The Battle of Trafalgar .... on the wireless today

Now the family joke was always that they staged the Battle of Trafalgar on my birthday, which October 21st is, but the strategic decision to confront a combined French and Spanish Fleet by Nelson.

Detail from the Battle of Trafalgar, 19th century

And with that said the rest is down to Melvyn Bragg and guests who will discuss the events of October 21st 1805, on the programme In Our Time.*

"In which the British fleet led by Nelson destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain. 

Nelson's death that day was deeply mourned in Britain, and his example proved influential, and the battle was to help sever ties between Spain and its American empire. 

In France meanwhile, even before Nelson's body was interred at St Pauls, the setback at Trafalgar was overshadowed by Napoleon's decisive victory over Russia and Austria at Austerlitz, though Napoleon's search for his lost naval strength was to shape his plans for further conquests.

With James Davey, Lecturer in Naval and Maritime History at the University of Exeter, Marianne Czisnik, Independent researcher on Nelson and editor of his letters to Lady Hamilton and, Kenneth Johnson, Research Professor of National Security at Air University, Alabama

The Fall of Nelson, 1825

Producer: Simon Tillotson".

The programme goes out just after 9 am, and then will be available to listen to shortly after the talk finishes.

And the bonus of listening a little later, is an extra few minutes when each contributor gets the chance to add thoughts that they missed saying.

Picture; detail from The Battle of Trafalgar, 19th century, Clarkson Frederick Stanfield, and The Fall of Nelson, Battle of Trafalgar, October 21 1805, circa 1825, Denis Dighton, National Maritime Museum 

*The Battle of Trafalgar, In Our Time, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012141