intervention in France. Scene Three: November 1790, The Habsburg imperial family arrives in Pressburg for Leopold’s coronation as King of Hungary. Memento: A piece of elegant jewellery belonging to Marie Christine. People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Veronica Buckley Production: Maria Nolan Theme music: Firelight by Minka / Mozart - Piano Sonata in B-flat major, III. Allegretto Grazioso performed by Brendan Kinsella

Most people know Daniel Defoe as one of the great writers in the history of English literature. But the author of Robinson Crusoe was much more than that. A rabble rousing pamphleteer and erratic entrepreneur, in the early years of the eighteenth century Defoe also became an undercover political operative. Defoe's career as a spy intersected with a huge moment in British history when the Act of Union between England and Scotland was being planned in 1706. Today's guest, the historian Marc Mierowsky, revisits this time in today's episode – analysing a series of events that were crucial to the genesis of Great Britain  Marc Mierowsky is the author of A Spy Amongst Us.  Show notes Scene One: July 1706. The Cockpit in Whitehall. The Scottish and the English commissioners finally settle on the terms of the treaty for the Act of Union. Scene Two: 23 October 1706. Edinburgh. The treaty has been sent north - it is being debated in the Scottish parliament -- and a riot breaks out. Defoe is a witness to the disorder. Scene Three: December 1706. The west of Scotland. Defoe deploys agent John Pierce to infiltrate the Hebronites. Memento: Daniel Defoe's familiar letters. People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Marc Mierowsky Production: Maria Nolan Theme music: Firelight by Minka

Today’s guest, Sean Cunningham, takes us back to a particularly perilous year in the eventful reign of King Henry VII. He explains that 1497 was a year of brinkmanship, battles, plots and disasters that very nearly resulted in the fall of the House of Tudor. Sean Cunningham is Head of Collections, Medieval, Early Modern and Legal, at the National Archives in Kew. He is one of the leading authorities on the life and times of Henry VII – the first of the Tudor monarchs. Often overshadowed by his attention-hogging son (he of the six wives), Henry VII was a formidable operator: wily, quicksilver, determined, restless. He needed all these qualities to survive the multiple threats to his rule. Sean Cunningham is the author of Henry VII: Treason and Trust.  Read an accompanying article about Henry VII at Unseen Histories. Show notes Scene One: August 1497. King James IV of Scotland challenges the Earl of Surrey to single combat. Scene Two: October 1497. Henry VII interviews Perkin Warbeck in Taunton Castle. Scene Three: December 1497. The fire at Sheen Palace. Memento: The original manuscript of Perkin Warbeck's confession. People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Sean Cunningham Production: Maria Nolan Theme music: Firelight by Minka

Given the scandal surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, we thought we'd examine an eerily familiar moment in British history. In January 1809 the Duke of York became the subject of a huge and embarrassing news story. It was a story of sex, power, money and corruption right at the heart of British politics. One of the stars of the affair was a woman of no rank, title or fortune. Her name was Mary Anne Clarke. Show notes Scene One: 27 January 1809. Colonel Wardle stands up in the House of Commons. Scene Two: 1 February 1809, Mary Anne Clarke gives evidence before the House of Commons. Scene Three: 20 March 1809, Spencer Percival announces the Duke of York's resignation as Commander in Chief to the House of Commons. Memento: Mrs Clarke's coat. People/Social Presenters: Peter Moore Production: Maria Nolan

Our guest today is the New York Times bestselling historian Charles King, the author of Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times that Made Handel's Messiah. The Messiah is one of the best known pieces of all classical music and, as King suggests at the beginning of this conversation, it 'may be the world's greatest monument to the possibility of hope'. To tell us more about how such an extraordinary piece was written, as well as to take us along to its premiere in Dublin in April 1742, King sat down with us for a travel back through time just the other day. Charles King is the author of Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times that Made Handel's Messiah Show notes Scene One: 13 April, 1742. The words 'Comfort ye/Every Valley' at the premiere of the Messiah in Dublin. Scene Two: 13 April, 1742. The words 'He Was Despised' at the premiere of the Messiah in Dublin. Scene Three: 13 April, 1742. The Hallelujah chorus at the premiere of the Messiah in Dublin. Memento: The original manuscript of Handel's Messiah. People/Social Presenters: Peter Moore and Min Kym Guest: Charles King Production: Maria Nolan

