Media
What links 18th-century music historian Charles Burney with the Champions’ League and the World Cup? Handel, of course. A brief deconstruction of ‘popular’ music, with Katherine Hambridge and Paul Whitty.
A delightful sorcerer
— Tomiwa Owolade
Television
The Assassinations of Queen Victoria
Documentary featuring some subversive chat and singing. But also use of AI, which is unfortunate.
A 50-minute deep dive into the dark side of poor relief, in the company of wonderful Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling.
I explore the history of lullabies, in search of the power and the know-how that makes Hush-a-bye Baby do what it says in the title. With guests Vic Gammon, Nancy Kerr, and Julia Partington
A freewheeling chat ahead of Bay Tales Festival with the lovely Clare Timmons
Recreating the soundscape of van Gogh’s commute as a young clerk in south London
My choice of recommended Christmas reading, along with those of worthies from Ian Rankin to Sarah Perry
A love story, a dog, and a juggernaut of institutional racism
Radio
Front Row
Talking and singing music hall with Kate Garner, on a bill with Rufus Wainwright and Simon Russell Beale
The missing link in the emergence of the US National Anthem, via a 1790s protest song
Jack Blackburn’s lovely writeup of my research on the origins of the US National Anthem
Television
Who Do You Think You Are?
Rose Ayling-Ellis, an Italian itinerant, and a lonely road.
Radio
Book Club
An interview with the wonderful Pippa Hudson, featuring a surprising amount on social commentary in Helle & Death
Radio
Open Book
Four minutes of waxing lyrical on weather and whodunnits
Podcast
Expert Witness
Talking murder mysteries, cocktails, and much, much more
Exploring the links between detective writers and their avatars
Running down my top ten closed-circle whodunnits
Podcast
My Writing Life
A deep dive into writing with the wonderful Fran Harvey
A reflection on the seasonal love for classic whodunnits and why humour and crime are a perfect fit
Historical contributions to a debate about God Save the King
Discussion show with Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter
Chaired by Matthew Sweet, with Clare Stainthorp, Frances M. Lynch, and Laurence Panter
Rana Mitter talks to the six authors shortlisted for the UK’s main history writing prize
An interview on being shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize
Website
Vagabonds: Short Film
A two-minute filmed interview on Vagabonds
A conversation with EVT director Frances Lynch, recorded in the library of Conway Hall and featuring new performances, to mark Eliza Flower’s 220th anniversary
Contributions, including singing, to Bob Nicholson’s series on the would-be assassins of Queen Victoria
The sensational tale of the Avery sisters, two mixed-race teenagers in 1850s London, claiming to be refugees from a Kentucky plantation
Podcast
The English Protest Song
A wide-ranging discussion with Zoë Steadman-Milne, beginning with Our Subversive Voice
Podcast
Protest Song Before the Protest
A rattle through the history of protest song for the Newcastle Early Music Festival
Chaired by Rana Mitter, and in conversation with Mary Shannon, Charlie Taverner, and Marigold Hughes of Streetwise Opera
Giles Brown of Talk Radio Europe conducts a riotous thirty-minute interview
Radio
In Time To The Music
Contributions to Andrew McGibbon’s history of House of the Rising Sun, which received a Special Commendation at Prix Europa 2023
Television
Can Protest Songs Really Make a Difference?
A short feature, with interview, publicising the project Our Subversive Voice
Podcast
The Sounds of the Streets
Recorded live at the Chalke Valley History Festival with Violet Moller, an hour’s deep dive into 1815
A discussion with Ellie Cawthorne to mark the publication of Vagabonds
Chaired by Matthew Sweet, and in conversation with Fern Riddell, Sarah Wise, and Lynda Nead
A post examining the subversion of national songs and anthems in the long eighteenth century
The band Stick in the Wheel devote an hour to interviewing Our Subversive Voice – and playing protest songs
An introduction to the ten New Generation Thinkers, featuring a segment on several key Vagabonds
Radio
In Tune
A chat with Sean Rafferty about classical protest songs, Vagabonds, and the NGT scheme
Radio
Talk Back
A topical look at the use of music as a weapon of chaos, order, and even torture
Website
Our Subversive Voice
A cutting-edge website on English protest songs, featuring 750 tracks, interviews, features and more
Podcast
Resistance & Fear
Anti-vaccination songs and stories – from the late 19th century
A debut as presenter, as well as contributor and singer, for an examination of songs on the move
Podcast
London in Song
A lively discussion with Ian Newman about Regency London, its songs, and its theatrical culture
A historically-informed listicle arguing that protestors have always appropriated other people’s songs
Contributions to Roderick Williams’ second series on song history
Contributions to Roderick Williams’ second series on song history
Television
Who Do You Think You Are?
Featuring Paul Merton, a pub, and a criminal confrontation involving a smashed banjo
Songs and analysis of the first anti-vaccination campaign in nineteenth-century Britain
Article
All About Those Ballads
A wide-ranging interview about ballad-singing, the Victorians, and the history of medicine
Anne McElvoy hosts a re-evaluation of Napoleon and his legacy – featuring, inevitably, some singing
Contributions to Roderick Williams’ first series on song history
Contributions to Roderick Williams’ first series on song history
Blog
Take Five
An excavation in five parts of the project that would later become Vagabonds
Podcast
Myth
An episode featuring Margaret Atwood, alongside discussion of mythology in both history and The Stones of Winter
Blog
Chuck a Book
A series of ten book recommendations ranging across genres and eras, in support of The Stones of Winter
A piece exploring the role of nominative determinism in children’s fiction and fantasy
A response to renewed calls for an English national anthem, delving into the candidates and their history
Blog
Singing the Past
Written in conjunction with three concerts for the Being Human Festival, exploring the role of song in studying history
A radical rejoinder to those decrying Jeremy Corbyn’s silence during God Save the Queen, placing the act in historical context