The Rest Is History

The birth of guide books, resorts, and the package holiday.

In the second episode in our holidays series Tom and Dominic drill down into the story of Thomas Cook, package tours, and nightmarish German spa treatments.

The third holidays episode, 'Sun, Sea and Sex', will be out on Monday, followed on Thursday by the final episode in the series, 'Roman Holidays'.

Show notes:

Today's feed drop features friend of the show William Dalrymple discussing his new podcast, Empire, which he hosts alongside Anita Anand.

How do empires rise? Why do they fall? And how have they shaped the world around us today?

This new show explores the stories, personalities and events of empire over the course of history.

The first series looks at the British in India, covering The East India Company, the Raj, Gandhi, Independence and Partition.

In the opening episode, William and Anita discuss the rise of The East India Company, exploring how a small corporation with only a handful of employees came to rule India. The episode begins with the birth of the Company in Tudor England and culminates with Robert Clive and the Battle of Plassey.

Listen to the second episode of Empire below:

Welcome to the first of four episodes on the history of holidays: Byron's Grand Tour; The Invention of Mass Tourism; Sun, Sea and Sex; and Roman Holidays.

In the first episode, Tom and Dominic explore the adventures of Byron, Boswell and their peers contemporaries to foreign lands, where they pursued romance, sought to improve their health, and 'acquire' authentic souvenirs.

Wars, disease, and legacy.

In the final episode of the trilogy, Tom and Dominic discuss the Byzantine reconquest of Italy, the arrival of the Justinianic plague, and the legacy of Justinian and Theodora.

The Riot that destroyed a city and almost brought down an Emperor...

In the second part of our trilogy, Tom and Dominic discuss the Nika riots in the early part of Justinian's reign, and how he set himself out as the defender of Christendom against the Persian Empire in the East.