Well, we've done it folks. We've reached the end of 2021. And I want to thank you for

joining me this year, giving me some of your time. It's been a great pleasure to start

this podcast, not just the tutors. And I'm grateful for your loyalty.

Last time I think I told you about the number of downloads we'd had, we'd reached 1 million.

Last week I was told we'd reached 2.3 million downloads. And it's wonderful and amazing to me

that so many of you have joined me and all my fabulous guests as we've talked about everything

from Henry VIII's wardrobe through to Oliver Cromwell's battles. We've been into big subjects

like Tokugawa Japan and two tiny subjects such as what a beard can tell you about a man in the

Renaissance period. And it's been a great joy.

But now's an opportunity to reflect back on the year. And also to tell you a bit about what 2021

has found the discoveries of this year.

I thought I'd start by telling you about the five books relating to this period that I have found

most enjoyable this year. I'm only going to talk to you about historical books that aren't fiction,

so non-fiction historical books. And they have to relate to the period between the late 15th and

early 18th century, the period that we broadly cover on this podcast. And it was very difficult

for me to choose five. But I've whittled it down. And these are the five I want to recommend

that were published in 2021. So they are arranged by authors surname. And the first I want to

recommend that came out this year from Oxford University Press is Nadine Ackman's Elizabeth Stuart

Queen of Hearts. Elizabeth Stuart was the daughter of James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England.

She became the Queen of Bohemia and she spent 40 years in exile in the hage.

She had an eventful life. Her elder brother Henry had died of typhoid in 1609. She was widowed at

36 with ten surviving children and her younger brother became Charles I against whom Parliament

...