Single Malt History with Gareth Russell

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. 

At the start of the 1920s, a firmly right-wing aristocrat became embroiled in the political chaos surrounding Irish independence, alongside the maintenance of the British state in Northern Ireland. How, and why, did the ultra-conservative Lord Londonderry decide to try a truly radical plan to save the new state's working-class children from inheriting the sectarian bitterness of previous generations? In this episode I talk about the Londonderry dynasty's role as they witnessed the Home Rule campaign, the struggle for Irish independence, the violence of the trenches in the First World War, and the creation of Northern Ireland.

I’m joined by Dr. Owen Emmerson (from TV’s “The Boleyns”, “Who Do You Think You Are?”) and Claire Ridgway (“On This Day in Tudor History”, The Anne Boleyn Files) to discuss their new book “The Boleyns of Hever Castle,” exploring the private lives of an aristocratic dynasty and what everyday life was like in a manor house at the dawn of the Tudor era.

Olaudah Equiano's life took him from a blissful childhood in the African kingdom of Benin to the slave auctions of Barbados. He endured life on a tobacco plantations in Virginia, fought battles off the coast of Portugal, he sailed to the Arctic, met Queen Charlotte in Georgian London, and addressed anti-slavery conventions in Belfast.

I am joined by friend of the show, Dr Lauren Mackay, to discuss Eustace Chapuys, whose fascinating life took him from studying near the Holy Shroud of Turin to the heart of the Habsburg and Tudor courts on the eve of the Reformation. He wrote in cyphers, spied for an emperor, and stood witness to rebellions, miscarriages of justice, and diplomatic scandals. Did this erudite clergyman really become Anne Boleyn's mortal enemy, as has been claimed? And how did he become a confidant of Emperor Charles V and Katherine of Aragon's last - and perhaps most loyal - friend? 

Dr. Linda Porter discusses her acclaimed biographies of Tudor queens - Mary I and Katherine Parr - as well as her recent bestseller “Mistresses,” on the scandals, politics, adultery, tragedy, and glamour at Charles II’s court.