Yesterday was a busy day for podcasting here at the IHR.  Throughout the day we were recording the Local History Summer School with talks by Professor John Beckett on the history of local history, Dr Simon Trafford on sources for local history, Amy Proctor on the London Metropolitan Archive and myself talking about History SPOT.  Then there was the final session for this year of the Sport and Leisure History seminar – on the subject of ‘boom and bust’.  On this occasion Sean Creighton was not talking about the economic climate, but the brief explosion of interest in roller skating during the early twentieth century.

To end the day we recorded the Mark Fitch lecture celebrating the rededication of the Victoria County History county volumes by Elizabeth II in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee.  The lecture was given enthusiastically as ever, by Dr David Starkey on the topic of “Head of Our Morality”: why the modern British monarchy matters.   Starkey gave a fascinating insight into the Diamond jubilee ceremonies for Queen Victoria, which was not at all what we imagined and looked at the invention of ‘monarchy’ and its focus on ceremony and tradition in the twentieth century. 

All of these will be released on History SPOT over the coming days, weeks, and months alongside today’s release of the opening lecture for the History of Education in Scotland network, and the Anglo-American 2009 conference on the topic of Cities.