cott Carballo of Stirling University on the pirates of the late 16th century Irish Sea. You might think Port Royal and the Carribean when you think pirates, but maybe you should think Kirkcudbright and Ailsa Craig. Macdonald pirates were roaming the north channel of the Irish Sea using 'Lord of the Rings' style beacon chains to alert them to a fight, meanwhile the south west of Scotland contained towns which doubled as pirate markets. Dr Amy Hayes on Queen Mary of Guelders and married life with James II of the fiery face. She was the 15th century queen who took charge of the government while being the beloved mother of five small children. Mary had to take charge, her husband had just been blown up by his own cannon. Dr Hannah Telling on the horrific sexualised murder of Mary Ann Hall in 1860 and how her husband Edwin Salt avoided execution through respectability and sexist victim-blaming. The victim was murdered in the cruellest possible fashion in a way reminiscent of the Delhi rape case yet she was still blamed for having 'provoked' Salt who escaped the gallows.