The National Archives Podcast Series

When Google launched in 1998, a prime ingredient in their not-so-secret sauce was the question: if a user randomly clicked links where on the web might they end up?They called the answer PageRank. This involved treating the web as a network rather than a bunch of isolated documents containing keywords. The outcome was a new verb and the near destruction of their competitors. Could repeating and refining 'the Google trick' help cultural bodies with research, collection care or digitisation?One limitation to overcome is the assumption that all users behave in the same way. Users are individuals within fuzzy communities. So, can we personalise PageRank and treat people more like individuals than averages?Matthew Pearce, from The National Archives, works on public sector information - in particular, its economics. His research is on the statistics and algorithms needed for personalised predictions.

This year marks the 170th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Police. This talk traces the history of the organisation through the stories of a few very ordinary British constables from the 1840s up to the First World War. Some sacrificed their careers by standing up for the rights of their colleagues, while others spent a lifetime fostering good relations with the local community. These were the men who helped mould the Force into the highly respected organisation which it became during the 20th century.Christine Thomas has had a 40 year career with the police in Hong Kong and London, working in the fields of Research and Archival Records Management. She is a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) and runs her own research service specialising in British expatriates who spent time in Hong Kong.

In 1843 the established Church of Scotland suffered a large secession of members who formed the Free Church of Scotland. In the early years of its existence the new church had to overcome a shortage of buildings and clergy, as well as the hostility of many landowners. Their response included the use of a floating church, a floating manse and the building of a yacht dedicated to the task of taking ministers to remote islands. The lecture looks at this curious episode in Scottish history and how and why the church evolved a 'naval policy'.Alex Ritchie is the Business Archives Advice Manager at The National Archives. In this lecture he distils years of research into the shipbuilding industry, maritime history and Scottish church history. He also reveals a key fact discovered in The National Archives itself.

In a time of shifting politics and world changing events, three men would emerge as masterful diplomats, ambassadors and advisors who possessed a shrewd political acumen. They each shared a complex and intriguing relationship with the other, while manipulating the powers around them in the game of diplomacy. Lauren Mackay explores the intersecting lives of Thomas Boleyn, Eustace Chapuys and Thomas Cromwell: the men behind the thrones.Lauren Mackay is a historian whose research focuses on courtiers and diplomats of the 16th century. She completed her Master of History with University of New England, and is currently researching her PhD on Thomas and George Boleyn in the English Reformation, with the University of Newcastle in Australia.

Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, impatient with courtly ritual, gave Queen Anne grudging praise for her knowledge of protocol: 'She has the greatest memory that ever was, especially for such things as are all forms, & ceremonys, giving people their due Ranks at Processions & their proper Places at Balls, & having the right order at Installments & funerals.'The detailed records of court rituals held by The National Archives - including papers related to Anne's coronation, the state visit she hosted for 'Charles III' of Spain, the funeral of Prince George, and her own funeral - attest to her close attention to courtly propriety. This talk explains that her motives for insisting on proper rituals were not merely personal and nostalgic but shrewdly political and diplomatic.James A Winn is William Fairfield Warren Professor of English at Boston University. His books include Unsuspected Eloquence (1981), a history of the relations between poetry and music; John Dryden and His World (1987), a prize-win

Florence Chandler was in her early 20s when she married much older James Maybrick, a Liverpool cotton broker, in 1881. Eight years later, tensions seethed. James was addicted to arsenic. Both were unfaithful. When James died suddenly, Florence was arrested for his murder. Was Florence victim or aggressor? Was she tried for her morality? Relying primarily on records from The National Archives, Kate Colquhoun re-examines the case dubbed by many as the greatest miscarriage of English justice and she asks what light it sheds on late Victorian society.Kate Colquhoun has written a biography of Joseph Paxton and a history of Britain through its food. She also wrote the non-fiction bestseller Mr Briggs' Hat, about the first murder on a British train.

Closing remarks by Gill Bennett, former Chief Historian, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1995-2005.This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War and peace - diplomacy, espionage and the First World War, held on 28 June 2014 at The National Archives, Kew.

Big data is big news. Did you know an estimated 90 per cent of the world's data was created in the last two years (see www.ibm.com/big-data)? Insights gleaned from large datasets are increasingly driving business innovation and economic growth. Underpinning this 'big data revolution' is a powerful combination of low cost cloud computing, open source analytics software and new research methodologies. These are enabling us to move from simply storing large sets of data to extracting real value from them. Big data analysis can now tell us everything from the most borrowed library books in 2013 to the most overweight areas in England.John Sheridan, Head of Legislation Services, introduces the Big Data for Law project. Why does data matter in law? What are we doing to transform the legal research? Can you imagine what an annual 'census' of the statute book might look like and what it could be used for? If you care about law, how it works and how we can make legislation clearer and more accessible, this talk is un

A Very British Murder is Lucy Worsley's account of a national obsession - a tale of dark deeds and guilty pleasuresLucy Worsley is Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity which opens up The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace to more than three million visitors a year. Before that, she worked for English Heritage and Glasgow Museums. As well as writing books about history, she presents history television programmes for the BBC.This talk was part of Writer of the Month - a series of talks, in which each month a high profile author shared their experiences of using original records in their writing.

