The Untitled History Podcast

In January 1917, as war raged across the globe, only one major power remained neutral: the United States. Having swayed between pro- and anti-German sentiment since 1914, it was recognised by most that American involvement could decide the outcome of the war. It was with that knowledge that the German government sent a telegram that would, just perhaps, seal its fate. The Zimmermann Telegram was an offer to Mexico. If the United States entered the war, Germany would provide money and support for Mexico to open a front against the US and reconquer its lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. With Britain having cut Germany’s transatlantic cables in 1914, the message was sent through the only route available, the United States’ own diplomatic network. What Germany didn’t know was that, in a small office in the Admiralty, the codebreakers of Room 40 were reading both German and American traffic. Within hours, Dilly Knox, Nigel de Grey and William Montgomery had uncovered the telegram’s contents. The challenge for Room 40’s ruthless chief, Admiral “Blinker” Hall, was how to put it into American hands without revealing that Britain had been reading their mail all along. In this crossover episode with the Not So Quiet on the Western Front podcast, we explore the story behind the Zimmermann Telegram, the spycraft that brought it to light, and whether it really was the moment that brought America into the First World War. Guest Dan Hill is a military historian, battlefield guide and co-host of the Not So Quiet on the Western Front podcast, part of the Battle Guide Network. Cats present None Useful links Not So Quiet on the Western Front: https://battleguide.co.uk/podcastThe Battle Guide Network: https://battleguide.co.uk/shows Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In post-war Britain, the drive to build new housing and a better world led to a number of plans focused on creating modern towns. The boldest and most visionary of these was to be Milton Keynes, a city from nothing. Today, Milton Keynes is either famous, or infamous, depending on your perspective on its design. But what’s not in doubt was that the process that led to its creation was unique. A story filled with challenges its architects, planners and landscapers had to overcome. Guest John Grindrod is a social historian of modern places. He runs the podcast Monstrosities Mon Amour and has written books including Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains and Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain. Cats present Cecilia and Napoleon Useful links https://www.johngrindrod.co.uk Cliff Richard’s “Wired for Sound” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0lV9h7b9B0Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Roman Army was powered by cheese. It fuelled its soldiers through war and occupation and, as Rome’s armies swept through western Europe, altered how an entire continent produced and consumed cheese. “It is a remarkable circumstance that the barbarous nations, which subsist on milk for so long, have been for so many ages either ignorant of the merits of cheese, or else have completely disregarded it.” So wrote the Roman historian Pliny. In doing so, he highlights that cheese was a key foodstuff for the Romans. Rome’s conquests were powered by cheese, with every Roman soldier received a daily ration of it. In fact, the Roman army’s reliance on cheese was so great that it would reshape the agricultural and culinary map of western Europe. This was particularly true in Britain, where the legacy of the Romans means that even today there are more sheep per square mile in northern Britain than anywhere else in Europe. Guest Thomas Ntinas is a food historian and host of the Delicious Legacy podcast, a podcast in which he explores both tastes both modern and ancient. Cats present None. Useful links Thom on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedeliciouslegacy The Delicious Legacy Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4AeiOjVa9rf99xOM0U3Fmg Recommended Cheeses Pecorino Romano - The closest cheese to that consumed by Legionaries Manchego - Close to the cheese Legionaries would have eaten in Spain Gouda - A good example of a cheese, influenced by the Legionary colony legacy in northern Europe Cheshire Cheese - The myth! Not a Roman-era cheese, but likely not dissimilar to what would have been eaten in Roman Britain Feta - A good example of goats cheese, as would have been common particularly in Greece Comte, Stilton and Roquefort - The kind of cheeses western Europeans would have eaten, pre-Rome’s arrival Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Sander van Kammen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In September 1926, art expert Paul Arndt was shown a newly-unearthed Ancient Greek statue by an Italian dealer. It was an extraordinary piece. Its sale for a vast sum of money to an American museum, along with other pieces unearthed, would create excitement across America. The statues were fake. Throughout the 1920s, American interest in ancient art and sculpture exploded. As a result, American collectors and museums became a primary source of income for art dealers from across Europe. Inevitably, this also drew the attention of the darker side of the art world - including forgers. Today, we are going to talk about one of the most extraordinary acts of art fraud perpetrated during this era. One that would trigger a vicious war of words between experts across Europe and America. It would also make a colourful, Italian anti-fascist sculptor called Alceo Dossena one of the most infamous forgers in history. Guest Erin L. Thompson has a PhD