The Sword Guy Podcast

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/sword-business-with-jo-york/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Jo York is a provost of the Hotspur School of Defence, which is based in the north east of England, and an entrepreneur in her work life, as well as an avid listener of this show. Jo talks about her home town of Knaresborough, with its annual Bed Race. There are pictures here: https://www.bedrace.co.uk/gallery/2022-race And this is the fabulous Yorkshire-accented raven at Knaresborough castle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf42vpQMJ9o Jo works with start-up businesses and has started her own businesses too, so we talk about what makes a good idea for a viable enterprise and how to go about it. The book Guy mentions is Don’t Trust Your Gut, by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz and the book Jo recommends is The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers and Learn If Your Business is a Good Idea when Everyone is Lying to You, by Rob Fitzpatrick. Check out Jo’s cutting square website at: https://cuttingsquare.com/ This interactive cutting square tells you where to aim your next blow. There is a left-handed and right-handed option, and you can set the tempo.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/yoghurt-pot-armour-with-kin-chan/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Kin Chan is a landscape designer, a cosplayer, and a historical martial arts practitioner, who lives in Ontaria, Canada. In this episode we discuss making things at all ends of the scale, from the tiny (watchmaking) to the huge (landscape design), with cosplay and armour in between. Kin takes us through the incredible amount of work and craftsmanship that goes into creating costumes for cosplay conventions, and we talk about the similarities between cosplay and historical re-enactment. We also geek out about our favourite historical armour. You can find Maximilian’s flying blasting plates, designed with help from clockmakers, at around 10:31 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY_RldJvCWs As promised, you can find photos of Kin’s workspace, his Beserker armour and Monster Hunter armour on the blog page here: https://swordschool.com/podcast/yoghurt-pot-armour-with-kin-chan/ There is an Instagram video with more detailed views of the armour here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVDvjbbjH-f/ and this is the Wanpans Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/wanpansarmoury/ This is the link to the David Ito episode we talk about towards the end of our conversation: https://swordschool.com/podcast/fire-eating-and-fencing-episode25/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/stretto-and-surgery-with-elizabeth-scott/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Elizabeth Scott is a historical martial arts and armoured combat practitioner on foot and on horseback, as well as being a surgeon. In our conversation we cover the obvious risks to your fingers when taking part in armoured combat, which could be highly problematic in Elizabeth’s profession. We talk about the mindset needed for both swordsmanship, surgery, and flying a plane, where failure can mean death. How can these skills be taught in the safest way? We also have a discussion about ‘stretto’ and what Fiore meant by the term. Guy explains his interpretation and why, according to him, stretto is not just a description of measure.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/youve-been-holding-your-lightsaber-all-wrong-with-kyle-rowling/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Kyle Rowling is a fight master, director of the Action Acting Academy, and he is also the man who taught Samuel L Jackson how to use a lightsaber. In this episode we hear about how Kyle became Christopher Lee’s body double, the real ending to the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and what it’s like to have your own action figure and Lego minifigure. Kyle has body doubled all the Sith characters in Star Wars, even General Grievous, and alongside legendary stunt coordinator, Nick Gillard, taught Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen how to wield a lightsaber. And yes, you’re holding it wrong. Listen in for Kyle’s incredible stories of what it is like to work behind and in front of the camera on Star Wars.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/training-nerds-in-the-desert-with-skye-hilton/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Skye Hilton is a historical martial arts instructor and fitness trainer, best known as The Nerd Trainer, who lives in West Texas, hundreds of miles from the nearest sword school, so when she moved out there from California she started her own school to find people to play with: www.theswordschool.org/. In this episode we talk about the best exercises people can do before starting sword classes, imposter syndrome, “fendente bots”, and taking part in “Forged in Fire: Knife or Death,” a US History network series. Forged in Fire is an obstacle course of increasingly crazy things you have to cut, break, bash, stab and get to the end in order to progress to a harder obstacle course. Here are some photos of Skye with her chopper, cutting through dry bamboo and even a PVC pipe filled with gravel: https://swordschool.com/podcast/training-nerds-in-the-desert-with-skye-hilton/ We also have a good chat about sharpening and how sharp medieval swordsmen were able to get their blades, so this is a good episode for fellow blade sharpening enthusiasts!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/pain-is-the-best-teacher-with-steaphen-fick/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Today’s episode is with Steaphen Fick, who is a historical martial arts instructor and a fight choreographer, and also an old comrade in arms since we met in Edinburgh in the nineties. In fact, in this episode you will hear about a certain naked escapade involving swords in Finland in 1999. Click here for a picture of us, fully clothed, from the same trip. Steaphen founded the Davenriche European Martial Arts School in Santa Clara, California in 2000 and it is still going 22 years later. We will be talking about how he managed that, and how he has built it up into having 8700 square feet of space to include swords, archery, axe throwing, and even airsoft. There is a lot in this episode about running a business, which would be of interest to anyone thinking of setting up their own school. Academically, Steaphen is perhaps best known for his interpretive work on Joseph Swetnam. Swetnam may have been a horrible man, but he had useful footwork for when you’re standing on a moving deck of a ship and a different style from the Italians of the same period. We talk about how one would manage Swetnam’s 12 foot lunge, and here is the link to the Max Your Lunge blog post.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/what-is-a-round-table-with-elizabeth-champion/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Elizabeth Champion is an arms and armour historian specialising in high medieval Round Table tournaments and the Merlin legends. She's also a historical fencer, co-founder of Stratford Swords and an ex-cage fighter. In our conversation we discuss what was a Round Table Tournament. Is it to do with King Arthur, or the arrangement of the tables, or both? If you have come across anything to do with Round Tables in your reading, if you think you might know something, check if it's in Elizabeth’s appendix here: https://swordschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Appendix-Round-Tables-of-England-Scotland-and-Wales-1230-1330-E.Champion-Final.pdf If it's already there, Elizabeth already knows about it. And if it isn't there, send it to me and I'll pass it on to her. Let’s crowdsource this and get to the bottom of it! Elizabeth tells us about her cage fighting days, and the injury she sustained that led to fibromyalgia and chronic pain. She also has autism and ADHD, and is able to give us some useful advice for fellow instructors and practitioners to help make our clubs as inclusive and supportive as possible. As well as all that, listen to this episode for top tips like why you need to put a sock on the end of a stick, how to make an axe safe to carry around the streets using just a brown paper bag, how to bear to watch terrible sword fights in films, and how many Dyson vacuum cleaners a cuirass is worth.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/synthetic-armour-and-smithing-in-france-with-anthony-rischard/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Anthony Rischard is a blacksmith, historical martial arts practitioner and proprietor of Black Armoury, one of the largest suppliers of historical martial arts gear in Europe. In our conversation we talk about how Anthony gave up his office job to become a full time blacksmith in France, and his move into starting Black Armoury. Have a listen to find out why they began producing suits of armour made entirely from synthetic materials and what the benefits of plastic are compared to steel. The last couple of years have been unusually challenging for Anthony’s business, especially with the current supply issues across Europe and the situation in Ukraine. There are a lot of photos to share with you for this episode! Visit the episode page on Swordschool.com to see them: https://swordschool.com/podcast/synthetic-armour-and-smithing-in-france-with-anthony-rischard/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/smacking-people-in-the-head-gracefully-with-riri-nitihardjo/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Riri Nitihardjo is a martial arts (and ballet) practitioner from Jakarta, Indonesia. Riri first got interested in swords when she discovered The Lord of the Rings and wanted to learn how to wield a sword like Aragorn. She became so hooked on Tolkein that she took a linguistics programme at university – though they wouldn’t let her do her graduate thesis on Elvish languages. The historical European martial arts scene is very small in Indonesia, so Riri and her friends started their own club. Five years later and the club, Gwaith-i-Megyr, is still going strong, with no formal structure and no paperwork. We chat about starting new things in your forties and how anyone at any age can get stronger and fitter and learn a new skill. Riri has been learning ballet, which has been really helpful for her sword training. If you are feeling “too old” for something, listen to this episode!

