Latest news with #DominicSandbrook
Irish Times
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
I got a text saying, would I like to meet The Rest Is History podcasters? Would I what?
It was the screenwriter William Goldman who coined the phrase 'nobody knows anything' about Hollywood. By that he meant that nobody in the film industry, not directors, actors, publicists or executives, knows definitively what will make a box office success. Nobody in the podcasting business either, least of all presenters Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, envisaged The Rest is History becoming one of the most popular English-language podcasts in the world. What started as a lockdown project for the pair in 2020 had within two years become the most popular podcast on Apple and now has tens of millions of listeners worldwide. I am one of them. I read countless history books before I started writing them. I find the past a lot more interesting than the present because the stakes seemed so much higher. People's lives were nasty, brutish and short, to quote Thomas Hobbes. Wars, famines, pestilence, plagues and the capricious demands of rulers makes the past eternally fascinating. The Rest is History quickly became the soundtrack to my free time. READ MORE I first met the two presenters on May 17th, 2023. I remember the date because it was 49th anniversary of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, which I was covering for The Irish Times. I got a text from fellow history buff Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews – would I like to meet them? Would I what? During lunch they mentioned that they would like to have me on the show to speak about my book, Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP . I thought they were just being polite, but they were serious. The hosts invited me to record two episodes, one on the shooting incorporating the build-up to the Civil War and a second on the war itself and, in particular, the death of Michael Collins. Michael Collins: The Rest is History team were particularly interested in his death. Photograph: Getty Images So on one of those beautiful days this May we set up to record in a room on the top floor of the Four Courts. The venue was chosen as it was there that the Civil War effectively began on June 28th, 1922, when the Free State army shelled the anti-Treaty garrison which had been holed up inside the building since the previous April. Holland and Sandbrook are serious historians. Holland is a classical scholar. His book, Dominion , published in 2019, about how Christianity has influenced the western world, is one of my favourite books. His translation of Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars was a top-10 bestseller in Britain. [ The Rest is History: Scholarship with a light touch Opens in new window ] Sandbrook is a prolific historian of the modern period and has written many books on Britain and the United States which combine great storytelling and scholarship. They have serious credentials, but they don't take themselves seriously. This, I believe, is why their reach extends far beyond people who consider themseves 'interested in history'. Sandbrook is married to a Cork woman, Catherine Morley, who is a professor of English in the University of Leicester; Holland is an avid Joycean. After we recorded our episodes, I took him across the river Liffey to see the lamentable state of 15 Usher's Island, the house where Joyce's short story The Dead is set. [ House Private – Frank McNally on the apparent occupation of 15 Usher's Island Opens in new window ] Their interest in Irish history is genuine and important, given how much the past relationships between Britain and Ireland informs the present day. The quality of their output is matched by the quantity – almost 600 episodes and counting. They do all their own research, often reading two to three books on a particular topic a week. They are ably assisted by their team, with producer Theo Young-Smith and assistant producer Tabby Syrett and others keeping the show on the road and the social media beast fed. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, presenters of the popular podcast The Rest Is History. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw They are also great fun to be around. They love what they are doing. Fortunately, so do millions of listeners around the world. Most of history is the stories we tell each other about the past. We retain the same hunger for stories as our ancestors who sat around firesides memorising tales of their ancestors for future generations. Only the means of communication has changed. The story of how Reggie Dunne and Joe O'Sullivan, two British-born veterans of the first World War turned Irish nationalists, assassinated the former head of the British army, an Irish-born British imperialist, on the streets of London is an extraordinary one. I should know – I spent a year and a half writing a book about it. The fact that one of the assassins , O'Sullivan, had a wooden leg is a detail a fiction editor would have dismissed as implausible. The presenters of The Rest is History are masterful storytellers. They have an eye for the telling detail that elevates the narrative. When Henry Wilson was a young officer in Burma he was slashed across the face in a fight, crushing his right eye socket. He was never the most handsome man to start with. When a letter was sent to the 'ugliest man in the British army' care of a Belfast barracks and its intended destination was him, Wilson delighted in the anecdote for the rest of his life. [ 'A lot of history is a very, very dark comedy in which people behave quite badly' Opens in new window ] Of course, Tom Holland picked up on that fact at the beginning of the podcast. I thought I knew my own book, but I was startled when he mentioned that Joe O'Sullivan and David Beckham had something in common. They both had a girlfriend called 'Posh'. I did recall, as he did, that O'Sullivan smuggled .303 ammunition in his wooden leg when he went to Ireland during the War of Independence – another implausible fact. The two Rest Is History episodes I appeared in followed four that featured Professor Paul Rouse, who has been an inspired choice to bring listeners through the complications of the War of Independence. The Rest is History is available on all podcast platforms. Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP by Ronan McGreevy is publis hed by F aber
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Civilisations returns with unprecedented access to the British Museum's collection
