Podcast Episodes
Back to Search7324: Camille Saint-Saens — The Composer Who Locked Away His Own Masterpiece | pplpod
Episode 7324
Camille Saint-Saens composed The Carnival of the Animals and then refused to let it be published or performed during his lifetime. He considered it t…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7320: Sandro Botticelli — The Ninety-Million-Dollar Comeback of a Forgotten Master | pplpod
Episode 7320
Sandro Botticelli painted The Birth of Venus and Primavera, two of the most recognized images in Western art, and then spent three centuries almost c…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7319: Philip Roth — The Many Masks of America's Most Controversial Novelist | pplpod
Episode 7319
Philip Roth published Portnoy's Complaint and became the most controversial novelist in America — loved by critics, loathed by the Jewish establishme…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7323: Vivien Leigh — The Secret War with Bipolar Disorder Behind Scarlett O'Hara | pplpod
Episode 7323
Vivien Leigh won two Academy Awards — for Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire — while fighting a bipolar disorder so severe that it destr…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7321: Titian — The Venetian Master Who Built a Ruthless Art Empire | pplpod
Episode 7321
Titian dominated Venetian painting for over sixty years, outlived every rival, and managed his career with the business instincts of a modern CEO. He…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7322: Truman Capote — The Spectacular Social Suicide of America's Most Famous Writer | pplpod
Episode 7322
Truman Capote charmed his way into the inner circle of New York high society, befriended the richest and most powerful women in Manhattan, and then p…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7317: Rita Hayworth — The Tragic Invention of Hollywood's Love Goddess | pplpod
Episode 7317
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Cansino. The studio changed her name, dyed her hair, raised her hairline with electrolysis, and manufactured a perso…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7315: Giotto di Bondone — The Medieval Painter Who Gave Art a Human Face | pplpod
Episode 7315
Giotto di Bondone painted human figures with emotions so recognizable that people wept in front of them — something no painter in medieval Europe had…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7313: Elton John — The Human Survival Story Behind the Costumes and the Hits | pplpod
Episode 7313
Elton John survived a suicide attempt, cocaine addiction, bulimia, and a childhood so emotionally barren that he spent decades trying to fill the voi…
3 days, 9 hours ago
7318: The Doors — The Tragic Rebellion That Burned Out at Twenty-Seven | pplpod
Episode 7318
The Doors combined Jim Morrison's poetry and self-destruction with Ray Manzarek's organ, Robby Krieger's guitar, and John Densmore's jazz drumming to…
3 days, 9 hours ago