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The not-completely-there king, Henry VI, isn't someone you'd associate with clarity, but in 1470, he sees something with absolute focus. After being presented with his 13-year-old namesake, Henry Tudor, he tells everyone gathered at Westminster Palace that the young Henry is ‘the one'. While his mother, Margaret Beaufort's thrilled, there is a slight hitch to Henry's apparition. There's still an exiled Edward IV on the loose, and he's about to launch an assault on the coalition that ejected him from the throne at the Battle of Barnet. It's going to be open season on everyone in the Lancastrian royal court. Warwick the Kingmaker doesn't know what's about to hit him. – As always, Dan's royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don't forget to listen to this season's accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al discuss Henry VI's powers of prediction, Margaret Beaufort's political manoeuvring, and why the Battle of Barnet was fought against all logic. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It's time for a restoration, or rather, re-adeption. In 1470, Warwick the Kingmaker seizes his moment and slings Henry VI back onto the English throne. It's fair to say the Lancastrian king doesn't quite get the significance of this moment. He's described by one chronicler as being nothing more than ‘a stuffed wool sack lifted by its ears'. But Henry makes one pliable puppet for Warwick, who makes himself the king's lieutenant — basically England's decision maker in chief. Lining up behind Warwick are a cast of characters who are more than happy to see England wobble, not least the French King Louis XI. But beneath Henry VI's return is a tremor that won't settle. There's an ex-king on the loose, and Edward IV is going to do everything he can to avenge his usurpation. – As always, Dan's royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don't forget to listen to this season's accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al discuss the weaknesses of Edward IV's early rule, what Henry VI's ‘re-adeption' actually meant, and why Warwick was able to cobble together a coalition that toppled the newly-minted royal House of York. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this episode, we catch up on the latest Asian American book news and publishing announcements for our June 2026 mid-month check-isUpcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:Life Is a K Drama by Sherri Shepherd & Jayci LeeOphelia No. 23 by Saou IchikawaA Girl's Spine by Saou IchikawaBirchwood Prep #1: Lina's Secret by Mae RaespicioKapa Kuiki: My Hawaiian Quilt by Ilima Kahokuhealani Todd; illus. by Mae WaiteAll the Gardeners by Varsha Bajaj; illust. by Grace EastonShifu Mama by Roger Lam; illust. by Alina ChauBamboo Magic by Teresa Robeson; illust. by Wazza PinkKung Fu Crane Girl by Mia Wenjen; ilust. by debut artist Yujie HuangBoss Games by Kelly YangEight Little Hands by Hanh Bui; illust. By Kerisa GreeneFlickers of Hope by Hanh Bui; illust. By Kerisa GreeneBook news mentioned on this episode:Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, dies at 56Taiwan Travelogue wins the 2026 International Booker PrizeBooks & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba June 2026 pick is The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi VoThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast CollectiveMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCThe National Asian American Theatre Company's acclaimed production of HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS brings an all-AANHPI cast to The Public Theater for a decades-spanning saga of Joan of Arc, warring dukes, and the bloody birth of the War of the Roses. Adapted by Stephen Brown-Fried, this is Shakespeare like you've never experienced it. Part 1: Foreign Wars opens with a king dead, an infant on the throne, and a country already coming apart at the seams. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later...and the bloodbath is yet to come. Simmering feuds explode into the War of the Roses, and nothing will ever be the same. Performances from June 9 through July 19! Use code H6BC for $59 tickets!Henry VI at The Public with an all AAPI cast
On this episode we return to the mythical land of Philadelphia to check out the second season of the Hulu crime-comedy series Deli Boys! Picking up where season 1 left off with our favorite Pakistani-American failsons managing their late-father's criminal along with their hypercompetant auntie. This season introduces us to new characters and revisits old grudges, but does this second time around also bring us some good pop?What's Popping? - Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Widow's Peak, The World CupFollow our hosts:Marvin Yueh - @marvinyuehJess Ju - @jessjutweetsHanh Nguyen - @hanhonymousFollow the show and engage with us at @goodpopclubPart of the Potluck Podcast CollectiveProduced by HappyEcstatic MediaMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCThe National Asian American Theatre Company's acclaimed production of HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS brings an all-AANHPI cast to The Public Theater for a decades-spanning saga of Joan of Arc, warring dukes, and the bloody birth of the War of the Roses. Adapted by Stephen Brown-Fried, this is Shakespeare like you've never experienced it. Part 1: Foreign Wars opens with a king dead, an infant on the throne, and a country already coming apart at the seams. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later...and the bloodbath is yet to come. Simmering feuds explode into the War of the Roses, and nothing will ever be the same. Performances from June 9 through July 19! Use code H6BC for $59 tickets!Henry VI at The Public with an all AAPI cast
On this episode, the Good Pop Crew checks out Hoppers, the newest Pixar film from We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong, following a young (and angry Asian American) girl named Mabel Tanaka, who uses an experimental technology to transfer her mind into a mechanical beaver in order to infiltrate beaver society and save the glade behind her grandmother's house. What's Popping? - Teach You a Lesson, NBA Playoffs, Top ChefFollow our hosts:Marvin Yueh - @marvinyuehJess Ju - @jessjutweetsHanh Nguyen - @hanhonymousFollow the show and engage with us at @goodpopclubPart of the Potluck Podcast CollectiveProduced by HappyEcstatic MediaMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCThe National Asian American Theatre Company's acclaimed production of HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS brings an all-AANHPI cast to The Public Theater for a decades-spanning saga of Joan of Arc, warring dukes, and the bloody birth of the War of the Roses. Adapted by Stephen Brown-Fried, this is Shakespeare like you've never experienced it. Part 1: Foreign Wars opens with a king dead, an infant on the throne, and a country already coming apart at the seams. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later...and the bloodbath is yet to come. Simmering feuds explode into the War of the Roses, and nothing will ever be the same. Performances from June 9 through July 19! Use code H6BC for $59 tickets!Henry VI at The Public with an all AAPI cast
We return from our APAHM hiatus with our May 2026 edition of Good Pop's monthly Asian American entertainment news roundup "Do We Want This?", we celebrate the end of Heritage Month by checking out some new upcoming projects, Park Chan-Wook's next big thing, White Lotus casting news, and badass commencement speeches.What's Popping? - Paddington the Musical, Top ChefFollow our hosts:Marvin Yueh - @marvinyuehJess Ju - @jessjutweetsHanh Nguyen - @hanhonymousFollow the show and engage with us at @goodpopclubPart of the Potluck Podcast CollectiveProduced by HappyEcstatic MediaMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCNAATCO returns to The Public with their production of Shakespeare's trilogy, HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS, adapted and directed by Stephen Brown-Fried. Condensed into two parts and performed in rep, experience this saga of a nation spinning wildly out of control. Part 1: Foreign Wars kicks off with the funeral of King Henry V, leaving his infant son on the throne and sending the country into decades of spiraling chaos both abroad and at home. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later, as nascent domestic feuds rapidly metastasize into the full-blown civil war known as the War of the Roses.Henry VI
Edward IV marries in secret, then springs the news like a trap. England's new Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, arrives with two sons, a Lancastrian past, and a family ready to take their chance. When the newly-married couple introduces themselves at Reading Abbey, nobles gape. But Elizabeth takes her newfound royal status with aplomb. She stages a dazzling churching, forcing courtiers to kneel for hours. Elsewhere, England's pitiable former king Henry VI is found wandering and locked quietly in the Tower. Elizabeth's siblings are married into great royal houses at speed, tightening their grip, much to the dismay of England's noble class. In London, her brother Anthony fights the Grand Bastard of Burgundy before a roaring crowd. All the while, a wounded Earl of Warwick watches on. The kingmaker's been left humiliated and restless by this union, and the balance of power in between Warwick and Edward won't stay cordial for long. – As always, Dan's royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don't forget to listen to this season's accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al discuss the basics of marriage in the medieval world… and how they bend and warp when the groom is a king. Plus, get the inside scoop on 1464's HOTTEST scandal: Edward IV's secret wedding to Elizabeth Woodville — the low-born widow who nobody saw being England's next Queen. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A 13-year-old girl labours in a sealed chamber at Pembroke Castle as the plague circles them. Miraculously, Margaret Beaufort survives. Her son does, too. His name is Henry Tudor. This birth doesn't register in the minds of many nobles, as they're focused on England's first Yorkist King, Edward IV. After his decisive victory at the Battle of Towton, his mission as king is to do what Henry VI couldn't: rebuild a broken kingdom. He solidifies power in concert with his ally, the Earl of Warwick, who fancies himself as a kingmaker. Warwick grows rich on titles, ports, and power, until some say he rules as much as the king. They stamp out a few threats to Edward's rule, but ultimately their mission is to stamp order over the kingdom. The best way to do that is to find England a new Queen. – As always, Dan's royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don't forget to listen to this season's accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al discuss the Earl of Warwick's lust for power, and why the role of matchmaker has been thrust upon him. Plus, Dan gives you a close insight into the social discord of England early on in Edward IV's reign thanks to the Paston Letters — the largest surviving collection of 15th-century private correspondence, written in English between 1422 and 1509. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In Shakespeare's plays, he uses the word "gauntlet" a total of 6 times. In one instance, the stage directions declare that a character "throws down his gauntlet." In Hamlet, stage directions again refer to a gauntlet by saying that attendants bring "foils and gauntlets" into the scene of Act V. But do you know what you should be seeing on stage in these moments? Do you know what object Shakespeare expected the characters to be carrying for these scenes? Gauntlet sounds like a military exercise or maybe a very difficult journey through several tough obstacles, and there's a variation of this word which means exactly that—but that kind of gauntlet is for another episode. Today, we're looking at the kind of gauntlet that was actually an article of clothing—a glove, to be precise. A highly decorated ornate glove that came all the way up to the wrist of the wearer and was designed to protect the hand against wounds. To find out more about what these gloves were made from, who made them, and exactly why a character would throw one down on the ground in Shakespeare's Henry VI, we are talking with Hannah Marples, clothing historian and author of the project "Experimental Archeology: testing the wearability of a pair of gloves worn by Henry Cary in a painting by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, 1603" Hannah joins us today to help us explore the history of gauntlet gloves, and how they connect with Shakespeare and his plays.