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/is-there-anything-daniel-jaquet-cant-do-in-armour/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr. Daniel Jaquet should need no introduction. He has been extremely active in both the academic and practical aspects of medieval combat research for the last couple of decades or more. He has a Ph.D. from Geneva University in medieval history, on combat in armour at the end of the Middle Ages and at the beginning of the Renaissance, based on studying combat manuals. So, he has a Ph.D. in actual, proper medieval sword fighting stuff, not just general medieval history stuff. He is a founder and co-editor of Acta Periodica Duellatorum, the only academic journal focussing on historical martial arts. Daniel is perhaps best known for his work on how well a knight could move in full armour, producing video demonstrations of climbing walls and ladders, doing flips and even chopping firewood in full armour. We don’t just talk about armour, we also cover women fighters in history, and getting the study of historical European martial arts recognised as an academic field of study. And then Daniel’s electricity gets cut off by his neighbour’s builders, which means a rather abrupt end to this episode. There are a few links to share with you, but before all that, you ought to see the video of the obstacle run in armour: https://youtu.be/pAzI1UvlQqw Here is a link to Daniel’s study on moving in armour: Range of motion and energy cost of locomotion of the late medieval armoured fighter: A proof of concept of confronting the medieval technical literature with modern movement analysis. Iron Men exhibit in Vienna (Until 26 June 2022). Fight Like a Girl! An investigation into female martial practices in European Fight Books from the 14th to the 20th century. Daniel’s website is: https://www.djaquet.info/ And his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/danjaquet/featured

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/judging-and-jeopardy-with-rebecca-glass/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Rebecca Glass is a historical martial arts instructor and an avid baseball fan. She has also appeared on the TV quiz show Jeopardy and is a part of the Trivia scene. In our conversation we talk about all three of these interests, plus judging historical martial arts tournaments. Rebecca is highly respected as a fight director, so we talk about what makes a good judge and how to make the right decisions when judging a fight. We start by talking about Liechtenauer’s Zettel, and this is the book Rebecca mentions: Sword, Science and Society, by James Acutt. When we talk about managing your mindset during tournaments (or any sports), this is the book mentioned: The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion: Sports psychology, by Lesley Paterson and Simon Marshall. Finally, we also talk about the ideal alcohol pairing for doughnuts. What do you think would be best? Single malt? Champagne?

