Though it is regarded as unlucky by many, this past year has cleared the number 13's name for everyone in the 'Talking History' team. Between the great books we got to review, the fantastic guests we got to host, all of the history we got to learn and talk about, our visit to lovely Limerick, and the wonderful listeners we got to meet and chat with 2013 proved to be one of our best years yet. To celebrate the year just gone we have decided to revisit two of our favourite discussions from 2013.

We were lucky enough this year to talk to leading experts about the author, theologian, monk, and spiritual thinker Thomas Merton. We spent a whole hour talking about his interesting and eventful life. At 7pm this Sunday we are going to revisit this discussion where you can learn all about Merton's sorrowful and wayward youth, how he found religion and what it meant for the rest of his life, how his open thinking revolutionised the Catholic Church, and the scandal that erupted after he fell in love with a young student nurse.

In the second hour of our show we are going to reach further back in history to the time when kings and queens ruled realms while knights' lances and their steeds' thundering hoofs ruled battlefields. Patrick was lucky enough to get to talk to leading authorities when we went back to an England divided during the Wars of the Roses. From 8pm this Sunday you can listen back to our discussion as we revisit the courts and battlefields where the houses of York and Lancaster fought for the throne of England.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a wonderful and exciting 2014. Happy New Year from everyone at 'Talking History'. Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go leir.