Trapped History: Recent Episodes
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Trapped History tells the stories of the forgotten – of people who have been ignored by the history we’re taught in school. Their stories have been hidden because of their gender, ethnicity, class or sexuality – hidden because of the times they lived in. We want to do a simple thing at Trapped History: to reboot our sense of history. As the writer and activist James Baldwin wrote, “History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us – we are our history.” Each episode will tell the story of someone we’ve never heard of, with Oswin and Carla joined by expert guests who help us understand about the past and the present. So tune in to hear all about the African and Jewish war heroes, the women who changed the course of science and of the people who circled the world. And maybe you will also get the chance to meet the greatest singer, the trailblazing sports star and the most fearsome hero you’ve never heard of. Because their histories are our histories. Follow us on instagram and visit our website for bonus episodes and more: https://www.instagram.com/trappedhistory/ https://www.trappedhistory.com/
As we close out Season 7, Trapped History takes a long dark walk down one of the most uncomfortable roads in history, going deep into the story of one British family which owned and traded in slaves.
We are joined by the journalist and writer Alex Renton who has tried to make sense of his family's past ever since he uncovered the shameful history. It is a hard story, a painful one but it is a story which we all need to hear – Black and White, British and Caribbean – if we are ever to free ourselves from the history which traps us.
Head over to www.trappedhistory.com to sign up to the award-winning podcast, get our newsletter, bonus episodes and much, much more.
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After pulling the curtain away from James Bond, writer Mark O'Connell chose Bond's book designer for his Hall of Fame nominee.
Richard Chopping was Ian Fleming's choice too, and he created the template for Bond which we are all familiar with from the films, even if we've never read or seen one of the books. He was also a fiercely proud gay man at a time when it was still illegal. So tune in to hear all about Dickie's magnificently dissolute life and times. Not only did he live twice, I think he lived a thousand times!
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He's the man's man, the lady's man, the pinnacle of heterosexual hyper-masculinity. His name is Bond.
But you know what? Maybe James Bond is not as straight as you think. Because the origin story of 007 is a very queer one. From Ian Fleming's gay coterie and literary touchstones through to the creation of the Bond template on film, there's more to the world's favourite spy than meets the eye. And that's before we even mention the music.
So tune in for a romp through 007's backpages in the company of cultural historian Mark O'Connell, whose new book, Bond, Queer Bond pulls the spy firmly out of the closet.
Pull on your dancing shoes, get out that glitter, raise an eyebrow and if a vodka martini doesn't stir you in this heat, take advantage of this episode's sponsor, Brulo non-alcoholic beer, and treat yourself to £10 off one of their mixed cases. Just visit https://www.brulobeer.com/collections/shop and use the coupon TRAPPEDHISTORY at checkout.
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This week, we've got a special Trapped History short for you. It felt wrong to ask Jocelyn to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame (Vera Rubin, anyone?) and so today we've got some choice gems which didn't make it into the main show.
Starter for ten: have you ever wondered about the pop cultural impact of Jocelyn's pulsars? Well, it's huge and it has adorned the bedroom walls of many a teenager down the years. Following that – Jocelyn's a poet herself and has compiled poetry books and given poetry readings. Again, ask yourself why . . .
And finally, listen in as Oswin – in true 'don't mention the war' style – well and truly puts his foot in it! Enjoy.
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In its 120 year history, nearly 1,000 people have won a Nobel Prize. And we're going to ask you a simple question: how many of those Nobel laureates are women? What, half of them maybe? Or perhaps more realistically, one in four? One in ten even?
Nope. Of 990 Nobels, 67 are women. That's just 7%. And when we turn to scientific Nobels, then out of 659 awardees, only 26 are women. That's not even 4%.
And so today on Trapped History, we're recognising two women in particular whose names really should be on that list. Vera Rubin, who discovered dark matter, and Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, who found pulsars. Don't worry – you don't need a physics degree to tune in. Because we're actually in the room with Jocelyn herself, as she holds our hand and gently leads us through the mind-boggling world of stars, space and sexism. As Oswin says at the end of the show, he's learnt a lot but he's 'unlearnt' even more!
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For this week's Hall of Fame, the author Joe Dunthorne presents the writer's writer: Heinrich von Kleist. A contemporary of Goethe, Byron and Shelley he was perhaps even more jaded, world-weary and downright depressed than a whole inkwell of Doomed Romantic poets.
And that, ironically, is what makes him so modern. His stories don't resolve. There are no happy endings. No-one gets their comeuppance. A writer for our times, perhaps? And a writer for Joe too, because in researching Children of Radium he also wasn't in control of the story. If you've not heard his episode yet, find it now. And in the meantime, wallow with us in the modernist romance of Heinrich von Kleist.
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Wouldn't it be nice if the stories we're told were all true, were all heroic and inspiring? But that's not always the case. Because more often than not, family histories – all our family histories – are messy, complicated, disappointing and sometimes even shameful.
This season on Trapped History, we're looking at some of those stories. And today, we're joined by the writer Joe Dunthorne, whose critically acclaimed book Children of Radium and BBC radio series, Half Life, tell the story of his great-grandfather, Siegfried – and his troubling past which is both visible and hidden at the same time.
It is a must listen.
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On this week's Hall of Fame, prepare to bask in the glorious Provençal sunshine, as you sit under grapevines, drinking Rosé and tucking into the most delicious goat's cheese salad.
This is the world of Richard Olney, writer of perhaps the greatest cookbook ever, The French Menu Cookbook. And we are introduced to it today by Claire Thomson, food writer extraordinaire, who as 5 O'Clock Apron has a quarter of a million Instagram followers gobbling up her recipes.
Feel the sun on your face and the food on your tongue and pray, just pray, that it's not going to rain . . .
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Rationing. It's a word which sends shivers down the spine. A word which conjures up Spam and powdered eggs, potato peel pie and cabbage. Endless cabbage. But it wasn't all doom and gloom. And today we celebrate the woman who taught Britain how to 'make do': the glorious Marguerite Patten.
Her recipes went down in history and she's still the cook with the most books – 170 at the last count. Marguerite was the first TV chef, the first to publish a colour cookbook and the first to recognise the magic of gadgets. So pull up a chair and feed your mind as we tuck into some of her recipes in the company of the food writer Claire Thomson, AKA @5oclockapron. It's hearty fare though we can't say the same about the food!
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In Charlene White's Hall of Fame, we're introduced to a mould-breaking community activist, Sybil Phoenix. She fostered children, founded a youth centre and set up a foundation for young homeless women. Wow. She's been honoured and recognised by the King but more than anything else, she was recognised by Charlene in the streets of south London when she was a kid. Sybil was her hero, the 'famous' person in Charlene's community. Sybil showed that anything was possible and that by working together, everyone was lifted higher. I can't think of a better reason for being a Trapped History Hall of Fame nominee. Enjoy.
