Sue Cook and the team answer listeners' historical queries and celebrate the way in which we all 'make' history.
Series 11
Programme 5
17听May 2005
Smallpox isolation ships
Listener Chrissie Philips-Tilbury remembers her grandmother telling her that, as a very small girl, she was sent with her younger brother to live with relatives in West Hartlepool because her parents both died on a smallpox isolation ship on the River Thames in the 1880s. Chrissie wanted to know more about these vessels, so Making History arranged for historian Peter Higginbotham to take her on a journey to find out more about them and the fate of her great-grandparents.
has detailed information about the isolation ships and the workhouses of Victorian England.
Making History also consulted:
Professor Steve King at Oxford Brookes University - see the website:
Samuel Cody
Making History listener Ernest Bull recalls a tale his late grandfather told him when he was much younger. Ernest's grandfather had been serving in the army on Hounslow Heath in West London around 1906, and he spoke of a man flying 'in a kite'. Ernest contacted Making History to find out who that man was.
That man was Samuel Cody - a forgotten pioneer in British aviation history.
Useful links
(Keith Parkins' personal website)
Local history hero
David Hurley of Pontypridd nominated local museum curator Brian Davies for his work in restoring a pit winding mechanism at the Hopkinstown colliery in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales.
Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to:
Making History
大象传媒 Radio 4
PO Box 3096 Brighton
BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听