Helen Carr’s podcast, Hidden Histories, is a recent love of mine. I ended up listening to it in a binge session between April and May because it was so good. (It might be a bit of an obsession, but…let’s not go there.) As a result, the fact that she agreed to an email interview made me one of the happiest people. She is also coming out with a book about John of Gaunt in 2021, so keep an eye out for it.
Helen Carr lives in Cambridge, England with her husband and daughter. She enjoys walking her two dogs, Otter and Freyja, running, and yoga. She also loves reading and a nice glass of wine. Helen has a History of Art BA, Medieval History MRes, and her History PhD is in progress. Helen’s husband is very supportive of her work, and he’s her number one critic and proofreader. In addition, she has “dragged” her daughter to various historical sites since she was three weeks old.
Helen is a historian, writer and history documentary producer. She loves her job, She wouldn’t do anything else. She lives and breathes history. Like anything, it does have some tedious aspects from time to time. According to Carr, “standing in the freezing cold after 12 hours of filming can make you question your life decisions, as can a bibliography.” Helen couldn’t be happy doing anything else. She says that her job chose her, as corny as that sounds.
Helen’s done multiple things before fully committing to her current job as a historian and writer. She worked in an auction house for a while. She then went into TV as a researcher. After, she was lucky to get a job working on In Our Time as a writer/researcher. She learnt a lot about writing from that working on In Our Time.
Helen’s writing spot is antique desk that her husband bought her for her 30th birthday. Her dogs sit underneath it. For her writing, Helen finds inspiration in a few ways. Her inspiration comes from getting out and seeing historical sites, taking a long walk, immersing myself in a movie at the cinema alone, a great book or a great conversation. She was always a big reader before she began writing. Although, she thinks it is natural to have periods of your life where you read less. When she was studying I had to read so much, she didn’t switch off reading as she’d have liked to. Reading for enjoyment should never feel like a chore.
Helen’s interest in writing wasn’t really conscious; she just did it. She didn’t think too much, she just liked the way it felt like a creative process. Helen would stop and read back and then go over and over. She likes the idea you can re visit words to shape them into something you can’t articulate on the spot, like speech. Her writing career was a natural progression and wasn’t really a conscious decision. She just sought out writing opportunities and it went from there. It was always a creative progression but went hand in hand with seeking opportunities. Writing for a living isn’t something that falls into your lap, you do need to put yourself out there and ask for a chance to prove yourself. To improve one’s writing, Helen’s main resource is practice, practice, practice. Along with practicing, she also says to read the writing of people you admire, inside and outside of your genre.
To prepare for her podcast, Hidden Histories, she included three points: research, genuine interest and not too much preparation. You can’t always plan what your interviewee will say. It is obvious when interviews don’t go with the flow. It has to be conversational.
Helen spent three years working on In Our Time and I learned how to interview experts. She loves making history accessible and podcasts are probably the most accessible way of learning to date. This is what inspired her to start her own podcast, Hidden Histories; it was a natural move for her. She set up Hidden Histories as interviews because she loves conversations about history. Her interest is genuine, and she enjoys hearing what experts have to say and the way they get excited about their subject. It’s infectious and she loves sharing that with people.
Helen love visiting sites, she’s a real culture vulture for architecture and immersive history. She read about his palace, the Savoy, and she tried to find out if it still existed. When Helen discovered it had been destroyed in the Peasants Revolt in 1381 out of hatred for Gaunt, she kept reading about him and realized he was a remarkable, complex and fascinating character. Helen wanted to write about him and the times he lived in. This is where the inspiration for her book, The Red Prince, the Life and Times of the Duke of Lancaster. She’s been doing that now for eight years, after focusing my degree on him and now, my book. On average, Helen spends about 6 hours a day working, 3 of which are allocated to writing.
A book is a process, there is a lot of growing into it, thinking time. It’s not a simple case of research and write. Creative processes cannot be forced. Helen does some of her best writing in an hour. A glass of wine always helps the process too.
Little Fun Facts
Helen’s favorite historian is her great grandfather, E.H Carr.
Choosing a favorite book is too hard, since she loves so many. Here are three but not necessarily her favorites: On Beauty by Zadie Smith, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, and Katherine by Anya Seton.
Helen’s favorite podcast is How to Fail with Elizabeth Day .
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