Genius and entertaining I listened for five minutes and now I'm British. 10/10 would recommend.
Isaac627272 7/12/2016Carte et brute ( roman ice cream) Wow what great narration a great intro to podcast and history for me I'm like a sponge at the moment for my countries history and jamie is doing a wonderful job.highly recommended for anyone with a vague interest as to where all this started with humour thrown in so it's not to stuffy.just pls pls listen you won't regret.now where did I put that metal detector I'm goin to find myself some of those roman coins in my neighbours field:)
Ian Evans 1/11/2012Great for students of literature Yes, you read that right—literature. History is a great place to start to understand a book. Historical fiction, revisionist history, the classics, old books, new books, all books are in some way informed and one could even say formed by history. And, yes, I'm definitely including those science fiction books that take place on distant worlds and in the far future in this absolute truth. And while the argument about if absolute truths exist will be saved for a different review, this truth is actually absolute—humans cannot separate their consciousness from history even if they have memory problems because history persists in our unconscious too.
LOSTnowFOUND2 9/27/2016
Anyway, I digress. As a graduate student of literature, I use history all the time to understand a text, and, sometimes, that texts influence on history. I can't say that history always helps, and obviously I must use caution to avoid fallacies of logic such as the fallacy of intention, but more often than naught I gain a fuller understanding of a text. And I find podcasts a great place to start to get an idea about history—although I stress that even if you trust a podcast host to always fact check because maybe they had some bad toast that morning and messed up a fact. I've found that the best way to set about this task is to pick out a small focus: a single culture. British, Roman, and American histories are all useful in Western Literature, but I urge you to pick a history that best suits your interests and where you hope to specialize; for all of you Western focusers, however, I highly recommend the British History Podcast (BHP). Although I'm only half way through, I'm starting to see the first reoccuring fruits of this Podcast in my Chaucer class. Augustine is mentioned in this poem? Does Chaucer mean Augustine of Hippo or Saint Augustine who brought Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons (Not the Picts, though, and it had survived in small pockets across Britain since the end of Roman rule) and who set up shop in Kent during the rule of Aethelbert? Yeah I learned that here. I have seen isolated successes in my more modern classes, and obviously those will increase as I make it further in the podcast.
The BHP is wonderfully done. Jamie—I hope you don't mind if I call you Jamie—obviously puts a lot of time into research and it shows. Even more valuable is the thought he puts into the content as well. To deliver facts is one thing, but to deliver facts, think critically about them, express the different ways to understand them, and offer questions about and alternates of them is a whole lot more work. History is best when it is given critical thought, and Jamie helps you do that in ways you may not think to look at the information, but he also answers listener questions that can offer some critical thought too and may take a different perspective that even he didn't consider. It's a dynamic and well thought out podcast, and I hope to enjoy many more years of it. And I also hope that if you're a student of literature or even if you're not, that you will give BHP a try and that you fall in love with it too.
Thank you, Jamie.
P.s. I didn't have time to check this review for errors, so please forgive me. English students err in grammar too.Brilliant Simply one of the most interesting and well-presented history shows I've ever listened to. Jamie is a superb host, and a great story teller. I've learned so much about my home :)
CarolinaDon 5/03/2017
Great podcast. I stumbled across BHP last year during the episodes concerning Alfred and family. This happens to be a favorite period of time for me but, gosh, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians was awesome. My interest was piqued by the show, The Last Kingdom in which Æthelflæd was portrayed at a young age, just married to Aethelred. I've always been facinated by AEthelflaed but never knew her accomplishments! Nice to have a heroine.
Debbie Almony Aston 4/19/2018
Jamie's research is phenomenal and I love the fact that he utilizes current vernacular and never assumes we know something. I've listened to these recent episodes many times over and must admit, I wait impatiently for the next one.
A Chronological History of Britain