Share
Authors of History Podcast
Authors of History with Dr Victoria Taylor
Season 1, Ep. 10
•
On this episode of Authors of History I talk to the brilliant TV and Radio Historian and author Dr Victoria Taylor about her journey into history and writing. What facinates her about aviation and her new book.
Dr Victoria Taylor, BA (Hons), MRes, AFHEA is an award-winning aviation historian, broadcaster and writer who completed her PhD thesis on the Luftwaffe and National Socialism in the Third Reich at the University of Hull and Sheffield Hallam University. Her main historical focus is on British and German aviation during the interwar period and the Second World War.
Victoria served as narrator, co-writer, and historical consultant on ‘Inside the Battle of Britain’: the second series of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund podcast series ‘All Stations’. This five-part series was nominated for a Best Independent Podcast award by the Radio Academy in 2021. She has contributed to popular history magazines such as BBC History Extra, Iron Cross Magazine and Britain at War, along with publishing in academic journals and volumes. Her work has spanned everything from traditional airpower subjects and military aircraft, to aviation diplomacy, combat motivation, and the ethics of aerial bombardment.
Since 2018, she has widely featured as an onscreen and offscreen expert in history documentaries made for BBC Two, Channel 4, Channel 5, the Smithsonian Channel, History Hit, National Geographic, and SBS Australia. In 2020, she presented and co-wrote a programme on Supermarine's development of the Spitfire for BBC Radio 4 (‘Spitfire: From The Ashes’), in addition to serving as an expert contributor alongside Diane Morgan and Matthew Parris for the 'Great Lives' episode on Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding.
More recently, she served as an assistant producer, historical consultant, and on-screen expert for Series 11 of the Smithsonian Channel’s flagship aviation programme ‘Air Warriors’. A clear reflection of her passion for breaking new ground within historical programming is illustrated by her recent venture into creating her own exclusive online content: ‘Afterburners™’. This project was launched in June 2024 - transforming ten of her previous academic lectures on various airpower history subjects into a uniquely immersive audiobook series.
Victoria sits on the Advisory Board for the cross-party Spitfire AA810 restoration project in the House of Lords and is an Assistant Editor for the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Journal of Aeronautical History. She formerly lectured in the Department of History at the University of Hull, before moving to the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London in 2023. There, she delivered teaching on historical and contemporary air power to junior RAF officers as part of the Joint Services Command and Staff College courses at the Defence Academy, Shrivenham. She is an Ambassador for both the National Spitfire Project and the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust.
More episodes
View all episodes
4. Authors of History with Sara Lodge
45:43||Season 3, Ep. 4On this episode of the Authors of History Podacast I am joined by Wolfson History Prize nominated historian and author Sara Lodge.Sara is Professor of nineteenth-century literature and culture at the University of St Andrews. She is the author of four books and many articles: she writes regularly for papers including the Scotsman, the Times Literary Supplement and the Wall Street Journal. She is also an experienced radio broadcaster, whose documentaries have appeared on RTE Lyric FM and other stations. Her latest book, The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective was featured on Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio London, in the Guardian, the Telegraph (which gave it five stars and dubbed it ‘a joy to read’), the Sunday Times (which called it ‘a revelation’) and the Scotsman (which picked it as one of the Scottish Books of the Year 2024). It has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, Britain’s biggest prize for history writing. She’s now working on her next book, The Haunted Causeway: magic, pilgrimage and imagination on the paths to Britain’s tidal islands. She’s also hoping to turn her research on Victorian female detectives into a drama series.The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective (Yale University Press, 2024) is out in paperback in August 2025! Telegraph***** 'A new history of female detectives blends academic rigour with vivid and witty storytelling…it’s an ideal mixture and one that makes The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective a joy to read.' The Sunday Times ‘A revelation…move over, Sherlock!’ The Literary Review 'Lodge has marshalled the treasures of her research with enormous skill and style, producing a book of true importance, a bracing rethink of Victorian history that for the first time shows to what extent females, in life and in fiction, were going about police work undetected.' Brisbane Times “[A] marvellous piece of scholarly detective work.”https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300277883/the-mysterious-case-of-the-victorian-female-detective/
3. Author of History with Hannah Durkin
41:32||Season 3, Ep. 3On this very special episode of the Authors of History Podcast I talk to the newly announced winner of the 2025 Wolfson History Book Prize, author and historian Hannah Durkin.Hannah is a researcher in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Black Atlantic history and culture with specialist expertise in transatlantic slavery and its legacies. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Nottingham and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from Leeds Trinity University. Her research has been featured in the New York Times, London Times, NPR, the BBC, and many other news outlets throughout Africa, Europe, and North America. Hannah's 2025 award winning Wolfson History Book is:Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade (HarperCollins, 2024).This book tells the stories of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on U.S. soil when it docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama in July 1860. The individual voices that this book brings together tell an exceptionally detailed and wide-ranging account of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and freedom from the perspectives of its survivors. Survivors has been shortlisted for the 2025 Wolfson History Prize, the UK’s most prestigious history prize, and the 2024 Historical Writers’ Association Non-Fiction Crown Award. It was named as one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2024, one of the Washington Post’s “50 Notable Works of Nonfiction from 2024,” and a New Yorker recommended book of 2024.This episode was recorded before the winner was announced.
