Bristol History Podcast

This week I met with Professor Madge Dresser to discuss women throughout Bristol's history. How did women’s roles change as the city grew? Were they able to avail themselves of the economic opportunities that increasingly opened up to their male counterparts? Professor Dresser tackles these and other questions.

In this second part of our look at Bristol's riotous past, I met with Dr Roger Ball of the Bristol Radical History Group and Dr Steve Poole of UWE to discuss riots, uprisings and disturbances in Bristol's more recent past, with a particular focus on the events in St. Paul's in 1980 and Stokes Croft in 2011.

Bristolians have often been condemned or commended for their riotous history. For this podcast I met with Dr Roger Ball of the Bristol Radical History Group and Dr Steve Poole of UWE to discuss Bristol's 'riots' in the 18th and 19th centuries. What constitutes a 'riot'? Can we discern political intentions behind crowd activity? And how do popular disturbances and uprisings fit into modern Bristol's image of itself?

This week I explore the medieval origins of Bristol with Dr Evan Jones of Bristol University. When and why was Bristol founded? And what factors led to it becoming one of England's largest and most powerful urban centres by the end of the fifteenth century?

Hannah More was a Fishponds girl who went on to become one of the most famous women in Georgian England. She was many things: a playwright; a poet; a religious writer and a philanthropist. I spoke with Dr Anne Stott to discuss More's upbringing, achievements and reputation.

This week I explore the life of Bristol's Nobel Prize winning physicist, Paul Dirac. Born in Bishopston in 1902, educated at what is now Cotham School, by his early twenties Dirac was writing papers that have profoundly influenced our understanding of how the world works. Professor Sir Michael Berry and Dr Vincent Smith of Bristol University's School of Physics join me to tell this remarkable story.

This week I met with Dr Edson Burton to discuss the history of Bristol's West Indian Community. The first Caribbean immigrants arrived in Bristol following the Second World War and have since had a major impact on the city and its development. We talk about the challenges and opportunities facing migrants, both then and now: assimiliation, discrimination, cultural expression and innovation.

This week I present a short essay entitled 'Thinking Historically', in which I explore some of the ways in which history is perceived and outline why I think that engaging with our past is so important.

Slavery played an important role in Bristol's economy from the late 17th through to the early 19th century. How did this trade - so palpably barbaric to modern sensiblities - begin and then flourish? How was it eventually abolished? And what is the legacy of slavery in Bristol today?

This week I talked with historian Adrian Vaughan and discussed his work on the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 'Izzy' enjoys a stellar reputation, both in Bristol and throughout the UK - but how much is this popular perception based on historical reality? Adrian has sought to challenge some of the myths that have grown up around Brunel.

In this week's episode I met with Roger Ball of the Bristol Radical History Group to discuss the history of Eastville Workhouse. What kind of burial could a Victorian pauper expect? What were the ideas and ideologies behind the workhouses? And how far have attitudes towards poverty changed since the Victorian era?

Welcome to the first episode of the Bristol History Podcast. This week I met with Laura Hilton of the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust to discuss the history of Bristol's most iconic landmark. We discussed the origins of the Bridge; its funding and construction, as well as how it was built and who was responsible for its design. We also explored the continuing cultural significance of the Bridge and reflected on some of the more remarkable incidents in its history.