What's Your Map?

In this episode, Jerry speaks with the illustrious Barbara A. Bond, the former cartographic researcher in the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Together, they pour over an important but unassuming silk escape map of Danzig (Gdansk) port from World War II. What information is presented on the map, and what has been intentionally excluded? More importantly, how did this map end up in the hands of a Prisoner of War hoping to escape the enemy in Europe? We gain access all areas to Barbara’s astounding career in mapping: Jerry hears highlights from her first exposure to maps as a child, to her tenure as President of the British Cartographic Society and Director of the Hydrographic Office in the UK. Along the way, we gain insight to her PhD research on MI9's escape and evasion mapping programme in WWII, resulting in her brilliant book Great Escapes.  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: Silk escape map of Danzig Port (1942) ©Courtesy of the Military Intelligence Museum 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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.