Tony Robinson's Cunningcast

Today Tony is digging up the secrets of Sutton Hoo, England’s iconic Anglo-Saxon royal burial site, with Professor Martin Carver, who led the 1980s excavations, and Laura Howarth, Archaeology and Engagement Manager at Sutton Hoo, National Trust. The 1939 dig by Basil Brown for landowner Edith Pretty, revealed the shape of a ship beneath a mound. It turned out to be a 7th-century royal ship burial filled with magnificent treasures: 'a poem written in objects', possibly belonging to King Rædwald. These included the now famous helmet and many other treasures originating from across Europe, Byzantium, and even as far as Sri Lanka.In the 1980s, Martin led further excavations, revealing a horse and warrior burial and even an execution cemetery, showing Sutton Hoo as an evolving political and spiritual landscape. Today excavations, in collaboration with Time Team, continue to reveal Sutton Hoo's secrets. As Laura says, “we’ll never know everything about Sutton Hoo, but each generation can look at it with fresh eyes.”Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson | Instagram @sirtonyrobinson Producer: Melissa FitzGerald | X @melissafitzg With Professor Martin Carver | www.martincarver.com British archaeologist renowned for his work on early medieval Europe. After serving 15 years in the Royal Tank Regiment, Martin transitioned to archaeology, founding the Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit. He was Professor of Archaeology at the University of York (1986–2008) and led major excavations at Sutton Hoo and Portmahomack. Martin also edited the journal Antiquity (2002–2012) and is a Fellow of the British Academy. Martin is a director of The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company, which aims to build a full-size and seaworthy replica of the Anglo-Saxon ship found in Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo | www.saxonship.orgLaura Howarth | www.nationaltrust.org.uk Archaeology and Engagement Manager at National Trust, Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England. Laura combines archaeological expertise with public engagement, curating exhibitions, organising events, and managing educational activities to bring the site's rich history to life. Visit Sutton Hoo National Trust: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/sutton-hoo Watch Time Team, Sutton Hoo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=risyQhRjwnw Follow us: Instagram @cunningcastpod | X @cunningcastpod | YouTube @cunningcast------- If you enjoy this podcast please do share it and leave us a rating or review. Thank you, Love Tony x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony has been lucky enough to dive all over the world, he’s even dived on the Titanic with the film director James Cameron. So today on Cunningcast, Tony’s exploring underwater history with David Gibbins, maritime archaeologist and author of A History of the World in 12 Shipwrecks, and Damian Le Bas writer, filmmaker and author of The Drowned Places.Together they explore how shipwrecks are time capsules that reveal human stories and global connections, from the Bronze Age Dover Boat to the lavish Uluburun wreck off Turkey and the sunken pirate city of Port Royal, Jamaica. Symbols of past human endeavour, shipwrecks and sunken ruins become homes to underwater life, and are constantly changing, as Damian says, they represent an ‘accidental collaboration between humans and nature’.Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson | Instagram @sirtonyrobinsonProducer: Melissa FitzGerald | X @melissafitzgWithDavid Gibbins | www.davidgibbins.com/biographyMaritime archaeologist and bestselling author, David’s twelve novels so far have sold over three million copies and are published in 30 languages. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow. David’s been a passionate diver since boyhood, and has led many expeditions to investigate historic shipwrecks and other underwater sites around the world, including the Mediterranean, Britain and Canada.His recent non-fiction book, ‘A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks’, represents a lifelong fascination with underwater archaeology and the place of ships and shipwrecks in world history.Damian Le Bas | IG @damianlebasWriter, filmmaker and visual artist. Damian’s first book ‘The Stopping Places’ won the Somerset Maugham Award, a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award, and was shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year.In his second book ‘The Drowned Places’ Damian explores the meaning we find in sunken ruins around the world in this spellbinding love letter to diving.Follow us: Instagram @cunningcastpod | X @cunningcastpod | YouTube @cunningcast ------- If you enjoy this podcast please do share it and leave us a rating or review.Thank you, Love Tony x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we bring you a bonus episode on Vladimir Putin, digging deeper into who he really is and what makes him tick.Tony and his expert guests Mark Galeotti and Anna Arutunyan unpick the man from the myth. They discuss how Putin is a pragmatic, cautious leader, shaped more by circumstance than by ideology, as Anna says, “he is very much driven by the needs of the moment, and this is why you'll see very different iterations of Putin throughout his rule. He was not always this quasi-imperialist that we see today.” Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson | Instagram @sirtonyrobinson Producer: Melissa FitzGerald | X @melissafitzg With Mark Galiotti | X @MarkGaleotti Honorary professor at UCL and director of the consultancy Mayak Intelligence, Mark has been studying Russia since 1988 and was banned indefinitely from it in 2022.‘Downfall: Putin, Prigozhin, and the fight for the future of Russia’ (Ebury/Penguin, June 2024)'We Need to Talk About Putin: How the West gets him wrong' (Penguin, 2019) Anna Arutunyan | X @scrawnya Russian-American writer who spent two decades as a journalist in Moscow, where she wrote for The Moscow News and other publications around the world. She served as senior Russia analyst for the International Crisis Group before leaving Russia in 2022 and is the author of five books about the country, its politics, society and its wars. She is currently associate director of Mayak Intelligence and lives in the UK. ‘Rebel Russia: Dissent and Protest from the Tsars to Navalny' (Polity Books, May 2025)‘The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia’s Power Cult’ (Interlink Books, 2014)Follow us: Instagram @cunningcastpod | X @cunningcastpod | YouTube @cunningcast -------If you enjoy this podcast please do share it and leave us a rating or review. Thank you, Love Tony x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we bring you a bonus episode on Stonehenge, digging deeper into the mysteries of the world’s best-known ancient stone circle.Tony speaks to leading archeologist Mike Parker Pearson and top geologist Jane Evans about Stonehenge’s altar stone, once thought to come from Wales, which is now believed, through zircon analysis, to have originated in northeast Scotland, linking it to wider Neolithic traditions such as Orkney’s architecture and pottery. They also discuss how dating methods have transformed our understanding of Stonehenge and how it uniquely brings together stones from extraordinary distances, perhaps as an attempt to unify Britain’s peoples.Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson | Instagram @sirtonyrobinsonWithMike Parker PearsonProfessor of British Later Prehistory, University College London | @uclJane EvansHonorary Professor in archaeology at the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester and Honorary Research Associate at the British Geological Survey | @britgeosurveyProducer: Melissa FitzGerald | X @melissafitzgFollow us:Instagram @cunningcastpod | X @cunningcastpod | YouTube @cunningcastIf you enjoyed this episode please do share it and leave us a review.Thank you, Love Tony x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Announcing the launch of Season 3 of Tony Robinson’s Cunningcast on Thursday 11th September. Follow us on social media and wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you don't miss it! Series 3 will treat listeners to brand-new episodes covering: ·   New discoveries at STONEHENGE·   Who is Vladimir PUTIN and what makes him tick?·   Uncovering the mysteries of SUTTON HOO·   In search of SHIPWRECKS and SUNKEN CITIES·   Who wrote the BIBLE?·   Tony’s book tie-in special on ALFRED THE GREAT ….And many more fantastic subjects, changing the way we see history. X: @cunningcastpodInstagram: @cunningcastpodYoutube @Cunningcast Hosted by Sir Tony RobinsonX | Instagram Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another chance to hear a Cunningcast Christmas treat: Tony reading his favourite poem ‘Goblin Market’ by Christina Rossetti. He's discussing the context and history of Rossetti’s iconic work with Madeleine Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Romantic Literature at the University of Sheffield. In his electrifying reading, Tony captures all the magic and strangeness of ‘Goblin Market’, set in a fairy-tale world where a fraught encounter takes place between the two sisters Laura and Lizzie and a band of sinister goblin merchants who tempt Laura with their ‘forbidden fruits’. Can Lizzie save her sister from the evil Goblin’s temptations? Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson X | Instagram With Madeleine Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Romantic Literature at the University of Sheffield. Author of ‘Shelley’s Living Artistry: Letters, Poems, Plays’ (2017) and ‘The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley’ (2019) published by Anthem Press. ‘Eternity in British Romantic Poetry’ (Liverpool University Press), June 2022. www.sheffield.ac.uk/english/people/academic-staff/madeleine-callaghan Credits:  Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville Cover Art: The Brightside A Zinc Media Group production Follow: X @cunningcastpod Instagram @cunningcastpod If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review. Thank you, Love Tony x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Elton is on Cunningcast today.  Ben was the co-writer on Blackadder Series 2, 3 and 4: they talk about Ben's comedy roots, working on The Young Ones with Rik and Ade and how Ben got the Blackadder gig via a near miss TV sitcom about Madness. They also chew over the highs and lows of working on Blackadder and how Ben and Richard Curtis created 'Adder speak'.Alongside Blackadder, Ben Elton cut his comedy chops on The Young Ones. He’s a stand-up legend on stage and TV and one of Britain's biggest live comedy acts. His stellar CV includes writing an incredible 17 novels, as well as the hit musicals ‘The Beautiful Game’; ‘We Will Rock You’ and the sequel to ‘The Phantom of the Opera’.Last year Blackadder turned 40, to mark the occasion, Tony made a TV show in which he tracked down the lost Blackadder pilot to discover the truth of Blackadder's beginnings. For the show, Tony interviewed many old friends and people who are central to making Blackadder the success it was. You are hearing Tony’s unedited, behind the scenes chat with Ben Elton, recorded for the programme. The show is called Blackadder: The Lost Pilot and you can watch it on catch up on Sky, Virgin & Now.Hosted by Sir Tony RobinsonX | InstagramWithBen Elton | https://benelton.live/ Credits:  Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville Blackadder: The Lost Pilot is produced by Red Sauce A Zinc Media Group production Follow: X @cunningcastpod Instagram @cunningcastpod YouTube @cunningcast If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review. Thank you, Love Tony x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

20 years after playing Baldrick, Tony is still stopped in the street and asked where my turnip is!  Turnips made him famous, so today Tony is talking turnips in history: have they always been so unloved, a food fit only for animals and peasants like Baldrick, or is this a recent British bugbear? And when did the potato steal their veggie crown? Tony’s guests today are food historians Rebecca Earle and Serin Quinn alongside a chef for all seasons who loves to cook with turnips, Oliver Rowe.Hosted by Sir Tony RobinsonX | InstagramWithProfessor Rebecca Earle | www.rebeccaearle.co.uk An historian of food at the University of Warwick, Rebecca is interested in how ordinary, every-day activities such as eating or dressing shape how we think about the world and how others view us. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/earleOliver Rowe | www.oliver-rowe.co.uk/ | IG: @oliver_rowe_londonChef and author whose work focuses on local and seasonal food. Oliver’s book, Food for All Seasons, a personal wander through the food year is published by Faber and available online and from all good bookshops. Serin Quinn PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Warwick, interested in all things vegetable! https://theconversation.com/turnips-how-britain-fell-out-of-love-with-the-much-maligned-vegetable-201007 Follow the Show: X @cunningcastpod Instagram @cunningcastpod YouTube @cunningcastCredits:  Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville Cover Art: The Brightside A Zinc Media Group production  If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review. Thank you, Love Tony x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.