Latest Posts
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Elizabeth I by Professor Carol Fuller (Institute of Education UoR) #HistoricalDesertIslandDiscs
We are still in lock down so our self isolating colleagues from UoR are also submitting their Historical Desert Island Discs. The Department of English have also started their own Fictional Desert Island Discs . This week and next week we… Continue reading
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Desert Island Documentaries by Dr Natalie Thomlinson #HistoricalDesertIslandDiscs
With the government advice that we are all in lockdown we thought we would take a slight departure from our usual format to give you Natalie Thomlinson’s best Historical Desert Island Documentaries. Something to fill the gaping historical hole in… Continue reading
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Dwight D Eisenhower by Dr Mark Shanahan #HistoricalDesertIslandDiscs
We hope you had a restful Easter break but we are delighted to get back in the saddle and welcome our second guest blogger Dr Mark Shanahan (University of Reading, Department of Politics and International Relations). Mark has a vinyl… Continue reading
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Watt Tyler aka Professor Adrian R Bell #HistorialDesertIslandDiscs
In the first of our guest blogs we hear from our Research Dean for Prosperity and Resilience and Chair in the History of Finance at the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School Professor Adrian R Bell. In this edition, we reveal… Continue reading
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Sir Isaac Newton by Amie Bolissian-McRae #HistoricalDesertIslandDiscs
Something for the weekend? Today’s castaway is the renowned seventeenth century English natural philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and iconic self-isolationist, Sir Isaac Newton. Reportedly a deeply strange man, but inspired thinker, Newton was the very first European ‘scientist’ to receive a… Continue reading
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‘Dictating to the Dictators’ by Professor Matt Worley #HistoricalDesertIslandDiscs
In the second of a series, here are the Desert Island discs for a gaggle of dictators quarantined on an island for our own protection. Given their heinous crimes, they don’t get to pick the tracks. Instead, I do (‘dictating… Continue reading
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Desert Island Darwin by Professor David Stack #HistoricalDesertIslandDiscs
Today’s castaway is a nineteenth century scientist who, by formulating what the philosopher Daniel Dennett called ‘the single best idea anyone ever had,’ changed the way in which we understand life on earth. Our guest today is Charles Darwin (1809-1882).… Continue reading
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Twelve Days of Christmas: Twelve Drummers Drumming
By Professor Matthew Worley It was only two drummers, but it sounded like twelve. My pop music epiphany came on 16th October 1980: Adam and the Ants performed ‘Dog Eat Dog‘ on Top of the Pops, which you can watch… Continue reading
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Twelve Days of Christmas: Eleven Pipers Piping – Brassed Off
By Dr Natalie Thomlinson “More than owt else here that symbolises pride, it’s this bloody band!” [Image credit: bpcraddock from Pixabay.] To give you a flavour of the music from Brassed Off watch the William Tell Overture from the film here.… Continue reading
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Twelve Days of Christmas: Ten Lords a-Leaping
By Dr Elizabeth Matthew On a summer’s day in 1189 a group of men rode swiftly to the quayside at Dieppe after a long journey from the Loire valley, two hundred and forty miles to the south. Keen to cross… Continue reading
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