Podcast Episodes

She gave her son smallpox. Her bet paid off.

It was one of the deadliest diseases known to humankind. And just 50 years ago it was officially eradicated. But there’s someone missing from the sto…

6 months, 4 weeks ago

Cocaine wine: The Pope’s energy drink

If you looked at it, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but this red wine had something in it that today could land you in jail.

It was drunk and endorsed by…

7 months ago

A horse race and a murderer invented cinema

Before cinema, before Hollywood, before we even understood how to make pictures move, there was a man constantly reinventing himself. He was a bookse…

7 months, 1 week ago

Starving for freedom: The prison death that changed Ireland

As the Irish Revolution raged year after year, there was a space that the British didn’t expect to become places of revolution - prisons.

Jailed rebel…

7 months, 2 weeks ago

Let slaves dance: The secret of New Orleans jazz

When you put on a jazz record, what do you hear? Beyond the trumpet and the sax of course... 

Well etched into that vinyl and living in that music is …

7 months, 3 weeks ago

She faked insanity. Then became a star.

She was put into an insane asylum at the age of 20. Ten days later she was a celebrity and two years later she had cemented a legacy that would last …

8 months ago

The mafia bar riot that sparked gay pride

28 June 1969 was a regular Saturday night at the Stonewall Inn. Until it wasn’t. 

“The bar lights blinked on and off. I'd never seen that happen befor…

8 months, 1 week ago

The royal roots of French fries

‘Would you like fries with that?’ It’s a question you’ve likely been asked countless times. But what if the only reason French fries are so popular t…

8 months, 2 weeks ago

Three words brought down the Berlin Wall

The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 is one of the most famous events of modern history. And with it came a wave of momentous events - the …

8 months, 3 weeks ago

The art heist that made the Mona Lisa famous

It’s arguably the most famous painting in the world. But back in 1911, the Mona Lisa wasn’t an international icon. So what made the painting so famou…

9 months ago