Showing results by author "Paul Lay" in All Categories

England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart King Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies. He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'. Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World.  

From the Gunpowder Plot to the killing of a king, from Cromwell and the Civil Wars to the Restoration and the Glorious Revolution. Hosts Miranda Malins and Paul Lay combine historical rigour, entertaining storytelling and revealing guest interviews to draw this vibrant period out of the shadows.