The Good Pop Culture Club is taking a quick mid-APAHM break so this week, we're dropping in the latest episode from fellow Potluck Pod Books & Boba (Marvin's other podcast) for those of you interested in the latest Asian Ameican book & publishing news. Good Pop episodes will resume in June!--For our mid-month book news check in for May 2026, we catch up on the latest Asian American publishing announcements as well as check in on some of the latest news and tea from the greater book industry.Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:The First White Hair by Yasmin ZaherThe Dragon Thief by Ellen OhIt Begins with the End by Samira AhmedSummers in Syria by Shifa Saltagi Safadi; illust. by Hatem AlyOur Built World: An Architectural Journey Along the Silk Road by Fiyel Levent; illust. by Daby Zainab FaidhiSheen by Cindy PonOur Chinatown Market by Jasmine Fang; illust. by Thai My PhuongBook news mentioned on this episode:TokyoPop launches Children's imprintBooks & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba May 2026 pick is No-No Boy by John OkadaThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast CollectiveMentioned in this episode:Don't miss an all AAPI production of HENRY VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts at The Public in NYCNAATCO returns to The Public with their production of Shakespeare's trilogy, HENRY VI: A TRILOGY IN TWO PARTS, adapted and directed by Stephen Brown-Fried. Condensed into two parts and performed in rep, experience this saga of a nation spinning wildly out of control. Part 1: Foreign Wars kicks off with the funeral of King Henry V, leaving his infant son on the throne and sending the country into decades of spiraling chaos both abroad and at home. Part 2: Civil Strife picks up nearly 30 years later, as nascent domestic feuds rapidly metastasize into the full-blown civil war known as the War of the Roses.Henry VI
Kings were overthrown, noble families destroyed, princes vanished, and England descended into decades of civil war. In this Beginner's Guide to the Wars of the Roses, I explore the dynastic conflict between the rival houses of Lancaster and York, a struggle that would bring down the Plantagenets and pave the way for the Tudor dynasty. From the weak reign of Henry VI and the rise of Richard, Duke of York, to the battles of St Albans, Towton, Barnet, and Tewkesbury, this video untangles the complex family rivalries, political tensions, betrayals, and battles that shaped fifteenth-century England. We'll also explore: - Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou - Richard Neville “the Kingmaker” - Edward IV and the Woodvilles - The Princes in the Tower - Richard III's rise to power - Henry Tudor's claim to the throne Whether you're completely new to the Wars of the Roses or looking for a clear overview before diving deeper into Tudor history, my hope is that this guide will help you understand one of the most dramatic periods in English history. #WarsoftheRoses #RichardIII #HenryVI #EdwardIV #TudorHistory #Plantagenets #HistoryDocumentary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 23, 2026 is: fortitude • FOR-tuh-tood • noun Fortitude is a formal word that refers to the strength of mind that enables someone to encounter danger or to bear pain or adversity with courage. Less formal words with similar meanings include grit, fiber, and pluck. // To reach the summit of the mountain requires not only great physical strength and training but the fortitude to persevere no matter the challenge. See the entry > Examples: “Managing is never a one-size-fits-all process. Personality, fortitude, and experience all matter, as does context.” — Gary Deer, The Daily Gazette (Xenia, Ohio), 28 Mar. 2026 Did you know? Fortitude comes from the Latin word fortis, meaning “strong,” and in English it has always been used primarily to describe strength of mind. For a time, the word was also used to mean “physical strength”; William Shakespeare used it that way in Henry VI, Part 1: “Coward of France! How much he wrongs his fame / Despairing of his own arm's fortitude.” But despite use by the famous bard, that meaning languished and is now considered obsolete. Even the familiar phrase “intestinal fortitude” is just a humorous way to refer to someone's courage or mental stamina, not the literal strength of their digestive system. (If you're looking to describe a mighty gastrointestinal tract, we might suggest “iron stomach.”)
This week Beau continues his chat all about The Wars of the Roses, including yet more wild swings of fortune. The battle of Barnet, the battle of Tewkesbury, the demise of Henry VI, and the final, final victory of Edward IV.
This week Beau continues his chat all about the life and career of Henry VI, and the continuation of the Wars of the Roses. This week sees king Edward IV begin his reign in earnest, with Henry himself locked up in The Tower while Warwick the king-maker falls out of favour, leads a rebellion, imprisons Edward, followed swiftly by yet another complete and utter reversal of fortune, with Edward back on top and Warwick forced to flee.
We are always partial to crosswords with KAZOO in the grid, but that is not the only reason why we are so enamored with today's puzzle. No, they had us at the theme — perfect for a Thursday — and kept us engaged with such great clues as 63A, School with a larger-than-life bronze statue of Henry VI, ETON (um, ok); 46A, One side in a "Holy War" rivalry in college football, UTES (vs??? Sure, leave us hanging
This week Beau continues his chat all about the life and career of Henry VI, and the continuation of the Wars of the Roses. This week sees an overwhelming Yorkist Victory, the crowning of king Edward IV, the battle of Towton - the bloodiest battle ever to take place on English soil - and much more!
To learn more about the last time an English king was usurped, listen to Season 7, Bonus Episode 12, where Dan tells the story of Henry VI's grandfather, Henry Bolingbroke. In 1399, he toppled Richard II to become King Henry IV. By 1460, England has emerged into a polycrisis. King Henry VI has been relegated to a pawn. His son and wife have been disinherited, with Richard, Duke of York, now heir presumptive. Violence pulses through the countryside. In this pivotal chapter of the Wars of the Roses, it appears that Yorkist forces have finally overwhelmed the Lancastrians in the battle for the crown. But then, Richard, Duke of York is killed in an ambush. It throws everything into disarray, and Queen Margaret of Anjou makes one last attempt at violent restoration. It appears the clock has run out for the Yorkists. That is, until the eleventh hour, when Richard's son, Edward Earl of March, is propelled into the decisive moment. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices – Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PREVIEW: Epochs #255 | Henry VI - Part 4 by lotuseaters.com
‘This week Beau continues his chat all about the life and career of Henry VI. This week the discussion turns towards the full outbreak of hostilities in the Wars of the Roses, and the first proper battle.
Hazel Baker traces the story of White Conduit House in Barnsbury, Islington, from its origins as a 1431 Henry VI–licensed water conduit supplying Charterhouse to its later life as an affordable, working-class pleasure garden. She explains how Robert Bartholomew's 1750s improvements and famed hot rolls and butter made it a London destination, noted by Oliver Goldsmith, and how resident organist James Hook began his career there. In the 1780s the adjacent White Conduit Fields hosted the aristocratic White Conduit Club; disruptions from a public right of way helped prompt Thomas Lord to secure a private ground in Marylebone, leading to the MCC and cricket's codified laws. The venue later rebranded with spectacles but declined as urban building and nearby gasworks spoiled the air, and it was demolished in 1849, with fragments remembered in names, gardens, plaques, and a surviving façade.
Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al's callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. It's there where you can listen to this week's bonus episode, where Dan gives you a primer on the pirate-cum-warlord, the Earl of Warwick. Plus, Dan makes good on his promise to tell the story of when he absolutely lost it over something rather inconsequential. All the drift and failure of Henry VI's reign is coming home to roost. The fizzer of a king's dodging arrows and men coming his way — and they're not holding back. It's 1455, and in the old Roman town of St Albans, the royal court are met with a battle. Richard, Duke of York — along with the Nevilles — are leading an insurgency that wants to topple the Queen's favourite, Edmund, Duke of Somerset. Amid all the fracas, the king tries to intervene. He dabbles in kindergarten-level peace making by literally making his warring nobles hold hands. The loveday beckons. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices – Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week Beau continues his chat all about the life and career of Henry VI. This week the discussion turns towards the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, who the main players are, and what started their quarreling.
Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al's callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. It's there where you can listen to this week's bonus episode, where Dan discusses what likely triggered Henry VI's descent into silence, while he also gives a primer on England's warring noble families: the Nevilles, Percys, and Courtenays. Henry VI isn't responding to anyone. Not to his physician, nor to his newborn son, Prince Edward. He's just inert, catatonic. If the king's health is said to be a mirror of the health of the realm, then England's in big trouble (which it is). The Hundred Years' War is on the verge of being decisively over in France's favour. England has lost Gascony, Normandy, and Maine, with only the small Garrison at Calais left. This a full-blown crisis that is usually left to the king to solve, but instead, Parliament decides to make Richard Duke of York the Protector of the realm — angering Queen Margaret and York's nemesis, Edmund Duke of Somerset. Then something remarkable happens: Henry wakes up. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices – Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
“The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers,” sneers a rebel henchman in Shakespeare's “Henry VI.” Hélène Landemore, a political scientist at Yale, has another idea: let's fire all the politicians. She has a point, doesn't she? Most of 'em are beholden to donors, allergic to accountability, and more interested in stuffing their reelection coffers than serving the public good. But what's the alternative? Well, Hélène believes we could break the partisan gridlock and restore public trust by letting ordinary citizens, chosen at random, set the agenda and craft legislation. That may sound preposterous, but in her new book, Politics Without Politicians, she blends examples from ancient Athens to modern-day France to show citizen rule in action and argue that it might just save democracy. This episode was guest-hosted by one of our favorite citizens, Michael Kovnat. If you'd like more of his dulcet tones and shrewd insights, check out his daily podcast (The Next Big Idea Daily) and newsletter (Book of the Day). Watch The Next Big Idea on YouTube! You can find our episodes here. Sponsored By: Bitdefender — Get 30% off your plan at bitdefender.com/idea Factor — Head to factormeals.com/idea50off and use code idea50off to get 50% off your first box Granola — Get three months free at granola.ai/idea Shopify — Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/nbi
This week Beau begins to chat all about the life and career of Henry VI, who ascended to the English throne upon the death of his father Henry V, when he was under twelve months old. In this episode he discusses the end of the Hundred Years War and The Maid of Orleans; Joan of Arc.
Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al's callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. There you can also listen to this week's bonus episode, where we discuss the Duke of York's super-royal credentials, and why the Duke of Somerset fails upward. Henry VI's royal court breathes a collective sigh of relief — Queen Margaret of Anjou is pregnant. It's a welcome addition to what remains of a vanishingly thin Plantagenet dynasty. Aside from Henry, this is the first royal birth in 50 years. The celebrations don't last long. As 1453 rolls on, two prominent nobles are fighting to rule on behalf of an impotent king. Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset is the king's favourite… but he's also the man who lost Normandy. At his heels is Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, a man feared by the nobility but loved by England's increasingly frustrated populace. The realm will soon have to make a stark choice, because a catastrophic blow to English power is imminent. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices – Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Don't forget! Dan's gifted you his favourite bonus episode from this season. To listen for free, simply search for the last episode before this one. England is descending into mob rule. Henry VI has presided over a catastrophic loss over almost all of the Plantagenet possessions in France, and many in the realm want a scapegoat. Assassinations of powerful officials including the Duke of Suffolk, William de La Pole ensue. And in the summer of 1450, the violence comes to a head. Rebels led by military captain Jack Cade storm London in an echo of the Peasants' Rebellion of 1381. Remember, you can delve deeper into the history behind this episode by subscribing to our bonus episodes. This week Dan and Producer Al elaborate on the rebellion of 1450, while Dan reads a poignant letter from William de La Pole. Addressed to his eight-year-old son, the text documents England on the brink of all-out civil war. – And don't forget, you can now WATCH every This Is History episode on YouTube. Subscribe at youtube.com/@thisishistorypod – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices – Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Hello! We've gifted one of Dan's favourite bonus episode from Season 9 just for you. To listen to all bonus episodes, ad-free, subscribe at patreon.com/thisishistory Dan and Producer Al explore the likelihood of Margaret of Anjou, the English queen, having been a sleeper agent for the French. How involved was she in getting Henry VI to give up Maine? And what made Henry so useless? Did he have any redeeming features? – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Presented by Dan Jones and Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Mixing - Gulliver Lawrence-Tickell Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six......... What happens when a King goes wrong? The story of Henry VI and his battles with Edward IV continues as Charlie Higson tells the story of one of history's biggest power struggles. And you thought the Roy family were bad!! Plus we hear about the formidable Margaret Of Anjou as we welcome back Helen Castor, author of She Wolves, Joan Of Arc & Blood & Roses and do remember that Charlie's book of the podcast, Willie Willie Harry Stee is available NOW in all book shops. Yes! All of them! