The History Show Sunday 20 November 2016
The History Show
Bringing the past to life! Discover how our world was shaped as Myles Dungan and guests explore events ranging from medieval times to the recent past
The History Show 20th November 2016
This week, as the UK and US turn inwards and consider measures to protect their domestic industries from foreign competitors, we’ll be hearing about Ireland’s experience of protectionism in the Twentieth Century; and there’ll be a column about brexit and history from novelist, Eimear McBride.
We hear some of the love letters of President Mitterrand to his mistress of 32 years, which she has just published in France.
The life and times of one of the most controversial leaders of the 1916 Rising, Constance Markievicz.
And, as Science Week comes to a close, we’ll be looking at the sometimes uncomfortable relationship between science and the Irish State.
Eimear McBride on history and Brexit
During the Brexit referendum campaign, history was a weapon used on both sides: Brexit campaigners appealed to a time when the UK was self-reliant and a respected world power... opponents argued that the European project emerged from a desire to heal the scars of the Second World War.
Eimear McBride is a novelist whose debut novel, A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing, won the Goldsmiths Prize and the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. She was born in Liverpool to Irish parents; they moved back to Ireland when she was three and she spent her childhood in Sligo and Mayo. Then, at the age of 17, she moved back to Britain, and lives now in Norwich.
Protectionism: the Irish experience
Nigel Farage and Donald Trump have been giving voice to the retreat from free trade and globalisation that appears now to be underway in both the UK and US. Economist Frank Barry, from the Trinity Business School, is on The History Show to remember the Irish experience of Protectionism. Like all countries, there’s a long history of trade tariffs being imposed on imports to Ireland - to protect domestic industries from foreign competitors. Dublin’s famous Customs House on the River Liffey was built in the 18th Century to collect tariffs on imported goods. But we’ve asked Prof. Barry to focus this week on what happened in Ireland in the Twentieth Century.
The Love Letters of Francois Mitterrand
Politicians and their love affairs have been part of French society for generations. One former president Felix Fauré died in the bed of his mistress in 1899. In general though politicians have been able to keep their private lives just that - private. However occasionally the popular press can't resist, and one such case was in 1994 when the magazine Paris-Match revealed that President François Mitterrand had concealed for years the existence of a daughter born from a relationship with the distinguished art historian, Anne Pingeot. The centenary of Mitterrand's birth was last month and his former lover has published over a thousand letters that he sent her. They're contained in two volumes Letters to Anne 1962-1995 and Diary for Anne 1964-1970.....to tell us more I'm joined from Paris by journalist, Lara Marlowe, who’s been reading the two books.
The Life and Times of Constance Markievicz
The depiction of female political figures is very much in the news at the moment, with commentators contrasting the media [and social media] treatment of Hilary Clinton with that of Donald Trump. Author, Lindie Naughton, sees a connection between the attitudes we see today and how history has viewed Countess Markievicz, who is the subject of her new biography.
Science and the Irish State
As Science Week comes to a close, Science journalist, Sean Duke, has been finding out more about the relationship between science the Irish State.
Explore Your Archives Week
More information about the events being run for Explore Your Archives Week, which Myles mentions at the end of the show.
About The Show
Bringing the past to life! Discover how our world was shaped as Myles Dungan and guests explore events ranging from medieval times to the recent past.
We want to help explain ourselves to ourselves. We will search out fresh angles on familiar topics, seek out the unfamiliar and will not shy away from bizarre or controversial issues. Our ultimate goal is to make The History Show the primary port of call for those with an intense or even a modest interest in the subject. We want to entice the casual and the curious to join us in celebrating the past.
Our aim is to create informative, reflective, stimulating and above all, entertaining radio.
Join us on Sundays from 6.05pm for The History Show with Myles Dungan on RTÉ Radio 1.