Best Rob Davenport Podcasts (2024)

1
201. The Raj at War 40:08

11h ago40:08

40:08

For many years, commemorations of the two World Wars excluded the memorialisation of soldiers from the British Empire. But campaigners have gradually turned the spotlight on their experiences. In the First and Second World War, approximately 3.8 million soldiers from the Indian subcontinent served in the British Army. Indian and British troops ofte…

1
200. The East India Company’s Global Manhunt 46:10

2d ago46:10

46:10

After robbing the fleet in a brutal, barbaric fashion, Henry Avery caused a diplomatic incident of global proportions. The Mughals were furious and the East India Company, which at this very moment was trying to make inroads into India, had to go into overdrive to prove that he was not part of the company. As a result, they undertook one of the gre…

1
199. Robbing the World’s Wealthiest Dynasty 42:34

3h ago42:34

42:34

One of the most notable pirates of his day, Henry Avery would go on to make potentially the most lucrative heist ever on the high seas. Originally a navy man, Avery then took the well-trodden path of starting out as a privateer and turning to piracy. Via a mutiny he soon found himself in the Indian Ocean looking to take the biggest prizes - Mughal …

1
198. The Pirate Trial of the Century 42:47

7d ago42:47

42:47

William Kidd, a respectable Scottish privateer during the late 17th century, tasked with hunting down pirates on the orders of a murky cabal of British aristocrats, but with the crown’s blessing, finds himself and his crew frustrated by the absence of pirates in the waters off Madagascar during October 1696. With mutiny brewing on his ship The Adve…

1
197. The Pirate Hunter 43:06

10d ago43:06

43:06

Alongside legends like Blackbeard and Calico Jack, William Kidd is one of the most famous pirates to have entered the public consciousness, thanks to Hollywood, sea shanties and literary mythologization. A Scottish sailor and privateer living during the late 17th century, Kidd went from a life of prosperous respectability and high society on Wall S…

1
196. Blackbeard’s Reign of Terror 42:15

8d ago42:15

42:15

“At our first salutation he drank damnation to me and my men who styled cowardly puppies saying he would neither give nor take quarter…” By the end of November 1717 Blackbeard had become one of the most feared pirates of his age. Having declared war upon the British empire in revenge for his imprisoned brethren in Boston, he reigned down violence a…

1
195. Blackbeard & the Pirates of the Caribbean 42:04

13d ago42:04

42:04

The history of pirates is a thrilling kaleidoscope of adventure, devastation, violence and political intrigue, and never more so than during the 17th and 18th centuries: the golden age of piracy. This saw the rise of some of the most famous pirates of all time, many of them united in the near mythical Pirate Republic at Nassau in the Caribbean. Fro…

1
194. Empire of Numbers: Fibonacci and the Birth of Modern Money 41:18

16d ago41:18

41:18

When King Alfonso VI of León took Toledo from the Arabs in 1085, the history of western christendom changed forever. Within the city existed a number of texts full of the ideas that we would call Arabic numerals, but that originated in India. From the libraries of Toledo these were translated and spread through Europe. Enter Fibonacci. A genius Ita…

1
193. Empire of Numbers: The Indian Origin of Arabic Numerals 46:01

30d ago46:01

46:01

Often called Arabic numerals, the modern number system we use today actually originates in India. Whilst in the west they were using Roman numerals, in India they were using numbers 1-9. Then, the great Brahmagupta in the 7th century made one of the most monumental developments in human history. He invented zero in its modern form. Therefore, these…

1
192. Native American Chiefs, the Founding of Canada, and the KKK: Scots in America 41:12

1M ago41:12

41:12

From India to Africa, the involvement and influence of Scots in the British Empire has been profound. In both arenas, they rose through the ranks as soldiers, merchants and bureaucrats, to carve out, govern and lead the empire overseas. But what of America? Here too the Scottish presence was enormous. From the Scottish diaspora in the Caribbean, wh…

451
191. Slave, Slaver, Abolitionist: Three Scots in Africa 45:14

1M ago45:14

45:14

The extraordinary lives of three Scotsmen - John Henderson, Richard Oswald, and David Livingstone - encapsulate the polarities of the Scottish experience in Africa prior to the 20th century. Henderson, formerly a soldier for the Swedes and the Danes in Europe, was captured and enslaved by the Arabs of Zanzibar in the Mediterranean. Before long thou…

1
190. Rags to Riches: The Scots in India 53:07

1M ago53:07

53:07

In the wake of Culloden, much of Scotland was on its knees. Crippled by defeat and the subsequent backlash of the British government, along with famine and poverty, they were in dire need of new horizons. The nascent British Empire would provide it. The Scottish Highlanders had developed a fearsome reputation during their struggles against the Engl…

501
189. Culloden: Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Last Stand 1:02:56

1M ago1:02:56

1:02:56

Few battles in history have been remembered as powerfully, nor been as mythologised, as Culloden on the 16th of April 1746. Under the leadership of Charles Edward Stuart - Bonnie Prince Charlie, ‘the Young Pretender’ - the Jacobites fight to the death upon Culloden Moor to place their own king on the British throne. Outgunned, outnumbered, the kilt…

551
188. Bonnie Prince Charlie: The Young Pretender 53:44

1M ago53:44

53:44

In 1688 the Stuart King James II was ousted from the throne by his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, in what is called the Glorious Revolution. This momentous change would set in motion decades of unrest across the British Isles, as the supporters of James Stuart; his son the ‘Old Pretender’ James, and his flamboyant grandson, ‘Bonni…

551
187. The Birth of Britain 55:12

2M ago55:12

55:12

With the accession of James I and VI in 1603, Scotland was assimilated into the composite monarchy of the United Kingdom. James, an eccentric, insecure and rambling figure, preoccupied with witches, was himself an alien in his new English court. Even at this stage though, it seems unlikely that the two nations would be legally combined under one pa…