At a moment when we all fear the civilisation-threatening power of pandemics, autocracy and technological transformation, Civilisations: Rise and Fall, produced by BBC Studios, examines why four famous and mighty civilisations in the past found themselves on the brink of disaster, and how the art and artefacts they left behind hold clues to explaining their fate. Each programme looks at the rise of a different great civilisation and explores the factors that led to its decline. From Ancient Rome to Cleopatra's Egypt, via the samurai of Japan and the lost world of the Aztecs, audiences will discover rare and beautiful art and artefacts from each culture. All objects that feature in the series are in the British Museum thanks to behind-the-scenes access to spaces most visitors never see. These artefacts take us to very particular moments of civilisational transition, as societies confronted upheaval and endured radical change in a bid to safeguard their own futures. Across four episodes, interviews with experts, key academics and curators are combined with bold drama-reconstructions to follow the clues in these treasures that explain why each culture fell from power, and whether these relics can help us understand the risks we face today. Contributors include Dominic Sandbrook from The Rest is History podcast, artists Antony Gormley and Edmund De Waal, co-host of The Rest is Politics podcast Alistair Campbell, Radio 4's Making History presenter Iszi Lawrence and academics and authors including Camilla Townsend, Mark Ravina, Shushma Malik and Salima Ikram. Featured artefacts from The British Museum's world-famous collection include the double-headed serpent of the Aztecs, the Meroe Head of Augustus, a mummified crocodile from Ancient Egypt and a newly acquired set of samurai armour from Japan. Suzy Klein, Head of BBC Arts and Classical Music TV, said: 'A new series of Civilisations is always a significant moment for BBC Arts and this incarnation feels particularly timely in our own uncertain age. With unprecedented access to the British Museum's collection, Civilisations: Rise and Fall makes the case that museums are more relevant than ever: they are repositories of human memory, time-capsules – a crucial way for us to understand the past and how we might ensure the future of our own civilisation.' Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum said: 'We were delighted to collaborate with the BBC for the landmark Civilisations series, and bring some of the most incredible objects in the British Museum's collection to the forefront in telling these global stories. I hope the series captures the imagination of young and old alike, and that we engage whole new audiences with our collection – a collection which shows how history connects us all, something which is now more relevant than ever.' Alexander Leith, Executive Producer, BBC Studios Specialist Factual, said: 'It's a great privilege to be making the next iteration of the Civilisations brand – especially in such close collaboration with the British Museum. The remarkable artefacts they hold offer astonishing points of connection with these past civilisations, and the factors and fault lines on which their fortunes turned – many of which feel disarmingly relevant to our own world. The Civilisations The Fall of Rome When new Roman emperor Honorius ascends to the throne in 395 AD he inherits a system of government that's built one of the most remarkable civilizations in history. For over 400 years the Roman Empire has ruled a vast territory that crosses three continents and encompasses a multitude of peoples and languages. Keeping this disparate whole together is a massive challenge, but decisions taken by Honorius' predecessors have opened up alarming fault lines within the system. Now a series of shocks and threats are colliding in a perfect storm that will see the weakened city of Rome fall to foreign invaders for the first time in 800 years. The Last Days of the Ptolemies in Egypt In 51 BC Cleopatra becomes Queen of Egypt – and Pharaoh – amid a crumbling dynasty plagued by infighting, betrayal, and political chaos. She navigates a treacherous web of family rivalries and Roman interference. Determined to preserve Egypt's independence, she forges bold alliances with Julius Caesar and later Mark Antony, two of Rome's most powerful men. Her reign marks both a last stand for the Ptolemaic dynasty and the dramatic end of three millennia of Pharaonic rule in Egypt. The End of the Samurai in Japan 1853 CE. For centuries, Japan has been cut off from outside influence. In that time the West, and much of the rest of the world, has made extraordinary leaps forward in science, industry and military technology, while Japan remains a feudal medieval society. At the heart of this feudal system are the samurai – warrior knights funded by the state. But when giant American steamships arrive on Japan's shores, the days of the samurai are numbered. The Collapse of the Aztec Empire 1519. Under the strong leadership of Emperor Moctezuma the great Aztec civilization reaches its zenith. The jewel in the crown is the beautiful island city of Tenochtitlan built in the middle of the lake Texcoco, a melting pot of extraordinary arts and culture - home to some 100,000 people. But Moctezuma's empire is fragile. He relies on ritual wars, gathering tribute and maintaining social and religious order through slavery and sacrifice. In doing so he has tightened his grip on the largest South American empire the world had ever seen - but he has made many enemies. The arrival of the Spanish in 1519, under Hernan Cortes, will prove disastrous for the Aztecs. Civilisations: Rise and Fall is a BBC Studios Specialist Factual Unit production for BBC Arts, with BBC Studios handling global distribution. The Executive Producer is Alexander Leith, the Series Producer is Tony Mitchell, and the Production Manager is Emma Hyland. It was commissioned for the BBC by Suzy Klein, BBC Head of Arts and Classical Music. The Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Alistair Pegg. Founded in 1753, the British Museum was the first national public museum in the world. The collection tells the stories of cultures across the world, from the dawn of human history, over two million years ago, to the present. Objects range from the earliest tools made by humans and remarkable finds from the ancient world to more recent acquisitions from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, as well as the national collections of prints and drawings, and coins and medals. BBC Studios Specialist Factual Productions is a bespoke unit making premium output in the history, art, music and culture space. The work is underpinned by journalistic rigour and specialist knowledge, bringing together diverse voices to ignite conversation and challenge preconceptions. Recent titles include the Grierson Award winning Inside Our Autistic Minds, the RTS winning Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World with Public Enemy's Chuck D, the true crime / natural history hybrid The Great Rhino Robbery and cold war thriller Secrets and Spies: A Nuclear Game. AM2 Follow for more
Washington Post
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Asked & Answered: An interview with ‘The Rest is History' podcasters
For the past 5 years, 'The Rest is History' podcasters Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook have been walking their audience through pivotal moments in history laced with fascinating, occasionally shocking facts: Augustus the Strong, for instance, king of Poland in the late 17th century, fathered 354 illegitimate children. Cleopatra spoke nine languages. And President Lyndon Johnson used to hold in-person meetings with aides while he was on the toilet.
