Podcast Episodes

An Earl, a Priest, and Martha Ray

Episode 249

Frederick II was celebrated as a "renaissance man" who championed education and the arts. But his conflicts with the Pope would lead to multiple excommunications. Actor and historian Peter Weller (Ro…

Published on 12 hours ago

An Earl, a Priest, and Martha Ray

Episode 248

When Martha Ray was 18, she met the Earl of Sandwich. The married Earl took Martha as his mistress, and they spent years living together as husband and wife. But their arrangement wasn't without fric…

Published on 1 week ago

The Drillmaster of Valley Forge

Episode 247

When Baron von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge, he was met with a dismal sight. The soldiers were starving, undisciplined, and freezing. The Baron had a daunting task ahead of him: give them a fighti…

Published on 2 weeks ago

Who's Afraid of the Duchess of Newcastle (Part Two)

Episode 246

Virginia Woolf compared her to a giant cucumber plant. Had she read that, Margaret Cavendish might have thought it a compliment.

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Published on 3 weeks ago

Very Special Episodes: JFK's Forgotten Summer as a Journalist (with Rob Reiner)

Eighty years ago this summer, a young John F. Kennedy took a job as a journalist for Hearst newspapers, filing dispatches in the final days of World War II. Even the most seasoned JFK scholars often …

Published on 3 weeks, 3 days ago

Who's Afraid of the Duchess of Newcastle (Part One)

Episode 745

In 'A Room of One's Own,' Virginia Woolf writes of Margaret Cavendish's reputation: "Evidentally the crazy Duchess became a bogey to frighten clever girls with." Dismisses as mad in her own time, and…

Published on 4 weeks ago

The Real King Arthur

Episode 244

King Arthur is arguably the most famous monarch in British history, the subject of countless films and books of both non-fiction and fantasy. But there's one tiny, but important question worth asking…

Published on 1 month ago

A Smoking Gun in the Spanish Royal Family

Episode 243

King Juan Carlos I had an astonishingly eventful life and ruled as King of Spain for nearly four decades. But a tragic event when he was a teenager maybe have been the defining incident of his life. …

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Beethoven's Immortal Beloved, Part 2

Episode 242

Beethoven wrote an effusive, romantic letter, to a woman identified only as his "Immortal Beloved." Her (or his!) identity remains a matter of debate, but it turns out Beethoven had some other "belov…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Beethoven's Immortal Beloved, Part 1

Episode 241

After Beethoven died, his secretary published an effusively romantic letter the composer had written to someone identified only as his "Immortal Beloved." Beethoven had a type -- namely: noble, and u…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago