Dan Snow's History Hit17 Jun 2024

Dan's History Heroes: Britain's Greatest Soldier, Part 1

This is the story of Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, Britain's most extraordinary soldier. The one-handed, one-eyed, walking stick-wielding war hero fought in the Second Boer War, The First World War and the Second World War. He was wounded countless times, awarded prestigious medals for gallantry, and made into a figure of legend. Away from the battlefield the eccentric veteran rubbed shoulders with kings and emperors, and worked with some of the most important world leaders of the 20th century.

To tell this astonishing tale, Dan weaves his storytelling with the words of Carton De Wiart himself, read by Dan's father, Peter Snow. In this first episode, we follow the aspiring young officer from his baptism by fire in South Africa to the trenches of the Western Front.

Written and produced by Dan Snow, and edited by Dougal Patmore.

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code DANSNOW - sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/.

We'd love to hear from you - what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1536)

The Fall of the Ancient Maya

What happens when a civilisation at its peak begins to fail? Historians have long been fascinated by the Maya Collapse in the 9th century: why the great cities of Mesoamerica were abandoned, why their...

6 Aug 54min

The Rise of the Ancient Maya

For more than 3,000 years, the Maya built one of the Ancient world's greatest civilisations. They raised towering pyramids in the rainforest, mastered the environment and established powerful dynastie...

3 Aug 57min

Was Caesar's invasion of Britain a disaster?

Today, we trace Julius Caesar’s dramatic invasions into Britain - two bold expeditions that tested Rome’s reach at the very edge of the known world. Ships were battered by storms, soldiers struggled w...

30 Jul 34min

The Blitz Beyond London

Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff - all of these places and more were bombed during the Blitz. From the devastated shipyards of Tyneside to the bombed-out docks of Shieldhall, we strip away the m...

27 Jul 42min

A Short History of The Airport

It’s where our ancient instincts to travel, to trade, to reunite with family and explore meet modern technology and innovation. From muddy airfields to gleaming cathedrals of designer shopping, fancy ...

23 Jul 48min

The Mycenaean World

Before 1200 BC, the ancient world was more connected than you'd ever imagine. Egyptian pharaohs, Hittite emperors and Mycenaean warrior-kings trading gifts, forging alliances and going to war across t...

20 Jul 40min

BONUS: The Complete Map of the Odyssey

A special video podcast where Dan charts the course of Odysseus through the Mediterranean as he investigates the true places that could have inspired the Odyssey. Using his new Big Pad, Dan investigat...

17 Jul 51min

The Real St George and the Dragon

He wasn't an English knight, but actually a Roman soldier, and the dragon didn't appear until centuries later in the medieval period. So what is the origin of the Saint George and the Dragon myth? And...

16 Jul 30min