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Welcome back to Season 7 of Trapped History! And have we got a season for you, full to bursting with stories of unexpected heroes and uncharted histories which will inspire you, make you laugh and make you cry.
We’re kicking off with the magnificent broadcaster, journalist and Loose Woman, Charlene White, who joins us as we uncover the moving life story of Alford Gardner, one of the last surviving Windrush passengers. Born in Jamaica, Alford journeyed to England to fight for the ‘motherland’ in the Second World War. Job done, he went home – then came back, all the while trying to find a place of his own. It’s a universal story familiar to millions and Charlene shares her own family experiences of finding that place called home. It is a story full of joy and laughter – and tears and anger – and it is magnificently told by Charlene.
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We are just busting to tell you about Trapped History's new season – packed with hidden stories about people we weren't taught about in school.
Tune in to hear Charlene White talk about Windrush, Joe Dunthorne on his family's troubling past and Dame Jocelyn Bell on the mind-blowing women of science! There's Claire Thomson of 5 O'Clock Apron fame on Marguerite Patten, the cook who kept Britain fed during the war; journalist Alex Renton on how you cope with a shameful family history; and the glittery pop culture clutchbag which is Bond, Queer Bond.
You will laugh, you will cry – you may even do a bit of cooking. But more than anything, Trapped History will feed your curiosity and get you thinking about the past, the present and the future.
Find us at:
https://trappedhistory.com/
https://www.facebook.com/trappedhistory
https://www.instagram.com/trappedhistory
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Keith Lowe is one of our greatest historians of the Second World War and its aftermath. He joined us to share the story of Ben Ferencz, one of the Nuremberg prosecutors who made it his life's work to fight for peace. Search for Ben Ferencz and the Quest for World Peace: Keith Lowe on the Fear and the Freedom.
Keith's choice for our Hall of Fame is equally impressive. Someone who fought to try and change a nation's story of its war. But it is an uncomfortable nomination, because Yuasa Ken was a Japanese war criminal who performed horrendous human experiments during the war. Afterwards, however, he saw the light and dedicated the time he had left in the world to educate his country about its culpability.
This is a powerful and unsettling listen, but it is one which we all need to hear.
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Joris Lechene joined us to understand the life and afterlife of the great John La Rose, one of the leading lights of Black British cultural life from the 1960s to the 1980s. And a few years ago, he was in the news again as London's Black Boy Lane was renamed in his honour. But the fallout was something to behold.
This is a gripping episode – the very essence of Trapped History. You can find it as Black Boy Lane: Joris Lechene on the Legacy of John La Rose.
And Joris' nomination for the Hall of Fame is equally fascinating. Because he doesn't nominate a person. He nominates a whole uprising, when the former slaves of Guadeloupe fought to the death against the French.
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Anne Sebba breathed life into the story of the women of the French Resistance, in the brilliant The Women who Ran the Resistance: Anne Sebba on the Forgotten Heroines.
And in this Hall of Fame nomination, she does the same for the women of the death camps. Hilde Grunbaum's life is a truly emotional one as both she and dozens of other female musicians would make up the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. It was a lifeline in the midst of horror.
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Sathnam Sanghera joined us to find out all about Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to graduate from an Indian university, the first woman anywhere to get a law degree – from Oxford at that – and the first woman to represent the accused in a criminal case in a British-run court.
Her story is incredible – but even more astonishing is the tale Sathnam brings to the Hall of Fame: that of Dean Mahomed, an Indian surgeon, soldier and writer who settled in England. Which is where he established the country's first Indian restaurant and introduced the art of "shampooing" to Europe.
Prepare to be amazed! And then, head over to the main episode to hear all about The Indian Imperialist: Sathnam Sanghera on the Curious Cornelia Sorabji.
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Sculptor Ian Wolter accompanied us on a cold and windy day to the mesmerising Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. The insights of a practising artist were priceless and so his choice for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is equally insightful.
Charles Jagger was a prize-winning young sculptor on the up when the First World War broke out. He quickly signed up and served in the trenches and at Gallipoli. He was awarded the Military Cross and was wounded three times.
On his return to civilian life, Charles was a changed man. And a changed artist too. Because while he would create many sculptures and statues which were not war-related, it is for his war memorials which he is remembered. They can be found in Belgium, France, Egypt and Australia but perhaps his most famous and heart-breaking one is London's Royal Artillery Memorial.
Ian is the perfect guide to the work and the emotions behind it. So when you've listened to this, head over to the main episode to hear Remembering the Ordinary: The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice.
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The RAF pilot Trevor Edwards joined us to marvel at the life and times of Johnny Smythe. But here, he goes back to the very beginning and nominates Robbie Clarke, the very first Black RAF pilot.
Robbie's was a charmed life – a mechanic who would be one of the first Jamaicans to drive a car, he crossed the Atlantic to sign up in 1915. Joining the Royal Flying Corps, he gained his wings in April 1917, making him the first Allied Black wartime pilot. It's an inspiring story so when you're done with this, head over to the main episode to hear about The Four Heroic Lives of Johnny Smythe.
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Join us as Stephen Bourne unveils his Hall of fame nominee. You may remember, Stephen was our guest on our episode about the forgotten singer who was Adelaide Hall, and he doesn't stray far from the path here!
Mabel was born in Burton-upon-Trent, but she made her name in Paris and New York, where Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein and even Ol' Blue Eyes himself fell under her spell. Her story is eye-opening and a real counterpoint to Adelaide's.
When you've finished with this, turn to the main episode: Adelaide Hall – The Greatest Singer you've Never Heard Of.
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At last, Trapped History's inaugural Hall of Fame nomination is here: Rosemary Brown's nominee from our very first episode.
You may remember that Rosemary joined us to find out all about the marvellous Nellie Bly, adventurer, entrepreneur, war reporter and one of the very first investigative journalists in history. And perhaps Nellie's greatest exploit was to play Jules Verne at his own game and travel around the world in (under) 80 days
But Nellie wasn't the only person to do that. There was another woman travelling around the world . . . So tune in to hear the story of that other great tenacious traveller, Elizabeth Bisland.
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Picture a woman of the French Resistance, printing underground papers in her cellar, making bombs at her kitchen table, cycling across her country with codes hidden in her knitting. And then spin the globe 6,000 miles and find yourself in Vietnam.
Because this is what Madame Xuan Phuong did. As a teenager, Phuong fought in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam for her country’s independence against the Japanese. And then the French. And finally the Americans.
We are delighted and honoured to be joined by a very special guest to tell Xuan’s story – Madame Phuong herself. A legend in her homeland, named on the BBC’s 100 Women 2024 list and a recipient of the Legion d’Honneur, her fascinating story helps us see the Vietnam War through Vietnamese eyes.
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In today's Hall of Fame, Fiona Keating nominates a queer, Jewish poet and novelist who slipped through the cracks nearly 140 years ago. But late last year, Cambridge University proudly announced that they had acquired the Amy Levy Archive and the hope is that "one of Victorian literature’s most enigmatic figures" will finally get the recognition she deserves.
