Paul Lay

London

Senior Editor, Engelsberg Ideas. Author of Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell’s Protectorate. Co-host 1666 and All That. Amused sceptic. Was WBCU-C.

Articles

Musical morphine

2 weeks ago | thecritic.co.uk | Paul Lay

This article is taken from the April 2025 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10. It may now be hard to believe, but there was a time, not so long ago, when classical music was cool. Sort of.
EI Talks... the myth and magic of spy fiction

2 months ago | audioboom.com | Alastair Benn |David Omand |Paul Lay

Are we living through a golden age of espionage drama? And what do spy stories tell us about the true nature of the secret world? EI's Alastair Benn is joined by David Omand, ex-head of GCHQ, the British government’s world-renowned cyber agency, and author of How Spies Think, Pauline Blistène, an expert on intelligence affairs and spy fiction, and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the enduring popularity and legacy of the spy in fiction.
The prophet of combative Toryism

2 months ago | thecritic.co.uk | Paul Lay

This article is taken from the February 2025 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10. When asked what is the best historical exhibition I have seen — and, as a former editor of History Today I have seen a few — I usually opt for the British Library’s Henry VIII: Man and Monarch, which opened in 2009, the 500th anniversary of the Tudor monarch’s accession.
EI Talks... the dawn of the post-literate society

2 months ago | audioboom.com | Alastair Benn |James Marriott |Paul Lay

Is the era of mass literacy over? And what might a post-literate society look like? EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Times columnist James Marriott and Senior Editor Paul Lay to discuss the promise and peril of a culture defined by the audiovisual. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn, and produced by Caitlin Brown. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
The long struggle for Greenland

Jan 8, 2025 | engelsbergideas.com | Paul Lay

Donald Trump, US President-elect, likes to strike a deal, and property deals don’t come much bigger than Greenland, the world’s largest island, almost equidistant to Washington and Moscow, and the shortest polar route between the two capitals. It is a huge geopolitical chess piece, despite a population just short of 60,000 souls. Greenland is a self-governing territory, subject to Denmark, where one fifth of Greenlanders reside.
The miracle of Tristan und Isolde

Aug 5, 2024 | engelsbergideas.com | Paul Lay

Even by the prodigious standards of Richard Wagner, there was a lot going on in his life as 1854 became 1855. For five years, since completing Lohengrin in the spring of 1848, he had composed no music, but the dam had finally burst. Work on the immense undertaking of the Ring had begun: Das Rheingold was complete, and Die Walküre sketched, though his private life was in turmoil.
The Man Who Inspired 'Shōgun' on Apple Podcasts

Jun 19, 2024 | podcasts.apple.com | Paul Lay |Miranda Malins

Historian Giles Milton joins Miranda and Paul to talk about the life and times of William Adams, an English navigator who was part of a Dutch expedition to the Spice Islands. Adrift in the Pacific, they ran aground in Japan, then a closed and secretive land in the grip of brutal civil war. Unusually for a European, Adams integrated into Japanese society and developed a strong working relationship with the all-powerful shōgun. Giles told Adams' story in his book 'Samurai William'.
The Enigmatic Monarch on Apple Podcasts

May 29, 2024 | podcasts.apple.com | Paul Lay |Miranda Malins

Who was King Charles II? As a controversial new drama-doc portrays him as a brutal avenger of his father's killers, Paul and Miranda go in search of the real Charles. With guest historians Linda Porter and Charlotte White as expert witnesses, we revisit Charles's childhood, his tumultuous experience of Civil War upheavals and years in exile, and his surprisingly conciliatory return to take the throne. Charles II is a larger-than-life figure renowned for his loose living and numerous mistresses.
EI Talks... the age of upheaval

May 16, 2024 | audioboom.com | Paul Lay |Alastair Benn

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What Did the Stuarts Do For Us? on Apple Podcasts

May 15, 2024 | podcasts.apple.com | Paul Lay |Miranda Malins

For better or for worse, the Stuart dynasty dominated the 17th-century English political landscape - with inevitable consequences for Scotland, Ireland and wider parts of a nascent empire. History's verdict on the Stuart monarchs is uncertain. Their absolutist inclinations led to Civil War, yet under Stuart leadership the century's turmoils resolved themselves in a way that left Britain stable and well-placed to grow in the following decades.