2. Authors of History with Jane Gulliford Lowes
49:54||Season 3, Ep. 2On this episode of the Authors of History podcast I am joined by Author, Historian and Podcaster Jane Gulliford Lowes.Jane is a writer, a historian, and podcaster from the northeast of England. She has been obsessed with history and especially World War II and the social history of the Northeast from an early age. She holds a degree in law and a master's degree in the Second World War studies. Jane was awarded the RAF Museum's Prestigious Academic Award in 2023 for her thesis on RAF Bomber Command Gardening Operations, which is also the subject of her latest book. The Invisible Campaign.Jane's first book The Horsekeeper's Daughter was published in 2017. It tells the true story of one of the hundreds of women who left the North East mining villages in the 1880s to travel alone to Australia, to start new lives. Her second book, Above Us The Stars: 10 Squadron Bomber Command - The Wireless Operator's Story, focuses on the experiences of a young Bomber Command aircrewman during World War 2, and of the family he left behind in the small mining town of Seaham Harbour.She has also published 2 ebooks, She Was Only A Coalminer's Daughter - Stories of a Seaham Childhood, and How to Write Your Family History - A Beginner's Guide, both exclusively available on Amazon Kindle.Jane is also a podcatser, the producer and co-host of the popular Bomber Command podcast, Nevermind the Dam Busters.
1. Authors of History with Roger Moorhouse
59:13||Season 3, Ep. 1Roger Moorhouse is a historian and author whose latest book WOLFPACK: Inside Hitler's U-Boat War is published on 9th October 2025 by William Collins Publishers.Roger Moorhouse specialises in Nazi Germany, Poland and World War Two in Europe. After studying history at the School of Slavonic and East European History, London University, Roger graduated with an MA in 1994. Thereafter, he worked as researcher for Professor Norman Davies for many years, co-authoring with him the history of Wroclaw (Breslau) “Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City”, which was published in three languages in 2002.A fluent German speaker, Roger is a specialist in modern German and Polish history, particularly the Third Reich and World War Two. He has written a number of books in this capacity, including Killing Hitler (2006), Berlin at War (2010), The Devils’ Alliance (2014), the critically acclaimed First to Fight (2019) which was awarded the Polish Foreign Ministry History Prize in 2020, and The Forgers (2023) which was a Telegraph Best History Book and Spectator Book of the Year. Roger’s books have appeared in more than 20 languages.Roger is a regular broadcaster, book reviewer and public speaker, and has been a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Warsaw, since 2016. He was honoured to have been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2015, and was awarded the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic in 2020, for services to Polish history.
9. Authors of History with Ben Mayne
43:44||Season 2, Ep. 9On this episode of the Authors of History Podcast I am joined by author, historian, battlefield guide and charity ambassador Ben Mayne.Bens books "Wagons Roll : A Memoir of the East Riding Yeomanry - Alan King" was published in 2023.Ben Mayne is a battlefield historian, guide, and advisor for the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans. He specializes in the Second World War, with a focus on the Normandy and Commando Operations. His journey in to history is one of walking the ground, learning on his feet and a passion for keeping alive the stories of all those involved in World War 2.Ben Mayne is the UK Director for Liberations Europe UK - https://www.lre-uk.org/about-us/LRE United Kingdom (LRE UK) was founded in December 2020. The main objective is to create a network of museums, organisations and locations across the UK to highlight the history and heritage of the UK during the Second World War from 1939 to 1945. This includes highlighting the stories of many of those Allied nations who came to the UK to fight the oppression of the Nazi’s and eventually liberated Europe. LRE UK aims to promote respect for and dissemination of the universal values of peace, freedom and democracy.LRE UK collaborates with organisations working in various capacities for the enhancement and the preservation of Second World War memory and is the UK branch of the wider international organisation, LRE Foundation.