Spectator
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Spare us from podcast host plugs
I've spent most of my working life producing radio commercials. You might expect me to say this, given my job, but when hosts read out ads on their own podcasts, I find it embarrassing. On commercial radio and television, viewers and listeners have always understood that the ads pay for the programmes and they're fine with that – on one condition. The ads must be separated from the programmes in a commercial break. This has always been the unspoken agreement between advertisers and their audiences: a programme might be interrupted but at least it stays honest to itself. Podcast hosts are trashing this time-honoured contract when they read out the ads themselves. Authoritative people such as Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland on The Rest is History, or Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster on Triggernometry, risk appearing disingenuous and cheap. It's so jarring to hear them interrupt their own informative dialogue to read out copy for money, saying things they almost certainly don't believe. It somehow makes us slightly more suspicious of everything else they say. On TV, this would be unthinkable. Imagine an episode of Downton Abbey in which Lord Grantham suddenly turns to camera and says 'Hi, I'm Hugh Bonneville and I've just bought the new Samsung Galaxy S24', then demonstrates its features by WhatsApping a photo to the butler. The better the podcast, the worse the offence. For me, podcasts don't come much better than The Rest is Entertainment. I bow to no one in my admiration for everything Richard Osman and Marina Hyde write, say and do. Everything except for their inauthentic readings of ads on their podcast. The issue here is a big one. Listeners rely on these two for intelligent and impartial recommendations but they're now making us wonder how impartial they really are. In a recent episode, sponsored by Sky, they were shamelessly plugging a series called Hacks. Fine. Hacks is a Sky show, Uncle Rupert is paying for their endorsement, we get it. But five minutes later they're avidly puffing Amazon Prime's Last One Laughing. How do we know that Jeff Bezos isn't also paying for their joint effusion? I'm fairly certain that he isn't but we're no longer 100 per cent sure. In last week's episode, Marina went into weirdly gushing detail about Glen Powell's new range of sauces. And this wasn't even an official ad. Or was it? Who knows? When our favourite hosts start trying to flog us products we're pretty sure they don't use, it feels like betrayal When the hosts read out the ads themselves, their independence and integrity is compromised. This is particularly pertinent to podcasts because we develop a far more personal relationship with their presenters than we do on other platforms. Most of the time we switch on the TV or radio without really knowing what's on; with a podcast we make a very deliberate choice. We have our favourites, based on a liking for the topics and, importantly, for the hosts. So when our favourite hosts start trying to flog us products we're pretty sure they don't use, it feels like betrayal. When I've spoken to podcast producers, they try to tell me otherwise. They'll claim that listeners love these personal endorsements – but I don't think they do. The hosts are made to read out the ads because it costs nothing and the podcast companies can then charge clients a premium for these endorsements, however fake they might be. But in doing so, they abase their presenters by turning them into door-to-door salesmen, and not even very good ones. They're not actors so they tend to deliver their lines badly and awkwardly. They're either too loud and enthusiastic or they're flat, monotone and sound slightly ashamed. Which they should be. All this could be avoided if advertisers ran proper commercials, separate from the programme, just as they do on radio and TV. The hosts can retain their dignity and continue to command the respect of the listeners. Producers should do everything to preserve our sense of trust in presenters – because we love it when they tell us things, but we hate it when they try to sell us things.
Times
03-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Times
I'm a middle-aged man. How do I make friends — and keep old ones?
For a lot of blokes, making and keeping friends is especially difficult as we move into middle age. It's not just the demands of work and fatherhood. There's something about passing 40 that leads us to mistake isolation for leisure time and history podcasts for companionship (I couldn't tell you how my best friend is, but I'm fully caught up with Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland). As I'm a very run-of-the-mill chap (5ft 9in, never cry at funerals but often sob at episodes of The Repair Shop), I've presumed my own life experience to be fairly common, so have compiled this list to help fellow blokey blokes acquire and sustain, at the very least, a skeleton crew of mates. A lot of men simply