in ancient Mediterranean art history as well as a law degree. She is now a professor of art crime at the City University of New York. Cats present None. Useful links Erin’s website: https://www.artcrimeprof.com Pre-order her book: https://www.amazon.com/Styrofoam-Mummy-Tales-Antiquities-Market/dp/1324035870 Erin on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/artcrimeprof.bsky.social Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the 8th of 1940, a lone British destroyer encountered part of the German invasion force bound for Norway. The heroic last stand of HMS Glowworm against overwhelming odds earned her captain the first Victoria Cross of the war. Incredibly, this award was granted based on the recommendation of the German Admiral he had fought. Both the Allies and Axis were eyeing up Norway for invasion. The events that would unfold that month would affect the entire course of the war. Against the backdrop of these events, a battle took place between HMS Glowworm and a heavy German cruiser - the Hipper - and her escorts. This battle remains one of the most remarkable naval engagements of the war, highlighting the skill of both navies, as well as incredible acts of maritime respect in the face of the shared dangers of the sea. It also stands as the only instance where the senior nominating officer, as required by the awards committee, was an enemy combatant. Guest Dr Alex Clarke, is a naval historian. He is the author of Tribals, Battles and Darings, and specialises in grand strategy, naval logistics and the projection of overseas power. He can also be found on Twitch and Youtube as dralexclarke Cats present Cecilia Useful links Tribals, Battles and Darings: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/tribals-battles-darings-the-genesis-of-the-modern-destroyer-alexander-clarke/22cc89bce03e017b Dr Alex on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE2x09tU0GwAGiSbFPEhIwQ Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1940, Charles de Gaulle saved France. He called for resistance to the Nazi occupation from London. In 1958, with the French republic crumbling, he stepped forward to save France again. In English language history, it is de Gaulle’s defiance in WW2 and his role in the rise of the Free French that dominates discussion. In post war study, he is sometimes portrayed as an aloof figure and a man out of time, obsessed with restoring French glory over all else. This is an unfair portrait. Post war, de Gaulle was both loved and loathed. Churchill planned the route of his own funeral to include Waterloo station, precisely because he knew it would annoy de Gaulle who would be forced to attend. But during the late 1950s the French fourth Republic teetered on the edge of collapse. With the French military already moving to launch a coup d’etat, de Gaulle’s intervention would prove critical to the restoration of stability, and the birth of the Fifth Republic. He would go on, as president, to oversee many of the pillars of cultural, structural and international relations that still form the basis of France today. In this episode, we’re going to look at France’s near-coup and collapse, and the role of de Gaulle in its salvation. Guest Charles Devellennes is senior lecturer in political and social thought at the university of Kent. He’s a historian of political thought, having written his thesis on atheism in the radical enlightenment, as well as a political theorist and scholar of French politics. He has written three books, including ´The Macron regime’ in 2022, and is currently finishing his fourth book which deals with the institutional decline of the Fifth Republic: ‘The 18 Brumaire of Emmanuel Macron’. Cats present Cecilia Useful links Charles on substack: https://charlesdevellennes.substack.com A Certain Idea of France - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/a-certain-idea-of-france-the-life-of-charles-de-gaulle-julian-jackson/e4feca363fe8c17a?ean=9780141049533&bkshp-astro=t The Macron Regime - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-macron-regime-the-ideology-of-the-new-right-in-france-charles-devellennes/d6c07a27454ebc7c?ean=9781529227093&bkshp-astro=t Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Sander van Kammen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1458, the Kingdom of Cyprus was the last of the Crusader States. Over the next 30 years, two remarkable women would fight to rule it as queen. Their rivalry would see each experience periods of power and exile. Although mostly forgotten today, this political battle would draw in all of the great powers of the region, from Egypt to the papacy. The lives of Charlotte of Lusignan and Caterina Cornaro offer an incredible window into both the opportunities for power and politicking available to women at the time, and to the limits. Both would have legacies on the Italian renaissance that would continue after their deaths. Guest Marina Tymviou is a historian specialising in medieval and early modern history. She has a particular research interest in Cyprus and its connections with the wider European world. Her work is grounded in archival and manuscript research, with a particular emphasis on previously unpublished or little-known historical sources. Cats present Cecilia Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Celebrity feels like a modern idea. Something that owes its origins to the rise of Hollywood, television and reality TV. But its cultural origins run far deeper. People who could be - and were - treated as celebrities can be seen right back to the world of 17th century theatre and beyond. The relationship between celebrity, fame and renown has also always been fluid, shifting in