[Live] Paul O'Keeffe: After The Battle of Trafalgar (1806)
MAY 12, 202653 MIN
[Live] Paul O'Keeffe: After The Battle of Trafalgar (1806)
MAY 12, 202653 MIN
Description
Live from Dr Johnson's House off Fleet Street in London, in this episode the biographer and historian Paul O'Keeffe takes us on an immersive dive into the year 1806. This was a time when both the British and the French attempted to come to terms with the fall out of the Battle of Trafalgar.
News of Trafalgar was received in Britain with great ambivalence. The sheer scale of the victory was thrilling, but it was marred by the death of Admiral Nelson. King George III reflected the national mood when he declared that it was a victory that had been bought at too dear a price.
While Britons buried Nelson and set about commemorating the battle, in France there would be ramifications of a rather different kind of Admiral Villeneuve – whose strange death is described by O'Keeffe as 'either a murder of an extremely tenacious suicide'.
Our thanks to Min Kym for the music, the fine folk at Dr Johnson's House for all the support and for everyone who came along to an enjoyable night.
The scenes, characters and storylines in this episode of Travels Through Time all feature in Paul O'Keeffe's book, Trafalgar: Battle and Aftermath.
Show Notes
Scene One: 9 January 1806. Walking up to St Paul's with the seven sailors of HMS Victory during Nelson's funeral.
Scene Two: 22 April 1806. Inside the 'locked room' to solve the mystery of Admiral Villeneuve's death.
Scene Three: April 1806. Sadler's Well Theatre to witness a re-enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar.
Memento: A piece of the flag carried by the sailors into St Paul's.
People/Social
Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Paul O'Keeffe
Producer: Maria Nolan
Music: Firelight performed by Min Kym.