What's Your Map?

• S4 Ep5: Lessons in Scouting with Dwayne Fields (Live at the British Library)

  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. 

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• S4 Ep4: Manoeuvres along the Meridian with Nicholas Crane (Live at the British Library)

  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. 

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• S4 Ep3: Fighting the Robber of Youth with Dr. Animesh Sinha

  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. 

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• S4 Ep2: Encountering the Big River with Hannah Claus

  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. 

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• S4 Ep1: Silver Sails: Following the Galleon Route with Dr. Katie Parker

  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. 

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