Episodes

  • S4 Ep6: From Meadow to Metropolis: Mapping a World of Sound with Michaela Vieser

    S4 Ep6: From Meadow to Metropolis: Mapping a World of Sound with Michaela Vieser
    Jan 14 2026

    In this episode, Jerry meets with acclaimed nature and travel writer Michaela Vieser. The focus of their conversation is an interactive map that charts 98 distinct sounds and silences from around the globe.

    The creation of this geographical sound archive is connected to her new book co-written with Isaac Yuen, The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds Across Landscapes and Imagination. From the swaying, lush meadows of the Altai Mountains, to the unique jingles at Tokyo’s train stations, Michaela guides Jerry through a selection of her favourites on this auditory adventure.

    Together, they discuss the temporal nature of sound, the vulnerability of the changing landscapes in which they were recorded, and the emotional and physical experience of listening.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    Image detail: Map data.Google © 2025 / Co-authored by Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen.

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.

    Show More Show Less
    28 mins
  • S4 Ep7: Out of the Cave: Encounters and Anima with Jago Cooper

    S4 Ep7: Out of the Cave: Encounters and Anima with Jago Cooper
    Dec 31 2025
    In this episode, Jerry meets with Dr. Jago Cooper to examine a map of an ancient cave network on Isla de Mona in the Caribbean Sea. The map pinpoints the locations of markings that depict Indigenous beliefs and also trace 500 years of cross-cultural encounters.

    Jago is the Director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a world class art museum based in Norwich with a unique perspective on how art can foster cultural dialogue and exchange. It is the first of its kind in formally recognising art as a living lifeforce and acts as a conduit between the art and people.

    In his discussion with Jerry, Jago reflects on how his archaeology career has influenced his views and deepened his knowledge of diverse world cultures. He and Jerry explore how mapping can help us understand relationships between people and place, rather than just routes and borders.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    Image detail: ©Antiquity Publications Ltd and Cambridge University Press (2016).

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.


    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
  • S4 Ep6: Smuggling Silk: WWII Escape Maps with Dr. Barbara A. Bond

    S4 Ep6: Smuggling Silk: WWII Escape Maps with Dr. Barbara A. Bond
    Dec 17 2025
    In this episode, Jerry speaks with the illustrious Barbara A. Bond, the former cartographic researcher in the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Together, they pour over an important but unassuming silk escape map of Danzig (Gdansk) port from World War II. What information is presented on the map, and what has been intentionally excluded? More importantly, how did this map end up in the hands of a Prisoner of War hoping to escape the enemy in Europe?

    We gain access all areas to Barbara’s astounding career in mapping: Jerry hears highlights from her first exposure to maps as a child, to her tenure as President of the British Cartographic Society and Director of the Hydrographic Office in the UK. Along the way, we gain insight to her PhD research on MI9's escape and evasion mapping programme in WWII, resulting in her brilliant book Great Escapes.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    Image detail: Silk escape map of Danzig Port (1942) ©Courtesy of the Military Intelligence Museum

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.
    Show More Show Less
    34 mins
  • S4 Ep5: Lessons in Scouting with Dwayne Fields (Live at the British Library)

    S4 Ep5: Lessons in Scouting with Dwayne Fields (Live at the British Library)
    Dec 10 2025
    In this second live episode from the British Library, Jerry speaks to explorer and Chief Scout Dwayne Fields, who is accompanied by Head of the Scout Heritage Collection, Caroline Pantling.

    They shine a spotlight on the innovative, hand-drawn maps of the Scout movement founder Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941), and talk about the importance of imagination and adventure.

    The maps they discuss in the episode are illustrations from Baden-Powell's 1915 book "My Adventures as a Spy". The book recounts Baden-Powell's own experiences in the military and his career in espionage, and features his charming hand-drawn maps hidden in natural history sketches.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    Image detail: Public Domain via Project Gutenberg. (Vectorised, October 2025).

