#116: William Dalrymple, historian and travel writer

<p>Simon and Rachel speak with <a href="https://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/" target="_blank">William Dalrymple</a>, the award-winning historian and travel writer. While still at university in 1986, William&nbsp;set off to follow on foot the outward route of Marco Polo from Jerusalem to Mongolia and wrote a bestselling account of&nbsp;the journey, "<a href="https://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/books/in-xanadu" target="_blank">In Xanadu</a>".&nbsp;In 1999, after three other books of travel, he concentrated on writing history. "<a href="https://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/books/white-mughals" target="_blank">White Mughals</a>", published in 2003, won the Wolfson Prize.<em>&nbsp;"</em><a href="https://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/books/the-last-mughal" target="_blank">The Last Mughal</a>"&nbsp;won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize. These books have now been combined with&nbsp;two others, "<a href="https://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/books/return-of-a-king" target="_blank">The Return of a King</a>"<em> </em>and "<a href="https://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/books/the-anarchy" target="_blank">The Anarchy</a>," to form a quartet on the rise and fall of the East India Company.&nbsp;We spoke to William about "In Xanadu",&nbsp;his Company Quartet&nbsp;of history books, and the art of writing a book proposal.</p> <p>You can find us online at <a href="https://www.alwaystakenotes.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">alwaystakenotes.com</a>, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/alwaystakenotes" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">facebook.com/alwaystakenotes</a>. Our crowdfunding page is <a href="https://www.patreon.com/alwaystakenotes" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">patreon.com/alwaystakenotes</a>. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.</p>