The History Chap
A review
Years ago, the owner of a publishing house told me that, on a per capita basis, British people bought five times as many books on the subject of military history than their American cousins. This phenomenon, I think, created a spiral in which increasingly demanding readers sought, and increasingly capable historians produced, works of great sophistication.
The History Chap makes excellent use of the fruits of this virtuous cycle, producing program(me)s on unsung aspects of British military history that, to borrow a phrase from the realm of restaurant reviews, ‘will please the most demanding palates’. To be more precise, each of the extensive anecdotes told by Chris Green - the proprietor, presenter, and producer of The History Chap - benefits from both his mastery of the story teller’s art and an enormous amount of research.
As might be expected, the Schwerpunkt of the offerings of The History Chap lies in the reign of Queen Victoria. Thus, fans of films like Zulu and Khartoum will enjoy learning more about the context, characters, and consequences of the great events depicted in those movies. Every once in a while, however, Mr. Green will make a foray into other eras. Thus, for example, his oeuvre includes such gems as a show on the attempt, in 1671, by the wonderfully named Colonel Blood, to steal the Crown Jewels.
The manly manner in which Green speaks makes The History Chap especially well suited to automotive listening. (The podcasts produced by Charles Haywood, the ‘maximum leader’ of The Worthy House, partake of the same virtue.) Thus, if the upcoming holiday season finds you spending more time on the road than Willie Nelson, you will want to download some of the podcasts cast in the workshop of The History Chap.
Links
For Further Reading
Chris’ videos are always loads of fun and quite often deeply informative.