News

I will be answering questions all weekend (18-20th July) on Reddit

I’m sure you’ve heard about the horrific earthquake which struck Turkey on the 6th February. As I’m recording this over 25,000 people have been confirmed dead. Many, many more will be reported so in the coming weeks. Tens of thousands have been injured. And the UN is now saying that at least 870,000 people need food urgently. While millions of people across Turkey and Syria have been made homeless.

This is an appeal for you to donate to one of the various charities who are rushing to the scene at this moment to help the survivors. You have a number of options. You may have campaigns being run in your country by reputable organisations. So here in the UK the Disaster Emergency Committee have launched an appeal that has raised millions. This is an organisation which brings a group of charities together. In this case Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and Islamic Relief amongst many others.

dec.org.uk/appeals/

To help specific groups directly:

The White Helmets are volunteers who have been operating in Syria for many years. They help evacuate people from dangerous areas and offer medical help.

https://www.whitehelmets.org/en/

AKUT Search and Rescue Association. They are a non-governmental organisation offering emergency and disaster relief to people caught up in natural disasters in Turkey.

https://www.akut.org.tr/en/donation

AHBAP an independent civilian organisation who offer disaster relief to communities in need across Turkey. This is the organisation that the kind listener who prompted me to make this appeal recommends.

https://ahbap.org/disasters-turkey

International Red Cross

https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/syria-emergency

Turkish Red Crescent

https://www.kizilay.org.tr/Bagis/BagisYap/404/pazarcik-depremi-bagisi

Hello everyone,

My baby girl was born in early October and I’m now 3 weeks into being a parent. I am very tired as you can imagine. She is happy and healthy so far which is wonderful and I’m really grateful for all your kind messages.

Here’s an update on my progress: I have finished writing all the episodes between Manuel’s death and the 4th Crusade. The sack of Constantinople will be one of those 2 hour long episodes which takes several weeks to put together.

The plan is to wait until all the episodes are finished before I release any. So that you get a complete story told one week at a time – rather than having big gaps between episodes.

As soon as I can I will finish the 4th Crusade and you will get all these episodes in a once a week ‘Season’ of podcasts. Thanks so much for your patience and kind support.

Best wishes,

Robin

I have big news. A History of Byzantium baby is on the way. The purple room in the Palace is being prepared for the Autumn and I can assure you that the names Justinian and Theodora will not be under consideration.

Of course I’m very excited. But it means I think we need to change the way the podcast is scheduled. I plan on being as involved as possible during the first few months of my baby’s life. And so it won’t be possible to keep a normal podcast routine.

So what we’re going to do is switch to a sort of TV schedule. Where there is silence for a few months and then I will release a complete series of episodes. So that when the podcast is on air, so to speak, you know that it will be out every week without fail and that whatever period of narrative we’re in will reach a natural conclusion. This will include bonus episodes for those who subscribe over at Patreon.

I feel more comfortable switching to this new schedule thanks to Patreon. It means that those of you who kindly support the show can manage your subscriptions however you see fit. And if you’re still in any doubt about how Patreon works – you can pick up a subscription or cancel one any time you like. There is no contract or commitment. And when you resubscribe you get your benefits back instantly.

We’re going to switch to this new schedule immediately. So there will now be a period of silence before a run of episodes that will take us from the death of Manuel through to the sack of Constantinople in 1204.

I won’t be announcing any dates for this new schedule. The periods of silence will take as long as they take and then there will be loads of episodes in a row to enjoy. It will be an adjustment for all of us but I think it’s for the best.

I have pushed myself hard in the past to try and produce the podcast weekly and to leave as few gaps as possible and it can cause a lot of stress. History podcasting just does take a long time. Some topics take weeks to research. And the more I read the better the show gets.

I’m hoping this new schedule will make life easier for you and for me. Thank you for your patience and for your support.

I have teamed up with Nitin Sil of the Flash Point History Youtube Channel. We are turning the podcast into a Youtube series with brilliant maps, images and animations accompanying my words. Check out our first video now charting the rise of Justinian.