Chalke Talk

The podcast from the Chalke Valley History Festival
Released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings

Latest releases

  • 97. THE DARKENING AGE: THE CHRISTIAN DESTRUCTION OF THE CLASSICAL WORLD
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    The Roman Empire had been generous in embracing and absorbing new creeds. But with the coming of Christianity, everything changed. This new faith, despite preaching peace, was violent, ruthless and intolerant. Catherine Nixey paints a dark but riveting picture of life at the time of the ‘triumph’ of Christianity and gives a gripping account of […]

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  • 96. THE VIKING AGE OF EXPLORATION
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    Dan Snow tells the story of the Viking expansion across the North Atlantic to the New World. What does the archeology tell us? How did they navigate across the vast expanse of ocean and why did they use reindeer droppings as a preservative? Dan Snow has followed the Vikings from Estonia to Newfoundland and here […]

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  • 95. THE ASSASSINATION OF JULIUS CAESAR
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    Thanks to Shakespeare, the death of Julius Caesar is the most famous assassination in history. But what actually happened on 15 March 44 BC is even more gripping than Shakespeare’s play. With a fresh perspective, American historian Professor Barry Strauss sheds new light on this fascinating, pivotal and carefully planned paramilitary operation and the mole […]

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  • 94. WHEN BRITAIN BURNED THE WHITE HOUSE: THE 1814 INVASION OF WASHINGTON
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    In August 1814, the United States’ army was defeated in battle by a British invading force just outside Washington DC. In his compelling style, broadcaster and journalist Peter Snow recounts this unparalleled moment in American history, its far-reaching consequences for both sides and Britain’s and America’s decision never again to fight each other. 

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  • 93. JERUSALEM: THE HOLY CITY AND THE MIDDLE EAST
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    Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilisations. Best-selling author Simon Sebag Montefiore tells the epic history of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. 

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  • 92. ANCIENT WORLDS
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    Historian and broadcaster Michael Scott takes us on an epic journey of connections over 900 years. Explaining the birth of modern politics in Greece and Rome, the building of great empires, and the rise of great religions, he shows how our human story developed, and why the world exists as it does now. 

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  • 91. KISSINGER 1923-1966: THE IDEALIST
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    No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Hailed as the ‘indispensable man,’ he has also attracted immense hostility. One of our most renowned historians Professor Niall Ferguson reveals an extraordinary panorama of Kissinger the man: from his Jewish upbringing in Germany to his rise as one of America’s most […]

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  • 90. THE SPANISH ARMADA
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    In 1585 Spain was the most powerful empire in the known world. As tensions between Protestant England and Catholic Spain grew, Spain decided to invade England and so launched the Spanish Armada. Sam Willis gives a thrilling account that explains how the English managed to overthrow the Spanish invasion, who the key figures were and […]

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  • 89. JANE AUSTEN
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    Here the celebrated and best-selling biographer Claire Tomalin marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen. Her Life of Jane Austen is unlikely to ever be surpassed. She presents this inimitable writer of some of the best-loved novels of all time as intensely intelligent, sensitive, tough and observant. Unmissable. 

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  • 88. EAST-WEST STREET: BACK TO THE 1930’s?
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    Acclaimed international human rights lawyer and winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize, Philippe Sands, traces the origins of the terms ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity,’ a journey that took him on a very personal quest to uncover the tragic fate of the Jewish communities in Lviv and the area around it in what is […]

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