Our guest today is Tharik Hussain, a travel writer turned historian who has recently produced  an enchanting study of Europe's Islamic history. To investigate this at close quarters, in this episode he takes us back to Córdoba in the year 929 – the greatest city in Europe at the time, a place of wealth and splendour with a population of around 100,000. By 929 Córdoba was emerging as a rival power base to Baghdad. At a Friday prayers, early in the year, its ruler Abdul Rahman III declared himself Caliph of the Caliphate of Cordoba, Al Andalus. This was a decisive political move. Tharik takes us into the Grand Mosque to see this happen and he then guides us on a tour of two more equally intriguing sites. Tharik Hussain is the author Muslim Europe: A Journey in Search of a Fourteen Hundred Year History Show notes Scene One: Friday Prayers in the Great Mosque of Córdoba. 17 January 929. Scene Two: Inside a Córdoban hospital, or 'maristan'. Scene Three: One of the great synagogues of Cordoba in search of a young Jewish boy called Hasdai Ibn Shaprut. Memento: The plans that were drawn up for AR III’s Caliphate City – Madinah az Zahra.  People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Tharik Hussain Production: Maria Nolan Theme music: Firelight by Minka

Our guest today is Sarah Wise, an author known for her incisive social studies of nineteenth century history. In this episode Wise takes us back to a more recent year, 1947, so she can investigate the moment when the British public began to turn against the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913. The Mental Deficiency Act was a terrifying piece of legislation that resulted in the imprisonment of tens of thousands of vulnerable people. As Wise explains, many of its victims were young, working class women who were deemed incurable 'moral imbeciles'. As such they were locked away with no hope of release. In 1947 this began to change. Sarah Wise is the author The Undesirables: The Law that Locked Away a Generation. Show notes Scene One: George Scott Rimmington's bungalow in Newton Abbot (September 1947) Scene Two: Publication of The News of the World's expose of Margery X (1947) Scene Three: Cambridgeshire MP stands up in the Commons and asks Aneurin "Nye" Bevan a question (30 January 1947) Memento: A pencil written letter from 'Christine' to her mother.  People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Sarah Wise Production: Maria Nolan Theme music: Firelight by Minka

Join Peter Moore and Sarah Bakewell for a little walking tour of Fleet Street in London. Instead of three scenes, in this episode they stop off at three locations, as Peter tells Sarah about three of the characters who appear in his new book: the printer William Strahan, the writer Samuel Johnson and the politician John Wilkes. Peter Moore is a Sunday Times bestselling historian. His new book is Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Britain and the American Dream. Sarah Bakewell is a prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author, most recently of the history of humanism: Humanly Possible. For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com. Show notes Location One: The Old Cheshire Cheese (William Strahan) Location Two: 17 Gough Square (Dr Johnson's House) Location Three: Near John Wilkes's Statue on Fetter Lane People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Asking questions: Sarah Bakewell Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_

In 1520 the artist Albrecht Dürer was on the run from the Plague and on the look-out for distraction when he heard that a huge whale had been beached on the coast of Zeeland. So he set off to see the astonishing creature for himself. In this beautifully-evoked episode the award-winning writing Philip Hoare takes us back to those consequential days in 1520. We catch sight of Dürer, the great master of the Northern Renaissance, as he searches for the whale. This, he realises, is his chance to make his greatest ever print. Philip Hoare is the author of nine works of non-fiction, including biographies of Stephen Tennant and Noël Coward, and the studies, Wilde's Last Stand and England's Lost Eden.  Spike Island was chosen by W.G. Sebald as his book of the year for 2001.  In 2009, Leviathan or, The Whale won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. It was followed in 2013 by The Sea Inside, and in 2017 by RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR.  His new book, Albert & the Whale led the New York Times to call the author a 'forceful weather system' of his own. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton, and co-curator, with Angela Cockayne, of the digital projects http://www.mobydickbigread.com/ and https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/ As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: Nuremberg, home of Albrecht Dürer, at the height of its power as an imperial city, of art and technology. Scene Two: The Low Countries. Driven out of Nuremberg by the plague and a city in lockdown, Dürer escapes to the seaside. Scene Three: Halfway through his year away, Dürer hears a whale has been stranded in Zeeland.  This is his chance to make his greatest print, a follow up to his hit woodcut of a rhinoceros.  What follows next is near disaster, a mortal act.  It changes his life. Memento: Memento: A lock of Dürer’s hair (which Hoare would use to regenerate him and then get him to paint his portrait) People/Social Presenter: Violet Moller Guest: Philip Hoare Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Colorgraph Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ Or on Facebook See where 1520 fits on our Timeline 

