Napoleon’s great adversary, a man of impeccable military credentials, and one of the finest examples of the great British soldier that tends to sound more like myth than fact, Arthur Wellesley was also just a man. He had mistresses, a sense of humour, and an inspirational style of leadership that has endeared him to generations of admirers. What Nelson was to the sea, Wellington was to land - and both helped raise Britain to the great world power it became in the late 19th century.
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Born on the steppes and raised on horseback, young Attila was to lead a small tribe of barbarians to prominence, but not before he had been to Rome, threatened Constantinople, and fought and won many battles. His name is synonymous with raping, pillaging and destruction, but in reality Europe east of the Rhine had never seen a man more gifted in forging a single kingdom out of so many disparate tribes. His story is full of intrigue and love, violence and blood.
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The image of a brilliant scientist is one inextricably linked to the picture of Albert Einstein. His unkempt hair, shabby jackets and the twinkle of genius in his eye - but the story of Einstein isn’t so one-dimensional. His relationships, his politics and the story of what happened to his brain after he died are as intriguing as the great ideas he presented to science and the world.
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Stovepipe hats, four score-and-twenty speeches, and a bullet in the back of his head is what some people know about Abraham Lincoln. In fact this was the President who modernised the American economy, preserved the union and abolished slavery. Not bad for a life cut short by an assassin’s bullet.
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Anthony Mederer from Taylor Blinds & Shutters is in studio on The Gareth Cliff Show – find out how the podcast Blind History came about, where his love of history began, and the process he and Gareth go through to come up with such riveting episodes.
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Criminals can be great criminals. They can influence history, change cities and become the story themselves. Robin Hood, Al Capone, Bonnie & Clyde... they all ended up the stuff of legend. So would it be with the Krays, two London brothers who ended up owning the city and bending it to their will.
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From artillery officer in the revolutionary army to Emperor of the French, Napoleon’s life is one of the great success stories of humanity. But it all ended in lonely exile on an island in the Atlantic, ignominy and possibly poison. The tremendous life of Napoleon’s rise and fall in Blind History…
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The man who encouraged black farmers to buy land in the early 1900s, became one of the first black lawyers in South Africa, and attended Columbia and Oxford Universities before founding the ANC, has almost been forgotten to history, but part of the reason Blind History is here is to open our eyes to some of the history we have forgotten. Find out about Pixley ka Isaka Seme in this episode.
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A tiny little Queen with enormous power - reputed to have had no sense of humour. That’s how most people know Queen Victoria, but in fact she was a progressive, sensitive and quite strident woman in an age where those things were mostly frowned upon. Let’s see if you’re amused in this episode of Blind History...
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Saladin was the greatest Muslim warrior of the Middle Ages, and a man who recaptured Jerusalem from the Christians. He was also full of contradictions - honourable, yet cruel; warrior, yet peacemaker. Find out about this mysterious and powerful character in our latest episode of Blind History.
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