Amy's life may have been short and tragic – but it was also full to the brim. She knew W. B. Yeats, Eleanor Marx and Oscar Wilde (it was he who said Amy had a 'touch of genius') as well as a host of the literati both in England and France. She wrote short stories, essays and articles, and in her lifetime published two poetry collections and two novels (more would follow after her death). She was also one of the first generation of women to study at Cambridge.
Being Jewish and queer in an era of buttoned-up Victorian jingoism was hard enough but Amy also struggled with her mental health. Her final novel was met with scathing reviews and at the age of 27, Amy killed herself by suicide. Wilde wrote her obituary, hinting at the darkness which sat at the heart of her life, but we are also left with the last poignant words in her diary: "Alone at home all day."
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As we head into spring, Trapped History takes a brisk wintery walk through the streets of London’s Docklands to seek out the Limehouse Chinatown of the 1880s.
Jack the Ripper is striking fear into the heart of the East End, the Bryant & May matchgirls are on strike and the magnificent Ching Hook is knocking them dead at the Sebright Music Hall. And Pearl Fitzgerald, a young woman with a Chinese mother and an Irish father, is trying to secure her inheritance.
But Pearl isn’t real. She is a fiction, the main character in novelist Fiona Keating’s bodice-ripping Smoke & Silk. Everything else, though, is true – and so Fiona is taking us and you on a journey through Pearl’s world to re-discover London’s first Chinatown. Here you will find laundries and opium, poverty and anger – but above all else a small Chinese community, hanging on by its fingernails in the onslaught of the tabloid ‘yellow peril’ scare.
It's bracing, it’s exciting and it might help change your mind about Sherlock Holmes.
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Here's a great Hall of Fame nominee from Christina Wade – and it's another oldie. In 1275, Gillian Pykard told the sheriff's bailiffs in Exeter precisely what they could do with their rules. She was a brewer and knew what her customers wanted.
It's a small story but it's a slice of life which shows us so much about a world which seems so foreign to us in the 21st century. But if there's one thing we've learned from history, it's that people and people – and they don't take kindly to being told what to do! Enjoy this medieval rebel's tale.
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With a name and a story Dickens would have killed for, Peg Plunkett owned Dublin in the 1780s. Surviving a horrific childhood, she escaped to the big city and swiped right and left to her heart’s content until she blew everything up with her incendiary memoirs.
Award-winning Filthy Queens author, Christina Wade, plunges us into the life of an 18th century courtesan – a world in which Peg is a modern day Samuel Pepys, with views on men, marriage, chastity and responsibility which seem so fresh and yet alien to her times. This is a rip-roaring, rumbustious tale – so buckle in and check your pockets!
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Sathnam Sanghera blows the doors off the Hall of Fame today alongside his nominee, the Pirate Queen of Ireland, Grainne – or Grace – O'Malley.
Born in County Mayo when Henry VIII was on the throne of England, Grainne would command a fleet of ships, raid neighbouring clans, revenge the deaths of her loved ones and take on the English army. She would even meet with Queen Elizabeth to – in the best Jack Sparrow tradition – 'parley' with her opponent.
Grainne was pretty special and is a worthy addition to the Trapped History Hall of Fame – and its new protector too!
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Mahatma Gandhi is a worldwide hero. Nehru led India through turmoil. But who in the West knows of Subhas Chandra Bose? Well, perhaps we should learn more about him because he is the man of the moment in Modi’s 21st century India.
Empireland’sSathnam Sanghera joins us today to try to understand someone who lived and died by the maxim ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’. We find out what that actually meant in the 1940s and how we can navigate the ethical and moral quagmire which led Bose into the arms of the Nazis. This is an important episode, summed up by Sathnam’s own maxim: ‘it’s complicated’.
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After demolishing and rebuilding Halls of Fame through the ages, our guest Habib Hajallie has chosen his own nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: the great Bill Richmond, an African-American born into slavery who by the early 19th century had become Britain's first Black sports star. Bill was the terror of the boxing ring, winning 17 of 19 matches, fighting the All England Champion, declining a title shot, and being a member of the sports first governing body.
More than that, Bill trained figures like Byron and Hazlitt, performed in front of European royalty and was an usher at George IV's coronation. His was an astonishing life and Bill is a worthy entrant to the Hall of Fame.
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We’re proud of our own Hall of Fame here at Trapped History, but what are they and where did the idea come from?
As we celebrate our three-year anniversary, join Oswin, Carla and MK for a very special episode in the company of award-winning British artist Habib Hajallie. His very own artwork, A British Hall of Fame, speaks to the past, present and future as we grapple with how we honour and remember people. This episode is literally packed with dozens of hidden heroes – and villains – and asks the question, what is fame and why do we feel a need to recognise it?
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This holiday season, we've got a meditative and, we hope, nourishing bonus for you – as Michaela Strachan remembers taking part in the BBC series "Pilgrimage".
She is also remembering her friends and family and on the hike through the Welsh hills, she was walking hand-in-hand with grief. But the healing power of nature is truly something to behold. This is an emotional but also a fulfilling journey.
Have a peaceful and restorative festive break.
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Michaela Strachan's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is one of the most selfless people we have heard of – Jill Robinson, who has dedicated her life to saving bears from the cruelty of the bear bile industry in China and across Asia.
It is a story rooted in horror but also in love. And Jill's life bears witness to our capacity for both. If you feel moved by her story, please visit Animals Asia to see how you can support Jill in her fight to save bears from this torment: https://www.animalsasia.org/support-us/
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We have a wonderful season opener for you – as wildlife TV legend Michaela Strachan joins Trapped History to help us tell the tale of the woman who fought for nature. Her name was a bit of a mouthful – Ethel Haythornthwaite – but we know her as the defender of Britain’s National Parks and the Green Belt. She even has nearly 100 hills named after her (don’t worry, they’re ‘Ethels’ not ‘Haythornthwaites’!).
It's a delightful episode, full of passion, joy and hope as Michaela shares her love of nature, walking and conservation. She even persuades Oswin to pull on his boots . . .
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It's not a new episode I'm afraid, but we really need your votes! We're chuffed, delighted, over the moon – pick your favourite – to announce that Trapped History is a finalist in three international podcast awards. And we can shoot for the stars and try to get another award – the Listener's Choice – in two of them: America's Signal Award and Europe's Lovie Awards.
So please please please head over to vote.signalaward.com and vote.lovieawards.com, search for 'trapped history' and then just press a few buttons. Bingo. We're up against the big boys here so every vote counts – and every vote is a vote for your history, the history we are proud of presenting at Trapped History.
Thank you and keep on listening. Season 6 following in a couple of months . . .
Join us for Helen Lewis' nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: Constance Bulwer-Lytton, daughter of a Viceroy, sister to an Earl – but one of the bravest suffragettes of them all.
