I’ve launched a Patreon and I review our first film about Queen Victoria – Victoria the Great. I also read out the latest iTunes reviews. The show starts with the announcement about Patreon and the various tiers. Then I remind listeners to send in questions for the upcoming 2nd anniversary Read more…
In Ep20 pt 2 we continue our journey through Queen Victoria’s childhood education. Pt2 explores the specifics of education, what she learnt, and crucially, how her education would fit her into the increasingly strict and complex Victorian class system. It wasn’t easy being “the girl who will be Queen.” It Read more…
http://www.ageofvictoriapodcast.com/congress-vienna-pt-1-brave-old-world/ Welcome back everyone. This has been a difficult episode to choose a topic for. This afternoon I was happily sitting in an english country pub garden, enjoying the sunshine and chatting to my wife about what I should record this afternoon. It should be a fairly obvious choice, after Read more…
In Ep20 pt 1 we continue our journey through Queen Victoria’s childhood. In this 2 part show you will see how Victoria was educated; as a child, but also as a future Queen. She joined an elite group of people who could read and write, but she had a huge Read more…
TRANSCRIPT FOR http://www.ageofvictoriapodcast.com/ep010-exit-napoleon/ Today’s episode is a full episode and a return to the narrative where we left it in February at the end of the battle of Waterloo. Since then we’ve done a special episode on battlefield surgery and then we did an episode on the amazing Annie Besant Read more…
http://www.ageofvictoriapodcast.com/ep009-god-save-surgeons-knife/ If you’ve been listening to recent episodes you will know that we have just covered the 100 campaign and the absolute hell that was the Battle of Waterloo. As I said at the end of the last episode, I’ve tried to give you the human cost without national Read more…
Join your host Chris Fernandez-Packham for the first part of our series on Queen Victoria’s childhood. She was growing up at a time when life was fragile at best for children; between disease, poverty and murder, reaching adulthood was not guaranteed. Victoria had to face, an uncle who wanted to Read more…
Join your host Chris Fernandez-Packham and discover how Victoria is dealt the first tragedy in her life. Learn about the perils and power of being a Duchess. Plus we meet the abusive and magnetic John Conroy, a man of ambition and secrets. We also witness the death of a King Read more…
Merry Christmas, join your host Chris Fernandez-Packham in learning about Victorian Traditions of the Earthly and Ghostly kind. Let me take you on a trip through history, busting myths about Christmas Trees, explaining how traditions came to be, some great events at Christmas, and of course a fireside story…..if you are brave enough. Read more…
We meet Queen Victoria at last. This episode covers George III, the Prince Regent, the royal family tree, the succession, the death of Princess Charlotte, Victoria’s parents – The Duke & Duchess of Kent, her birth and finally her Christening & the origins of her name. Love to hear from Read more…
This minisode gives a recap of the key themes in the show since launch as we get ready for a major Victorian event. (and no this isn’t like the Simpsons playing clips of old episodes in a ropey season 18 TV special). This show is a great chance to remind Read more…
Join your host Chris Fernandez-Packham and explore the Peterloo Massacre 1819; one of the darkest moments of British political & social history. From poverty & hope to anger and death. This episode starts with a outline of the situation in Britain in 1819, and themes of progress. It sets out Read more…
LISTEN HERE:http://www.ageofvictoriapodcast.com/episode-008-waterloo-pt-8-climax/ OUTLINE: The position of the French attack. Charge of the Scots Grey, and British Heavy Cavalry Brigade. Lady Elizabeth Butler “Charge of the Scots Greys.” French chaos, and the grand battery overrun. We shall match them with our lancers: French counter charge. The day grinds on. The greatest Read more…
The fledgling United States is hit by freezing storms as the fall out from Mt Tambora continues to wreck havoc around the world. Then we turn to Switzerland and see how the darkness gives rise to the great gothic work of Frankenstein. In this episode we cover Climate science in Read more…
Join your host Chris Fernandez-Packham in a detailed investigation of the Princess Alice disaster on the Thames in Sept 1878, the horror of her sinking, and Victorian Londons reaction. This show covers The geography of the River Thames London then and now The ships involved The fatal mistakes Who were Read more…
The show has used various sources for the period just after the Napoleonic Wars, up to the birth of Queen Victoria. This list provides the general materials for the Congress of Vienna, the eruption of Mt Tambora, and general social conditions of the period. I will add to this list Read more…
Mt Tambora has devastated huge area’s in the Pacific. Now its global impact begins to be felt. In this latest monthly narrative show your host, Chris Fernandez-Packham, explores the enormous impact on the British mainland and Ireland in 1816 as the Year Without Summer Begins to bite. Topic outline Volcanoes Read more…
Roll up your shirt sleeves, push back your top hat, and throw open your coat tails. It’s time to grab a bottle of gin, and seek riches or ruin as you learn about the history of gin in the Victorian era. Truly the drink of Empire…..or your personal ruin. Intro Read more…
No one in 1815 thought the world was about to change, but a cataclysmic volcanic eruption was about to change the course of history. The affairs of men seemed so important, yet in the tranquil Pacific, nature was about to shake the world and civilisations to their foundations. Join me Read more…
Summer heat wave is here, so it’s time for Fish & Chips. You love em. I love em. The Victorians invented them. Don’t scoff, instead join me for a gallop through the history of Victorian fish and chips. Learn why Dickens was the key as always, and how fish and Read more…
As Napoleons downfall and Frances defeat become inevitable, the hard work and hard partying of the great diplomats and statesmen of Europe reached a fever pitch. In a whirl of balls and banquets the shape of Europe for the next 100 years would be decided. So much hung in the Read more…
Join me and decide who, if anyone was the truly scandalous one. The aristocrat? The banker? The Sporting Superstar? This is a minisode that is a stand alone episode on a scandal involving Beatrice Sumner and Charles Hoare in the very late Victorian period, plus why framing a narrative is Read more…
A very short update on upcoming episodes, reviews, thank you’s and a shout out to the excellent Pontifacts podcast.
Every European school child should have learnt about the Congress of Vienna. Seriously. It is actually possibly the most important series of events in modern history that no one has ever heard of. Honestly, how many of us have heard of it, or know what it was, or what happened? Read more…
How scared have you ever been in your life. For most people fear is something that is happening to us in circumstances that make us uncomfortable. For most of us we haven’t ever had the gut wrenching fear that goes with a threat to our lives. But for those who Read more…