Suzannah Lipscomb's Blog, page 18
March 27, 2013
Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home
My new BBC 4 programme, ‘Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home’ airs next Wednesday 3 April at 9pm.
I so enjoyed making it: it’s a wonderful (if I say so myself) mix of history and science. Here’s what it’s all about:
‘While the Victorians confronted the challenges of ruling an Empire, perhaps the most dangerous environment they faced was in their own homes. Householders lapped up the latest products, gadgets and conveniences but in an era with no health and safety standards they were unwittingly turning their homes into hazardous death traps. In a genuine horror story, Dr Suzannah Lipscomb reveals the lethal killers that lurked in every room of the Victorian home and shows how they were unmasked. What new innovation killed thousands of babies? And what turned the domestic haven into a ticking time bomb?’
It obviously took me far from my usual sixteenth-century territory, but I overcompensated in the copious amounts of research I did and so I hope the nineteenth-century historians will forgive me!
I’m delighted it’s Pick of the Day in the Radio Times.
Written and Presented by Suzannah Lipscomb; Produced and Directed by Suzanne Phillips; Executive Producers – Griff Rhys Jones, Liz Hartford and Sarah Broughton; Camera – Tudor Evans; Researcher – Celyn Williams; Sound – Brian Murrell; Production Assistant -Alyn Farrow; Junior Production Manager – Katy Daykin; Photography – James Jones.
Contributors – Dr Kate Williams, Judith Flanders, Dr Suzy Lishman, Prof. Andrew Meharg, Colin King, Matt Furber, Dr Matthew Avison, Nathan Goss and Max Wagner.
Thank you to everyone for all their work on it!
March 25, 2013
Bloody Tales
Bloody Tales series 2 goes out today at 8pm on National Geographic Channel, and we’ve attracted our fair share of coverage. We’re, amazingly, pick of the day in the Radio Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, Total TV Guide and Sky Online.
Tonight’s episode, ‘Executions’, features stories about the deaths of Nazi commander, Amon Goeth – played by Ralph Fiennes in the film Schindler’s List – Scottish hero William Wallace and Viking warrior Ragnar Lodbrok. It really makes for some bloody – and hopefully, fascinating – viewing.
The Daily Mail have also covered our groundbreaking discoveries about Goeth’s death online.
February 26, 2013
Is the Past a Foreign Country?
I was recently delighted to be invited to give a TEDx talk at St Paul’s School.
The question I posed, in the words of L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between was: ‘Is the Past a Foreign Country?’
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfKWd7iXMSo
February 6, 2013
Richard III: the king in the car park
Well, hasn’t this all been fun? Medieval history hitting the news! Stop press for the 15th century!
There’s much to say about the discovery of Richard III’s bones, but as many people are saying it, for now, here’s my tuppence worth:
On BBC 2′s Newsnight with director Sir Richard Eyre and Kirsty Wark:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnMOihQAYxQ
And in the London Evening Standard:
November 14, 2012
Why did the Tudors matter?
Earlier this year, I debated with Dan Jones in the Tower of London whether the Tudors or the Plantagenets were most important (we didn’t quite come to blow).
It was a BBC History Magazine event and they have now issued it as two podcasts (1 and 8 November 2012), to which you can listen here: http://www.historyextra.com/podcasts
November 11, 2012
The fools of history
On Tuesday 6 November, a listener to the BBC Radio 4 series Making History asked about the role of the fool in history, and specifically about why two such figures appear in the arches of this Royal Collection painting of The Family of Henry VIII (1545).
Making History’s presenter Dr Helen Castor, and her producer, Nick Patrick, went to speak to Simon Callow about fools in Shakespeare, and then came to me (from the sublime to the ridiculous) to discuss the historic fool – especially those at the court of Henry VIII. I told them all about the research I’d done as part of All The King’s Fools, the distinction between artificial fools and natural fools, and my belief – from the historical evidence – that natural fools had learning disabilities. You can hear the interviews on the programme here (starting at 9.16 minutes in - though the rest of the programme is well worth a listen too!)
October 24, 2012
From princes to fools, on Radio 4
I popped on Front Row on 18 October 2012 to review the ‘The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart’, a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition looks at the life of and court surrounding the young Prince Henry, son of James VI and I, who died at the age of eighteen, leaving his brother, Charles as heir. Whilst he lived, Prince Henry was the great hope of kingdom and his court was the centre of a cultural Renaissance – and the exhibition seemed to centre on this, more than on the little evidence we might have of the interior life of this teenager. The highlights for me were the innovative portraits of Henry by Robert Peake the Elder – which show, for the first time, a royal outside in a set of dramatic, dynamic poses. I was also very moved by Henry’s copybook in which he had doodled and practised his signature, and his wooden funeral effigy, now deteriorated and missing its head. The exhibition runs until 13 January 2013.
A couple of days before, I had recorded an interview with Helen Castor for her series with Tom Holland, Making History. A listener had asked about the fool in history and Helen, and her producer, Nick Patrick, had been to speak to Simon Callow about fools in Shakespeare, and came to me (from the sublime to the ridiculous) to discuss the historic fool – especially those at the court of Henry VIII. I told them all about the research I’d done as part of All The King’s Fools, the distinction between artificial fools and natural fools, and my belief – from the evidence – that natural fools had learning disabilities. The programme will air at 3pm on Tuesday 6 November.
October 17, 2012
Booker Prize 2012: Mantel’s tale drips with the often putrid scents of the Tudor age
Many, many congratulations to Hilary Mantel on her second Man Booker Prize for Bring Up the Bodies! She has set the standard for a new level of mastery of historical fiction and brought Tudor history to a wider public.
The Daily Telegraph asked me for an historian’s view on Mantel’s win, which you can read here.
September 18, 2012
SCSC Roelker Prize
To say I am utterly delighted is an understatement.
I’ve just heard that my journal article ‘Crossing Boundaries: Women’s Gossip, Insults and Violence in 16th-century France’ in French History (Vol 25, No. 4), has been awarded a US prize for historical scholarship – the Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize.
The Roelker Prize is awarded by the Sixteenth Century Society every year for the best article in English on sixteenth-century French history. It will be formally presented at the Sixteenth Century Society Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio in October.
The article was written for a special edition of French History in honour of the historian Robin Briggs, my doctoral supervisor and inspiration. I don’t know who nominated my article – but I am very grateful to him or her!
You can read the full text of my article here at French History if you subscribe or here in its pre-print form.
The article was also featured in BBC History Magazine in April 2012 (see below). I am now writing a book on my research on sixteenth-century France.
I’m ridiculously pleased.
September 17, 2012
Bloody Tales on DVD
Just as we start to film the second series, I was delighted to discover, quite by chance, that Bloody Tales of the Tower has been made into a DVD, which goes on sale in mid-October 2012.
I think the best comment came from a friend on Twitter who admired the ‘corpse hunter CSI Tower Hill’ look of the cover.