She was imprisoned four times for campaigning for the vote, carved "V" for votes on her breast, went on hunger strike and was force-fed by prison guards.
Hers was a bright short life – and it is one captured beautifully by Helen here.
We are delighted to be joined today by Helen Lewis, whose new book rips apart the stories we like to tell ourselves about ‘them’ – the heroic geniuses we idolise and adore.
This is one of the reasons we created Trapped History in the first place – because we don’t need more stories about Leonardo, Churchill or Elon. And if anyone can take down ‘The Great Men of History’ it’s going to be Helen!
So strap in as we rip through the centuries and the rulebook of what makes someone ‘special’, what constitutes ‘importance’ and why we might just be able to live without these geniuses.
Jet's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is an oldie – 850 years old, to be precise. A Renaissance Woman centuries before the Renaissance, a queen of music, philosophy, science and medicine, the Mother of Everything: we give you Hildegard von Bingen.
Throw in poetry, mysticism and sainthood and you have perhaps the greatest genius of the medieval world. Kings, emperors and popes certainly thought so as they sought our her teachings on the weightiest matters of their age.
So tune in to find out why a Gladiator thinks an Abbess should be in the Hall of Fame . . .
There’s a photo – you can google it – which when you see it, you’ll laugh, you’ll double-take, you’ll think ‘whaaaat?’. It’s of a young woman, she’s small, five foot nothing and she’s in a gym. But it’s what she’s carrying that makes you stare. Because balanced on her shoulders is none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Her name is Lisa Lyon and she is a legend. The first female bodybuilding world champion, the inspiration for the Marvel superhero Elektra and the muse for the mould-breaking photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. So tune in for a very special episode as Carla and Oswin are joined by none other than Jet from Gladiators, Diane Jetstrong, to celebrate a woman who shook the worlds of art, gender and health.
Tune in for a riveting Hall of Fame as Joshua Levine nominates Mick Gurmin, a member of the SAS before the SAS even existed.
Warned by the debonair master of deception Dudley Clark that "any carelessness or indiscretion on your part may well upset carefully arranged and important plans and have far-reaching consequences" Mick and a fellow soldier carried out their mission with perfection.
Find out what it was, what it meant and what Mick did with it.
In this Trapped History Special, Oswin and historian Joshua Levine discuss truth, myth and storytelling in front of an invited audience at an event hosted by Saboteur, a London-based brand agency.
In a wide-ranging conversation which covers everything from Trump and Putin to Downton and Dunkirk, we grapple with the fundamentals of what we mean when we talk about history. Josh gives us some fascinating insights into how history is turned into entertainment from his time as a historical consultant on blockbuster movies, while Oswin gives you his best (or actually his worst) Churchill impression!
With extraordinary and sometimes shocking tales about the SAS, 911 and America's longstanding desire for Canada, this is a great summertime listen which will set you up nicely for the rest of the season.
Tune in to hear the historian Gwen Strauss' nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. She is someone we have truly never heard of but she is perhaps one of the bravest people we should know about.
Please be upstanding for Odette Pilpoul, the Parisian soul of the French Resistance who took it upon herself to document and save evidence of atrocities when she survived a series of concentration camps.
It’s October 1940 and you are walking down a dusty lane when someone slips a scrap of paper into your hand. You hold it tightly in your palm, waiting until you’re round a corner and away from prying eyes. When you manage to find that moment and open the folded paper square, you read: “Milena from Prague requests a meeting.”
You are Margarete Buber-Neumann and you are a prisoner in Ravensbruck concentration camp. The note in your hand is from Milena Jesenska, who has just arrived in the camp. It is a note which heralds the beginnings of hope, of friendship – of love – in the midst of death.
Join Oswin and Carla as the historian Gwen Strauss tells the life-affirming and heart-breaking tale of Grete and Milena as they try to find a reason to live.
Please put your hands together for Sarah-Jane Morris' Hall of Fame nominee, the singer Mary Margaret O'Hara. Michael Stipe, Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones and Everything But The Girl love and admire her but Sarah-Jane thinks we should too. And I think she's right!
A decade before Dylan, there was Connie Converse – arguably the very first singer-songwriter with inner-city tales of loss and longing. But have you heard of her? Have you heard her music? And why isn’t her name sung from the rooftops?
Oswin and Carla are joined today by the singer Sarah-Jane Morris to help us understand the joy and sorrow of Connie’s short life, the pressures on women in the music industry then and now and how luck, time and place can conspire to sweep people’s stories away.
Nihal Arthanayake's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is a great one. The lost, forgotten and overlooked Sri Lankan architect Minnette de Silva. She was the first Asian woman elected to the Royal Institute of British Architects and a friend of Le Corbusier and Picasso. But she's been overshadowed by those men and by other Asian male architects.
So tune in to hear her story and why she means so much to Nihal.
How do you hear the testimony of someone who has been terrorised and tortured? How do you listen as a perpetrator defends their crimes? How can two peoples who have hated and killed each other learn to live in peace?
These are the questions Helen Bamber asked herself when she travelled to Belsen at the end of the Second World War and bore witness to survivor memories. She would spend her whole life working with victims of genocide, torture and human trafficking and her questions are as vital today as they were 80 years ago.
Tune in for a riveting discussion as the broadcaster and author Nihal Arthanayake joins Oswin, Carla and MK for our season opener on why we need to have these conversations, why listening is as important as talking and why connection is our only hope for the future.
Our new season kicks off proper next week with an enthralling episode where the broadcaster Nihal Arthanayake helps us tell the story of the woman who listened – the great Helen Bamber. And we’ll be taking you all the way through the summer till it starts getting cold again – introducing you to the tragic tale of the first singer-songwriter alongside the Communards’ Sarah-Jane Morris, the first female bodybuilding world champion with Jet from Gladiators, a story of love among the ruins of the concentration camps with the historian Gwen Strauss and the rollicking tale of genius and self-deception with the author Helen Lewis.
But to whet your appetite . . . we are absolutely delighted to give you this wonderful taster from the brilliant Astrid & Chinny, the brains behind the award-winning It’s A Continent Podcast. Which uncovers key moments in African history, one nation at a time. It is bite-sized history, it is accessible history and it is history which will deepen and broaden all of our understanding. So I strongly recommend seeking them out on apple, spotify, wherever you listen to stuff, right after you’ve listened to this episode.
Which we particularly want to share because Astrid and Chinny got there before us! I really think that this person is someone we should all know about and carry his name in our hearts. He is Patrice Lumumba, and he was a distinguished Pan-African politician who served as the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo after the country gained independence. Patrice was well-connected but as he became more politically active and vocal, calling for an end to Belgium's rule and advocating for his country's independence, he became a target of both the Belgian and American governments.
To such a point that we need to give you a trigger warning: there is a graphic depiction of death at the 29 minute mark.
In the meantime, sit back, enjoy the ride and make sure you’re back here from 1st July for the rest of Trapped History’s summer season.
