Thank you Boundless! History of assassination talk

Great to talk to people from the Boundless organisation last night about 'Assassins' Deeds', my history of assassination. It featured the famous ones - Julius Caesar, Good King Wenceslas, Thomas Becket, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Abraham Lincoln, JFK. But also the less well know, such as the only British prime minister to be murdered.

Then there were the weird ones - the booby trapped statuette, the assassination dressed up as a tv reality show, the killer disguised as a bear. And the ones that got away - Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Fidel Castro (more than 600 times), Adolf Hitler. Some good questions at the end too - which assassination would I have most liked to prevent, which assassin was the most misunderstood?

https://www.boundless.co.uk/events/online-events/a-history-of-assassination-from-ancient-egypt-to-the-present-day

Media careers, centenarians, assassination, disasters all feature in my Bandwidth podcast

My conversation with Katie Brewer of Bandwidth is now available. 

We talk about getting into Oxford from an ordinary Manchester primary school, getting into the media and working in radio and television.

Then there are my books: we discuss the secrets of living to 100 and whether, in spite of increased life expectancy and determined scientific research, there remains a limit to human lifespan. There's the history of assassination, and the role of love in the murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand which helped to spark the First World War, plus the continuing mysteries surrounding JFK's death. 

We talked about how disasters happen and how mercilessly they can expose organisational shortcomings.

The podcast is entitled: 'Surviving the Storm: John Withington on Catastrophe, Longevity and the Human Spirit.' You can find it here on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/68HQDGsIC4vKBG6Xsw9up9?si=cefbc5dfc9354602&nd=1&dlsi=29cbb59e41194b1f

And I'm told also on @bandwidthconversations on Instagram & @podcastbwc on Twitter

The history of assassination roadshow hits Wootton

Looking forward to delivering one of the famous Wootton Village Hall talks in Oxfordshire on Friday. Subject - the history of assassination. I'll be talking about the world's first assassination; asking whether London was the scene of the world's first assassination by firearm; examining the surprising carelessness of some victims - like Abraham Lincoln, who let his bodyguard go off for a drink; and telling the story of the weird ones - murder by booby-trapped statuette, poisoned umbrella and man disguised as bear. 

Drawing on my book Assassins' Deeds. A History of Assassination from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day (Reaktion Books), I'll also be detailing the most famous ones - such as Julius Caesar, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, JFK, as well as the not very famous British prime minister who was the only one to be assassinated. 

And, of course, Friday being Valentine's Day, the talk will include a love story. All proceeds go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

http://www.woottontalks.co.uk/

The 5 most fascinating assassinations in history - my podcast

Dr James Rogers has just issued a challenge to me on his fascinating Warfare podcast - 'talk about the 5 most interesting assassinations in history'. Apparently it's the most popular episode this month.

We discuss methods, motives, causes, consequences, strange coincidences and weird twists of fate, drawing on my book 'Assassins' Deeds. A history of assassination from ancient Egypt to the present day.' (Reaktion Books).

Who did I pick? Do you know who was the only British prime minister to be assassinated? Which assassin did John Wilkes Booth quote when he shot Abraham Lincoln? And what role did love play in the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand?

The answers are here. See what you think of my choice:

https://podfollow.com/the-world-wars/episode/bb75567eb5c5c89aad148a90bb15da032ba16f30/view

History of Assassination: my North London talk in January

I'm honoured to have been invited to speak again at the Crouch End & District u3a in North London, this time on the history of assassination.

Drawing on my book Assassins' Deeds. A History of Assassination from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day (Reaktion), I'll be talking about murder by poisoned umbrella or booby-trapped toy or killer disguised as a bear.

The most notorious assassinations will, of course, be there - Julius Caesar, Good King Wenceslaus, Thomas Becket, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, JFK, Martin Luther King, John Lennon, Kim Jong-nam, as well as the ones that got away: Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler, Stalin, Queen Victoria. How might history have been different if their would-be killers had succeeded?

Because dynastic ambition was so often the motive, perpetrators were often spouses, parents, children or siblings. One Turkish sultan had 19 of his brothers strangled. The powerful have always tried to protect themselves, but that can misfire as a dozen or so Roman emperors were murdered by their guards. On the other hand, many victims seem to have been surprisingly careless. Abraham Lincoln had let his bodyguard go for a drink. 

I'll also be examining the thorny question of whether assassination works.

The talk is on 19 January at 1030. https://cedu3a.org.uk/monthly-meetings/

 

Assassins' Deeds - my podcast interview with BBC History Magazine

Very interesting to be interviewed about my latest book Assassins' Deeds. A History of Assassination from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day (Reaktion Books) by Rachel Dinning of BBC History Magazine for their podcast.

We ranged over: 

what was history's first assassination?

when and where were the powerful and famous most at risk of assassination? 

how negligent were targets about their own safety?

do assassinations work, and what unintended consequences have they had?

what are assassins' favourite methods?

how many victims were not the assassin's first target?

what kind of people become assassins? 

what are history's strangest assassinations?

who was the world champion at surviving assassination attempts?

what were the ethical arguments put forward in favour of assassination and who advanced them?

the murder of Wat Tyler, of Mary, Queen of Scots' husband, Lord Darnley, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the assassin who nearly killed Hitler, women assassins

You can hear the podcast here https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-history/assassinations-from-the-ancient-world-to-jfk/

Sarajevo 1914 - a bizarre chapter of accidents

100 years ago today, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, went to one of its outposts, Sarajevo, to inspect the army. He had married his wife, a mere countess, in the teeth of opposition from his family, and she was banned from sitting at his side on ceremonial occasions – except when he was acting in his capacity as a field marshal of the army.

So on June 28, 1914, she rode with him in his open top car as a group of Bosnian nationalists lay in wait. One of them threw a grenade, but it hit the car behind. The Archduke insisted on going to the hospital to visit the injured, but no one told the drivers of the motorcade.

In the confusion that resulted, they found themselves having to back up into a narrow street where they came to a stop outside a café. Sitting inside was 19 year old Gavrilo Princip, one of the conspirators, who had gone there after the apparent failure of their plot. He crossed the street and shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife, who both died.

37 days later the first World War began, a conflict that cost the lives of perhaps 10 million military personnel and 7 million civilians. Nobody much wanted the archduke’s assassination to lead to a world war, but a series of bad decisions by politicians brought precisely that outcome. Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In harsh conditions, he died of tuberculosis six months before Armistice Day.

A sombre anniversary

On this day…..95 years ago, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. The killing set off a chain of events that resulted in Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, Germany declaring war on Russia on August 1, then France on August 3, and Britain entering the war on August 4.

Princip, a 19 year old Bosnian Serb, wanted to liberate the whole of the Balkans from Austro-Hungarian rule. While Franz Ferdinand was on a visit to the Bosnian capital, then part of Austria's empire, one of Princip’s comrades threw a bomb at his car. It bounced off and exploded beneath the next vehicle, injuring two of the occupants and about a dozen people in the crowd. While the Archduke and his wife were on their way to a hospital to visit the injured, Princip shot them.

While the First World War was raging, Princip was tried and sentenced to 20 years in gaol – the maximum allowed for someone under 20 – on October 28, 1914. He was kept in harsh conditions and died of tuberculosis in April 1918.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed exactly five years after the assassination on June 28, 1919. The war is estimated to have cost the lives of about 8.5 million military personnel, and perhaps 13 million civilians from starvation, disease, being caught up in military action or massacre. It also put paid to the Austro-Hungarian empire.