Sam's Blog

Castles for BBC4

Date Posted: 17/07/2014

I am in the middle of filming a new 3-part series on Castles for BBC4. Hooray! So far we have been to….Wallingford, Birkhamstead, Dover, Bodiam, Carisbrooke, Exeter, Lydford, Tintagel, Old Sarum, Kennilworth, Warwick, Threave, Caerlaverock and Stirling! I have made a .... Read More

Making History BBC Radio4

Date Posted: 25/06/2014

You can listen here to a programme I made for the new series of Making History on BBC Radio4 that tells the story of the Admiralty Shutter Telegraph system – how they could communicate from London to Great Yarmouth in just ten minutes. Read More

BBC iWonder

Date Posted: 23/03/2014

I was lucky enough to be asked to get involved with the new BBC iWonder project – online interactive guides. They  are ‘Guides [that] will invite people to lean forward, and actively explore a range of factual and education topics from Science and Natural .... Read More

Grand Canyon Expedition BBC2/Discovery Channel

Date Posted: 08/08/2013

I am writing this from my hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona, just off Route 66. I am about to take part in a totally amazing/insane adventure. In 1869 John Wesley Powell took a team of men, in wooden boats, down the Grand Canyon. It was the first time anyone had ever done it. .... Read More

Shipwrecks Documentary for BBC 4

Date Posted: 02/08/2013

Here are some photos from a crazy few weeks filming for a 3-part series on Shipwrecks I am filming for the BBC. We began in the Cape Verdes, travelled to Paris to film in the Louvre, went to the Scilly Islands, down to Hastings, and then out to the Goodwin Sands to see the .... Read More

Nelson’s Caribbean Hell-Hole BBC4

Date Posted: 29/04/2013

Hooray! My documentary on an archaeological excavation at English Harbour in Antigua will be broadcast on BBC4 at 9pm on Wednesday. You can see a clip and get more info on the programme at the BBC website.  There are a  few more bits and pieces on the blog I wrote just after .... Read More

BBC2 Turner Documentary

Date Posted: 26/04/2013

Tonight sees the premier of a great little documentary on JMW Turner which looks at his artistic response to the Industrial Revolution. I had the chance to talk about Turner’s painting of George Manby’s crazy life-saving invention, a wonderful example of .... Read More

BBC Radio4 ‘Making History’

Date Posted: 22/03/2013

Yesterday I recorded a piece for Radio4’s  ‘Making History’ program. Tom Holland and I went to the British Library to meet Dr Arnold Hunt, the curator of manuscripts to discuss the amazing collection of Naval Dispatches which my latest book is based on. It .... Read More

Oxford Literary Festival

Date Posted: 12/03/2013

I am delighted to announce that I will be talking on Saturday 16 March at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival. The venue is Christ Church and I will be starting at six pm blunt. I will be talking about my new book, ‘In the Hour of Victory’ and the .... Read More

British Library Dispatches

Date Posted: 29/01/2013

My latest book, In The Hour of Victory, is about an amazing collection of naval dispatches that only a handful of people know exist. In 1821 the Lords of the Admiralty ordered that the battle dispatches from the major British naval victories of the French Revolutionary and .... Read More