A heads-up for Season 5 of Trapped History which drops from 1st July. Carla can't wait and neither can we, so head over to trappedhistory.com and subscribe!
We've spent so long asking our guests who they'd like to see in the Trapped History Hall of Fame, that for our 30th episode we thought we'd do something a bit different.
And so Carla, MK and Oswin have each brought along someone they'd like to see honoured. Tune in for a whistle-stop tour through the lives of a First World War heroine, a couple who fought for freedom in South Africa and a union leader who was a conscientious objector.
Three different stories, four hidden and forgotten people, but we hope you will agree, they led some of the fullest and most compelling lives you will hear of.
We want to hear your own nominations for the Hall of Fame, so be inspired and head over to trappedhistory.com to send us your own nominees.
Here's a taster of Season 4, starting with Mishal Husain's Broken Threads before moving on to Mishka Sinha on Untold Lives, Kim Wager on Making Sense of Murder, Chris French on the Amazing Randi, Clare Mulley on Agent Zo and finally, Martin Burton AKA Zippo the Clown on the Animal King.
Enjoy!
Roll up, roll up for the Season Four closer — as we take a trip to the circus!
At Trapped History, we look at lives and stories which have been forgotten or ignored, and there is one community in Britain which is still shrouded in mystery even in the 21st century: that of the circus people. So who better to lift the curtain than the King of the Ring himself, Zippo the Clown — or just plain Martin Burton to us.
Not only does Martin shine a light on the lure of the circus but he also joins us on a journey back in time, when America was in thrall to the greatest showman of all — Frank Bostock, the Animal King from Darlington. Frank's is an astonishing story and an amazing life, which tells us so much about the glory years at the turn of the 20th century when technology, travel and theatre collided to create the magical potion of 'Spectacle'.
Join Oswin and Carla for this moving Hall of Fame from historian Clare Mulley as she remembers wartime nurses, Dorothy Field and Mollie Evershed. They are the only women among over 22,000 men to be remembered on the Normandy Memorial in Bayeux.
It is a story of courage and selflessness. Prepare to have your heart broken.
She is one of the most important women of the Second World War — a fighter, a secret agent, a government envoy and a commando. But have we heard of her? Can we sing her name? If not, you've come to the right place.
Tune in to hear the astounding story of Elżbieta Zawacka, AKA Agent Zo. It's a tale which takes us from Warsaw and Berlin to Paris and London, a tale of hope and fear, of courage and terror. Above all else, it is the tale of a young woman who won't take no for an answer when the call comes.
Oswin and Carla are joined today by the historian Clare Mulley, whose excellent new book tells the legend that is Zo. It is a wonderful story and a wonderful life. We're honoured to be able to help tell it.
Tune in to a fascinating Hall of Fame as Professor Chris French nominates Ellizabeth Loftus, a psychologist famed for her work on false, recovered and repressed memory.
It's not just Elizabeth's life story here — Chris fills us in on the theory of false memory (remember getting lost in a supermarket?) and the controversies around recovered and repressed childhood memories which she researched and challenged.
It makes for a powerful nomination and we believe this longer format justifies Elizabeth's inclusion in the Hall of Fame.
We might have heard of Amelia Earhart or even Amy Johnson, but who remembers Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to fly around the world?
Well, someone does because on 19th August this year, a blue plaque was unveiled at Cambridge Airport to mark the 75th anniversary of her truly momentous achievement.
We featured Dikki in our first ever season and we couldn't pass up the chance to celebrate her once more. So Oswin travelled to Cambridge to see the blue plaque, catch up with old friends and meet some of Dikki's family to try to find out more about the woman behind the record.
This all-new ‘director’s cut’ of our original episode tells Dikki's story alongside the incomparable Polly Vacher, herself a record-breaker. But we've also got new interviews with Polly as well as with Amanda Harrison, another female pilot inspired by her forebears, and we get to hear from Dikki's relatives about what drove her.
It’s a fascinating story so please join us for this wonderful repeat.
Welcome back after our mid-season break! And what a return – with (drum roll) the mysteries, magic and mayhem of The Amazing Randi. He had everything a conjuror should have – the baffling genius, the cape, the beard, the mortal enemies – but more than anything, he had a mission: to uncover and expose cheats and frauds.
Join Carla and Oswin as Goldsmith's Professor Chris French takes us on a rollercoaster journey of psychics and charlatans, secrecy and snake-oil salesmen – and above all else, of doubt and belief. Hold onto your hats – there might be a rabbit in it . . .
Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Usually, it's someone we've never heard of but really should have. But sometimes, just sometimes, it's someone we think we know all about.
In the historian Kim Wagner's nominee, prepare to find out something new about someone you thought you knew.
It's October 1961. The Beatles are in Hamburg, JFK in the White House, Yuri Gagarin has just shot into space. And a state-sponsored killing spree is going down on the streets of a capital city. But this isn't Rio, Washington or Johannesburg. This isn't Moscow or Port-au-Prince or Saigon. This is Paris, the City of LIght, and by the month's end, over 200 north Africans will have been murdered by the city police.
Rewind a further 60 years and the same thing is playing out in the hills and forests of the Philippines, as the Moro resistance is being wiped out by the American army in the infamous Bud Dajo massacre.
Does history teach us anything? Looking around the world today, can we say that we have learnt from the past? This is a tough and harrowing episode of Trapped History, but it is an important one too.
So join Oswin and Carla as we try to make sense of atrocity in the company of one of the great historians of our times, Kim Wagner.
In this special bonus episode of the Trapped History podcast, historian Kim Wagner talks statues with Oswin, Carla and MK. How do we critically and sensitively challenge outdated readings of the past? How do we write history again for the modern age? And is there a 'right' way of doing this? We think you'll be surprised by our conclusions.
Listen out for the full episode later this week.
With its long tufted ears – sometimes mistaken for horns – the caracal is a precious animal. So precious in fact, that one particular animal was gifted to George II in 1759.
Ahead of next week's episode, Mishka Sinha, curator of the Untold Lives exhibition at Kensington Palace, gives Oswin and Carla an exclusive insight into the powers behind the throne.
So listen to this special bonus all about that very cat – confusingly named 'The Shah Goest' – and its keeper, Abdullah. And find out how the seemingly simple act of 'gifting' can have deep and far-reaching meanings.
We ask all our guests to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Someone we've not heard of but should have.
In this Season Four opener, please meet Mishal Husain's nominee: Fatima Jinnah, known as Madr-e-Millat or 'Mother of the Nation', a woman who broke the rules and the barriers as Pakistan emerged from the chaos of Partition. She became the conscience of Pakistan, who as opposition leader and presidential candidate, constantly reminded people about the founding principles of the new nation.
It's a great introduction to our new season.
In an exclusive bonus, Mishal Husain tells us about the chance discovery of her grandfather Shahid's passport.
