Colum McGrath shares his passion for history in new podcast

Originally from Finaghy and now living on the outskirts of Lisburn, Colum graduated from Queen’s University in 2011 with a degree in History.

His interest in history goes back to his childhood and he has been lucky enough to work in various libraries and museums, including the British Museum in London.

“I have always had a passion for history,” explained Colum. “It stems back to my childhood when I was brought to various National Trust properties, castles and other historical locations with my parents on holiday and on most weekends. My dad (also a history buff) has a keen interest in the Titanic and anything railway related. As I grew older my interest in history was sparked as I embarked upon a BA degree with Queen’s University. I studied various topics from the History of Art, Irish Civil War, US Civil War and South-eastern Asia during the Second World War.”

Colum was keen to share his love of history and with the popularity of podcasts ever increasing, it seemed like the logical option. “I’ve always been interested in overlooked events in history,” continued Colum. “I found myself getting quite bored listening and reading about the same events over and over so I decided to pick a few events and shine a light on them. I’ve been listening to podcasts for years now and it was something I thought I could have a go at.

“I was very nervous at the beginning of the process as I had no experience in interviewing people, let alone academics who are specialists in their field, but it is probably my favourite thing to do. I have really enjoyed the episodes where I interviewed Heather, an attorney by day and a historian by night, Emma, a PhD candidate at Queen’s University and Richard who is a lecturer at Dundalk Institute of Technology. I would say that my favourite episode that I have scripted has been the episode on the StB. I had never heard of it before until I read about the organisation in a book about a double agent working for the KGB and British Intelligence during the Cold War. I had to contact the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in Prague to get some primary resources and thankfully one of the researchers was fluent in English.”

The first series of the podcast has proved popular, with the first episode of the second series released on July 29, and a new episode released each Wednesday. For further information on the show, follow Colum’s Instagram page @Piecesofhistorypod