Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is Episode 234, the

Suns of Roderie and Afflew Ritz beautiful hair. This show is ad-free due to member support

and is a way of thanking members for keeping the show independent. I offer members only

content including extra episodes and love transcripts. You can get instant access to all the

members episodes by signing up for membership at the British History Podcast.com and thank you

very much to Jack, Anne and Holly for signing up already. This episode has been difficult to write.

In fact, the last several have been difficult and it all comes down to issues of time,

not space time flexing due to gravitational pull and issues of whether a minute for Alfred

and Wessex was the same as a minute for someone climbing the Alps. Just good old-fashing

questions of timing. What goes first? When does it happen? What happens next and when?

The problem is that history at its root is a story and a story generally needs a sequence of

events. I mean sure, some storytellers like William S. Burrows have completely cast off the idea

of a sequence and have done so to great effect. But in general, to tell a story that people can

understand, A needs to be followed by B, which needs to be followed by C. However, occasionally we

have moments in history where we know the events, we just don't know which one is A, which is B,

and which is C. Nor do we know when any of them are happening. And that's a nightmare for a storyteller.

For us, the 880s are essentially like sitting down and watching Twilight Breaking Dawn part 2,

sober, and without watching any of the previous films. Who is that weird girl from the Uncanny Valley?

Why is Michael Sheen laughing like that? Why do people seem to really like this bland girl who

just glairs all the time? And if you find yourself in that situation, it is understandable if you're

confused, angry, and wondering what decisions you've made in your life that led you here.

And basically, that's the 880s. The problem for us is that we have certain events that are

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