It may seem a small, insignificant thing, a old irrelevant document from another age. But Shahid's passport tells us so much more – about the past but also about the present and perhaps even the future. Because it declared this man born in Lucknow who had lived all his life in British India to be a 'British Subject By Birth'. So when he travelled to England in the 1930s, it was not as a tourist. Not as a foreigner. Not as an immigrant. But as a British man.
This was also the route taken by so many from the Caribbean in the 1940s and 1950s. They were coming 'home' as part of the so-called Windrush Generation and had no more need to prove their status than someone who lived in Tunbridge Wells or Greenock.
It's a fascinating listen – and if you've not had the chance to hear the full episode, head over to trappedhistory.com for more.
Mishal Husain joins Oswin and Carla for a truly special Season 4 opener, telling the tale of her family's journey through the stormy waters of Indian and Pakistani independence. It's a story of joy and freedom, but also one of fear, loss and terror.
Shahid, Tahirah, Mumtaz and Mary live through Empire, world war, independence and partition. They meet the people who will shape their future, men like Mountbatten and Jinnah - but they also find themselves unable to meet the people who really matter to them, the friends and family they grew up with but who end up on the other side of an embattled border.
It is a truly powerful episode, reminding us that we all have 'history' big and small within our grasp, within our family.
With Jeremy Corbyn announcing that he’s standing as an independent in the upcoming general election, we thought we should revisit his time in the Trapped History studio.
This all-new ‘director’s cut’ contains golden nuggets on the French and American Revolutions and on Charlotte’s campaigning for animal rights. It’s a real treat!
On top of that, the former leader of the Labour Party was really excited to be part of this episode – Charlotte is one of his all-time greats – and he tells us a thing or two about finding and losing tribes, how injustice can move people to great deeds, and how we all need a Charlotte to inspire us.
It’s a fascinating story so please join us for this wonderful repeat.
Guitars, light shows, psychedelia . . . Any idea who might unexpectedly be making their way into the Hall of Fame?
Tune in to hear Martin Gutmann's nominee. We guarantee you'll have heard of them before but not necessarily for Martin's reasons. It's a truly fascinating listen which might change the way you think about bands, friends and music.
He's the greatest explorer the world has ever known – the first to navigate the fabled North-West Passage, the first to reach the South Pole, the first to the impossible North. But how much do we really know about Roald Amundsen?
More precisely, how much do we want to know? Surely, the tangled heroics of Scott of the Antarctic and of Ernest Shackleton make for more exciting reading than the careful, boring tales of Amundsen? They faced crises with fortitude, didn't they – while he simply, well, succeeded?
That is, perhaps, the point. So join Oswin and Carla on our enthralling season finale as we dissect 'The Hero's Journey' and the 'Action Fallacy' in the company of Professor Martin Gutmann – and find out why we all deserve to know more about Amundsen and his unseen leadership.
Didn’t think we’d need to introduce you to Winston Churchill on Trapped History, but if you want to understand the hidden traits of leadership, he’s actually quite important. Though not necessarily for the reasons you might think . . .
Tune in to hear Professor Martin Gutmann discuss the ‘Action Fallacy’ in this exclusive bonus episode. It’s not just about Churchill but it’s key to understanding not only how we so often get leadership all wrong but also the enduring significance of this week’s subject – the greatest explorer the world has ever known: Roald Amundsen.
The Hero's Journey is an ancient human phenomenon. We see it, hear it, read it in stories all the way from the Odyssey to Harry Potter. It is a gripping tale of triumph over adversity, of crisis and fulfillment.
But sometimes we need more than heroes. Tune in to hear Professor Martin Gutmann challenge the way the Hero's Journey has been used to teach people about leadership. In this exclusive extract from our latest episode, Martin compares the heroics of Ernest Shackleton, Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen and reaches some unexpected conclusions.
It's a fascinating taster for the full episode, dropping on 22nd February 2024.
We ask all our guests to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Someone we've not heard of but should have.
Most of our nominees are long gone – but Dee Jarrett-Macauley follows in the footsteps of Pete Paphides and nominates someone who is well and truly alive and kicking: the great publisher and writer Margaret Busby, whose Daughters Of Africa anthologies changed the way poetry was published in Britain.
Poet, playwright, publisher. Campaigner, broadcaster, journalist. Six people in one, but if we've heard of Una Marson, it's usually because of her brief shining moment during the Second World War when she became the voice and face of the Caribbean through her pioneering work at the BBC.
Tune in to hear about the six lives of Una Marson as Oswin and Carla are joined by her biographer and Orwell Prize winner, Dee Jarrett-Macauley. It's a tale of a young woman who came to represent a whole region, a whole continent even – and who sometimes found that burden too heavy to shake off.
It's an inspirational story, it's a sad one too. But it's a story of our times – when the personal and the political become one.
Una Marson's politics and poetry come together so powerfully in her famed 'Kinky Hair Blues' from 1937. Life-affirming but ultimately heartbreaking, the poem sets out the internal battles a young Black woman goes through as she tries to fit into a world which doesn't fit around her.
It's one of Una's greatest poems, alongside 'Cinema Eyes' tackling racism and colourism both in Britain and her Jamaican homeland – and in this exclusive Trapped History bonus, it's read today by the wonderful Aisha Ricketts, a Jamaican singer and voice actor.
Tune in on 8th February for the full episode about Una Marson, in the company of her biographer and Orwell Prize winner, Dee Jarrett-Macauley.
As we limber up for next week's new episode about the great Una Marson, join us for this exclusive bonus about her international work. We know Una now as the voice and face of the BBC's wartime 'Caribbean Voices' but she was so much more, representing women of colour at major international conferences and working with world leaders like Haile Selassie and Ataturk.
Next week, there's more exclusive material about Una's time in Jamaica in the 1930s before we launch the full episode on Thursday.
We ask all our guests to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Someone we've not heard of but should have.
Most guests nominate someone who's, well, dead. But Pete Paphides joins Polly Vacher in nominating a living legend. In this case, the mesmeric Paolo Conte, Italy's answer to Tom Waits.
Listen to Pete's nomination exclusively here.
See if you can join the dots – Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, The Beatles. Well, there’s one man who sits at the centre of it all, and it’s more than likely that you won’t have heard of him: Jackson C Frank.
A damaged, wounded singer-songwriter who wowed the British folk scene and presaged psychedelia and punk, Jackson only produced one album – but its influence can still be heard today in the work of artists like Laura Marling, Counting Crows, even Daft Punk.
Oswin and Carla are delighted to be joined by the music journalist Pete Paphides to discuss Blues Run The Game, how hurt and pain can drive creativity and the transformative power of music.
Here's another exclusive bonus as we wait to drop Jackson's episode later this week. Listen to Pete Paphides dissect three of Jackson's key tracks (you'll have to wait for the main episode for his thoughts on Blues Run The Game).
Main episode out on 18th January.
We've got a taster for you today to whet your appetite for next week's episode on the lost and forgotten singer, Jackson C Frank.
