When was the best time in English history to be alive?

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. Did you know that Elizabethan Londoners were good kissers, that medieval drinkers used beer to fight off the flames of a raging inferno? And that Jane Austen doesn't paint an entirely accurate picture of the early 19th century. These are just some of the facts served up in Ian Mortimer's New History of England, and here, in conversation with Spencer Mizen, Ian takes us on an immersive tour of a nation's past. So, Ian, your new book follows a series of A to Z talks you've been giving to audiences around the country over the last little while.

I wonder if you could tell us a bit about those talks and how they inspired you to write this book. But the Ata Z, well, they began as a means of promoting my Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England. So the second in the series, it's it's very difficult to promote a time traveler's guide. I started off with the medieval one, going to various places, and there was quite a call for me to go and talk about medieval time travelers. And I I found myself in various places.

I always try and sort of start where I was giving the talk and describe walking down the streets in in the 14th century. It became extremely burdensome in terms of getting everything right, talking to local audiences, of course, who know their environment far better than you can after a few hours of research. And I was just thinking, this isn't going very well. I need some way of encapsulating this period in an enjoyable way that is easier to promote.

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