Jasper, Murray, Mike and Lindsay take a trip down memory lane and revisit Ancient Warfare magazine I.III "Protect thyself. Shields, helmets and armor." 

Starting with why we need armour we take a trip through the ancient world covering arms and armour from the Greeks to the late Roman Empire.

Dur: 51min

Jasper, Lindsay, Murray and Mike discuss the use of bodyguards from Alexanders men having to prevent him from getting into harm through to being a symbol of power in Rome, and of course a long look at the Pretorian guard.

The team discuss the daily routine of troops in the ancient world when garrisoned. Through examples found at Vindolanda we investigate sickness rates of soldiers, the freedom they had whilst not on duty and what would happen to them if they could no longer serve.

Dur: 40min File: .mp3

In 1940 18 year old trainee navigator, Frank Stone, was shot down on his second bombing mission.

He eventually ended up in Sagan StalagLuft III - the camp made renowned in the classic war movie "The Great Escape". One of the infamous three tunnels, Tom, Dick and Harry, was dug from the hut in which Frank was billeted.

For the past thirty years Frank has been sharing his experiences of the camp, explaining how they planned and achieved everything and telling of his own part in the greatest escape story of the Second World War.

This is the first of four excerpts from a full 87 minute DVD which is available direct from Frank.

For more information on the full DVD please see our website. All proceeds to the Bomber Command Memorial Fund.

Gaius Marius is credited with introducing wide ranging reforms which would transform the Roman Army into the professional machine of the Empire. Elected consul and unprecedented seven times, he authorised landless citizens to do military service (something that may have lead to the eventually down fall of the Roman Empire as troops became bound to their Generals to ensure their care), he gave them fixed duration of service and as such established a standing army.

Jasper, Murray, Michael and Lindsay discuss a the post Alexander Hellenistic world looking at uniforms (or lack of) and the colours they might be, Ross Cowans article sticks and stones and the use of low tech improvised weapons. Michael elaborates on his piece covering the Amphipolis regulation, disciplinary measures of the Macedonian army. And other issues such as Gigantism that the last issue of the magazine touched upon.

Welcome to the Soho Podtrail, brought to you by TheHistoryNetwork.org This is a guided tour of London’s Soho area, it is by no means all there is to see so if you feel the urge to take a diversion just pause your mp3 player and do so. You may also find it fun to print out the pdf of the trail and follow the map as you wander along, the map is available from www.podtrail.com, where you will find other podtrails. If you are listening to this on an ipod you will find that the file has been given chapters, you can move backward or forward through the chapters at will. If say, you only had time for half the trail you could easily find where you left off. In addition if your ipod supports colour pictures, you’ll find some relevant pictures poping up throughout the trail. Dur: 28min File: AAC Website: www.thehistorynetwork.org or www.podtrail.com