The

The Welcome to a history of Europe, Key Battles podcast.

I have something a little bit different for you today.

Instead of the narrative, I had a chance a few days ago to speak to a historian and author by the name of Jacob F. Field.

I was interested in speaking to Jacob because of his most recent project, which bears some resemblances to this podcast,

where he attempts to summarize the groundsweep of European history in a digestible format.

So without further ado, I'll play the interview for you, and hope you enjoy.

And as always, it's great to hear any feedback.

Thank you. As always, it's great to hear any feedback. So today I have the pleasure to invite to the podcast, author and historian, Jacob F. Field.

Jacob was born in London, studied modern history at the University of Oxford, which is just down the road from where I live in my small village of Ensham.

He did a postgraduate study at Newcast University, went on to teach in New Zealand and is now back in UK.

He's written a number of books, including one bloody thing after another, the world's gruesome history,

a book about historical speeches called We Shall Fight on the Beaches, and most recently a book called The History of Europe in Bite-Sized Chunks.

So, Jacob, welcome to the show.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

It's great to have you.

So perhaps I thought the first thing I was wanting to ask is what got you first interested in the history?

Well, it was my dad, really.

My dad's a really passionate historian who's very interested in the Elizabethan period.

And one of my earliest memories is him taking me to St. Paul's Cathedral and then to the monument and having a look around there.

And then that afternoon we went to see some

historical reen actors from the English Civil War period. So from then, really, I was

...