Sharing the Interrail love with historians in Glasgow and Dudley
During my recent UK tour, which was somewhat overshadowed by a certain Oasis reunion, I presented some of the findings from my Interrail research project to conference audiences in Glasgow and Dudley. As is the case at nearly every event I go to these days, I had the pleasure of encountering more late-twentieth century Interrailers.…
Interrail in the museum and at the archives
Have you ever had an unexpected sensory experience which immediately transported you back several decades? This happened to me last summer while I was exploring ‘The Compartment of Dreams’ exhibition at the Danish Railway Museum in Odense. Housed in a former engine shed, the exhibition revolves around two imposing but contrasting railway carriages. One is…
Reflections on a year of conducting Interrail oral history interviews
Over the past year I have travelled up and down the UK, meeting and interviewing fifty-two remarkable and generous people. They all took an Interrail trip at some point between 1972 and 1997, and I wanted to find out more about their youthful travel adventures. It was a privilege to hear and record their stories.…
Interrail tales: Bread, cheese, tomatoes and Tito
For several days, Sarah and her new travel acquaintance Kay had been followed at a distance around Belgrade by three men in dark suits. “And then she confided in me that she was going out with President Tito’s son.” It was 1984 and Kay’s romantic attachment with one of the late leader’s offspring had come…
Did you take an Interrail trip between 1972 and 1997?
Since its introduction in 1972, the Interrail scheme has enabled millions of Europeans to travel by train around much of their continent at relatively low cost. In the first 25 years of the scheme, approximately half a million young backpackers from Great Britain and Northern Ireland took an Interrail trip. Despite the numbers involved, little…
Innocent beginnings to troubled middle age: Interrail in the press 1972 to 1994
‘Male 21 seeks female under 26 as Interrail travel companion.’ Surprisingly, this is not a line from the personal columns of a local newspaper or a travel magazine but was published in The Times in July 1992. The confidence of this anonymous young man who I have named Allan is admirable, especially as he included…
Recording the experiences of UK Interrailers between 1972 and 1997
With Interrail passes in our pockets and packs on our backs, my friend Graeme and I set off to travel around Europe in the autumn of 1985. Apart from purchasing Hungarian visas in advance so we could go behind the Iron Curtain and visit Budapest, the rest of our trip was unplanned. Almost four decades…
Public history project to commemorate the centenary of the Chertsey Town War Memorial
Between June and August 2021, I curated a blog-based public history project chertseywm100.com in partnership with Chertsey Museum to commemorate the centenary of the Chertsey Town War Memorial. The project contributed towards my MA in Public History at Royal Holloway University of London which was awarded with distinction. Although submitted to the university for assessment…
Commemorating the Chertsey Town War Memorial Centenary
The Chertsey Town War Memorial next to St Peter’s Church in Chertsey, Surrey was unveiled at a grand ceremony on 30 October 1921. Ahead of the centenary in October 2021, I am curating a public history project to uncover some long-forgotten stories about those who lost their lives during the Great War, their bereaved families,…
Podcast: The Remembrance of War
Welcome to my first podcast, ‘The Remembrance of War’ which features interviews with Dr Edward Madigan and Alice Pearson. Please join us as we discuss the remembrance of war from both historical and present-day perspectives. Running time 27 minutes.
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The Long Path 