It was a tumultuous period, a time when people experienced major social and economic problems,

which intertwined with religious disagreements and political debates.

Of course, I could be talking about any centric in British history with such a description,

but only in the 17th century did these difficulties lead to civil war, the execution of a king,

and a failed experiment with republicanism.

What led Britain into this world turned upside down?

What role did Ministers and Monarchs, James I and his son Charles I, play in its descent

into chaos?

Beyond whitehall empowerment, what can we learn from the lives of ordinary people about

the fears and worries that drove people to action, and was the world that was delivered

following these tumultues, a better one than the one which had preceded it?

To answer these questions and more, I'm delighted to welcome Dr Jonathan Healey, fellow

of Kellogg College Oxford and Associate Professor in English Local and Social History in Oxford's

Department of Continuing Education.

Dr Healey specialises in early modern British social and economic history, including

poverty, economic development, popular political history, and rural history.

His first book, The First Century of Welfare, was published in 2014, and it's now followed

by the blazing world, a new history of revolutionary England, published last month by BoomSpray,

and which he joins me today to discuss.

Dr Healey, I am delighted to welcome you to not just the tutors, I have long been a fan

of yours from afar, and so it's wonderful to have a chance to talk to you about your exciting

new book.

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