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al's callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester — Henry V's last surviving brother — is lost in delusion. He still believes England can somehow hold its possessions in France, even as its soldiers are exhausted, its treasury is drained, and its enemies grow stronger by the day. Across the Channel, King Charles VII of France hardly needs to fight; he simply needs to wait for England to collapse under the weight of its own war. But in Westminster, reality is catching up. William de la Pole, Henry VI's most trusted advisor, summons a special parliament to confront the crisis head‑on — a moment designed to force the kingdom, and Humphrey himself, to face the truth. What happens next delivers the biggest shock of Humphrey's political life, sending ripples through the court and reshaping England's future. In this episode of This Is History: A Dynasty to Die For, historian Dan Jones unpacks a turning point where denial meets destiny — and a proud duke discovers the cost of refusing to see the world as it is. – And don't forget, you can now WATCH every This Is History episode on YouTube. Subscribe at youtube.com/@thisishistorypod – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices – Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Willy Willy Harry Stee, Harry Dick John Harry Three, One Two Three Neds, Richard Two, Henry's Four Five Six.........The story of Henry VI is a tangled one, intertwined with Edward IV and, not something to be rushed. So over the next two episodes, Charlie Higson unpicks the story of a man who became king, then was deposed only to become king again, only to be deposed.....again!It's a fascinating story which takes in a couple of wars, one civil and one against the French and even Joan of Arc makes an appearance.Helping Charlie make sense of all this is the excellent Helen Castor, author of Joan Of Arc and Blood & Roses and speaking of books, remember that you can still buy the book of the podcast, Willie Willie Harry Stee, a hardback volume lovingly created by Charlie, with sumptuous illustrations by his old pal Vic Reeves....or Jim Moir to be more precise.Available now wherever books are sold. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us a textA large National Council of Teachers of English teacher survey reported by Education Week lists Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet among the most frequently assigned texts in U.S. And Folger Shakespeare Library notes its edition sales (a good “what schools buy” proxy) had Romeo and Juliet first, followed by Hamlet, Macbeth, then A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Julius Caesar.But before I start talking about British school subject matter, I better describe one certificate and one assessment of skills that are more or less standard in the United Kingdom.First, there is the GCSE or General Certificate of Secondary Education.It's the main set of school qualifications students typically take in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, usually at age 15–16 (Year 11). Students take several subjects (like English, Math, Sciences, History, etc.), and the results are used for next steps such as A-levels or vocational courses.And then there is the AQA - which stands for Assessment and Qualifications Alliance an exam board in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that creates the syllabuses, sets the exams, and award qualifications for subjects such as English, History, Sciences, etc.).Now back to the Shakespearean plays most frequently studied in the United Kingdom.Most-studied in UK secondary schools - In the UK, the gravitational center is Macbeth—especially at GCSE level. A UK secondary teaching survey reports Macbeth as the most popular overall, and one study cited within the literature reports ~65% teaching it for GCSE (with Romeo and Juliet next).Exam boards also list Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar and Twelfth Night. 12th night is sometimes add it to the list.So before I start going into some of the modern productions of Shakespeare's plays, I thought it might be more fun, as well as instructional, to go back and look at the originals.But first I'm going to give you what I hope is a simple timeline - about a minute - that roughly puts Romeo and Juliet into perspective date wise.Early 1590s: early blood-and-thunder tragedy + first big history hits (think Henry VI plays, Richard III).1594–1596: lively early comedies and experiments as his voice sharpens (e.g., Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream).c. 1594–1596: Romeo and Juliet (mid-1590s), one of his early breakthrough tragedies.1595–1596: Richard II (another key mid-1590s work).1596–1597: The Merchant of Venice (often placed around this period).1598–1599: Much Ado About Nothing (late-1590s “mature comedy”).1599–1600: Julius Caesar (turn-of-the-century political tragedy).1599–1601: Hamlet (written around this window; many place it at 1601).Early 1600s: the “big tragedy” period ramps up (including Macbeth, usually dated after James's 1603 accession).1610–1611: late “romance/magic” phase, including The Tempest and The Winter's Tale.1613: very late career work like Henry VIII.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
Distinguished actor and educator SHIRINE BABB joins host Nathan Winkelstein for a conversation about inhabiting the formidable Margaret of Anjou from Shakespeare's Henry VI and Richard III. Babb delivers the iconic “molehill” speech from Henry VI, Part III, Act I, Scene IV — “What, was it you that would be England's king?” — and unpacks her process: a rigorous cross-examination of Margaret's historical reality alongside Shakespeare's portrayal, tracing their points of alignment to arrive at a deeply rich and fully realized character.
Templars weren't the greatest, the longest-lasting, or even the most useful of the medieval military orders.⚔️ Forget the Bloody Templars. It's Time for the Knights Hospitaller.In this fiery episode of History Rage, host Paul Bavill is joined by historian Rory MacClellan (author of Warrior Monks: Politics and Power in Mediaeval Britain) to tear down the Templar myth and put the spotlight where it belongs—on the far more fascinating Knights Hospitaller.
Locked in the Tower of London after hours, Matt Lewis searches for his vanished co‑host Dr. Eleanor Janega. They swap wild escape stories of Ranulf Flambard and Roger Mortimer, and shiver inside the Bloody Tower discussing legendary prisoners including Princes in the Tower, Henry VI and William Wallace. Along the way, they meet a former Tower resident with a ghost in his bedroom, an unused toilet for Hitler, and a menagerie of spectral bears, barrels and bile.MOREThe Princes In The TowerListen on AppleListen on SpotifyRoger Mortimer: The UsurperListen on AppleListen on SpotifyRecorded at the Tower of London with thanks to Historic Royal Palaces.Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With Henry V gone, we kick off this new season with a baby on the throne and all the resulting complications that come with this complex scenario. Power is tussled over between the king's uncles, as a new cast of figures come into play under Henry VI. Meanwhile, across the Channel a new problem begins to surface for the English in the iconic form of Joan of Arc. You can now WATCH this episode over on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thisishistorypod Want to delve deeper? Become a This Is History Royal Favourite subscriber on Patreon. You get ad free listening, exclusive behind the scenes videos, and a weekly bonus episode. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator: Eric Ryan Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content – Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors
Henry Beaufort is rarely the most famous Beaufort, but he may have been the most influential.A son of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, Beaufort took a different path from his more rebellious relatives. As Bishop of Winchester and later a cardinal, he became the wealthiest churchman in England and a crucial financial backer of the Lancastrian crown.This minicast explores how Henry Beaufort shaped English politics through money and influence rather than titles or armies. From underwriting royal government to clashing with Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester during Henry VI's minority, Beaufort's power came from being indispensable, even when he was unpopular. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
England's greatest warrior-king is gone and on the throne… a baby. In season 9 of This Is History: A Dynasty to Die For, acclaimed historian Dan Jones charts the turbulent story of Henry VI, an infant monarch whose reign is beset by relentless struggles for power both at home and abroad as we enter a brutal era of English civil war - the Wars of the Roses. Scandal, madness and witchcraft form a backdrop to the young king's troubles in England, while in France, Henry V's hard-won legacy begins to crumble as Joan of Arc enters to rally the French fightback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Henry was crowned by the Bishop of Paris, as the Archbishop of Reims was aligned with the French crown. Attendance was limited, and the event failed to generate significant support among the French ...