1
186. Scotland: A Nation in Crisis 55:25

2M ago55:25

55:25

When charting the rise of Scotland’s global influence, few events have been as tragically remarkable as the Darien Scheme of 1698, which saw woefully unprepared Scottish pioneers attempt to settle and colonise the Isthmus of Panama. Scotland during this period was a country bound to England under one crown, originally that of James I and VI, though…

1
185. The God Kings of Angkor Wat 55:20

2M ago55:20

55:20

In the 9th century AD, two years after the Holy Roman Empire was established in Western Christendom, another world-shaking empire was rising in the east, more powerful even than that of Charlemagne and far wealthier. Born in what is today Northern Cambodia but long before the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, the mighty Khmer empire dominated most of mai…

1
184. The Buddhist Merlin 35:17

2M ago35:17

35:17

While in the West the legends of King Arthur were being born, a Buddhist tantric magician of immense magical powers - Vajrabodhi - was enshrining himself as the Merlin of first India, and then China. Undeniably one of the most extraordinary characters of the 8th century, Vajrabodhi would play a crucial role in transporting Buddhism to the Chinese c…

701
183. The Poet Kings: Taking Hinduism to Southeast Asia 50:35

2M ago50:35

50:35

India’s transformation of the ancient world is indisputable, and tangible evidence of this can be found in the magnificent Hindu and Buddhist temples scattered across the landscapes of South East Asia. But what was the process by which India transported its vast empire of art, culture, architecture, technology, religion and even writing to South Ea…

701
182. The Lady Macbeth of China 53:16

2M ago53:16

53:16

Having garnered absolute power through bloody means, Empress Wu Zetian begins seeing apparitions, haunted by her violent schemes. With her husband incapacitated, the Empress at first held counsel on his behalf from behind a curtain. But she soon officially proclaimed herself a divine ruler. Working alongside a prominent Buddhist monk, she built tem…

1
181. The Dragon Empress: China’s Game of Thrones 36:14

2M ago36:14

36:14

The inculcation of Buddhism from India as the state religion in China was enabled by the violent rise of China’s only ever woman Emperor. Raised by pious Buddhist parents, Wu Zetian left a trail of bodies in her wake as she charted a path to absolute power. From a lowly ranked concubine in the imperial harem to the corridors of power, she used Budd…

1
180. Gold & God: Connecting India & Ancient Rome 43:09

2M ago43:09

43:09

It was actually India, not China, that was the greatest trading partner of the Roman Empire. During this era, it’s clear that sea travel was the fastest, most economical and safest way to move people and goods in the pre-modern world, costing about a fifth of the price of equivalent land transport. The Golden Road of early east–west commerce, in ot…

1
179. The Golden Road: Rise of the Indosphere 43:58

3M ago43:58

43:58

For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilisation, creating around it a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world, along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific. Listen as Anita and…

1
178. The Vietnam War: Nixon, Vietnamisation, and the Fall of Saigon 57:13

3M ago57:13

57:13

With Richard Nixon now in the White House and not wanting to have his presidency consumed by Vietnam like his predecessor’s was, he begins to search for ways to disentangle America from the war. It begins with Vietnamisation and an attempt to reduce South Vietnamese reliance on the Americans, but soon he goes to China and starts making moves on the…

901
177. The Vietnam War: Lyndon Johnson, Americanisation, and Operation Rolling Thunder 58:57

3M ago58:57

58:57

With the death of JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson took over the Presidency and immediately had to wrestle with America’s relationship with Vietnam after the killing of Diem. Right from the start he prophesised that it would be his downfall and so it was. He consistently resented it and the distraction it was from his domestic agenda, the Great Society. Over…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Rob Davenport Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Disjointed Thoughts

Rob Davenport

1
Empire

Goalhanger

1
What the EdTech?

Rob Dickson

1
Outside The Algorithm

LFOD Life

1
Swim Smooth

Swim Smooth

1
201. The Raj at War 40:08

1
200. The East India Company’s Global Manhunt 46:10

1
199. Robbing the World’s Wealthiest Dynasty 42:34

1
198. The Pirate Trial of the Century 42:47

1
197. The Pirate Hunter 43:06

1
196. Blackbeard’s Reign of Terror 42:15

1
195. Blackbeard & the Pirates of the Caribbean 42:04

1
194. Empire of Numbers: Fibonacci and the Birth of Modern Money 41:18

1
193. Empire of Numbers: The Indian Origin of Arabic Numerals 46:01

1
192. Native American Chiefs, the Founding of Canada, and the KKK: Scots in America 41:12

451
191. Slave, Slaver, Abolitionist: Three Scots in Africa 45:14

1
190. Rags to Riches: The Scots in India 53:07

501
189. Culloden: Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Last Stand 1:02:56

551
188. Bonnie Prince Charlie: The Young Pretender 53:44

551
187. The Birth of Britain 55:12

1
186. Scotland: A Nation in Crisis 55:25

1
185. The God Kings of Angkor Wat 55:20

1
184. The Buddhist Merlin 35:17

701
183. The Poet Kings: Taking Hinduism to Southeast Asia 50:35

701
182. The Lady Macbeth of China 53:16

1
181. The Dragon Empress: China’s Game of Thrones 36:14

1
180. Gold & God: Connecting India & Ancient Rome 43:09

1
179. The Golden Road: Rise of the Indosphere 43:58

1
178. The Vietnam War: Nixon, Vietnamisation, and the Fall of Saigon 57:13

901
177. The Vietnam War: Lyndon Johnson, Americanisation, and Operation Rolling Thunder 58:57

Quick Reference Guide