The music journalist Pete Paphides joins us to join the dots between Jackson, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Elvis and even The Beatles. It's a fascinating story so here's a few bonus moments as Pete paints the picture of Jackson, the man and the music.
Full episode drops Thursday 18th January.
Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have.
Today, it's the turn of @that.spitfire.bird, instagram's very own Jo Rogers. We take a quick detour into Tilly Shilling's orifice – no, really! – before finding out what a Messerschmitt 108 turned up when it taxied into Jo's life.
Find all about the magnificent Elly Beinhorn, a German aviatrix who rivalled Amy Johnson, fell in love with a dashing racing driver and turned her nose up at the Nazis who tried to control her life.
The Battle of Britain is at its height. Spitfires and Hurricanes urgently need to get from the factories to the airfields and into the hands of ‘the Few’. Step forward Pauline Gower, a pioneering pilot of the 1930s, who alongside the 168 women who she brought into the Air Transport Auxiliary, would help ferry over 300,000 planes from where they were built to where they were needed.
Tune in to hear Pauline’s story as Oswin and Carla are joined – buckled up inside a Dakota troop carrier – by Jo Rogers, AKA instagram’s magnificent @that.spitfire.bird. It’s a tale of bravery, tragedy, grit and sheer bloody-minded determination in the face of slack-jawed armchair generals. There are appearances from the great Amy Johnson and Jacqueline Cochran, so strap in and prepare to be inspired.
Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have.
As it's the holiday season, today we have a twofer for you: first, there's Peter's light-hearted nomination of the explorer Richard Burton, in all his magnificent messiness. And then, hear about the courageous Father Stanley Rother, a missionary among the Tz'utujil people of Guatemala in the 1970s, who famously wrote, "The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger" and was murdered by paramilitary forces in 1981.
It's a moving tale which deserves a full listen.
In 1880, the SS Jeddah was steaming across the Indian Ocean when her captain abandoned ship. He told his rescuers the 1,000 passengers had mutinied and that the ship had sunk. But this was a lie and the case became a cause celebre of British disregard – because the Jeddah’s passengers weren’t any ordinary passengers. They were Indonesian and Malaysian pilgrims – Muslims on their way to Mecca to perform the Hajj.
Join Oswin and Carla and the great writer on religion, Peter Stanford, as we try to understand the mechanics, the money-making and the magic of pilgrimage.
It’s a tale of technology, of power, of disease and migration. It truly is a tale of our times.
Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have.
Tune in this week to hear Jeremy Corbyn's nomination – the quite brilliant Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Mexican writer, poet and philosopher from four centuries ago, variously known as The Phoenix of America and The Tenth Muse. Her's was an astonishing life and this is a great nominee.
She was a super-rich romantic novelist, sister to one of the most famous men in late-Victorian England. And then, out of nowhere, Charlotte Despard suddenly finds her true calling. Over the next 40 years, she is a suffragette, a socialist, a peace campaigner, an animal rights activist and an Irish nationalist.
So who better to help Oswin and Carla tell her story than the Charlotte Despard of the 21st century – Jeremy Corbyn. The former leader of the Labour Party was so excited to be part of this episode – Charlotte is one of his all-time greats – and he tells us a thing or two about finding and losing tribes, how injustice can move people to great deeds, and how we all need a Charlotte to inspire us.
Hers is a fascinating story so please join us for this wonderful episode.
Evelyn Dunbar was the only full-time female war artist in World War II. She recorded an almost exclusively female experience of war, painting Land Girls and members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force going about their work. Meticulously, quietly and with an air of supreme concentration.
Join Oswin, Carla and the art historian Frances Spalding as we delve into Evelyn's life and art, understand life in the 1930s and what being a woman artist means today.
You can find the paintings we're talking about on the Trapped History website, trappedhistory.com, and on our instagram page @trappedhistory
He was a war hero but never felt that he was. Ben Ferencz was sickened to the core by his experience of battling through Europe in 1945 – and of uncovering horrific evidence of war crimes, atrocities and genocide. And so he decided to do something about it.
Tune in to hear the compelling story of the last of the Nuremberg prosecutors in the company of the great historian of our post-war world, Keith Lowe. History is fascinating and exciting but it can also be complex, murky and compromised. Ben's story is the story of our times.
John La Rose is one of the most important – and most overlooked – cultural icons of the last 60 years. Helping to forge a Black British identity, he set up dozens of political, cultural and community organisations and campaigned for justice for the victims of police brutality and of the New Cross Fire.
So earlier this year, it seemed obvious – and right – to name a street in his honour. But the furore over the renaming of Black Boy Lane threw John and everything he stood for back into the cultural and political spotlight.
Join Oswin, Carla and our very special guest the cultural commentator Joris Lechene as we celebrate John's life and try to understand how a simple street renaming can ignite racism and intolerance.
Tune it too to hear Joris' brilliant nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
You're falling through the sky above Belgium after your bomber has been hit. It's August 1941 and you're an RAF front gunner. Who will save you when you land? Who will look after you, hide you, keep you safe? Who will get you home?
Meet the women of the Resistance, Dédée, Tante Go and countless others – the women of the Comet Line.
Join Carla, Oswin and our special guest the historian Anne Sebba who last year made the journey which hundreds of downed aircrew took, over the Pyrenees and into neutral Spain. Hear about her crossing and about the fear and the danger which Dédée had to conquer.
Meet Cornelia Sorabji, an Indian woman who broke through barriers – the first woman at an Indian university, the first woman to study law anywhere, the first woman to plead a criminal case in a British-run court.
And yet, Cornelia was also an arch-imperialist, extolling the British Empire, castigating Gandhi and dismissing the Indian independence movement.
Join Oswin, Carla and our very special guest Sathnam Sanghera as we try to understand what drove someone like Cornelia – and why 'empire' still resonates more than 75 years after India gained its independence.
With Eurovision upon us, join Oswin and Carla in a special episode of Trapped History as we take a look back at the song contest's history and lift the Iron Curtain on Eurovision's big brother: Intervision and the incredible Sopot Song Festival.
Tune in to hear the Northern Soul Legend Sam Jones tell us all about the time she won Sopot – and what John Lennon, Frank Sinatra and others thought about her. It's a great listen!
Thrill to the story of the boys and girls who took on the richest men in America: and won. It's 1899, we're in New York and the 'newsies' – the boys and girls who sell papers on the city's streets – have had enough.
Join Oswin, Carla and six young people from today as we time travel 125 years to find out about Kid Blink, Joseph Pulitzer and how news has changed – or remained the same . . .
And listen in to hear who Shane, Dillon, Dalani, Elijah, Marley and Maya agree on for their Hall of Fame nominee.
In earlier episodes, we have featured women who have flown the world and men who have flown for freedom. But what about the courageous, pioneering women who powered the Nazi war machine?