In this week's episode, we interview narrator Hollis McCarthy, who has narrated over 300 audiobooks, including many of THE GHOSTS and CLOAK MAGES. She is also co-author with her mother Dee Maltby of the MAGIC OF LARLION series, which you can learn more about at https://deemaltbyauthor.com/. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store: DRAGONSKULL25 The coupon code is valid through October 27, 2025. So if you need a new ebook this fall, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT Introduction and Writing Updates (00:00): Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 273 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moller. Today is October 17th, 2025, and today we have an interview with audiobook narrator Hollis McCarthy. Hollis has narrated many audiobooks, including numerous books from the Ghost and Cloak Mage series, so we'll talk with her about that. Before we get to our main topic, we'll have Coupon of the Week and then a progress update on my current writing projects. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store, and that coupon code is DRAGONSKULL25. The coupon code is valid through October 27th, 2025. So if you need some new ebooks to read for this fall, we've got you covered. And as always, the coupon code and the links to my store will be available in the show notes. Now for an update on my current writing projects. As of this recording, I am 80% of the way through the first round of edits in Cloak of Worlds, so making good progress and if all goes well, the book should be out before the end of the month. I'm also 14,000 words into Blade of Shadows, which will be my next main project after Cloak of Worlds is published, which means I also have to write the outline for Elven-Assassin soon, and that will be the fifth book in the Rivah series. In audiobook news, recording will be underway next week for Blade of Flames. That will be narrated excellently by Brad Wills. Ghost in Siege is now out. It should be available at of all the audiobook stories (except Spotify) and it should be available there in a few days. And that is the final book in my Ghost Armor series that is excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook and publishing projects, which makes for a good segue into our main topic, our interview with Hollis McCarthy, which begins now. 00:03:56 Interview With Hollis McCarthy Hi everyone. I'm here today with Hollis McCarthy, who is a classically trained actor. Hollis has played leads in regional and off-Broadway theater, specializing in Shakespeare. On CBS. she's been a recurring guest star judge on Bull, the president of Ireland on Bluebloods, and a senator on Netflix's House of Cards. She's narrated more than 300 books for a variety of publishers and is the proud co-author of her mom Dee Maltby's epic fantasy series, The Magic of Larlion. Hollis, thanks for coming on the show today. Hollis: My pleasure. Jonathan: So to start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into acting and performing? Hollis: That's a great question. I think it all started with doing my little brother's Sesame Street finger puppets. He's 10 years younger than me, so I mean, I got to reread all my favorite books with him and I started voicing the finger puppets to Burt, Ernie and Cookie Monster and all those guys in the backseat of the car and playing all the characters. And then my brother went into theater. My other brother's seven years older than me, and I used to go see his shows up at the college when I was in high school and kind of fell in love with it there. I absolutely meant to be an aeronautical engineer/physicist like my dad, but it didn't end up working out. I fell in love with theater and went to Stratford. I had a dual major because I was in an honors program, so I didn't have to declare a major until my fifth year of undergrad. But then I went to Stratford up in Canada and I saw two Shakespeare shows in one day and that was it. I had to do that. That was what I loved. Jonathan: Well, since we've had many audiobooks together, I'm glad it worked out that way. Hollis: Me too. Yeah, so I got my BFA in acting, and then I got my MFA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in performance, and I was lucky enough to have some great coaches from the RSC and did a bunch more Shakespeare, and I've done that regionally a lot. And then I fell into audiobooks because I got tired of traveling, and I love to work from my home in my jammies. Jonathan: That is the dream. Speaking of that, could you tell us a bit more about how you sort of got into audiobooks or ended up doing a lot of that? Hollis: Yeah. Well, again, it starts with my childhood. My mom, who was a writer and an artist, she had, there were five of us kids and she would read out loud to us in the kitchen to keep us from fighting when we were cleaning up. So she started with Tolkien and Watership Down and Narnia and all of that. And then I got to, like I said, read to my little brother all my favorite books. And so I started doing all different voices for the characters and I always thought that was normal until, of course I volunteered to read in class in high school and people thought I was some sort of freak, but I always loved playing all the characters. And so when I started looking at staying home more and what could I do to work from home instead of being on the road for work, which was great for a long time, but then at some point you want to stay home and have a life as an actor as well as doing what you love. And audiobooks seemed a good fit. So my husband, who's also an actor, took a class from Paul Rubin here in the city in New York. We live in the New York area now. And he got a bunch of good tips from that that he passed on to me. And then my agent got me an audition with Audible and Mike Charzuk there. I came in and read a couple of pieces for him and he came back to the booth with a book he wanted me to start on. And from there I just kept building and got a lot of great indie authors through ACX like you. I don't know how many books we've done together now. Jonathan: It's over 30, I think. Yeah, 30 over the last seven years. So it's been a while. Hollis: And you're seriously, I mean, I'm not saying this because I'm on your blog, but your series are absolutely my favorites, especially because, yeah, the two series that I do, one is Nadia from the Midwest like me and then the other one with Caina, the epic fantasy world, which uses all my British and Irish bits and I absolutely love them. So yeah, I've just kept building up, getting in with a few more publishers now, which is harder to do and I just love it. Our first booth, when the pandemic hit, we had to build a booth at home and I had been going to studios in the city up until that point, but it hit pretty suddenly. It was obvious on St. Patrick's Day when it was like us going to the studio and people who were absolutely desperate folks were the only other ones on the street. We had to stay home. So my husband took our rapier blade (we fight with swords. We're actor combatants, like you said). He took two broadsword blades and a rapier blade, and he's handy with carpentry, fortunately. That's how he worked his way through school. He bracketed those to the wall and we ordered through Amazon before they kind of shut down too. We ordered packing blankets to hang over them and I ordered a new microphone and a new interface and it was trial and error for a bunch of days. And we had an engineer on call who talked us through how to run the software programs and stuff, how to set them up. And from there I've just kept recording at home. I sometimes still go into the studios when they have a budget where they can spring for a studio, but mostly they want you to work from home these days. So that's mostly what I do. Jonathan: Oh, building a recording booth out of swords. That's very Caina. Hollis: It's very Caina. I love Caina. Caina is me as a young woman. If I had been a superhero, I would've been a Caina. All my favorite roles in Shakespeare were the girl as boy ones. You asked, one of my favorite roles in theater was when I was at Alabama Shakespeare and I was playing Queen Elizabeth in Richard III and dressing in gorgeous gowns and being very seductive and very powerful and manipulative and all that. But in the earlier scenes, we did the three plays and in the Richard III and the Henry VI we did all three. And in the earlier scenes where Elizabeth wasn't in, I got to dress up and doublet and hose and I like stippled some stipple of beard on my face and climbed a siege ladder with a sword in one hand and did a spectacular pratfall running away from the bad guys and would slide on my stomach on the deck of the stage and I would come out into the lobby and the other guys who were playing my fellow fighters would be holding up rating cards for how far I'd slid that day. Jonathan: Sounds like very practical cardio. Hollis: Yeah, very. It was a lot of fun. That was probably my most fun I've ever done, though I also loved Beatrice and Much Ado, which I got to do twice because she's just so funny and witty and passionate. She's great, and Shakespeare, you know. Jonathan: Very good. So after all these audiobooks, what goes into preparing to record an audiobook? Hollis: That's a great question, too. It depends on the book, really. And I'm lucky enough to do a lot of series now, so when you're doing a series, it gets easier as you go along. I remember with the first ones I did for you, the first Caina, it probably took me an hour of prep to get through the first chapter. There were so many made up place names that I needed to figure out how to say, and then you have to be consistent. Even if they're made up, you still have to be consistent. So I really used my theater training there because I learned the international phonetic alphabet when I was in school, and so I can write down phonetic pronunciations and for each book, I'm old school with my prep, I'll keep a legal pad and I'll write down phonetic pronunciations, the word, page number, and the phonetic pronunciation for each word, so I have a record. You don't retain them from book to book. Pronunciations is a big part of what you do. Also, character voices, because again, you want to be true to the author's intent and you want to stay consistent. Again, for Caina, it became very complicated because you had to have Caina's basic voice, which is this [speaks in Caina's voice]. She started out a bit higher because she was younger. And then as she aged, she's gotten more medium pitch-wise, but then she was in disguise as various people. She was disguised as a cockney guy for a while, and she was an Irish guy for a while. And so for each of those personas, you have to notate for yourself in the script. Oh, now she has this accent. Now she has this one. And really for each chunk of dialogue, every time a character speaks, I'll put the initial of their name and if there are a lot of characters in the scene, I will have to differentiate between them pretty frequently. If it's two characters and I know them both very well, then I kind of have the shorthand in my head. So the different character voices I also put on my legal pad so I have a record, so Calvia sounds like this [speaks a line in the character's voice]. And sometimes I'll write down physical aspects of them so that I can just kind of feel the character. And after I do them for a while, the feel of the character will give me the voice and you write down everything that the author says about the character too. I'll just notate for myself that will oftentimes give you the voice. If it's a good author, which thank God you are, you write in different voices, which makes my job easier. Jonathan: The joke I sometimes say is I didn't do audiobooks for the first seven years I was publishing, and people would ask me, how do you pronounce this? I say, I don't care, pronounce it however you want. And then suddenly we started doing audiobooks and suddenly no, it matters very much how it's pronounced. Hollis: Yeah, exactly. It's funny, I'm just looking at my tablet. I have your Shield of Power up on my tablet. I've been reading that on the treadmill and at lunch. But yeah, we have to keep tabs. And when we have so many books now, I've started special folders just for the Ghost series and the Cloak series because a lot of times a character will show up from several books previous and I go, I remember them, but I don't remember what they sounded like. So I will have notated forward alto, slightly Irish or something like that for them. I have shorthand for all of it, and so I'll do that. Jonathan: Yeah, I spent a lot of time with Control + F searching through Word documents, trying to remember the first time I wrote this character and what they looked like. Hollis: Yeah, I bet you do. Some writers I guess do, well, if they don't do it all themselves. And if they have somebody who's like an administrative assistant, they have somebody who gives you, I've gotten these from authors before. Their assistant will send me a story log of characters with everything that's said about the character. I'm like, oh, well, that's very organized and helpful, but I would think it would be massively time consuming. Jonathan: It is. I did hire someone to help me with that this year. It was getting to be too much to go back and search through things and it is a very time consuming project, but once it's done, it's very helpful because it's quite easy to find things and look things up and refresh your memory. Hollis: I bet so. When I was working on my mom's books, we hired an editor and she did a spreadsheet, a database kind of different terms and characters and what was said about them. And I go back to that and amend it all the time now that I'm trying to write book eight. Jonathan: Yeah, that kind of thing is very helpful. But on a related topic of preparation, since you've done audiobooks, stage, and TV, how would say narrating audiobooks is different from the experience of doing theater or TV? Hollis: The major thing and the hardest thing for me when I was starting out was you can't move around all the time. I had an engineer at Audible. It was just, and a lot of times the chair is very important because if you move, what you're bound to do, if you're producing your voice correctly, you need to sit up and you need to use your hands to express yourself, and you have to have an absolutely silent chair. And the chairs at Audible at that time, were not absolutely silent. So every time I moved, the chair would squeak and we'd have to stop and start again. So that was very, very hard for me. In fact, I've been doing so much audiobooks now, and I also do TV and film, but that's gone to all for auditioning for that. It's all self tape, which means it's just like head and shoulders, so still you're just kind of using a little part of your body. And I had a theater callback for Pygmalion in the city the other day, in person, in a studio, in a rehearsal room. The day before, I used to do those all the time, and that's so rare now for them to do in-person auditions since the pandemic. But I put on my character shoes and my skirt and I practice just being bigger, opening my body up and doing all this stuff I learned to do in school and that you do when you're on stage to own the space because the space is the back wall of the theater. And that's a big difference between theater, film, TV, and audiobooks is the scope of it. When I did Beatrice, I was in an 1,100 seat unamplified stone amphitheater outdoors in Colorado. So you can imagine the scope physically and vocally is so big. And then for TV, film and you have to what they say, reach the back wall of whatever space you're in. Well, for film and TV, the back wall is the camera. It's right in front of your face a lot of the times. And the back wall is really kind of the inside of your head. It's almost like you have to have internal gaze so that the thoughts are just happening. You don't have to project them, you don't have to project your voice because all the equipment comes right to you, and all you have to do is feel the feelings and think the thoughts and the camera and microphone picked that up. Similarly with audiobooks, I'm just in a little tiny padded booth. My microphone is just a few inches from my face, and so I could be very, very intimate and everything gets picked up, and you have to do a lot less work for the emotion to come through. Again, really all you have to do is kind of feel the emotion. And for me, that's always for me is being in the moment and feeling the moment and letting that dictate the pace and the vocals and everything. I guess I'm pretty Method. I'm very Method, but that's how I trained. It's what works for me. Not every narrator is like that. There's a million different proper ways to narrate, and that's just my take on it. But everything is right there. So it's just kind of keeping it much smaller and more intimate. And in fact, when you want to be big like [character name's said in the character's] voice and he was yelling a lot, and I would have to pull back from the microphone to let his scope come out. Jonathan: Well, after 30 audiobooks together, I can say that method definitely works. Related to that, as we mentioned earlier, you're now at over 300 titles on Audible over the last 12 years. Congratulations for that. What would you say is most surprising or unexpected things about audiobooks you learned during that time? Hollis: Oh, well, it was very surprising that we could make a booth out of sword blades and blankets. That surprised me. Yeah, that's a great question. It's surprising to me how simple I can be. I went back and I had an author recently who wanted me to do a new chapter to begin and end a book that I had done like 2014, something like that, shortly after I started. And I thought at the time that I was really filling these voices and what I did was fine. You're always your own worst critic. But what I've discovered now is the more you do it, the more you record, the more you use your instrument every single day for 300 some books, the more effortless it becomes and the more depth you can bring to it. And as a young actor, we always resist that. My acting coach used to say, age and experience. There's no substitute for it. I'm like, yeah, yeah, but talent and hard work, that's something. But it's really true that just the repetition, there's no substitute for it. Those chapters that I did, they were the same voices basically. But when I went back and listened to the original, I was like, oh, it surprised me how without really changing anything mechanically, the work has just gotten deeper, more effortless, but it sounds better at the same time. Does that make sense? Jonathan: It does. Because you've probably noticed I've redesigned the covers for the Caina series like seven times over the last 10 years. And every time you think this is it, this is it. I'm done. This is good. And then with more practice, you look back and think, well, maybe I can improve this again, though. I suppose that's not often something that happens in the audiobook world where you get to go back and revisit something you did previously. Hollis: That is one of the hardest and most surprising things about audiobooks. And I've heard people say that this happens to every young narrator when they're starting out, you get through the first two chapters of a new book and you go, oh God, now I get it. I want to go back and start again. Well, there's no do overs with audiobooks. With audiobooks, “done is good” is what they always tell you when you're starting out. So even in film and TV, which you don't get much rehearsal for, you get a couple of run run-throughs, but with audiobooks, you got your prep. Not everyone does, but I always read the whole book before I start if possible, because otherwise you get surprises. But you get your one read through, your prep, and then you go and yes, you can stop. You can punch and roll, edit over. If you make a mistake, you go back half a line, you start again there. But there's no evolution of the work, which is what's great about series too, I think, because with the series you get, yeah, Caina was here last time I did her and now she's going through something new. And then the character grows and it becomes less and less effortful, but it also becomes like someone you really know so that it gets so much deeper and it's so much more fun to play with. Jonathan: That makes sense. 12 years really is a long time to have done audio narration or anything. So what do you think is the key to sticking it out for audiobooks for the long term? Hollis: Well, a lot of things make a difference. I didn't do it before this interview, which is why my voice is kind of rocky, but I always warm up in the morning when I'm setting up a session. I always do a vocal warmup. You got to get a good night's sleep, you have to drink water every couple of pages. I have a tea that I drink that keeps my stomach quiet because stomach gurgles is another bad thing about audiobooks. You have to eat very carefully and drink tea to keep your stomach quiet. You don't want to have to stop every time for that. And a lot of training, a lot of vocal training. I had Linklater training and the Lavan training, and Linklater to me is the most useful. And a lot of the stuff that applies to Shakespeare applies to audiobooks too. You warm up, you get yourself breathing, you warm up your resonators, your sinus, your mask resonators, the back of your head, your chest resonators. For the men [imitates male voice], you really have to have your chest warmed up, get the vibrations going here. And so I get all that kind of going before I sit down in the booth. And that also keeps you, then you keep your throat open so you're not hurting yourself. You have to have good posture so that the air can move from your diaphragm up to your throat and have it be open. And then optimally, like with Caina, Caina has a lot of mask resonance. Brits do; they are very far forward. So you really have to have all that warmed up and then that has to have no impediments between the front of your face all the way down to your diaphragm where the breath originates. And if you can do all that, then you could be an audiobook narrator. Also diction. I warm up my diction to everything from [imitates several vocal exercises] in just to get your mouth moving. You don't want lazy mouth with, there's a lot of enunciation in audiobooks that's important. But I also don't like, I really hate when you hear people enunciating. I don't like that. And with Caina, even though she's upper class, she's not like that. She's not pretentious. And certainly Nadia, you want to be able to understand what she says, but you don't want her to be enunciating. That be weird. So all of all that stuff I worked on in grad school and did all the Shakespeare plays, I would always get to the theater an hour early. You have to be there half hour for makeup and check in, but I would always get there an hour early and do at least 15 to 20 minutes of physical and vocal warmups. And so those habits have really helped me. I think I have pipes of iron, fortunately. I'm very lucky. So all that stuff really matters with audiobooks. Jonathan: It's amazing in how many different fields of life the answer seems to boil down to do the things you're supposed to over and over again forever. Hollis: Exactly. That's really true. When are we going to get old enough that we don't have to do that anymore? [laughs] Jonathan: Just one side question. What is Linklater training? I don't think I've heard that term before. Hollis: Oh, Kristen Linklater is, she's probably the biggest American vocal coach. She has a lot of books out there about voice and the actor and all of her training stems from allowing the breathing to drop in as she calls it, not forcing it to drop into the diaphragm, and then creating a pool of vocal vibrations that go from the diaphragm through an open throat to the resonators. And you can use every resonator in your body to project that sound. When I was doing Beatrice and Gertrude at Colorado Shakes in that unamplified stone amphitheater in the foothills of the Rockies, there was winds that would come down out of the mountains when we were on stage, and that theater was known for eating women's voices. And I had to thank God the vocal coach that summer was a Linklater coach, which is the method that I trained in, and he helped me work with even resonators. If you can imagine in your back, just using the whole chest box and shaking the vibrations through your body so that basically you're making your whole human skeleton an amplifier for the vocal energy coming from your breath. And that's Linklater. She's fascinating. If you ever want to study voice, you can't do better than Linklater, to my mind. Cicely Berry is another one I studied. She's the British guru for the RSC and the Royal Shakespeare Company and all those people, and she's great too. Jonathan: Well, that's just exciting. I learned something new today. Hollis: That's always good. Always learning from your books too about Medieval combat. Jonathan: We always want to learn something new every day, whether we like it or not. Hollis: Right. Jonathan: So to turn it around a little bit, what advice would you give a new indie author who is working with a narrator for the first time? Hollis: Oh yeah, I actually, I made some notes. I thought that was such a good question. Make sure that your narrator knows what you expect from them upfront. If you go through ACX, they have this great thing called the first 15 where your narrator is, if you're new to this author, you record the first 15 minutes of the book and you put that on ACX for your author to listen to and approve. You don't have to approve it if you don't like it. And in fact, if you don't like it, it's very important you don't approve it and you tell your narrator specifics about what you need them to change before they go on with the book. Because what you can't really do is once a book is recorded, say, oh, I really don't like it. I'm not going to pay you for it. I need you to go back and do it again. That's not acceptable and it will make narrators never want to work with you. But what's great about the first 15 is you have that chance to say, well, this voice was, she was a little higher than I wanted. I hear her in my head more as an alto because for me as a narrator, what I want to do is I want to take what you, Jonathan, hear your characters being as you're writing them in your head. I want to take that and translate that into an audiobook for you. So the more you give your narrators information about your characters, the better they're going to voice it. Also, if there's a style in your head, like with Nadia books, there's a little touch of noir there. It was a dark and stormy night kind of feel. If there's a style you kind of hear in your head, that would be a good thing to give them. But ACX has also, I think a character sheet where you can tell them about the different characters. You can fill that out for your narrator. That's tremendously helpful, age of the character, if you hear a vocal pitch range, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, any dialects, they need to know that. The narrator's nightmare is you finish up a book and you shouldn't do this, you should read ahead, but you get to the last line: “I love you, darling,” he said in his beautiful French accent. Jonathan: It explicitly shows up there for the first time. Hollis: Exactly. And then for the narrator, it's like, oh my God, I have to go back and rerecord everything this guy said, which is hours and hours and hours of work for you and your editor who will kill you. But yeah, let them know about all the character traits that you can and just, I think it's on the narrator too, to, I've been lucky with my authors, we always have a good give and take. I come from a theater background and you want to collaborate. You want to realize the author's vision and you want to be a partner in creating that. So try to be partners and give them more information than you think they need and use that first 15. It is totally acceptable to send it back and say, I'm going to need you to do this again, and I'm going to need these changes. And then once you get that ironed out, then you'll probably be ready to go ahead and have a book. And when you get the book, you won't be shocked and you'll be happy (hopefully) with the read. Is that helpful? Jonathan: It does. New authors, if you're listening to this, listen to that advice. Hollis: Yeah. Jonathan: Now for a slightly different topic, can you tell us about the Magic of Larlion books and how you ended up publishing that series? Hollis: Yeah. The Magic of Larlion is an epic fantasy adventures series seven, almost eight volumes. I'm working on finishing book eight now. The first book, Wizard Stone, my brilliant mother Dee Maltby started years and years ago, probably, gosh, maybe 20 years ago now, I think when my little brother moved out from home and she had an empty nest and she had more time to write, and she wrote Wizard Stone, and she sent it out a few places, and that was the only way you could get published back when she wrote it and didn't pursue it, she got discouraged, I think, by rejections from publishers, sat in her drawer for a while, and my sister-in-law, Dana Benningfield, who's also an actor, and she was my best friend even before she married my brother. I introduced them. So yeah, that was all me. She was an editor professionally for a while, and when she moved to Ohio where I'm from and was living with my brother and my parents lived right across the orchard, I told her about this book. And she wasn't editing at the time, she was kind of done with it, but she asked mom if she could read it. So she read it and edited it, and then it became a much better book and really encouraged my mom to keep writing, which I had been telling her to do for years. But hearing somebody who wasn't family, somehow giving her that input that it was really something special, changed her perspective. So she kept writing and she and I started, I was on the road doing Shakespeare a lot. We started trading chapters. She'd send me a chapter a week and I would edit it and send it back. And so Wizard Stone evolved from there into its current form, and then she started the next book, Wizard Wind and Wizard Storm. And we went that way through five and a half books. And my dad finally, when he retired from being a physicist, said he was going to, I always told you I'd get your published Dee, I'm going to take it down to the print shop and get a hundred copies made. And by this time I was working with you and a bunch of other great indie authors who were letting thousands of happy readers read their books through an independent platform. And I said, well, wait a minute. I could do better than that. So I convinced them to hire an editor that I had worked with, and I did the rewrites and got it through the pre-production process and hired a cover artist, very talented artist. And you and Meara Platt, another of my authors, gave me so much information and help. And we got it published in 2022, I believe. We had three ready to go. And we published those all within a month of each other. One a month for three months, and then four and five, and then six came. And I co-authored five, six, and seven because my mother was losing her sight and her hearing at that point. We got those done. We had six out and a lot of people reading them and loving them and reviewing them before my mom passed. And I think it's probably one of the most satisfying things I've done in my life, because not only do I love the books, and they're just a rip roaring, fantastic adventure-filled epic trip through this incredible world my mom invented. But when she was about to, one of the last things she said to me was, I told her how many people had read her books. I just went through the Kindle numbers and thousands of people in different countries and all over the world were reading and loving her books. And I told her that, and she said, that's all that matters. And she felt such a sense of pride in herself and accomplishment because they were being received for what they are, which is a brilliant creative flight of fancy, this magical world in the tradition of all the books she loved, always Tolkien. And so I promised her I'd finish it. So after she died, I published six and seven and I've got eight about 90% written now, and I'm hoping to bring that out by the end of the year, although I've been too darn busy with narration to really spend the time. I've got the big climactic Jonathan Moeller type battle at the end sketched in my head and on an outline, but I got to write that. And then we can get that out there and finish that too. Jonathan: Will you stop with eight or keep going after eight? Hollis: My feeling is that this series will culminate with book eight. It's been a long saga of Beneban, this young wizard who kind of gets flung off a mountain by his evil wizard master and has to master his fledgling wizardry powers and his magical sword to win his love Laraynia, a powerful sorceress, and save the kingdom. And that's book one. And there's ice dragons, and then they have kids, and then the later books have become much more about their kids. And the more I write, the more it's become about young women fighting with swords. Jonathan: Well, they say write what you know. Hollis: Defeating the bad guys. Plucky young women, overachieving, competing with men. And so I think that's all going to come to a head with book eight, and that will be the end of that series. But I do think I'm going to spin it off into possibly more on the younger characters. I don't know if it's going to be YA per se, I think it'll still be for adults, but more of a YA feel to it, the younger characters of the ice dragon riding school of battle and the wizarding school. I don't know if I want to make it schools necessarily, it might limit you too much. And that's kind of been done too. But I do think the ice dragons are going to figure largely in it. Oh, and I don't know, there's a plot point I probably shouldn't give away, but my mother's full name was Willa Dee Maltby. She writes under Dee Maltby and there is a character, a very magical character named Willa that shows up in this book eight. So I think Willa will be a big character going forward and the younger generation of women and some boys too. I like boys, I do. Jonathan: Well, I suppose if people want to know more, they will have to read and find out. Hollis: Yes. And please go to the website is deemaltbyauthor.com and everything you want to know (well, maybe not everything), but everything you can know for now is there. Jonathan: Well, I was going to ask you what you would say was the most rewarding things about publishing the books, but I think you covered that pretty well. On the flip side, what was the biggest unexpected challenge in publishing them? Hollis: The PR is hard. You seem to be great at it. I even did PR professionally to work my way through undergrad and then in between grad school and undergrad and after I graduated and I had an assistantship in it at my university. But the book world specifically is a whole different kind of PR and learning Amazon ads and Facebook ads and it's a lot. It's a lot. And again, you have been so helpful with it. And I mean, there are a lot of online resources out there too, which is great. But what I'm really finding, trying to do it part-time is overwhelming. You really need a full-time block of time to not only write the books, but then to publicize them the way they deserve to be publicized. Jonathan: Yeah, the tricky part is, as you said, book advertising is very different from anything else. I was talking with a guy who is an Amazon reseller for various toiletries and hygiene products and makes a good living doing that. I was telling him how much I pay per click on Amazon ads. He's just appalled. It's like, you can't make any money doing that. And then the flip side of that too is that Internet marketing is so different than any other form of PR, so it's just sort of constant challenge there. Hollis: I know, and I know I actually signed up for a TikTok account and I just don't, again at the time. Plus every time I turn it on, I'm like, I don't want to watch that. I'm allergic to the format. You'd think being an actor, being used to being on camera, I could come up easily with little things to do for the books and I probably could for TikTok. But again, just learning the platform and then applying yourself to it is just such a big time hack that I don't have that amount of time. I know that narrators are now more and more marketing themselves by recording themselves on camera narrating and putting that out there, which I can do, I guess. And that's why I got this ring light and everything. I can do that now. I haven't done anything with it, but I guess if some of the book work dries up, I'll be more motivated to do it. Jonathan: Well, that's how anything works. You try it and if you enjoy it and it works, keep doing it. And if you don't enjoy it and it doesn't work, no point in carrying on with it. Hollis: I think that's true. And you just have to keep learning too, as we know with everything. You got to keep learning new things. Jonathan: Well, this has been a very enjoyable interview and thank you for coming on the show. Hollis: My pleasure. Jonathan: Let's close out with one last question. You've obviously done a lot of theater, so what, out of all the productions you've done was the one you would say was your favorite or that you enjoyed the most? Hollis: I think I have to go back to Beatrice probably. I mean, the Alabama Shakes getting to play a man thing, that was a lot of fun. But Beatrice, we did a Wild West Much Ado about Nothing at Colorado Shakespeare. The premise was that I was the niece of Leonardo, who is the tavern keeper, the bar keeper in this Wild West world. And there was a bar fight opening this Wild West production, and I entered through a swinging tavern door with a six shooter in one hand and a bull whip in the other. And I shot the pistol and cracked the bull whip and broke up the fight and then got to do Shakespeare's incredible Beatrice and Benedict story from there. It was so much fun. Jonathan: It almost seems like the soundtrack could have been “I Shot the Sheriff.” Hollis: Yeah. Yeah, it really could. It was a heck of a lot of fun. Jonathan: Well, speaking of fun, it was good talking with you, and thank you for taking the time to be on the show. Hollis: Yeah, I am excited to start the next Cloak book soon. So I was going to offer to do a little snatch of you want the introduction for Cloak here? Jonathan: Oh, I think we'll save it for the Real Thing. Hollis: Oh, okay. All right. Well thank you, Jonathan. It's been a pleasure. Jonathan: It's been a pleasure. And see you soon for Cloak Mage #10. Hollis: Alright. So that was our interview with Hollis McCarthy. Thank you for coming on the show and giving us a very informative and entertaining interview. A reminder that the website with the Magic of Larlion books is deemaltbyauthor.com. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.
Henry VI became king of England at the age of just nine months old, never knew his father and in many ways never truly grew up. His life was managed by a series of competing and often self-serving councillors. His many mental health issues placed incredible pressure on the court he nominally oversaw and thanks to his eventual overthrow at the hands of Edward, Earl of March, later Edward IV, we think of Henry as a largely inept, useless and pitiful figure, but was he? Well to discuss this fascinating man I am pleased to welcome back Lauren Johnson onto the podcast for a discussion all about him. Lauren's book, Shadow King, the life and death of Henry VI acts as the basis of our conversation.
And 116 years later, the Hundred Years War comes to an End.Time Period Covered: 1448-1453Notable People: Charles VII of France, Henry VI of England, John of Orleans Count of Dunois, Arthur de Richemont Constable of France, John Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, Edmund Beaufort Duke of SomersetNotable Events/Developments: Seizure of Fougeres, Breakdown of the Truce of Tours, Norman Campaign (1449-1450), Battle of Formigny, Gascon Campaign (1450-1451), Battle of Castillon
Richard III is an early history play probably written and performed around 1592-93. It is the culmination of Shakespeare's earlier three plays about Henry VI, and chronicles the bloody career of Richard, Duke of Gloucester. As the play opens, the Wars of the Roses are over, King Edward IV (Richard's brother) is on the throne, and all is ostensibly well. But Richard wants to be king - and he'll stop at nothing to realize his ambition. This is a dramatic reading.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Richard III is an early history play probably written and performed around 1592-93. It is the culmination of Shakespeare's earlier three plays about Henry VI, and chronicles the bloody career of Richard, Duke of Gloucester. As the play opens, the Wars of the Roses are over, King Edward IV (Richard's brother) is on the throne, and all is ostensibly well. But Richard wants to be king - and he'll stop at nothing to realize his ambition. This is a dramatic reading.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Richard III is an early history play probably written and performed around 1592-93. It is the culmination of Shakespeare's earlier three plays about Henry VI, and chronicles the bloody career of Richard, Duke of Gloucester. As the play opens, the Wars of the Roses are over, King Edward IV (Richard's brother) is on the throne, and all is ostensibly well. But Richard wants to be king - and he'll stop at nothing to realize his ambition. This is a dramatic reading.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Welcome to episode 4 of this 6 part special on the Wars of the Roses. Today's episode sees Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, make plans which soon fall apart. Joining me are two historians, Derek Birks, the author of the Guide to the Wars of the Roses, and David Pilling, author of Kingbreaker. You'll get two episodes per week, and so hopefully will emerge from August with a superior knowledge of a conflict that was an early civil war, and which formed England for the next few hundred years. All the great characters are here, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VI, Queen Margaret, Warwick the Kingmaker, Edward IV, Richard III and finally Henry Tudor. Links A Guide to the Wars of the Roses, by Derek Birks Kingbreaker: Rebel and Traitor, by David Pilling Kingmaker Board Game Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Believe it or not, the Hundred Years War is still going on, but now it's become a bit on-again-off-again. The Truce of Tours, agreed to in 1444, gave both sides the chance to take a breath and prepare for the future, whatever that might hold.Time Period Covered: 1440-1448Notable People: Charles VII of France, Henry VI of England, Philip the Good, Isabella of Portugal, Louis XI of France, Antoine de Chabannes, Thibaud de Neuchatel, Alienor de PoitiersNotable Events/Developments: Truce of Tours, French Military reforms of the 1440s, Handover of Maine
Henry VI didn't fit the medieval image of masculinity, or that much of a king, either.Who gave sex education to someone of this stature? How did his controversial marriage to the French Margaret of Anjou effect his reputation? And what problems were they facing in the bedroom?Joining Kate today is author and historian Lauren Johnson to help us get to know this misunderstood medieval monarch.This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Please vote for us for Listeners' Choice at the British Podcast Awards! Follow this link, and don't forget to confirm the email. Thank you!Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
An investigation into the dramatic siege of London in 1471 and the controversial and mysterious death of Henry VI. Matt Lewis is joined by Andrew Boardman to unpack Thomas Neville's assault on London, a rebellion that set the city on fire and led to panic within its walls. They explore the aftermath and the evidence that Edward IV made a calculated decision to end Henry VI's life to quash future rebellions.Was Henry VI's death due to 'pure melancholy' as reported, or something more sinister?MOREThe Hundred Years Warhttps://open.spotify.com/episode/3UQkEb0MTdJdwYmJB333RXTower of London: Most Infamous Prisonershttps://open.spotify.com/episode/21EtfN6sWWVsA0fWwD89u2Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. It was edited by Amy Haddow, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/6FFT7MK
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