It's time to revisit our archives. In this episode one of the world’s great historical novelists takes us back to one of the most dramatic and consequential moments in European history. Bernard Cornwell is our guide to the Battle of Waterloo. Waterloo. That single word is enough to conjure up images of Napoleon with his great bicorn hat and the daring emperor’s nemesis, the Duke of Wellington. Over the course of twelve or so hours on a Sunday at the start of summer, these two commanders met on a battle in modern-day Belgium, to settle the future of Europe. For a battle so vast is size and significance, it still has some elusive elements. Historians cannot agree on when it started. The movement of the troops is still subject to debate. Wellington, who might have been best qualified to answer these riddles, preferred not to speak of Waterloo. His famously laconic verdict was simply that it was ‘the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life.’ Few people are as qualified to analyse this tangled history as Bernard Cornwall. For forty years he has been writing about this period of history through his ‘Sharpe’ series of books. As Cornwall publishes his first new Sharpe novel for fifteen years, we take the opportunity to ask him about the battle that was central to all. Over a brilliantly analytical hour, he walks us through the battlefield, in three telling scenes. Show Notes Scene One: Sunday June 18th, 11.10 am.  Napoleon orders his grand battery to start firing Scene Two: Sunday June 18th, 8.00 pm. Napoleon sends the Imperial Guard to save the battle. Scene Three: Sunday June 18th, 10.00 pm.  Wellington weeps over the casualties. Memento: A heavy cavalry sword, carried in an attack at Waterloo People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Bernard Cornwell Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Colorgraph Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ Or on Facebook See where 1815 fits on our Timeline 

Our guest today is one of the greatest of Britons. Lady Hale was, until her retirement three years ago, the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom – the most senior judge in the country. Peter sat down with Lady Hale at her London home for a conversation about her life, her love of history and memoir Spider Woman. After this she took him back to 1925, a pivotal year for the law and women’s rights. For women, the 1920s were a progressive time. Figures like Eleanor Rathbone and Viscountess Rhonda led movements such as the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship and the Six Point Group. In 1925 three particularly important pieces of legislation passed through Parliament. Here she tells us about each of them. Lady Hale is the author of Spider Woman. For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: Administration of Estates Act 1925 (Royal Assent 9 April 1925) Scene Two: Guardianship of Infants Act 1925 (Royal Assent 31 July 1925) Scene Three: Widows, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act (Royal Assent 7 August 1925) Memento: Her mother’s tennis racquet. People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Lady Hale Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1925 fits on our Timeline

In this special live episode, recorded at the Buckingham Literary Festival last weekend, the award-winning writer Flora Fraser takes us to one of the most remote places in the British Isles to witness the dramatic story of how her namesake Flora Macdonald helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape after his failed attempt to take the throne from George II. Their adventure is one of the most romantic and romanticised episodes in our history, sighed over and depicted by succeeding generations seduced by Flora’s bravery and charm. Flora Fraser is the author of several acclaimed works of history including Beloved Emma: The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton; Venus of Empire, The Life of Pauline Bonaparte, and The Washingtons. Her book Pretty Young Rebel, The Life of Flora MacDonald is out now in hardback. For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: June 1746. The Prince comes to Flora at midnight in South Uist and asks for help.  Scene Two: September 1746. Flora is a captive on a Royal Navy warship in Leith harbour and a celebrity. Scene Three: December 1746. The ship bringing Flora South from Leith reaches London. Memento: The handsomely bound Bible in two volumes that Flora carried down to London, where she was kept a state prisoner into the following year. People/Social Presenter: Violet Moller Guest: Flora Fraser Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1746 fits on our Timeline  

In this episode the cultural historian Mike Jay takes Peter back to the high Victorian Age to see how a pioneering group of scholars and artists experimented with mind altering drugs. Jay labels these characters 'psychonauts'. These were daring, romantic figures like Sigmund Freud who championed cocaine as a stimulant, and William James whose experiments with nitrous oxide brought new insights into human consciousness. Others at this time used drugs more informally. One such person was Robert Louis Stevenson. Suffering from poor health in the mid-1880s he took advantage of the powerful drugs that were easily accessible. A result of this, Jay explains, is Dr Jeykill and Mr Hyde, one of the great short stories in English literature. Mike Jay is the author of Psychnauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind. For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: January 1885, Vienna - Sigmund Freud publishes his self-experiments with cocaine. Scene Two: March 31st 1885, Cambridge, Mass - William James in his study, corresponding with Benjamin Blood and Edmund Gurney about nitrous oxide. Scene Three: September 1885, Bournemouth - RL Stevenson writes Jekyll & Hyde in three days. Memento: A branded Merck vial of cocaine  People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Mike Jay Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1885 fits on our Timeline  

In this lively episode of Travels Through Time the historian Dr David Veevers takes us to the heart of the seventeenth century to visit three key locations in which the British Empire was being formed, challenged and resisted.  First, we head to the Deccan Plateau of the Indian Subcontinent to witness a dramatic stand off between the Mughal and Maratha Empires. It would set off a series of events which would eventually lead to the English East India Company acquiring a colony of its own in the region. Next, we cross continents and oceans to meet the Indigenous Kalinago of the Eastern Caribbean as they sign a treaty with the English and French. And finally, David takes us to the west coast of Africa where the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa is launched – an operation that would soon gain a monopoly over the trade in enslaved people in West Africa. These stories represent just a select few from David’s brilliant new book The Great Defiance: How the World Took On the British Empire. It’s a work of history that challenges our idea of the empire as one in which the British came, saw and conquered. Dr David Veevers is an award-winning historian and Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Bangor, and was formerly a Leverhulme Fellow in the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London.  Show Notes Scene One: January, 1660, Deccan. The Mughal Empire invade the emerging Maratha Empire, setting off a series of events that lead to the sack of Surat and the quest of the English East India Company to acquire a colony of its own in India. Scene Two: March, 1660, Guadeloupe. An Anglo-French delegation conclude a treaty with the Indigenous Kalinago of the Eastern Caribbean to partition the region between them. Scene Three: December, 1660, London and West Africa. The Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa is launched, eventually gaining a monopoly over the trade in enslaved people in West Africa. Momemto: A silver cup that the British allege is stolen by Powhatan people. People/Social   Presenter: Artemis Irvine Guest: David Veevers Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1660 fits on our Timeline  

This week we head to the turbulent world of sixteenth century France to meet three fascinating queens whose lives were inextricably linked – Catherine de' Medici, Elisabeth de Valois and Mary Queen of Scots. They are the subject of our guest today, Leah Redmond Chang's, new book, Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power. 'The royal body exists to be looked at,' Hilary Mantel wrote in her essay "Royal Bodies". For a royal woman especially, this has meant that the most intimate parts of her biology have been closely observed and occasionally used to alter the course of her country's history. Whether she had started menstruating, was fertile, was able to sexually satisfy her husband or provide him with a son and heir could all be details on which massive political decisions were based. As Leah Redmond Chang shows in her wonderful new book, these details of women's lives aren't a sideshow to the main event but, in fact, central to the action. In this episode we visit 1559 to witness the unexpected and violent death of Henry II of France in a jousting competition. It was a tragic accident that would forever change the lives of his wife, Catherine de' Medici, his daughter, Elisabeth de Valois and his daughter-in-law Mary Queen of Scots. Show notes Scene One: June 30-July 10, 1559, Paris. The tragic and violent death of Henry II of France in a jousting accident after the wedding of his daughter, Elisabeth de Valois. Scene Two: Mid-July 1559, the Louvre. The Spanish Duke of Alba visits the mourning chambers of Catherine de’ Medici. Scene Three: Late November, 1559, Châtelleraut. The Departure of Catherine’s daughter, Elisabeth de Valois, for Spain. Momento: Henry II's faulty jousting helmet, and/or the first letter Catherine de' Medici sent to her daughter as she was on her journey to Spain to meet her husband.  People/Social   Presenter: Artemis Irvine Guest: Leah Redmond Chang Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1559 fits on our Timeline  

The Renaissance was stirred into life by many figures of genius. In this episode Peter meets up with the art historian, Andrew Spira, to talk about three of the great masters in one of the most captivating of years. In different ways Botticelli, Perugino and Dürer were finding new stories to tell in their paintings. Spira evaluates all of this for us and he detects the emergence of something else that would be of central importance in the emerging Western society. This was a revolutionary new conception: 'the self'. Andrew Spira is the author of The Invention of the Self: Personal Identity in the Age of Art, among other works. He is also one of the esteemed tour directors at Ace Culutral Tours. For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: Sandro Botticelli's Mystic Nativity Scene Two: Pietro Perugino's Resurrection Scene Three: Albrecht Dürer's Self-portrait Memento: A Dürer print People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Andrew Spira Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1500 fits on our Timeline

For this week's episode Peter headed in to Penguin's offices in London to meet Serhii Plokhy and talk to him about his new book, The Russo-Ukrainian War. They discussed how a culture of secrecy continues to define Russian society as it did before with the Soviets. They looked at the progress of the war and Putin's failed attempt to found a 'Eurasian Union'. Following this Serhii revisits the dramatic events of 1991, when he watched on as the Soviet Union collapsed in the most unexpected of ways. Serhii Plokhy has been described as 'The world's foremost historian of Ukraine' by the Financial Times. His new book, The Russo-Ukrainian War, is available in hardback now. For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: August 1991. Moscow during the attempted coup Scene Two: Late August. Edmonton, Canada. The Canadian prime minister pledges to recognize Ukrainian independence Scene Three: 25 December. Mikhail Gorbachev's Resignation Address Memento: Serhii Plokhy's aeroplane ticket from 1991 People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Serhii Plokhy Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1991 fits on our Timeline