Armoured Martial Arts, with Jenny Häbry
Jenny Häbry is an armoured martial arts competitor who has crowned UK’s best female fighter in both 2022 and 2024, and again in 2025. And since 2024 has served as the Women’s National captain. She has founded her own team, and her favourite discipline is pro fighting, where she remains undefeated. In 2025 she secured […]
Messers and More, with Bob Brooks
Robert (Bob) Brooks is one of the original generation of historical fencers, who began training with me in the Dawn Duellists’ Society in the early 90s. He founded the Hotspur School of Defence in 2003. So it’s turning 20 this year. He has been teaching primarily German historical martial arts and he has taught in […]
What is a volta? A very detailed examination of Fiore, with Dario Magnani
My guest today is Dario Alberto Magnani, better known as Mr. Thokk, who was a longtime scholar of the Italian single combat tradition from the late medieval/early Renaissance period, and a world renowned historical martial arts instructor and gear designer. As a swordsman, he specialises in northern Italian fencing from the early 15th to the […]
Horse Armour at the Royal Armouries, with Eleanor Wilkinson-Keys
Today’s episode is with Eleanor Wilkinson-Keys, who is Assistant Curator of Arms and Armour at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. She has an MA in Medieval Studies from the University of Leeds, and works with the European armour and edge weapons collections, which makes us all extremely jealous, and the Asian and African collection […]
How to fight like Sir Gawain, with Dr Przemysław Grabowski-Górniak
Dr. Przemysław Grabowski-Górniak is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of English Studies at the University of Warsaw. His research focuses on the chivalric tradition of the late Middle Ages, be it chivalric romances or medieval manuscripts and treatises on the art of war, with a special focus on the English literary portrayals of Sir […]
Bringing Fiore to a Knife Fight, with Ian Davis
Ian Davis is a historical fencing instructor at Boston Armizare, specialising in Italian fencing from the 14th to the 16th centuries. These days he is almost exclusively interested in wrestling, dagger and harness. Ian has been testing to discover what it actually takes to stick a sword point through historical maille. Here are some videos […]
Medieval Banana Hammocks with Tasha Dandelion Kelly
Today’s episode is with Tasha Dandelion Kelly, an expert in medieval clothing who blogs at La Cotte Simple and in my opinion, knows perhaps more than anyone else on the planet about how a gambeson should be made. We talk about the Charles de Blois pourpoint, which is constructed in such a way that it […]
Fiore and the Dinosaurs with Erin Fitzgerald
Erin Fitzgerald is a historical martial arts practitioner at the Chicago Swordplay Guild, but her day job takes us much further back in time: to the time of the dinosaurs. Erin is a Fossil Preparator and in our conversation she explains the painstaking process of safely transporting fossils back to the lab and cleaning them […]
Yoghurt Pot Armour, with Kin Chan
Kin Chan is a landscape designer, a cosplayer, and a historical martial arts practitioner, who lives in Ontaria, Canada. In this episode we discuss making things at all ends of the scale, from the tiny (watchmaking) to the huge (landscape design), with cosplay and armour in between. Kin takes us through the incredible amount of […]
Stretto and Surgery, with Elizabeth Scott
Elizabeth Scott is a historical martial arts and armoured combat practitioner on foot and on horseback, as well as being a surgeon. In our conversation we cover the obvious risks to your fingers when taking part in armoured combat, which could be highly problematic in Elizabeth’s profession. We talk about the mindset needed for both […]