Join Oswin and Carla as we learn about the troubled and troubling lives of Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg. The acclaimed historian, Clare Mulley, guides us through this knotty moral, ethical and historical challenge – a story which will open your eyes and your ears to the very nature of history, memory and truth.
It's Hall of Fame time! Tune in to hear an extended nomination from Sums of Anarchy's wonderful Dominique Miranda. This has everything: revolution, freedom and poetry, with a smattering of maths thrown in . . .
Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Emmy Noether, the greatest mathematician of the 20th century.
Emmy fought multiple prejudices all her life – she was a woman, she was Jewish and she came from a left-wing family. And this was Germany before the Nazis, already one of the most conservative places on earth. And yet, her pioneering work in abstract algebra and her proofs of Einstein's theory of relativity still stand today and are the basis of so much of our modern world.
Join Oswin and Carla as we explore Emmy's world and try to understand a bit about the barriers she dealt with every day. And if you're lucky, you might pick up some of the maths too from Sums Of Anarchy's brilliant Dominique Miranda – with a side order of Einstein!
Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Dominique's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
Polly Vacher's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is a true hero of our time.
Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to fly around the world.
Richarda was a bored and lonely young woman in post-war Britain. But she had a dream and she knew that she was the only person who could make it happen.
Join Oswin and Carla and the legendary circumnavigator Polly Vacher MBE as we try to understand what drives someone to climb into a cockpit and set off on a year-long journey. Just like Richarda, Polly did it too – as the first woman to fly solo around the world via the polar regions – and she shares her secrets of success.
Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Polly's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
This Friday, tune in to Trapped History as we tell the story of Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to fly around the world. Join Oswin, Carla and the legendary circumnavigator Polly Vacher as we find out about the fear, the boredom and the bravery behind this remarkable feat.
Listen, stream and download the first six episodes of Trapped History today.
Join Oswin and Carla on a cold day in London for this exclusive bonus episode on the 'one that got away', the supposed hero who maybe shouldn't have got a plaque on the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice . . .
It's bonus time! If you enjoyed our episode on Adelaide Hall, tune in to the second of two specials about her life which we couldn't include in the main edit. Hear about Adelaide's renaissance when The Cotton Club movie came out and listen in to find out how Barbara Windsor remembered 'my Addie'.
It's bonus time! If you enjoyed our episode about the great Adelaide Hall, here's the first of two extra shorts which we couldn't include in the main edit. Tune in to hear how Adelaide and other African-Americans tried to escape the racism and restrictions they faced in America by travelling to Europe and to Paris, Berlin and London in particular . . .
It's bonus time! It you enjoyed our episode about the wonderful Nellie Bly, tune in to hear a bit more about her record-breaking journey around the world: about what she took with her, what she didn't take and what joined her along the way . . .
McGinty the Monkey is waiting for you.
Tune into Trapped History at the half-way point in the season as we pay a visit to the astonishing Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice.
Join Oswin, Carla and the acclaimed sculptor Ian Wolter as we find out about the people and the ideas behind this remarkable unfinished piece of Victorian remembrance.
Download, listen and subscribe to the first half-season of Trapped History now.
Tune into Trapped History as we tell the story of Johnny Smythe, World War II bomber navigator, Prisoner of War and the mastermind behind the Windrush.
Join Oswin, Carla and former RAF pilot Trevor Edwards as we find out about this truly heroic man and discuss what it's like being one of the very few Black pilots in the air force.
Download, listen and subscribe to the first half-season of Trapped History now.
Tune into Trapped History as we tell the story of Adelaide Hall, the greatest singer you’ve never heard of.
Join Oswin, Carla and the historian Stephen Bourne as we find out about this remarkable singer who wowed international audiences for seven decades but who is now almost forgotten.
Download, listen and subscribe to the first half-season of Trapped History now.
Tune in to Trapped History as we tell the story of Peter Stevens, World War II bomber pilot, Prisoner of War and one of the most fascinating people you'll ever come across . . .
Join Oswin, Carla and the military historian Joshua Levine as we try to unravel the enigma of this remarkable man.
Listen, subscribe and download the first half-season of Trapped History today.
Tune in to Trapped History as we tell the story of Nellie Bly, the greatest reporter, writer, adventurer and entrepreneur you've never heard of! Join Oswin, Carla and the historian and traveller Rosemary Brown as we find out about this remarkable woman.
Listen, subscribe and download the first half-season of Trapped History today.
Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. But as we hit mid-season, we thought we'd do something slightly different: look at a whole bunch of unsung heroes. The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in fact.
Join us as we leave the studio and venture out into wintery London to find out about this fascinating place. It's Victorian, but not as you know it – there's no pomp, there's no circumstance. Instead, this is a memorial to ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
The artist and sculptor Ian Wolter leads us through the complex world of memorialisation and remembrance as we learn about the man behind the Memorial, the people on it and what it teaches us about memory today.
Tune in also to hear the powerful story of Ian's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Johnny Smythe – four heroes in one, across three continents.
Sierra Leonean Johnny was an RAF bomber navigator, a Prisoner of War, his country's top lawyer and the mastermind behind the Windrush.
In this special episode, Oswin and Carla are joined by Trevor Edwards, who flew for the RAF for a decade and who clues us in about the fear, the nerves, the pain, the racism and the ignorance he and Johnny would have faced every time they climbed into a plane.
Tune in also to hear the astonishing story of Trevor's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Adelaide Hall, the greatest singer we’d never heard of.
Ella Fitzgerald called her the first lady of jazz. She was the first to dance the Charleston, one of the richest Black women in America, the highest paid female entertainer in Britain during the war – so whatever happened to Adelaide Hall?
Join Oswin and Carla as we hear Adelaide sing and find out from the great Stephen Bourne all about Adelaide's life, the Cotton Club, the Harlem Renaissance, the Blitz, music halls and why we should know more about her.
Tune in also to hear the quite wonderful story of Stephen's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Peter Stevens, a complex courageous man who speaks to our age more than anyone we've come across before.
Peter is a chancer, a thief, a scrounger and a fraudster. But he's also a genuine war hero. And one of the most complicated, hidden and secretive people you'll ever meet.
Join Oswin and Carla and the military historian Joshua Levine as we try to understand the tangled world of Peter Stevens – and to make sense of how war can free people to be whatever they want to be.
Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Joshua's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Nellie Bly, one of the greatest people we've never heard of!
Nellie was born in the 19th century but she is a 21st century woman. An investigative journalist before the job existed, a travel writer before people knew what to write about, an anthropologist before people wanted to understand different cultures – and an entrepreneur at the dawn of a new age. You really want to hear about Nellie . . . you really need to.
Join Oswin and Carla as we delve into Nellie's life and hear from Rosemary Brown, a historian who followed Nellie on her greatest adventure: to beat Jules Verne at his own game and travel around the world in under 80 days.
Tune in also to hear the amazing story of Rosemary's inaugural nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.
Coming soon. A new podcast series that explores the hidden stories of unsung heroes.
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