Lessons from history

History author Ian Mortimer has taken readers on travels through time from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution. STU LAMBERT asks him how our country and our county changed in Regency times

- STU LAMBERT

You arrive in England. Where can you get something to eat – and is it wise to eat it?

How do you travel onwards? Importantly, how do you avoid being robbed, stabbed or thrown in jail?

These and many other questions are answered in Ian Mortimer’s series of four Time Traveller’s Guides, spanning six centuries in Medieval England, Elizabethan England, Restoration Britain and, from November, Regency Britain, which covers the period from 1789 to 1830.

Many of the fascinations of the series continue in the new book: the crazy excesses of the super-rich, the appalling suffering of the very poor, bizarre punishments for crimes and endearing details of the everyday life of ordinary people. Ian describes the Regency period as: “…a time when gentlemen and ladies, beggars and clergymen, soldiers and tramps, employers and courtesans could all pretty much behave as they saw fit, in a world that gleamed with gold and heroism, drink and sex, excitement and opportunity.”

This evocative, often wryly humorous style makes easy reading of the broad and detailed research from contemporary documents and journals which makes past times spring to life.

I met Ian on a sunny autumn day in the garden of his home in Moretonhampstead. I’m keen to find out what the headlines are for Devon during the turbulent times of political and industrial revolution that the new book covers.