I have on welcome to Downsnow's history. This week in 1588 it was all kicking off in

the channel. A mighty armada, a fleet of ships sent by King Philip of Spain, the man who

ruled half the world had been sent to crush Elizabeth Tudor, the woman who ruled half

an island, the running battles up the channel. From Plymouth to Portland, the island of

White had ended in a sort of standoff of Calais whilst the Spanish reviewed their options

and checked if they could bring their army from the low countries, onterships and invade

England as King Philip had hoped. The background to this story is of course the growing Anglo-Spanish

rivalry that had been humming away ever since the Spanish discovery of the new world and

the English desire to get a piece of the action. For a hundred years British merchants, slave

traders, pirates, adventurers had eyed up the Spanish Empire, eyed up the Atlantic world

in a place where they too could seize the advantages to gain huge wealth, power and influence.

It was given a religious edge by the Reformation which pitted England's Protestants back

in years against Spain's Catholics. So this week we got two very special episodes

of the podcast. In this first episode we're going to talk about the Anglo-Spanish rivalry

and how it grew and developed. With Alexander Samson, he's a reader in early modern studies

at University College London, he's a wonderful communicator, he can very much enjoy listening

to him, he's going to tell us about England and Spain and then later in the week I dance

no. I'm going to tell you the story of the Spanish Armada, simple as that. It's one of

the first programs I ever made for the BBC. Twenty years ago, a little designer that one

day I'd be sitting in a darkened room talking to a device that had not yet been invented.

To broadcast it in ways I never yet knew possible to an audience of millions of people.

It's an exciting journey I've been on. So here's Alexander Samson, you'll hear my follow-up

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