Podcaster. Comms expert. Also a pretty inept equestrian.
In a new year special, historian and author Catherine Curzon tells me about the story of the British queen who never was – Sophia Dorothea, the much maligned wife of King George I.
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In this final episode of season 3, podcast host Ploy Radford and zooarchaeologists Dr Rob Symmons and Professor Naomi Sykes discuss the importance of animal bones to unveiling the past, and how the ones discovered at Fishbourne Roman Palace suggest there was once an exotic zoo there.
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Stonehenge is without doubt one of the most iconic historic monuments in Britain. It turns out though it wasn’t just people in prehistoric Britain building stone circles of cultural significance though – it was also happening on the other side of the world in prehistoric Japan. To delve into this phenomenon more, English Heritage has put on an exhibition ‘Circles of Stone: Stonehenge and Prehistoric Japan’ in the exhibition centre at Stonehenge. I speak to Interpretation Manager Melanie Coussens about a few of the underrated objects in the collection that have stories worth your attention.
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I was very excited to interview again, for this episode, the guest from my very first podcast! I of course mean the lovely, font of knowledge on arms and armour that is Dr Toby Capwell from the Wallace Collection. This time our object of discussion was a suit of armour from a small but captivating exhibition at the Wallace Collection called ‘The Lost King: Imagining Richard III’.
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In this first episode of season 3, I interview Hannah Dennett, Curator of the ‘Tiny Traces: African & Asian Children at London’s Foundling Hospital’ exhibition at the Foundling Museum, about the stories of these children, uncovered for the first time. Listen to learn more about the lives of foundlings and the complex views on race in 18th century Britain.
Read MoreLucy Jago, author of ‘A Net for Small Fishes’, explains how a painting of Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset, resonated particularly with her as she was writing her novel, which follows Frances’ involvement in the Overbury murder scandal that rocked the Stuart court.
Read Moren one of three Christmas 2021 special episodes, I talk to author Annie Garthwaite, about an illustration in the Neville Book of Hours that helped her capture the personality of Cecily of York, the titular character in her debut novel ‘Cecily’, and an influential figure in the Wars of the Roses.
Read MoreIn one of three Christmas 2021 special episodes of my history podcast Past Matters, I talk to author Jennifer Saint about an ancient Minoan object that helped inspire her debut novel Ariadne, which retells the famous Ancient Greek myths of Theseus and the Minotaur and Phaedra and Hippolytus from female perspectives.
Read MoreIn this bonus special episode, I talk to Tudor queenship expert Dr Valerie Schutte about that most underrated of Henry VIII’s wives – Anne of Cleves and a book of hours she gifted Henry VIII in 1533 (now in the Folger Shakespeare Library). Listen in to hear more about how Anne actually had a quite powerful status in England post-divorce, her relationship with Henry and his children, and about monk who really wanted Henry to take her back.
Read MoreIn one of three special episodes, host Ploy Radford talks to Dr Ian Mortimer, historian and author of the hugely popular ‘Time Traveller’s Guide…’ series about the rediscovery of the mirror in medieval Europe. This most basic of objects led to a revolution in the sense of self and can even be linked to a decrease in crime for a period…
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Ploy Radford 