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Nov 2024
1h 8m

514. Nelson: Hero of the Seas (Part 1)

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About this episode

It’s 1758 and Britain’s greatest naval commander has just been born. The young Horatio Nelson has inherited his father’s love of god and his mother’s hatred of the French. At age 12, he leaves Norfolk for a life on the high seas. As a teen, Nelson narrowly avoided death on multiple occasions. He survives a nasty encounter with the Sultan of Mysore, the blistering cold on a failed expedition in the North Pole, a nasty bout of Malaria contracted in India, and far more besides. Propelled by his excellence and bravery, he rose quickly to become a captain.This brings us to 1788 where Nelson, now a married man in his thirties and back in his childhood home, learns that England is going to war with France. Without hesitation, he swaps the simple domestic life for the thrill of the high seas once more… 


Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Nelson's early life and adventures, as he sets out along a path that would eventually enable British domination of the seas; and the world.


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Producer: Theo Young-Smith

Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor

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