Dr Stephen Twigge, of The National Archives, outlines the political landscape preceding the First World War - the July Crisis.This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War and peace - diplomacy, espionage and the First World War, held on 28 June 2014 at The National Archives, Kew.

Dr Richard Dunley, of The National Archives, discusses American involvement in the First World War, particularly the three-way dynamic of British-American-German relationships.This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War and peace - diplomacy, espionage and the First World War, held on 28 June 2014 at The National Archives, Kew.

Dr Martin Farr, of Newcastle University, discusses propaganda and intelligence in the lead up to the First World War.This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War and peace - diplomacy, espionage and the First World War, held on 28 June 2014 at The National Archives, Kew.

Dr Bryan Glass, of Texas State University, examines the role of the Empire during the First World War.This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War and peace - diplomacy, espionage and the First World War, held on 28 June 2014 at The National Archives, Kew.

Professor Alan Sharp, of the University of Ulster, examines diplomacy after the Paris Peace Conference.This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War and peace - diplomacy, espionage and the First World War, held on 28 June 2014 at The National Archives, Kew.

Dr Juliette Desplat, of The National Archives, gives an overview of the consequences of the First World War for the Middle East.This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War and peace - diplomacy, espionage and the First World War, held on 28 June 2014 at The National Archives, Kew.

Please note: Professor Brand quotes direct dialogue from original plea rolls and some listeners might find the language offensive.The Annual Lecture of the Pipe Roll Society 2014 was given by Professor Paul Brand, All Souls College Oxford. Professor Brand is one of the world's leading experts on medieval law in England and Ireland and has published extensively on the subject.The Pipe Roll Society is an academic society dedicated to publishing editions of the pipe rolls of the Exchequer and other medieval documents.

In a period where politics could not be separated from dynasty and the personal relationships between individuals were crucial to government, women often played a key role in diplomacy. This was certainly the case in relations between England and Scotland in the medieval period, with sisters, daughters and cousins of English kings regularly being dispatched north of the border to forge links through marriage with the Scottish kings. This talk draws on records at The National Archives and elsewhere to illuminate the roles that these women played and discuss what light they can shed on Anglo-Scottish relations.Dr Jessica Nelson works at The National Archives specialising in the high medieval period and her research interests include royal women and queenship.

The National Archives is engaged in its first Knowledge Transfer Partnership. The scheme aims to support UK businesses to improve their competitiveness, productivity and performance by accessing knowledge and expertise in UK academic institutions. The scheme partners companies with academic institutions in order to develop knowledge, technology or skills they currently lack.In this talk Kostas Ntanos, Head of Conservation Research and Development at The National Archives, will discuss the archives' partnership with the IMC Group and how together they are developing a tool to assess environmental conditions with the aim of improving the preservation of records, reducing energy usage, and developing a performance benchmark.Kostas Ntanos joined The National Archives in 2005 and has been Head of Conservation Research and Development since 2009. He has a keen interest in developing environmental management tools for users across the archival sector.This event took place as part of Big Ideas, a series of monthly ta

Have you been unsuccessful in searching for a personal file for someone in SOE or perhaps you found a file containing little detail? There may be alternative or supplementary sources. This talk suggests ways to identify these sources and find further information about SOE service in records held at The National Archives.Neil Cobbett has worked at The National Archives for 19 years, specialising in Special Operations Executive and modern (post-1688) Irish records.

The 19th century saw a series of scandals concerning sane individuals being locked away in lunatic asylums, who were the victims of unscrupulous persons who wanted to be rid of a 'difficult' family member, spouse or friend. But who were the victims of this trade? How much can you find about contested cases, private asylums and dishonest doctors in the surviving records? Sarah Wise explains what she learned during research for her latest book, which made use of The National Archives' holdings as well as a number of other less well known sources of data.Sarah Wise's debut, The Italian boy: Murder and grave robbery in 1830s London, was shortlisted for the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction and won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for non-fiction. Inconvenient people: Lunacy, liberty and the mad doctors (Vintage) has recently been published in paperback. Find out more at www.sarahwise.co.uk.