Single Malt History with Gareth Russell

The brutal real-life history that inspired Agatha Christie's iconic 1934 detective novel. WARNING: Contains discussions of home invasion, suicide, and pregnancy loss, which some listeners may find distressing.

Dr Tim Ashby joins us today to discuss the thrilling life of Elizabethan spy, and fellow Ashby, William. And I catch-up on the books I've been reading, including Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (why I love the TV adaptation), Elizabeth Fremantle's The Poison Bed, and Jane Ridley's biography of King George V. An eclectic bag today!

Franz Ferdinand's death is one of the most famous in history. But who was this man killed on 28th June 1914 by 'the shot heard round the world'? And how did it lead to the First World War? WARNING: This episode contains discussions of suicide which some listeners may find distressing.

Single Malt History is back with a trip to the 11th century in the company of Don Hollway, author of THE LAST VIKING.

I am joined by my friend Kate McCaffrey to discuss her genuinely astonishing research into the sixteenth-century network whose secrets she discovered hidden in Anne Boleyn’s Books of Hours.

Why did the House of Windsor refuse to save the Romanovs? And why, in 1919, did the British royals then launch a secret mission, headed by a dashing spy, to save the Emperor of Austria? This episode is about a thrilling story from secret meetings at Buckingham Palace through war-torn Austria to a small hunting lodge where a fallen emperor lay trapped with his wife and children. Featuring: Rebecca Lenaghan (Empress Zita), Paul Storrs (Lt.-Col. Edward Lisle Strutt)

In the 1940s, the Nazis were producing a series of anti-British and anti-American costume dramas, when a high-ranking Nazi's attention settled on the 'Titanic' disaster.  In this episode, I discuss what happened and read an exclusive of my author's note to "The Ship of Dreams," my book about the 'Titanic,' which was not included in the audio version. (Authors' notes usually aren't!) Why did I write the book and what is it about that night in 1912 that has kept both moral heroes and moral monsters enthralled for over a century?

It’s not often you find out that you’re related to your guest, but that’s what happened in the new episode when I was joined by award-winning New York Times bestselling author, Deanna Raybourn, author of the Veronica Speedwell and Lady Julia Grey mysteries. We talk about how Anne Boleyn helped inspire her love of history, our love for Murder on the Orient Express and Suzannah Lipscomb’s podcast, Catherine de Medici and Marie-Antoinette, what we can learn from the Victorians, the ways in which anti-Semitism shifts in novels written on either side of 1945, and how Deanna writes, researches, and creates her hugely popular historical novels. Some strong language. Some spoilers (for books written in the 1930s, but spoilers nonetheless)

The tumultuous life of a handsome Gascon knight who became the lover of England's king, Edward II. How did he become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland? What happened that terrible night at Warwick Castle? How did the consequences of their love affair shape politics for a decade? And what happened to Edward II when he suddenly disappeared in 1327?

I am joined in today's episode by Dr. Elizabeth Norton, who chats about her biography of Henry VIII's fourth wife Anne of Cleves, England's first crowned queen Elfrida, and her research into the controversy between Thomas Seymour and the future Elizabeth I.