Idiots Talk History

It’s our 50^th birthday this week!! To celebrate Matt brings us a fantastic report on a moment from history 50 years ago. The focus is on Paris in 1968 and its period of civil unrest. Listen out for Matt’s attempts at French when reciting a famous saying of the time and also his bad ‘bless you’ joke.  

Also another exciting moment this week is Matt’s Movie History corner, a development from previous movie corners when we learn about the closing of the Cannes Film Festival!

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

This week its Lorna’s turn to report, and she focuses on James Holman, who at the time of his death was arguably the most travelled man in the world. He zig zagged across the globe, all this despite the fact that he went blind early in his life. James Holman also went on to write travel books, and as a result we attempt to shorten the name of his first novel (it was such a long one!).

A seamless edit in the middle of the episode hides a McDonald’s trip and some car issues.
And finally, in Lorna’s movie corner we discuss James Holman the New Zealand director.

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

 

Matt reports this week on the poet and author of the first novel, Murasaki Shikibu. She lived in 10^th Century Japan, and today she holds an incredible legacy.
Lorna makes some very poor guesses early on, and we work out what our surnames would have been.
And as always, another episode, another existential crisis for Lorna.

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

Lorna tells us all about our hometown, Oldham, in WWII. It was struck by the Last Flying Bomb of the war and was also home to the Prisoner of War Camp named Glen Mill.
There are personal stories about the POW's and their interaction with locals.
Lorna wrote her dissertation on the topic and is full of interesting titbits!
Elsewhere, Matt creates his own new segments to various degrees of success.

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

Lorna reports on the author Zelda Fitzgerald, an iconic figure of the Roaring Twenties in America and in Europe. Not only did she write but she also painted and was an accomplished ballet dancer.

Zelda was one half of the first celebrity couple, with her partner being Lost Generation writer, and author of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. To say the two had a turbulent relationship would be an understatement. Famously Scott stole writing from Zelda’s diaries for his own works!

For once Matt actually knows a bit about the topic and almost ruins the whole story at the start!
There’s also talk of Zelda as a feminist revolutionary, Lorna reveals her favourite celebrity couple and Matt worries about the hygiene levels of the 1920s.

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

Lorna begins by detailing in quick fashion her disastrous day. Then Matt jumps in to his tragedy-ridden report on the Kennedy Family Curse. Throughout the 20th Century numerous members of the famous family died in horrific ways.  
Also this week, Lorna worryingly wants to become the first member of the 23 Club, and your hosts realise a shared love of spelling bees. 
There's also an impromptu game of "Curse or No Curse?"

For this week’s Big Question Matt runs through some out-there conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK.
Thanks for listening!

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

This week Lorna reports on 3 incredible peace walks that took place in the second half of the twentieth century. It encompasses the creation of the peace symbol, and two men giving teabags to world leaders on the brink of nuclear war.
There’s other important developments too as Matt learns (and is immediately disgusted by) what crimped hair is, and we use Siri to try to learn how to say antipathy.
As usual Matt side-tracks the episode multiple times. this week with his talk of English counties and wrestling’s biggest event, Wrestlemania.

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

Matt fills us in on the life and times of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Credited as the man who modernised Russia, Peter won a few wars, rebuilt the government structure and founded the future capital St Petersburg. He also really really hated long beards.
Elsewhere we name our own cities, talk Disney princesses and create our own days of the week (Happy Florgsday everybody!)

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

This week Lorna talks us through the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the subsequent war. We also delve into the life of the spy Bianca Tam who had her own fascinating tale in the midst of it all.
Elsewhere, we get our Abyssinian and Manchurian Crises mixed up a bit and Lorna has a revelation live on air about the realities of war.
We also have a go at a live version of the Big Question theme song and there’s even a Little Question thrown in too.

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy

This week our report focuses on the deeply unpleasant tale of the Golden State Killer from the 70s and 80s, which has actually been in the news very recently. Be warned it gets quite icky!
As usual, we get immediately distracted and fly off topic. Who knew the nicknames of American states could be so confusing? In fact we get distracted by a hell of a lot at the start of this episode, especially Lorna’s dad’s age.
Check out our social media as we keep you up to date on this ongoing case!

Twitter: @IdiotHistoryPod

Email: IdiotHistoryPod@gmail.com

Individual Twitters: @MattSingleton17  @lornabarryy    @InnesJackson