the eyes - and papers - of past times as much as it does today. Guest Greg Jenner is a public historian who loves comedy. Host of BBC You’re Dead To Me podcast, previously historical consultant to BBC Horrible Histories TV show, author of 8 funny history books for adults and children, including Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity, From Bronze Age To Silver Screen Cats present Cecilia Useful links Dead Famous: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/dead-famous-an-unexpected-history-of-celebrity-from-bronze-age-to-silver-screen-greg-jenner/818042ae197dbf7f?ean=9781780225661&bkshp-astro=t Greg Jenner on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/gregjenner.bsky.social You’re Dead To Me: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07mdbhg Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this Extra Bit episode, Gareth and Matt Bone shine a light on the pilots of the Typhoon and Spitfire raids on D-Day's radar stations: the air-sea rescue crews. They cover the amphibious Walrus flying boats and the Spitfires that circled overhead to guide them in, the remarkable five-day ordeal of Canadian pilot Al Watkins after he ditched off Le Havre, and the raid on Guernsey's radar station that cost pilot Johnny Saville his life. They close with an unexpected detour into Hollywood, revealing how Bond production designer Ken Adam once flew Typhoons himself.Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By 1944, the German’s had a highly-advanced radar system covering the entirety of the Channel coast. That radar would, if left intact, provide considerable warning of any unfolding allied invasion. The task of dealing with those radar stations ahead of D-Day fell almost entirely on the fighter-bombers of the allies, and the RAF in particular. In a remarkable, and often bloody, series of operations they walked the fine line between blinding the Germans entirely in Normandy, and leaving enough radar stations intact to detect the fake invasion that would unfold further up the French coast. As D-Day unfolded on the 6th June 1944, only 20% of the German radar stations opposing the invasion were functioning, buying valuable hours for the allies to get ashore. In this episode, we talk about the pilots and planes that made that happen. Guest Matt Bone, is an aviation historian and host of The Aviation Show on Youtube. He has extensively researched fighter-bomber operations during WW2. Cats present Napoleon Useful links https://www.youtube.com/@theaviation_show/videos https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/theaviationshow https://bsky.app/profile/theaviation.show Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In September 1983, the Soviet missile launch detection system falsely reported an inbound US missile strike. The actions of Stanislav Petrov that day, who refused to report the launch as true, have often been described as having saved the world. This is the story of 1983. The year the world almost ended. Petrov’s actions in the Soviet missile control centre at Serpukhov-15 near Moscow, arguably prevented a nuclear war. But what’s often not talked about is why the Soviets were prepared to launch a missile strike of their own, based only on a warning for a single detection system. In reality, 1983 was a year full of tragic events, and intelligence failures by both the Americans and Soviets. Failures that left the world on the brink of war by September without either side really knowing how close to a war for no reason both power blocs in the Cold War really were. Guest David is a historian specializing in the global Cold War and is a researcher and writer as well as the host of the YouTube channel The Cold War, where he explores different events, ideas and facets of the second half of the 20th Century, ranging from nuclear weapons and armed stand offs to comic books and cartoons! Cats present Grover (actually a dog!) Useful links David on Bluesky: @coldwarhost.bsky.social https://www.youtube.com/@TheColdWarTV Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Sander van Kammen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Agatha Christie is the world’s best selling author and rightly regarded as the queen of crime. But less well known is her medical service in both world wars, and its influence on her writing. Without WW1, there would be no Poirot. Agatha Christie trained as nurse and served as a red cross volunteer in WW1, encountering many Belgian refugees. She later trained to become a dispenser. In the second world war she served once again. In this episode we explore that work, and the experiences and people - and poisons - she encountered would prove to be the perfect fuel for her writing career. Guest Tina Hodgkinson is a historian and the author of Agatha Christie’s London: A Historical Guide to the Queen of Crime’s Capital. She is employed at The London Archives, the UK’s second largest public archive. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association and a qualified City of London and City of Westminster tour guide. Cats present Cecilia Useful links Agatha Christie’s London: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/agatha-christie-s-london-a-historical-guide-to-the-queen-of-crime-s-capital-tina-hodgkinson/29844c0f963a617b?ean=9781837050796&bkshp-astro=t Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The best selling comic series in the world is One Piece. But the second best selling, with almost 400 million copies sold, is neither British nor American. It is, in fact, the story of a small French village holding out against the Roman Empire. In this episode we’re going to look at the history, and cultural impact, of Asterix the Gaul. The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely... One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium. So start the adventures of Asterix, Obelix and friends. Adventures that have sold 393 million copies over 65 years of continuous publication. Adventures that have been turned into some of the earliest audiobooks, into films, games, theme parks and more. Yet beneath that success lies a remarkable story of a French Jewish writer and an Italian immigrant writing about the history, and foibles, of the country they both called home. And of France trying to rebuild its national myth in the aftermath of German occupation, decolonization and the horrors of war. Guest Julie Kalman is professor of history at Monash University (in Melbourne, Australia). She is a French historian, who is interested in the history of nationalism and migration. She is currently working on a book, provisionally titled Asterix and the Making of Modern France, which will be her fifth. Cats present Cecilia (tail) Useful links Julie on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/juliekalman.bsky.social https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/julie-kalman/ https://auntymuriel.com/2012/12/23/asterix-in-translation-the-genius-of-anthea-bell-and-derek-hockridge/ https://web.archive.org/web/20070202144156/http://www.asterix-international.de/asterix/mirror/asterix_my_love.htm Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath of the First Crusade, four Christian kingdoms were established in the near east. In this episode we explore the history of the Crusader States, and the many myths that surround them. Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli and Jerusalem. Four Christian kingdoms were all established after 1098. The popular image of these kingdoms is as fortified outposts, ruling over poor and often barren lands. Lands where they were treated as an occupying force. Yet the reality of the Crusader States is far more complex. The states were often in political conflict with themselves or newcomers from the west, as much as their perceived enemies. They had a love-hate relationship with the Byzantines to their north, the Muslim rulers on their borders and eventually both the Mamluks and Mongols. They were also vibrant, rich and often multicultural kingdoms thanks to the nature of the trade routes and geography over which they sat. Kingdoms that were not guaranteed to fail. Indeed the Kingdom of Jerusalem would survive, in some form, for almost 200 years. Guest Dr Nic Morton is an associate professor at Nottingham Trent university, he specialises in medieval middle eastern history and is the author of Mongol Storm which looks at the Mongol invasions of the middle east from multiple perspectives, and most recently Crusader Storm, which takes the same approach but for the 12th century. Cats present Cecilia Useful links Nic on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:53uj5t35g6salgtelolzsrmq Nick at the University of Nottingham Trent: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/arts-humanities/nicholas-morton The Crusader Storm: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-crusader-storm-a-global-history-of-the-wars-for-the-middle-east-nicholas-morton/c0bd72f03740cfae?ean=9781399818728&bkshp-astro=t Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1740, Samuel Richardson published Pamela, a novel purporting to be the letters of a young woman. In 1748, he followed this up with Clarissa, written on the same principle.Richardson’s subjects were fake. But the activity he showed them engaging in was very real. The creation of reliable and regular postal services after the English Civil War led to an explosion in letter writing, especially for women. Through letters they could build and maintain relationships, share opinions on society or politics and reflect on life. Just as we do through messaging platforms or social media today. Indeed the intimacy and information contained within those letters could even provoke questions on how those letters  should be handled after death.Collections of those letters which do survive provide historians with a remarkable insight into the lives of people - and particularly women - within this period.GuestDr Natasha Simonova is a writer and academic specialising in English literature in the long 18th century. She is currently working on a book called The Grey Ladies: The Secret Lives of 18th-Century Women.Cats presentCecilia, Penny (Guest kitty)Useful linksNatasha’s website: https://natashasimonova.comPublishing 18th Century Women’s Manuscript letters (conference talk): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BM0rCa4JUo&t=15895sPamela by Samuel Richardson: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6124 Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1975, three young men sat in a grotty flat in West London decided to launch a games company. Over the next few years, they would find themselves at the centre of the growing revolution in roleplay, and then miniature gaming. Today, we’re going to talk about the history of Games Workshop and the universe it launched: Warhammer Today, Games Workshop, with its line of Warhammer games, books and more stands as one of the most successful British companies in history. So successful has it been that as of December 2024 it is a member of the FTSE 100. But behind the global business is a story of a company that played a critical role in the explosion of gaming in the UK and beyond. One whose artists, designers and writers have influenced almost every aspect of how we view fantasy and science fiction today. All launched from a small flat in Shepherd’s Bush. Guest Jordan