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/fabris-vs-capoferro-with-reinier-van-noort/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr. Reinier van Noort is a martial arts instructor and translator of over a dozen historical fencing treatises. He now lives in Norway but is originally from the Netherlands, so we talk about his impressive skills in translating from one foreign language into another. You can find Reinier’s work at www.bruchius.com, and his list of publications here: Publications - Ense et Mente (bruchius.com). We covered a lot in our conversation as you can see from the following notes: Jägerstock If you’re subscribed to my newsletter you’ll probably know that I have been working on the Jägerstock as promised in the interview. Reinier’s book that includes the Jägerstock is: The Martial Arts of Georg Johann Pascha. There's also a free translation of the Jägerstock material here: http://www.bruchius.com/docs/Pascha%20Hunting%20Staff%20by%20RvN.pdf. The book version is a newer translation, based on a later text that has a few more lessons, and some better plates. In my newsletter of 18th March I posted my first Jägerstock video: https://vimeo.com/688832535/a4fc0fa994 Please note, I shot it before I’d even finished making the proper Jägerstock, so I’m winging it with a bo staff. I’ve also got a longish video of me actually making the weapon (while musing on matters history and craft), https://vimeo.com/698975685/b526163231 Another on lessons 1-3 with the finished weapon, https://vimeo.com/698975706/2021cc549a And several more in the works. My current plan is to create a course on my teachable platform (which will be bundled in with the Mastering the Art of Arms subscription, of course), where I’ll post the videos as they are made. And when I have a working interpretation of the whole book (which is 34 lessons, each one of which is a short form), add those to the Solo Training course as a new section, and also release the whole ‘from book to working interpretation’ series as an object lesson in how I go about the interpretation process with an unfamiliar source, style, and weapon. Fabris and Capoferro After the Jägerstock chat we also have a bit to say about Fabris and Capoferro. As mentioned in the episode, here is Reinier’s Fabris lecture: Longpoint 2017 - Lecture: From Fabris to Pascha - YouTube. Reinier says he has expanded the lineage a bit since the lecture. We have a bit of a discussion about the lunge – read more on how to Max Your Lunge here: https://guywindsor.net/2022/04/max-your-lunge/ You can see the picture of Guy’s 1610 Capoferro, with the 1609 page stuck over the top of the 1610 page on podcast page on his website: https://swordschool.com/podcast/fabris-vs-capoferro-with-reinier-van-noort/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/rocket-science-and-cosmic-washing-machines-with-naziyah-mahmood/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Naziyah Mahmood is a Scottish astrophysicist, aerospace engineer, aspiring citizen astronaut, STEM ambassador, model, writer, and artist. And of course, she’s mad about swords. In our conversation we talk about Naziyah’s love for the Eastern sword arts, primarily Haidong Gumdo. But there’s a diversion into Ancient Roman twin-sword-wielding gladiators… We also talk about training with a visual impairment, being underestimated, and the importance of self-expression. Here is a link to Naziyah’s film, A New Beginning, produced with Lee Fletcher Photography. There are swords, lightsabers and an absolutely freezing Scottish castle backdrop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbOA6itSiZM Where to find Naziyah: Blog: https://naziyahmahmood.wordpress.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NinjabiNaz Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naziyahmahmood/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/living-the-nobler-dream-with-christian-tobler/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Christian Tobler is a chivalric combat instructor and author of many books, including Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship, which launched the study of Liechtenauer in the Anglosphere. He also wrote Fighting with German Longsword, In St. George's Name: an Anthology of Medieval German Fighting Arts, In Service of the Duke, and many more. Not to mention his latest, which is Lance, Spear, Sword and Messer, a German Medieval Martial Arts Miscellany. In 1979, Christian and Carl Johnson founded one of the earliest historical martial arts organisations, The Order of Selohaar, a mystic order of chivalry, to try to answer the philosopher and polymath John Ruskin’s famous question, “Might we not live a nobler dream than this?”. The order is “dedicated to the preservation of honor, nobility, arcane wisdom, and martial excellence in an age where such traditions and values have generally been forgotten.” In our conversation we talk about getting into historical martial arts back in the 80s and 90s. The episode covers writing, researching, social media, and how to interpret the pictures in medieval manuscripts. We also talk about fighting each other, back in 2006. You can find Christian’s books at Freelance Academy Press, as well as the other usual places.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/duelling-and-a-day-in-the-life-of-guy/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Welcome to episode 100 of The Sword Guy Podcast! In this special episode, Ariel Anderssen (episode 93) interviews Guy about a whole load of stuff, including how Guy got into swords in the first place, the vision up a Scottish mountain that told him to open his school in Helsinki, injuries from duelling, Guy’s best ever sword fight, feminism, getting through the pandemic, and learning to fly. Ariel also asks Guy about his typical week – so if you have ever wondered how Guy spends his time, have a listen. Here are some photos from the infamous head wound incident: Thank you for listening, we hope you have enjoyed the last one hundred episodes. If you have enjoyed any of the conversations so far, please do leave a rating and review on your podcast platform, as it really helps other people find The Sword Guy podcast. We have many more exciting guests lined up, so keep tuning in! If you are interested in the Solo Training Course mentioned in the episode, you can find it here. And Guy’s book about solo training, The Windsor Method, is here.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/a-two-handed-sword-to-fight-a-griffin-with-marie-powell/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy It’s episode 99 of The Sword Guy Podcast! Next week we have a special 100th edition, so look out for that. While you’re waiting, you can enjoy this week’s episode with writer, journalist, editor and author, Marie Powell. Marie lives in Canada, but a search for her Welsh heritage inspired her to write her latest sword and sorcery epic, The Last of the Gifted. It is based on the events of 1282-1283 in Wales, when the last true Prince of Wales, Llywelyn of Aberffraw, was murdered by the English. His head was chopped off and sent to the king, Edward I, but nobody knows quite who killed him. There are several other mysteries surrounding the story, which we cover in our conversation, and we also talk about swords (both magical and historical), the Unicorn Exception, and giant elephants at Buckingham Palace. Find out more about Marie and her books: Website: https://mariepowell.ca/ Social Media Links: https://linktr.ee/mariepowell Last of the Gifted: Spirit Sight and Water Sight are available in eBook, paperback, and audiobook, with an omnibus edition also available in hardcover Spirit Sight - https://books2read.com/u/4XLkN1 Water Sight - https://books2read.com/u/mgznDR Last of the Gifted omnibus: https://books2read.com/u/mVaxqr Booklinks: https://mariepowell.ca/young-adult/booklinks/ Marie's mailing list: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a8p8d2

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/mastering-movement-with-dan-edwardes/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dan Edwardes is a parkour coach and teacher of teachers. He's a founding member and executive director of Parkour Generations, an international organisation of Parkour Instructors with schools all over the world. He's also the author of The Parkour and Free Running Handbook. Dan also has a background as a swordsman. He lived in Japan for five years, and was one of very few westerners to train at the Katori Shinto-ryu, the oldest and most respected sword school in Japan. It’s the only school that still requires you to do the blood oath, the Keppan, which you can hear about in this episode. Parkour is seen by many as pretty dangerous, but Dan explains the difference between danger and risk, and how he has had to retrain people’s perceptions of parkour. We also find out what Dan does to keep his joints healthy and how his body copes with all the impact. You can find more information on parkour and coaching training at www.danedwardes.com and at www.parkourgenerations.com.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-last-duel-or-was-it-with-ariella-elema/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr Ariella Elema is a finder of the forgotten, the hidden and the obscure. She's an academic and archivist and an armizare practitioner in Toronto. Her Ph.D. thesis, Trial by Battle in France and England, should give you some clue as to why I invited her on the show. But it also won the Canadian Society of Medievalists’ Leonard Boyle dissertation prize, which is very impressive. In our conversation we talk about trial by combat, trial by ordeal, and the film, The Last Duel. Was it actually the last duel? There are some fascinating insights from Ariella on how a trial by combat would come about, who got to participate in such trials, and how they didn’t necessarily end with any fighting taking place. You need to listen to hear Guy’s take on the German version of the trials: “It's like medieval, gimp-suited, mud wrestling, basically.” Here are some images of the Baculus Cornutus: Alençon, Bibliothèque municipale MS 96, folio 63v. From the second half of the twelfth century. British Library, Smithfield Decretals, MS Royal 10 E IV, folio 96v (detail). Circa 1300-1340. York Minster Cathedral, Saint William Window, Corpus vitrearum medii aevi no. 010564. Circa 1414. Here is a video lecture Ariella did for Middle Ages for Educators, called Anatomy of a Duel, about the case of Jean de Carrouges versus Jacques Le Gris, a lawsuit that occurred in Paris in 1386. It’s the subject of the book The Last Duel by Eric Jager, and also of the movie The Last Duel directed by Ridley Scott. This will spoil the movie for you. (Please note, it’s a discussion of a prosecution for rape and some fairly graphic violence.) https://youtu.be/kxQa1Su-0F4 Ariella is on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ariellaelema

