Andrew Simpson

Vigée Le Brun, my Wikipedia tells me "was a French painter who mostly specialized in portrait painting, in the late 18th and early 19t...

Now this is one I am going to listen to. Hoplite 5th century, 2018 It's the latest offer from In Our Time on BBC Radio 4. "Misha Gl...

I like trees and who wouldn't? They look good, offer shade, have heaps of different things to eat and can be found in parks, along roads...

  Now this is one I listened to and enjoyed. And of course learned a lot.   It's the latests from Radio 4's In Our Time "At the...

To my shame I had never come across The Garamantes. Ruins of the ancient city of Garma02, 2010 All of which will be put right when I listen ...

Joseph Roth was a a journalist and author and to my shame someone who I knew nothing about. Joseph Roth, 1926 All of which meant that today...

Now this is one I am listening to. It is another in the series from BBC Radio 4's In Our Time . "Misha Glenny and guests discuss ho...

Perhaps a controversial  way to sum up Margaret Beaufort the mother of Henry Tudor but then Shakespeare always has the best words. Lady Marg...

I am a great fan of BBC Radio 4's In Our Time.    Torta di patate, 2025 It's stated intent is to "span history, religion, cult...

Now, this is one I am looking forward to listening to. Stele of Hammurabi, circa 1751 BC It is 40 minutes of wonderful discussion on the law...

 I enjoyed this edition of  In Our Time , which discussed Shakespeare's Henry 1V Part 1. Falstaff "Misha Glenny and guests discuss ...

This is another bit of history I enjoyed today. It comes from that excellent series In Our Time and is free to listen to long after the fir...

Now, this is one I enjoyed. Shake-Speare's Sonnets, 1609 It is another in the In Our Time series, has a bonus few minutes, from Historia...

This is one I enjoyed listening to, and of course learned a lot about the Middle Ages, the status of women in Medieval society,and the ferme...

Now this is one I enjoyed listening to today.* It is from the In Our Time series and was first broadcast on October 26th in 2017. "Af...

  I can never quite get to like the final scene from the silent film, A Trip to the Moon which was released in 1902 but it fits well with th...

BBC Radio 4's In Our Time never disappoints and today I am listening to an exploration of Dragons .* So here is one I will be listening ...

This is one I shall listen to today.  Penny of Robert the Bruce, circa 1320s On BBC Radio 4 in the series In Our Time, Barbour's Brus...

  I don’t make any great claims to my stories, pictures and research. Be Happy, Manchester, 1979 Mr. Shakespeare, Bill Brandt, and Edward Gi...

It's the stuff of science fiction and pop history, and I might have turned my back on it, but the discovery of an ancient Greek, astrono...