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Our Lives, Our Stories with Carl Chinn Podcast
Making A Historian with Carl Chinn

Making A Historian with Carl Chinn

Our Lives, Our Stories with Carl Chinn vor 3 Monaten

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39:05

In this solo episode of Our Lives, Our Stories, Carl Chinn
answered a question he has been asked all his life: what makes a
historian? For years his answer was the books, the historical
novels he read as a a child, from Robin Hood, William Tell and
King Arthur to the writing of Rosemary Sutcliff and Henry Treece,
which carried him from the Dark Ages to the Vikings, the Crusades
and the mountains of the Caucasus.

But looking back, Carl knows the real answer lies with his
family. He remembers the Sunday afternoons of his childhood, the
storytellers on both sides, his grandad Perry, struck down by
multiple sclerosis, and his grandad Chinn, one of the old
Contemptibles of 1914. He recalls his nan Lil Perry, the eldest
of twelve who never had a childhood, and the old Brummagem words,
clammed and wench, that carried a whole way of life. Through
them, he found the hardships of the strong women in his family,
the stories that led to his first books on poverty, the hated
workhouse from which the NHS would one day emerge.

This is a reflection on memory, dialect, belonging and why these
stories matter, ending with Carl's heartfelt plea. His
generation, he says, is the last who can tell you why the
workhouse was hated and why the NHS is so loved. So grab hold of
your oldest relatives and record their memories.

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