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/frog-dna-and-indonesia-with-pradana/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Pradana Pandu Mahardhika lives in Bandung, Indonesia. He describes himself as a freelance translator/interpreter, amateur tailor, and professional procrastinator. In this episode we talk about how Pradana set up a historical martial arts club, Gwaith-i-Megyr, which was founded in 2016. He had been fencing as part of an informal group for a while, but when he decided to get some wooden swords made up, he found that the enthusiasm was really high, mainly from members of the Tolkien society. There are only three or four formal clubs in the whole of Indonesia, so it is still a small scene, and growth has of course been stalled by Covid. We have an interesting chat about languages. Did you know the formal variety of Indonesian has no tenses? Pradana is fluent in four languages, but unfortunately he doesn’t have the knowledge of the Malay Arabic script that would enable him to translate some 16th century Malay sources on using arquebuses. If you have that skill, please get in touch! More information on the Malay sources can be found here: https://www.academia.edu/7070689/Manuskrip_ilmu_bedil_Sumber_etnosejarah_teknologi_senjata_api_Melayu https://mowcaparchives.org/items/show/61 https://jantungmelayu.com/2018/08/kitab-ilmu-bedil-melayu/ It turns out that the treatises aren’t available online, yet. Pradana is also an archer and a tailor, with ambitions to become a pilot, so we talk about making medieval clothes and flying planes too. Here is a photo of Guy in his wedding suit which he had specially tailored to enable him to wear a sword. Photo credit: Georgia Bertazzi Pradana’s blog on military history, fiction writing, historical fencing, and other unrelated subjects is at sillynewsboy.wordpress.com.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 95 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/laser-focus-thought-control-and-jousting-episode95/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Sarah Hay has been jousting since 2008. Just ten years later she won the Queen's Jubilee Horn at the Royal Armouries’ Easter jousting tournament in Leeds. In this episode we find out how Sarah’s passion for jousting came about, her background with horses, getting your own armour, and the vital role that mindset plays in her success. Sarah casually dropped into conversation that she “controls her thoughts”, and we dig a little deeper into this. It’s a useful listen if you are interested in improving your performance in any area, or just looking to get rid of that negative voice inside your head. If you would like to see pictures of Sarah in her armour and taking part in tournaments, check out her Instragram @sarahjousts. The Toby Capwell episode mentioned can be found here: Episode 76 and the episode on jousting with New Zealand jouster, Callum Forbes, is here: Episode 40.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 94 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/harps-and-sharps-episode94/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr. Andrew Lawrence-King is a historical musician, harpist, continuo player, baroque opera director, winner of a Grammy in the category of best small ensemble performance. He is also a rapier fencer and Tai Chi practitioner. And I should mention his crowning professional achievement is, of course, providing the harp music for my George Silver Paradoxes of Defence audiobook. In our conversation we talk about the similarities between researching historical music and historical martial arts. We discuss the search for the one, perfect instrument and the challenges of recreating historically accurate music or swordplay using instruments/swords made with modern techniques. We also talk about the benefits of getting involved in music or martial arts for those of us who didn’t fit in at school, giving us confidence and a way to move our bodies that doesn’t involve traditional sports, whatever shape we are in. Andrew’s blog is https://andrewlawrenceking.com and he is on Twitter @Il_Corago.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 93 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/startling-burglars-with-ariel-anderssen/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Ariel Anderssen is a model, actor, author, property investor and is perhaps best known for her career as a BDSM model and performer. She is also mad about swords, both for using in stage fight and for collecting. We cover a lot in this conversation, including talking about whether stage combat or martial arts training would be any use in a “real life” fight, and how Ariel sees BDSM and sword fighting as virtually indistinguishable from one another. After all, they both often involve black leather and giving someone a good thrashing… Photos: Guy’s 1796 pattern cavalry sabre: Guy’s smallsword: Here is the link to the Zorro movie with the superb fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB8tiSMCwRE To find out more about Ariel, you can find her on her website, YouTube and Twitter.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 92 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/monte-with-mike-episode92/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Mike Prendergast is the founder and head instructor of the Historical Combat Academy in Dublin and translator of Pietro Monte’s Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea, which is otherwise known as the Collection of Renaissance, Military Arts and Exercises. He also teaches in an SCA group called Dun in Mara. In our conversation we talk about how you don’t have to be an expert or a professional teacher to set up your own club, which is something many of you may be interested to hear about. We then get into talking about Pietro Monte – who he was, what he taught and how he died. Mike has been working on translating the Exercitiorum and his 2018 draft of the translation can be found at www.mikeprendergast.ie/monte. The complete version will be available soon, so watch this space. Temperantia Mike's sword Temperantia is pictured above, and below next to a longsword: On a slight tangent, towards the end of the episode, there’s also a discussion about using NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) in strategic coaching and martial arts training. Useful links For more on the SCA and Buhurt, have a listen to the episodes with Stephen Muhlberger, Dayna Berghan-Whyman and Beth Hammer. Mike’s website: http://mikeprendergast.ie/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 91 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/forged-in-fire-quenched-in-oil-episode91/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Stephanie Aiuto lives in New York and began her career with blades as a sport fencer, competing at a national level in sabre, until she had to stop because she wore away all the cartilage in her toes. To fill the void the lack of sabre left in her life she took up knife making, and now works at Nazz Forge in Brooklyn, when she’s not doing her sensible day job. Stephanie’s website is Aiuto Knives and Swords, where you can see examples of her work. She’s also on Instagram at @aiutoknivesandswords. Here we have pictures of Guy’s pattern welded longsword, set of Narex Richter chisels and his Sgian Dhu: Chisels are from https://www.classichandtools.com/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 90 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/swords_in_the_movies_episode90/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Peter Lyon is a swordsmith and weapons maker from New Zealand. He originally started out making swords to use in medieval re-enactment in the 1980s, and was asked to make the swords for the Lord of the Rings movies. Since then Peter has worked on many other film productions with Wētā Workshop including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Hobbit trilogy, The Last Samurai, and Avatar. In this fascinating conversation Peter explains some of the tricks and behind the scenes detail about making swords as movie props. You will look at weapons in films in a whole different light after this. Here’s a picture of Boromir’s sword, which we talk about in the episode, and if you click on this link it’ll take you to the Wētā website which has the dimensions and stats: Peter’s website is Lyonesse Armoury, which has lots of pictures of Peter’s swords, resources and further reading.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 89 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/wooden-weapons-and-wing-chun-episode89/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy This week’s episode is with Carina Cirrincione of Raven Studios, based in Oracle, Arizona. Carina makes wooden training weapons such as longsword wasters, rondel daggers, and implements for Eastern martial arts. She's also a Tai Chi and Wing Chun practitioner and instructor. We talk about woodwork, Eastern martial arts, turning a hobby into a business and the challenges involved. Photos to accompany this episode This is Guy’s little chest of drawers: Here’s a photo of a pair of Carina’s Wing Chun Bot Jaam Do, or butterfly swords: And this is a wooden dummy used in Wing Chun, which Carina describes making: You can find all Carina’s products at www.little-raven.com and if you’re in the Oracle area and want to train in Wing Chun or Tai Chi, get in touch with her through the website. Raven Studios is also on Facebook and Instagram.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 88 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/bolognese-episode88/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Joshua Wiest is an instructor at the Triangle Sword Guild, North Carolina, USA. He focuses on the fighting systems of masters Achilles Marozzo, Giovanni dall’Agocchie, Antonio Manciolino, and Camillo Palladini. He's also a successful tournament fencer and host of the historical martial arts podcast l’Arte dell Armi. In this bumper episode we take a deep dive into these rockstars of 16th century Italian fencing. If you want to know anything about Bolognese fencing, this is the podcast for you. Here is a link to the Talhoffer treatises on Wiktenauer, as promised. Joshua’s YouTube channel is here. He is in the process of posting videos for all of Lignitzer's Sword and Buckler plays at the moment, but he managed to get the Palladini play shot for you here: https://youtu.be/DrKzNiGQtqM Here is Marozzo’s guardia d’intrare, from Guy’s 1568: And this is a copy of Viggiani’s Tree of Guards: The Duel of the Century: The two sword duel between Ascanio and Giovanni Taddei, in which Ascanio appears to be doing Marozzo’s eighth play. You can read about it here: https://guywindsor.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Terminiello-Piermarco-Reich-Steven-Fighting-with-two-swords-according-to-Altoni-and-Docciolini-2013.pdf F

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 87 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/ballet-for-swordfighters-episode87/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Anna Beard is a historical dancing and ballet and historical fencing instructor at Austin Historical Weapons Guild. She has been dancing since she was four and went on to get her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Dance from the University of Michigan, followed by teaching in studios, and running her own projects, performances and small dance companies. A move to Texas in 2018 ignited a passion for HEMA that has led to her becoming a co-owner of the Austin Historical Weapons Guild. Anna’s 20 years of teaching dance have given her a love and deep understanding of pedagogy and in our conversation we talk about training teachers and how to teach children or adults. She has taught workshops at events like Swordsquatch on ballet for swordfighters, renaissance dance, and exploring teaching methods. Whether she manages to change Guy’s mind on his dislike of ballet remains to be seen… Useful Links: The teacher that Anna mentioned as being a huge influence on her is Liz Lerman. Austin Historical Weapons Guild is on Twitter and Facebook, as well as other social media platforms.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 86 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/two-handed-swords-episode86/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Hello Sword People! Welcome to the Sword Guy podcast. This is your host, Dr Guy Windsor, consulting swordsman, teacher, and writer. Join me for interviews with historical fencing instructors and experts from a wide range of related disciplines, as we discuss swords, history, training, and bringing the joy of historical martial arts into our modern lives. As this show is going out on the last day of 2021, I thought I’d share some thoughts about the year gone by, and some ideas for the year ahead. All the links and information can be found in the blog post on my website. Then, we welcome Neil Melville, author of The Two-Handed Sword History, Design and Use. So of course we talk about two-handed swords. How do we decide what is a true two-handed sword? What is the difference between a longsword, a bastard sword, a zweihander and a montante? And how were these enormous swords used? Neil has been collecting swords since he bought his first sword in an antique shop in the 1960s. There are some pictures of his beautiful swords in the blog post. You won’t find Neil on any social media, but you can support him in the good old way of going out and buying his book, which is available in the usual places. The Two-Handed Sword History, Design and Use.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 85 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-mathematics-of-fencing-episode85/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Pamela Muir is the founder of the Academy of Chivalric Martial Arts in Arlington, Virginia. She's been doing historical martial arts since about 2003, and I've met her at several events. In this episode we talk about theoretical maths, Liechtenauer, chivalry, and representation for women in HEMA. Pamela also talks about the adult education class she teaches on historical fencing, and what a popular class it has turned out to be. A couple of things we said would be in the show notes: The Mike Loades interview is episode 48, and it was Dori Coblentz in episode 67 who suggested that there ought to be free childcare at all events. The web page for Pamela’s Academy of Chivalric Martial Arts is https://academychivalricma.org/ And also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AcademyChivalricMA/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 84 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/katanas-and-koryu-episode84/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy This week’s episode is with Jaredd Wilson. Jaredd is the host of the Martial Thoughts podcast, which I appeared on back in January. You can find a link to our “The Pen is Mightier than the Podcast” episode here, or on Stitcher or iTunes. In today’s conversation we talk about what prompted Jaredd to start up the podcast, and the joy of getting to interview interesting people. Jaredd is also a presenter at CombatCon and a long time practitioner of Japanese swordsmanship and other martial arts. We talk about how Japanese martial arts have evolved over the years and how training works. The conversation also take a slightly unlikely turn when we end up talking about a potential foray into the manufacture of high fashion silk ties. You can find The Martial Thoughts Podcast on Twitter and The Martial Thoughts blog.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 83 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/swordsmanship-is-woodwork-episode83/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Shanee Nishry is a historical martial arts instructor and founder of Stratford Swords, which is in Stratford-upon-Avon in the West Midlands of England. She's also a software engineer in the games industry. We first interacted when she posted some photos of a very ambitious woodworking projects she's working on, because I'm a complete woodworking nerd and it turns out that Shanee is turning into one too. A couple of woodworking YouTube links for you: Xyla Foxlin’s impossible table: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk1l9tIjbEs More woodworking ideas from Tamar 3X3 Custom: https://www.youtube.com/c/3x3CustomTamar We also talk about the swordsmanship community and a project Shanee would like to complete which would bring together the community into one cohesive place, where everyone can go to find all the publications and discuss and debate them. We talk about the difficulty in getting alignment on the interpretation of sources, and how to make secondary sources more accessible to everyone. Shanee can be found on her blog: https://shanee.io/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunarsong

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 82 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/your-challenge-for-december-episode82/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Hello Sword People, and welcome to the final monthly challenge of the year. This one is a little different. Before I introduce it, let me just refresh your memory about what the challenges are. Basically, they are alternatives to New Year's resolutions because I don't like New Year's resolutions very much, and the challenges so far this year have been: breaking a habit, adding a habit, sleeping - in other words, how to sleep better, food, (so eating better,) learning a new skill, working on stamina, working on strength, working on range of motion, working on footwork and working on striking. Now you may very well suppose that this month's challenge will have something to do with perhaps, well, we've done striking, let's have a look at throws. Or we’ve done striking, let's have a look at parrying or something like that. But no, we've done most of the aspects of solo training as I discuss in my book, The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training. So the focus of these challenges is on solo training and rest is part of training. So the question we are addressing this month, December, is how do you recover?

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 81 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/orcs_in_space_episode81/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Content warning: Within this podcast are descriptions of the horrific neglect of very elderly swords. Edoardo Albert is a London-based writer who writes about Britain in the early medieval period (between the Romans leaving and the Normans arriving), the 40th millennium in the Warhammer universe, and lots of other things besides. Find out more by visiting his website. This podcast is different to usual format in that Edoardo contacted me with a question, and rather than reply by email, I got him on the podcast instead. We talk about the research project at Bamburgh castle in Northumbria, which sparked Edoardo’s interest in the early medieval period. If you’ve never visited, please do, because it truly is the most impressive castle. Edoardo’s question relates to two pattern welded swords found at Bamburgh and how they would have been fought with. As you may know, this early medieval period is known as the "Dark Ages" because of a lack of sources relating to the period, and so it is an interesting question to discuss. One thing is for sure, the owners of these swords would have been a lot more proficient with their weapons than even the most dedicated HEMA practitioner today.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 80 Photo credit: The Royal Armouries For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/asian-and-african-arms-and-armour-episode80/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Natasha Bennett is the Curator of Oriental Collections at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, working with the Asian and African collections. These include an enormous spread of arms and armour mostly dating from between the 14th and 20th centuries, so her research interests are necessarily wide-ranging. She has presented specialist study sessions and seminars on mounted warfare in Asia, South Asian arms and armour, Islamic arms and armour, Asian swords, and textiles in Japanese armour. In our conversation we talk about guns, specifically the “15 Rupee Jezail” and how the popularity of the matchlock mechanism persisted because of its simplicity and functionality, even when elsewhere in the world newer technologies took over. In case you were wondering, this is what a jezail looks like: Photo credit: The Royal Armouries And this is the Tusken Cycler rifle from Star Wars: We also talk about Natasha’s work with the Anglo Sikh Virtual Museum and the amazing benefits of 3-D technology. You can have a good, close-up, 3-D look at the objects on the museum’s website: https://www.anglosikhmuseum.com/ This leads us into a discussion about the circumstances in which many items ended up in British museum collections, i.e. as colonial loot, which is a tricky issue for museums to navigate. Listen in to find out whether Indian steel weapons are the best, and also how Natasha plans to get her baby doing horseback archery before they can walk.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 79 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/medieval-myths-mindsword-mounted-combat-episode79/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy This episode is with Jason Kingsley OBE, co-founder and CEO of the games company Rebellion Developments, which also owns 2000 AD. And he's the man behind the YouTube channel Modern History TV starring his horse Warlord, which goes into depth and detail regarding many aspects of medieval life, most notably combat and horsemanship, but also aspects of daily life. We talk about misconceptions people have about medieval warfare, life, and horsemanship, and how Jason busts some of the myths on Modern History TV. We also chat about how Jason came to start a videogames company, create a YouTube channel and his role as the owner/custodian of 2000AD and the Treasury of British Comics. Here are a couple of YouTube videos to get started with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM6abbGll0s Guy and Jason discuss Fiore’s play where one combatant is on horseback and the other is on foot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RsCHNx0cis Jason gets to play with the Mindsword. Note: It was in Ewart Oakeshott’s book, European Weapons and Armour: From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, that he discusses how appalling it seemed when one side started shooting with actual guns, because if that was the case, war could become really dangerous. Jason is on Twitter: @rebellionjason

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 78 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/improve-your-striking-in-november/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Your challenge for November is to improve your striking. Really, what we are looking at more than anything else is your precision and accuracy, which you can apply to any domain. Someone who drives a car might look at the smoothness of their gear changes, or the precision with which they take a corner. There is no domain in life that this cannot be applied to. Of course, as sword people, we will tend to apply it to swords first, but it is no bad thing to let it leak out into other areas of your life. Whether you are striking with a fist, a foot, a stick, or a sword, there are fundamental components in common. I’ll cover these in this episode, along with ideas for training, equipment you can utilise, and the use of forms. The bulk of this episode is taken from my book, The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training, which is available to buy now. For all the other monthly challenges so far this year, head over to the Challenge of the Month category of my blog. We have covered topics including sleep, getting stronger and more flexible, meditation and more.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 77 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/strategy-and-war-episode77/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr. Lynette Nusbacher is a Strategist and Devil’s Advocate. Her work has included being a logistics officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, a writer of books such as Bannockburn 1314, a lecturer at Reading University, the senior intelligence advisor to the UK Government Cabinet Office, as well as a TV presenter of various military history shows, and she now runs a management consulting company, Nusbacher and Associates. Of course, most importantly from my perspective, she is also a historical martial arts instructor. Our conversation covers military strategy, government policy, Clausewitz, Iraq and Afghanistan. We do bring all this back to HEMA and talk about the difference between strategy and tactics and how this applies to fencing. You might also like to hear that Lynette thinks of George Silver as a “bit of a bullshit artist”. As promised, here is the link to the Rob Roy final duel: https://youtu.be/ERmM5l2ceoY You can find Lynette on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nusbacher

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 76 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/armour-of-the-english-knight-episode76/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr Tobias Capwell has a lifelong love of arms and armour, since being taken to the Met Museum in New York as a small child. He has made this passion into a career and is now the curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London. We talk about how he got the job as a museum curator, including offering his services to the Met Museum at the tender age of twelve. If you are in the vicinity of London and are interested in seeing the wonderful Wallace Collection, or if you are far away but want to check out the online content, have a look on their website. And here is a video by Toby from The Wallace Collection, Armour as Renaissance Art. In our conversation Toby tells us how he came to be one of two mounted knights in armour escorting the procession at the recent re-burial of Richard III, whose remains were found buried under a car park in Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. Click on the link for a YouTube video covering the event. We talk about Toby’s ground breaking research into English stone funerary effigies that depict armour in exquisite detail, including showing repairs and bits which don’t match the rest of the armour. This research formed his Ph.D. and then became his trilogy of books, Armour of the English Knight. His eagerly awaited second book, Armour of the English Knight 1450-1500 is out now. His first book is sold out so get your hands on this one quick! A couple more links: Toby’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tobiascapwell How Real Is It? on YouTube, with Toby on the treatment of medieval arms and armour in cinema. It’s very entertaining!

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 75 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/youtube-lauren-danger-episode75/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Lauren Shaw is from Calgary, Canada and is a founder of the Calgary Fellowship of the Sword, where they practice 14th – 19th century martial arts, including longsword, sword and buckler, and - since Covid social distancing rules came in - quarterstaff. Lauren is also known for her YouTube videos as Lauren Danger Adventure Ranger, where Lauren posts videos on just about every single historical martial arts topic imaginable, and each one of them starts with a rhyme. We talk about Lauren’s skill for rhyming and why she includes them in her videos, as well as her passion for welcoming people into the HEMA world. The answer to the usual question of “what would you do with a million pounds to improve historical martial arts worldwide?” is one that really got me thinking and is an excellent and potentially very doable suggestion. You can find Lauren on Twitter, and of course, YouTube. As mentioned in the introduction, you can access Guy’s new Sword and Buckler course with the 50% discount (expires on Wednesday 20th October) at www.guywindsor.net/buckler. Don’t miss out!

The Sword Guy Podcast Episode 74 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/hope-and-black-powder-episode74/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Milo Thurston is the founder of the Linacre School of Defence in Oxford, UK. He’s an absolute bastard with a single stick and a leading expert in the work of Sir William Hope. In our conversation we talk about the essence of Hope’s New Method of Fencing and what is so good about it. We also talk about Napoleonic battle reenactment, being late to class, Ken Monschein’s PhD, and why Milo would use Guy’s imaginary millions to pay off his mortgage. Milo’s books: A Newer, Shorter and Easier Method of Fencing Defence in the Street: Translated from Jean-Joseph Renaud's La Defense dans la Rue (Amazon Kindle edition) Link to The Linacre School of Defence, which has Hope’s works and poetry, plus works from other masters from the period.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/october-challenge-episode73/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Today’s episode is your October Challenge. This year I have been setting a different challenge every month, as I really don't like New Year's resolutions, and it struck me that there was an opportunity for self-development and self-improvement that we were missing by making these nebulous resolutions at pretty much the worst point in the year to make any kind of changes. It's right after Christmas and if you're in the northern hemisphere, it’s in the middle of winter. Not a great time to be trying to make a resolution that's going to last all year. So instead, we have a different challenge every month. So far we have looked at breaking and making habits, prioritising sleep, prioritising food, learning a new skill, stamina and strength. Last month we looked at improving our range of motion. If you want to have a look back at all of those monthly challenges, you can go to guywindsor.net/blog and look at the category called “Challenge of the Month”. Your challenge this month is to improve your footwork. And I borrowed this from my new book, The Windsor Method, The Principles of Solo Training, which you should definitely go and buy, of course, at guywindsor.net/solo. There is a transcription of this episode on my website for you to read at your leisure.

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 72 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/viruses-and-bats-episode72/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Emilia Skirmuntt runs the Oxford branch of The School of the Sword, and in this episode we talk about running a school with different branches and specialisations, and improving diversity and inclusivity within historical martial arts schools. Emilia is also a virologist at the University of Oxford, which brings up some topical questions about a certain virus. We talk about her fascinating research into virus-like genes in bat genomes and some truly game-changing theories about memories and consciousness. Emilia has started a cookery blog, called The Corgi, The Princess and The Kitchen, which we also chat about in the podcast. The molecular gastronomy book that Guy refers to is: On Food And Cooking: The Science And Lore Of The Kitchen by Harold McGee. You can find Emilia on Twitter @ESkirmuntt, or look out for her on Sky News and other news outlets where she is frequently interviewed about the pandemic.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 71 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/talking-tempo-episode71/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Today’s episode is a bit different to the usual format. Dr Cornelius Berthold, who is a well-known historical fencing instructor in Hamburg, Germany, contacted me because he is doing a series of YouTube videos on the topic of tempo and had some questions for me. We had never met or spoken before, but Cornelius very kindly agreed to have the discussion in the form of a podcast, so that you all can listen in to two absolute tempo geeks geeking out about tempo. Here’s a link to Cornelius’s fencing school in Hamburg, Dimicator Schola, and the Dimicator Schola YouTube channel.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 70 Rachel Bown-Williams Ruth Cooper-Brown For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/guns-blood-and-swords-episode70/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Ruth Cooper-Brown and Rachel Bown-Williams are the founders of RC-Annie, the UK’s leading dramatic violence company, specialising in training, fight direction and intimacy direction for stage and screen. They hire out guns and swords (not to just anyone!) They are also purveyors of fake blood; thick or thin, “splat or spurt”, depending on your needs. When creating a fight, Ruth and Rachel like it to look real and messy and painful, and in our conversation we talk about good fight scenes and bad, and why so many films show great unarmed combat, but are absolutely terrible as soon as the actor picks up a weapon. We also talk about sex, or rather what intimacy direction is for, and the difference between the ways sex and violence are portrayed on screen. Here's a showreel of some of the fights RC-Annie have directed: https://youtu.be/yg3WMXRt3P0 For more on intimacy direction, you can also listen to episode 9 with Siobhan Richardson. RC-Annie’s website: https://www.rc-annie.com/ Their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqBl-eaYxK0KN5b_j_RZ8Aw

