Have I got old news for you...
BROADCASTER AND JOURNALIST IAN HISLOP CHATS TO MARION McMULLEN ABOUT BRITAIN’S
You’re normally looking at the headlines of the day in Have I Got News For You and as the editor of Private Eye magazine, but are you about to make history cool exploring the legacy of four great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England?
We know a lot more about the period then we did 20 years ago, so many things have been uncovered, but it used to seem like people thought the Romans left – we waved them off from the White Cliffs Of Dover – and that was it until 1066 and the French arrived.
There was 600 years in between. Something happened, but most people don’t know what.
We’re talking to really good people like historian Michael Wood and Last Kingdom writer Bernard Cornwell for the BBC Radio 4 series. (Laughs) Even Netflix likes the Anglo Saxons.
What was your favourite moment?
I went out with a metal detectorist who had permission from a farmer to look around this field in Shropshire.
We went around for half an hour and found nothing except an old bit of lead shot – that was it.
We had a man from the British Museum there as well in case we found something and he could tell us about it.
Then the most exciting thing happened... we found a silver Anglo Saxon coin of a king of Mercia that was 1,000 years old. It was just lying in the field.
The man from the British Museum was amazed. He said: “This never happens. I can’t believe you found it”.
That was a real treat.
It’s now with the British Museum.
A lot of evidence we have for the Anglo Saxons comes from coins.
There were a lot of Aethelreds back then so as soon as I saw AE on the coin I knew it was a king.
I also saw Anglo Saxon carvings and the remains they’ve got of stained glass in Jarrow and I went to Sutton Hoo and got to stand on the mound itself over the burial chamber of the chief. That was a real privilege.
I had museums to myself. Radio is so flexible as well, unlike TV where you need cameras and lorries and crew, it was just me, the producer and a microphone.
What appeals to you about this period of history?
(Laughs) It was a time of warriors and a lot of people fighting and killing each other and at the same time you have these saints and churches and monasteries.
It was a mix of bloodshed and church and all that went to create all these regions.
Then they came together with one language and that led to us.
It’s looking at what made us what we are today and how we got there in the first place. That shift in language and culture.
The Anglo Saxons were very literal when it came to place names.
Northumberland just means north of the Humber and Mersey means border. Northumberland also used to include half of Scotland.
The monasteries were very sophisticated in terms of producing Bibles. If you wanted a Bible you went there to commission one.
It took a whole lot of monks to write it and everything was written on vellum (animal skin) not paper so the monasteries ended up with lots of land for their cows. The church became unbelievably rich.
Your father was a civil engineer and you lived in countries like Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Nigeria when you were young. Did growing up abroad make you feel more British?
My childhood was largely abroad and I spent a lot more time interested in Britain than people who were here.
I was fascinated by the idea of it, the people and how it came about.
I really enjoy exploring Britain and I get to go to all these places.
Anglo Saxons were pretty bizarre. They came here mostly from Germany and there were the Jutes as well.
The Welsh were already here, but they gave them the name “Wealas”.
What is next on the cards?
There’s talk of doing a programme about suburbia, but I think that will have to wait until everything is really unlocked.
I’m going to be back doing the day job and seeing how we get through the summer. Dealing with people we’ve now got as opposed to the past.
There’s also the Private Eye podcast, Page 94, which Andrew Hunter Murray does.
The latest one is about Private Eye’s 60th anniversary, which is coming up in October, we’ve got a book out.
(Chuckles) We’re thinking by October people might want to celebrate something.
The Anglo Saxons were very literal when it came to place names Ian Hislop
This Union: The Ghost Kingdoms Of England can be heard on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm on Mondays and the series is also available on
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