For many years my wife has been telling me I should do a podcast. Partly I think so that someone else can listen to my ad hoc wine-based monologues at the dinner table. But I didn’t know where to start. How does one get a podcast off the ground? It all seemed like a lot of work for no guaranteed reward especially as I had a steady job.
Henry Jeffreys – award-winning author and now boozecaster
Then in December 2022 I went on The Rest is History with Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland which was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in my career as a drinks writer. It also turned me into a local celebrity. Awestruck dads would approach me at school pick-up and ask if that was really me talking to Tom & Dom. But more than revelling in my new-found fame, I saw it as the model for doing my own podcast. I had the information from my book Empire of Booze; all I needed was a partner in crime.
With this thought still churning around in my brain, I was approached by a television producer Melanie Jappy in July 2023. She’s a bit of a legend in the food and drink world having won a BAFTA for In Search of Perfection with Heston Blummenthal, made three series with Raymond Blanc and created ITV’s The Wine Show.
Sadly TV isn’t what it once was so Mel, like many others, was exploring the possible sunny uplands of podcasting. She’d already had a big success with Rob Brydon. We met for tea and talked about a few co-hosts, various TV presenters but none of them seemed quite right. What we needed was someone professional, erudite, funny and ideally a name but without being an unpleasant egomaniac. Where would we find such a person?
Then Mel suggested Tom Parker Bowles and immediately I knew we had the right person. I didn’t really know Tom but have met him at various points over the years and he’s always been charming.
I particularly remember one time back in the 00s when I was a lowly publicist working in publishing. One of my authors, John Dickie who had written a book about Italian food, Delizia, was on Market Kitchen which was presented by Tom and Matthew Fort. Normally publicists were there to be ignored or if spoken to, to demand a car or coffee, but Tom treated me like a human being. I never forgot that.
Since then we have chatted at the Fortnum & Mason awards and I’ve always enjoyed his food writing which seems to be based on a genuine curiosity and love of food rather than trying to show how clever he is. Mel arranged a meeting, we hit it off and decided to make a pilot.
A drink to bring out the Caledonian in you - at least in Jeffreys case it is
Tom, like me, loves all things Portuguese so a first episode on port was the obvious choice. Any awkwardness we felt was quickly smoothed over with some Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas which I’d brought along. I was enjoying myself so much that at one point I even attempted a Scottish accent. I hope Caledonian listeners won’t judge me too harshly.
We threw around a few names: Responsibly Sauced, Drink History The Rest is Drink History, before settling on Intoxicating History. Now we needed money. Podcasts are cheap compared with television but you do need to pay for studio time, producers and my burgeoning port habit.
My wife suggested that Taylor’s Port might be interested in sponsoring it. We had visited Porto as guests of Adrian and Natasha Bridge (CEO and former head winemaker respectively) and hit it off. Adrian with the characteristic decisiveness said yes but it took quite a few months to iron everything out and then find time to record as Tom had a new book published, Cooking and the Crown, which required an international tour.
In November we recorded three more episodes. Naturally we did one on what the royals drank, from Henry II toasting his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine with Chateau d’Issan (allegedly) to the late Princess Margaret knocking back the Famous Grouse.
Then to get listeners in a Christmas mood we took a look at the incredibly rich topic of drinking in Dickens. After all, The Pickwick Papers is essentially one long pub crawl and Dickens himself was a noted booze enthusiast with a penchant for punch. And finally we looked at an area I know a bit about – the English role in the development of fizz and the recent birth of high quality English sparkling wine. These episodes will be out in the run-up to Christmas.
16 more shows planned
We have plans for another 16 shows which will brighten up the winter months of 2025. I have a long document of possibles but I’m particularly keen to do one on Veuve Clicquot, Madame Pommery and the women pioneers of Champagne; drinking in James Bond and something on Patrick O’ Brian whose novels are bursting with both alcohol and food.
Please do have a listen and forgive us our occasional tangents and repetitions, we are not quite as slick as The Rest is History yet. But I think there’s definitely something there. I’ll leave you with a Twitter comment from no less a figure than Lord WarGit, Spicy Detective:
“Absolutely super. The Anglo-Portuguese alliance, geography, port culture wars, crinolines, a well-merited boot up the arris (sic) to the government busybodies. Should be required listening to anybody interested in the small pleasures of good living.”
How can you argue with that?
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