Sorcery is a Warhammer Historian who has studied the history of Games Workshop and its various products extensively. This includes work as a documentarian and interviewer of over 100 former GW figures and employees. Cats present Cecilia, Martha (Guest kitty) Useful links Jordan Sorcery - https://www.youtube.com/@jordansorcery Designers & Dragons - https://www.designers-and-dragons.com Fighting Fantasy - https://www.fightingfantasy.com Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lythe and listin Gentilmen, That be of freebore blode I shall tell you of a gode Yeman His name was Robyn Hode These are the opening words to The Gest of Robin Hood, first published by Wynkin de Worde in written form in 1506. They represent the first literary mention of a man who was almost certainly never real, but who has existed in the British consciousness since the middle ages. In this episode, we’re going to explore the medieval origins of Robin Hood, and how he has always reflected the society and time in which his story is being told. Guest Madeline is an architectural and cultural historian. She works on medieval Britain, and how medieval beliefs shaped the built world that we have inherited. Cats present None Useful links Madeline’s website: https://madelineodent.com Madeline on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/oldenoughtosay.com The Gest of Robin Hood: https://metseditions.org/read/976AKyAFRDDQFWvztV5Meuxbpld4M6V The Downfall of the Earl of Huntingdon: https://archive.org/details/downfallofrobert00munduoft/page/n5/mode/2up Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask most people to describe a pirate and their ship, and they’ll likely conjure up an image of an eye-patch-wearing man commanding a huge ship. An image that, in most cases, could not be farther from the truth. From the middle of the 17th century onwards, European nations expanded their influence and trade into the Americas and the Indian Ocean. In doing so, they created an environment in which piracy began to flourish. That period, and the men and women who operated as pirates within it, have captured the imagination of the world ever since. Yet most of the common ideas and images about how piracy worked during that period are based on myth. On this episode, we’re going to look at how some of those myths came about, and also the equally interesting - and far more nuanced - reality hidden behind them. Guest Dr Rebecca Simon is a historian of the golden age of piracy. She is the author of The Pirates' Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship. Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read. Why We Love Pirates: The Hunt for Captain Kidd and How He Changed Piracy Forever,  She has appeared in documentaries such as Histories Greatest Mysteries and is a lecturer in history at California State University Nortridge. Cats present Cecilia Useful links Rebecca Simon’s books: https://rebecca-simon.com A General History of The Pyrates https://archive.org/details/generalhistoryof00defo Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 16th Century saw a two way exchange of objects, ideas and people between Europe and the Americas to a far greater extent than is often understood. Much of that exchange is visible in the everyday objects and trade that took place between these two different worlds. Exchange that can get lost when we frame history through the eyes and acts of individuals of recognition, renown or infamy. Today we’re going to explore the influence of the Americas on Tudor England and beyond. Guest Lauren Working is a historian at the University of York who specialises in literary sociability, material culture, and colonialism in the age of Shakespeare. Her academic work includes The Making of an Imperial Polity: Civility and America in the Jacobean Metropolis (published by Cambridge University Press in 2020) and a new introduction to The Tempest for Oxford World’s Classics. A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance England just came out a few weeks ago with Faber & Faber. It is her first trade book. Cats present Cecilia (tail), Napoleon Useful links A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia: https://archive.org/details/briefetruereport00harr/ The Discoverie of Guina: https://archive.org/details/discoveryofguian00rale A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Renaissance England https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/a-golden-world-how-the-americas-transformed-renaissance-england-lauren-working/67c60316d60d6557?ean=9780571393831&next=t Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The discovery of Radium in 1898 opened up new frontiers of science and medicine. But the sheer difference between the behaviour of radium and every element that had been discovered before, led to wild claims about its properties. These claims, and the mystery surrounding the new element, led to a period sometimes known as the ‘Radium Craze’. For decades, this potentially dangerous element would be used for medical experimentation and in consumer products, with news of its effects - real and exaggerated - making headlines around the world. Guest: Lucy Jane Santos is a historian whose work ranges across beauty, science, technology, popular entertainment and nightlife, uncovering fresh angles and new insights into the moments that have shaped the modern world. Cats present: Napoleon, Cecilia Useful links: https://lucyjanesantos.com https://lucyjanesantos.com/half-lives/ https://daily.jstor.org/the-serpentine-career-of-loie-fuller/ https://fuel-design.com/publishing/soviet-sanatoriums/ https://www.theradiumgirls.com/the-girls Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices