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Zeb Baker-Smith
AoH Book Club: John Kiszely on General Hastings ‘Pug’ Ismay: Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat – A New Biography
Shaping Britain’s war and the post-war world from behind the scenes and proving that power was often exercised not on the battlefield but in the committee room – John Kiszely talks through the career of ‘Pug’ Ismay with the Editor.
John – your book, General Hastings 'Pug' Ismay: Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat was published nearly two years ago. Can you give us an outline of the life of ‘Pug’ Ismay, a man you describe as ‘an unusual subject for a biography’? Who was he, and provide us with some...
Episode 255
Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England’s Lost Queen, by Alice Loxton
A thoughtful mix of history and travel writing that follows Eleanor of Castile’s funeral route, using a modern retracing of the journey to explore medieval grief, place and memory.
I remember being taken on the Northern line as a child who loved talking kings and queens and reciting their dates and associated trivia ad nauseam (still my peak!). The murals that bring to life the platforms at Charing Cross were pointed out to me, the simple...
Episode 253
Retracing a Medieval Queen: Alice Loxton Interviewed
By walking the 200 miles of Eleanor of Castile’s final journey, the author provides a fresh lens on the queen, her death, medieval grief and memorial.
Welcome Alice, and congratulations on a third book in as many years. This latest release puts a spotlight on the life of Eleanor of Castile, Queen of England and wife of Edward I. Unlike your previous books, Uproar and Eighteen, you have built up the story of her life...
Seven Rivers: A Journey Through the Currents of Human History, by Vanessa Taylor
A dive beneath the surface of the world's great waterways to show how myth, power and environmental change have always flowed together and why their pasts matter in the present.
Is it fair to say that rivers are having a bit of a moment? Robert McFarlane’s invited readers to ponder their vital parts earlier this year with Is A River Alive?, while Fergal Sharkey cannot get a day off from leading the public campaign to clean up the UK’s rivers....
A Quiz for Christmas 2025
Fiendishly festive!? Ten questions from the Editor....
The Three Magi (and the word itself!) are, in some traditions, believed to take their origin from which monotheistic religion, centred in Iran? Aeschylus’ Persians focuses on the disastrous naval defeat in 480 BC of which invading king? How exactly was Julius Caesar...
Zeb Baker-Smith
Zeb Baker-Smith is Editor at Aspects of History. Having studied Classics at the University of St Andrews, he worked a number of jobs, before turning his focus to writing, editing, research and journalism and joining the magazine in 2025. Zeb is always delighted to hear from readers and writers alike.
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Echoing Greens: How Cricket Shaped the English Imagination, by Brendan Cooper
A rich quarry for artists and writers alike, the psychology and morals of an era can be unearthed from cricket's plotlines and characters.
Echoing Greens: How Cricket Shaped the English Imagination, by Brendan Cooper It is now a cliché - perhaps always has been - to refer to cricket as a rich quarry for artistic achievement, even as mainstream coverage becomes less fixated on the written word and more...