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • S4 Ep4: Manoeuvres along the Meridian with Nicholas Crane (Live at the British Library)

    S4 Ep4: Manoeuvres along the Meridian with Nicholas Crane (Live at the British Library)
    Dec 10 2025
    In this special live episode at the British Library, Jerry speaks to celebrated geographer, author, broadcaster and former President of the Royal Geographical Society, Nicholas Crane.

    They discuss the discreet War Department takeover of an area of the Wiltshire countryside for British Armed Forces training, and the Military Manoeuvres Act of 1872 as demarcated on James Wyld's map of Salisbury Plain.

    We learn more about the importance of map projections and the world's first scientific atlas by Gerard Mercator. We will also hear about Nicholas' own epic journeys across the UK, including his extraordinary coast to coast walk two degrees west of the prime meridian from Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland, to the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    Image detail: ©From the British Library Collection - Maps 5710.(1).

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • S4 Ep3: Fighting the Robber of Youth with Dr. Animesh Sinha

    S4 Ep3: Fighting the Robber of Youth with Dr. Animesh Sinha
    Dec 3 2025
    In this episode, Jerry Brotton meets Dr. Animesh Sinha from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). Animesh is an infectious diseases specialist who has spent his career caring for people in remote regions with HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and hepatitis.

    Animesh is the principal investigator in a project named Zero TB where his team are using GIS data and maps to treat, and hopefully eradicate, TB in a city called Kulob which is located in Southern Tajikistan.
    MSF is a humanitarian organisation providing critical medical care in more than 70 countries around the world. We hear about Animesh’s career as a medic in the Indian Army and his more recent experiences as an MSF doctor in South Sudan and Chechnya. We find out the essential role that mapping has in monitoring live cases and drug resistance, as well as how the MSF’s open-source ‘mapathons’ assist medical professionals and emergency services in healthcare delivery and disaster response.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    Image detail: ©Médecins Sans Frontières

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.
    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
  • S4 Ep2: Encountering the Big River with Hannah Claus

    S4 Ep2: Encountering the Big River with Hannah Claus
    Nov 19 2025
    In this episode, Jerry takes another excursion to meet with Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) and English visual artist, Hannah Claus.

    Hannah is in London exhibiting at the High Commission of Canada in the U.K. as part of their commitment to show work by Indigenous Canadian artists. Her body of work titled tsi iotnekahtentiónhatie - éntie nonkwá:ti [where the waters flow - south shore] tells the story of the Kahrhionhwa’kó:wa [the Great River, or Saint Lawrence River]. Her artwork éntie nokwá:ti ne Kaniatarowánen [water song - south shore] features as her chosen map for this episode: it is an installation that visualises a sound wave of a water song composed by Ionhiarò:roks McComber.

    During this intimate tour of Hannah’s artworks, she tells Jerry about First Nations cosmologies and the importance of having a relationship to the land and bodies of water upon which one resides. Together, they delve into the concept of what constitutes a map, and how artists convey the narratives and collective histories of specific places through their work.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    Image © Hannah Claus/The Sunderland Collection

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.
    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
  • S4 Ep1: Silver Sails: Following the Galleon Route with Dr. Katie Parker

    S4 Ep1: Silver Sails: Following the Galleon Route with Dr. Katie Parker
    Nov 5 2025
    In the first episode of Season 4, our host Jerry Brotton finds himself at one of the world's largest and most active exploration-focused institutions: the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London. He meets with Cartographic Collections Manager Dr. Katie Parker to pore over a mid-sixteenth century treasure that both the RGS and The Sunderland Collection are privileged to own an example of.

    Produced in around 1550, this atlas by Battista Agnese is a luxurious curation of 13 hand-drawn portolan charts of the known world. Jerry and Katie explore what these exquisite maps show, and who would have owned them. They discuss the European desire for imperial expansion in pursuit of wealth, from silver and gold in the west to spices in the east. We also learn more from Katie’s expertise in 18th-century European maritime history and Pacific voyages of exploration.

    From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join us in this award winning podcast (Gold in Education at the British Podcast Awards 2025) as Jerry Brotton invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it.

    If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - What’s your map?

    What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique maps and atlases.

    For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen.

    All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins