Few of history’s heroes can rival Saladin in his enduring attraction. In the Muslim world he is revered for reclaiming Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187. In the West he is famed for his chivalric virtue, despite fighting off the armies of the Third Crusade. Professor Jonathan Phillips brings alive this extraordinary man’s legacy, offering […]
172. THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF THE SULTAN SALADIN
Chalke Talk
The podcast from the Chalke Valley History Festival
Released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings
Latest releases
- 172. THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF THE SULTAN SALADIN
Jonathan Phillips ( 2019 )> PLAY - 171. FIRST CONFESSION
Chris Patten ( 2017 )> PLAYLord Patten, one of the most distinguished Tory ‘Wets’ of the 1980s and 1990s, talks about his time in office in the Conservative Party, as the last Governor of Hong Kong, European Commissioner, Chairman of the BBC and Chancellor of Oxford University. From Northern Ireland to Asia, he shows us unexpected sides of many of […]
- 170. GEORGE OSBORNE: POLITICS AND HISTORY
George Osborne, Tim Bouverie ( 2017 )> PLAYThe former Chancellor looks at politics historically and divulges the historical antecedents which inspired him and his close friend David Cameron during their six years in government together. In conversation with Tim Bouverie, this is a rare insight into politics at the very highest level from the man Andrew Marr once called the smartest politician […]
- 169. LAST HOPE ISLAND: BRITAIN, OCCUPIED EUROPE AND THE BROTHERHOOD THAT HELPED TURN THE TIDE OF WAR
Lynne Olson ( 2017 )> PLAYIn the early days of World War II, London became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of occupied Europe. In their struggles against the mightiest military force in history, Britain become known as “Last Hope Island’. Acclaimed historian Lynne Olson describes how the British and their European guests joined forces to restore order […]
- 168. Hidden Histories: A Spotter’s Guide to the British Landscape
Mary-Ann Ochota ( 2019 )> PLAYFrom pathways, bridges and old houses, to hedges, churches, graveyards and field patterns left behind by medieval ploughmen, Mary-Ann Ochota helps decipher the story of our environment through the features we see around us and arms the amateur explorer with the crucial information needed to ‘read’ the landscape and spot the human activities that have […]
- 167. FOUR PRINCES: HENRY VIII, FRANCIS I, CHARLES V, SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT AND THE OBSESSION WHICH FORGED MODERN EUROPE
John Julius Norwich ( 2017 )> PLAYThe late lamented John Julius Norwich weaves a colourful story of four great princes who were born within a single decade. Henry VIII, Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain and Suleiman the Magnificent were sometimes friends, but more often enemies. From the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Francis and Henry’s extravagant pageant, […]
- 165. THE WOMEN WHO FLEW FOR HITLER: THE TRUE STORY OF HITLER’S VALKYRIES
Clare Mulley ( 2018 )> PLAYHanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg were talented and courageous women who fought convention to make their names in the male dominated world of flight and both were awarded the Iron Cross for service to the Third Reich. Acclaimed biographer Clare Mulley gives an exciting – and as yet largely unknown – account of Nazi […]
- 163. THE MAP OF KNOWLEDGE: HOW CLASSICAL IDEAS WERE LOST AND FOUND
Violet Moller ( 2019 )> PLAYViolet Moller traces the journey taken by the ideas of three of the greatest scientists of antiquity – Euclid, Galen and Ptolemy – through seven cities and over a thousand years. In tracing these fragile strands of knowledge, Moller reveals the web of connections between the Islamic world and Christendom, connections that would both preserve […]
- 164. ROBERT GRAVES: FROM GREAT WAR POET TO GOOD-BYE TO ALL THAT
Jean Moorcroft-Wilson ( 2019 )> PLAYRobert Graves as war poet, and the poems he suppressed in an effort to put the war behind him, have been largely neglected – until now. Jean Moorcroft Wilson traces not only Graves’s compelling life, but also the development of his poetry during the First World War, his thinking about the conflict and his talents […]
- 162. DON MCCULLIN: IRRECONCILABLE TRUTHS
Don McCullin, Max Hastings ( 2017 )> PLAYLegendary photographer Don McCullin first met Max Hastings in Cambodia in 1970. Here they discuss Sir Don’s long career from his time as a war photographer to his recent work in Syria, as well as some of the themes with which they are both familiar: fear, suffering and the terrible cost of war.