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/monthly-challenge-get-more-flexible-in-september/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Your challenge this month is to engage with your ranges of motion. Much of this episode is adapted from my new book The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training. You can follow along with a pre-recorded flexibility-based training session at: Guywindsor.net/hamstrings Guywindsor.net/trainalong

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 69 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/love-poems-to-welsh-bucklers-episode69/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Paul Wagner has been involved in historical swordsmanship since the 1990s, and was present at the first night of the Stoccata School of Defence in 1998, a HEMA school which now has several branches in Australia. Paul is a Provost at Stoccata, teaching courses in Single Sword according to George Silver, Highland Broadsword according to Thomas Page, Sword and Buckler according to I.33, Rapier according to Joseph Swetnam, English quarterstaff and English longsword. He has written many books and articles on the subject too. This week’s episode is a must-listen for all sorts of talk about about bum daggers, Swetnam the woman hater, fighting while half drunk, or how you could go about leaving your body to HEMA. But first, here’s a link to the love poem to the Welsh Buckler: https://guywindsor.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Welsh-Bucklers.pdf Welsh buckler https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-2645.html Shield - Buckler (1540) From Wrexham, Wales. Located at the Leeds, Self Defence Gallery, UK. Royal Armouries. We cover quite a lot in this conversation, and there are a few accompanying links: Paul’s new armoured jacket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHcgIAD583A The McHowarth "Fencing" text - i.e. the missing Art of Defence on Foot - is going to be on https://stephen-hand.selz.com/. It’s not up yet but hopefully soon. There'll be some kind of nominal fee to cover the cost of the platform. Alehouse Dagger article: https://stoccata.org/2017/05/14/english-knife-fighting-the-alehouse-dagger/ Alehouse Dagger Video: https://youtu.be/bTNbpoqgYkE English Buckler videos: https://youtu.be/uaMVpzP2aSU https://youtu.be/U2Ym9GynDBM https://youtu.be/lBkqTK_0_Qw Comparison of Dagger and Buckler: https://youtu.be/pM4ZmRgJV0M English Longsword videos: https://youtu.be/VB3kt3y7EPU https://youtu.be/ZO52-watCOM https://youtu.be/oP_Ay-Bkgr8 https://youtu.be/PW-e_gt7p5M Articles on English Longsword: “Common Themes in the Fighting Tradition of the British Isles” in Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books, Brill (2016) “English Longsword: a Tactical Approach” in In the Service of Mars, Vol. II Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop 1999–2009, Volume II (2015) “Hawks, Rabbits, and Tumbling Cats: An Analysis of English Longsword Terminology” in In the Service of Mars. Vol. I Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop 1999–2009, Volume I(2011)

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 67 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/classical-fencing-digital-pedagogy-episode67/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy This week’s episode is with Dr Dori Coblenz, lecturer in Communications at Georgia Tech, specialising in early modern English drama, digital pedagogy and the history of fencing. She's the author of many papers and the book Fundamentals of Italian Rapier: a modern manual for teachers and students of historical fencing, with David Coblentz. In our conversation we talk about the differences between classical Italian fencing and historical fencing. Dori’s passion is for teaching teachers, geeking out about sources and how we apply that to teaching contexts. When it comes to swords, is there is anything at all that is better taught online than in person? Dori makes some great points about the benefits of online teaching, and has some great ideas for how to make using digital media more effective: a must-listen for anyone who teaches or has an interest in pedagogy. Dori’s website: http://www.doricoblentz.com/

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 66 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/swashbuckling-episode66/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Sebastien de Castell lives a life of music, adventure and swordplay. He is the author of the Greatcoats series, which is full of sword action, and the Spellslinger series, which features magic finger guns! For all Sebastien’s books, see here: https://decastell.com/all-books/ In this episode we talk about how to write a great sword fight for stage, screen and literature, including these two classic scenes: Inigo and Westley in The Princess Bride The first duel in The Duellists Sebastien’s ulterior motive for coming on the podcast was to ask Guy’s opinion on how a rapier might be modified to contain a pistol. Have a listen and see if you agree or have a better idea of how it could be done.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 65 For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/the-armoured-knight-episode65/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Dr. Amanda Taylor is a Research Fellow at the Oakeshott Institute and a Research Affiliate at the Center for Early Modern History, University of Minnesota. She is the author of several academic papers such as The Body of Law: Bodies, Combat and Rhetoric in Sir Thomas Mallory's Quest for Justice and the forthcoming Domesticating War: Women, Medicine and Military Activity in Premodern Europe. She has presented at conferences on topics such as martial women and political power in Shakespeare's history plays and battlefield wounds and treatment in English and Italian sixteenth century epic romances and surgical practise. As well as all that, she works for a medical equipment company. In our conversation we cover lady knights, battlefield wounds, PTSD in returning soldiers, academic publishing, and more. It’s quite a wide ranging one! These are the books recommended in this episode: Tamora Pierce: Song of the Lioness Quartet Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene Ludovico Ariosto: Orlando Furioso Matteo Maria Boiardo: Orlando Innamorato Elizabeth Lev: The Tigress of Forli: The Life of Caterina Sforza More information on Amanda’s Ph.D., Fabricating the Martial Body: Anatomy Affect and Armour in Early Modern England and Italy, can be found here: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/206363 Amanda has a love for armour, and her favourite is the Lion Armour, which can be found at the Royal Armouries: https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-34482.html Here’s Guy’s favourite Avant Armour: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/collections/collection-highlights/avant-armour Amanda mentions Craig Johnson a few times, and if you would like to listen again to his episode, it’s episode 33.