8. Authors of History with Lindsay Powell
01:06:17||Season 2, Ep. 8On this episdoe of the Authors of History Podcast I am joined by historian and author Lindsay Powell. I talk to him about his journey into history, writing about the Romans and lessons learned in his research and also meeting famous authors. His latest book "Tiberius - From Masterly Commander to Masterful Emperor" is published by Pen and Sword.Lindsay Powell is a historian and a writer who has a passion for the military history of the Roman Empire. He is news editor of Ancient History and Ancient Warfare magazines. His appearances include BBC Radio, Dan Snow’s History Hit and History Channel. He is author of Augustus at War, Eager for Glory, Germanicus and Marcus Agrippa from Pen and Sword Books. A graduate from Aston University, he is a veteran of The Ermine Street Guard re-enactment society. He divides his time between Austin, Texas and Wokingham, England.
7. Authors of History with Kathryn J Atwood
39:06||Season 2, Ep. 7On this episode of the Authors of History Podcast, I talk to American author and historian Kathryn J Atwood about writing non-fiction for young adults and self publishing her first novel.Kathryn has written multiple young adult collective biographies on women and war for Chicago Review Press. Her first book, Women Heroes of World War II, gets all the attention, but Booklist gave Kathryn's book on the Pacific Theater of WWII a starred review and likened each chapter to "a cliff-hanger screenplay." And Courageous Women of the Vietnam War was honored with one of those awards that to unfocused eyes sort of resembles the Newbery Medal.Her first novel, The Belgian Girls, was born of Kathryn's admiration for the European resisters of both world wars, especially Gabrielle Petit, a young Belgian woman who worked for British Intelligence during the First World War.Kathryn has been seen on WGN TV, "America: Fact vs. Fiction," and the Acorn TV series, "Deception: WWII"; heard on the BBC World Service's "History Hour" program and BBC America; published in The Historian and War, Literature & the Arts; and featured as a guest speaker at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park, and the Atlanta History Center.
6. Authors of History with Phil Craig
46:46||Season 2, Ep. 6Phil Craig is a best selling author and multiple-award-winning film-maker, producer and TV network executive.A former RAF cadet pilot, Phil studied history at Cambridge University, was a BBC graduate trainee and built his career working for iconic British current affairs series World in Action and Panorama, where he became senior producer. Later he became joint head of programmes at the prestigious Brook Lapping production company, where he made a range of contemporary and historical films for the BBC, Channel Four, PBS in America, Discovery, Nat Geo and numerous other international clients. He went on to run departments at the Discovery Channel and at ABC Television in Australia, where he supervised the entire factual output of the national broadcaster including its high profile ANZAC centenary project in 2015. Throughout his TV and writing career Phil has spent many years researching and reinterpreting the story of Britain and its Empire during the Second World War, including his definitive and bestselling account of 1940 – Finest Hour. His account of the battle of Trafalgar – Trafalgar: the Men, the Battle, the Storm – was nominated for the Mountbatten Maritime Prize and his biography of Diana, Princess of Wales – Diana: Story of a Princess – was a bestseller in both the UK and USA.His latest book 1945:The Reckoning was published by Hodder and Stoughton in April 2025.
5. Authors of History with Dr Elizabeth Norton
41:33||Season 2, Ep. 5Dr Elizabeth Norton is a London-based historian specialising in the queens of England and the Tudor period. She has a double first class degree from the University of Cambridge, a Masters degree from the University of Oxford and a PhD from King’s College London. She has taught History at King’s College London and RADA. Her academic research has been published in several peer reviewed journals.Elizabeth’s most recent books are the critically acclaimed ‘The Lives of Tudor Women’ and ‘The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor’. She is also the author of a biography of Margaret Beaufort and four of Henry VIII’s wives, amongst other titles. She regularly writes for magazines, including BBC History magazine, All About History, History Revealed and Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.Elizabeth frequently appears on television, including Danny Dyer’s Right Royal Family (BBC1), Digging up Britain’s Past (Channel 5), Secrets of Great British Castles (Channel 5), An American Aristocrat’s Guide to Great Estates (Smithsonian), Flog-It (BBC2), Bloody Tales of the Tower (National Geographic) and Queen Victoria in her own words (Channel 5). She also appears as an expert on BBC London News and on international television, radio and podcasts. She has live commentated events for television, including royal weddings and the Trooping of the Colour. In addition to these television appearances, Elizabeth has worked as a historical consultant on a number of non-fiction and fiction historical films and television.Elizabeth regularly gives talks. She also guides tours for the Telegraph Newspaper, Historical Trips, Andante and Travel Editions.