Histories of the Unexpected

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 24: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..GENEROSITY! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 23: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..CHRISTMAS 2021! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 22: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about….CHRISTMAS 2018 Part 2.! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 21: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..CHRISTMAS 2018 PART 1! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 20: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..CHRISTMAS 2016! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 19: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..WISE MEN! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 18: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..SHEPHERDS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 17: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..BABIES! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 16: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..REINDEER PART 2! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 15: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..REINDEER PART 1! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 14: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..ELVES! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 13: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..WINGS PART 2! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 12: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..WINGS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 11: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..DONKEYS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 10: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..STARS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 9: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..SNOW! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 8: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..CARROTS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 7: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..OBSCENITY! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 6: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..RIOTS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 5: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..SPITE! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 4: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..LUCKY FINDS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 3: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..SHOES! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 2: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..EVIL! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the countdown to Christmas 2023, the Unexpected Christmas elves have been busy preparing a special podcast advent calendar for your delectation, based on their Histories of the Unexpected favourite past episodes. And behind door 1: the Unexpected History of Christmas is all about…..Bad Luck! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inspired by Bonfire Night, Sam Willis and James Daybell reexplore the unexpected history of fire. It's all about communicating with fire, propaganda, speeches, hunting, exploring, Captain Cook, arrows, burning barrels, heresy, greed, Zoroastrianism, the rise of Islam, eternal flames, paisley, Dante's Inferno, treachery and Julius Caesar! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this fourth and final RELEASE for HALLOWEEN 2023, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis discuss the unexpected history of FEAR! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this third RELEASE for HALLOWEEN 2023, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis discuss the unexpected history of MONSTERS! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this second RELEASE for HALLOWEEN 2023, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis discuss the unexpected history of ZOMBIES! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this RERELEASED episode for HALLOWEEN 2023, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis try to breathe new life into the unexpected history of CORPSES! Which is all about the eccentric Cornish landowner Sir James Tillie (1645-1713), who demanded that upon his death his body should be tied to a chair facing the River Tamar in a purpose-built mausoleum at Pentillie Castle (and he was to be fed every day!); Viking corpse doors and mortuary practices related to doors; and superstitions to do with bleeding corpses. It's also all about sixteenth- and seventeenth-century burial practices; exhumation, posthumous execution and corpses on the move (via Oliver Cromwell); Thomas Hood's poem, The Death Bed; body farms and swamp men! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the UNEXPECTED history of PINK! Which is all about the history of death by duelling in eighteenth-century England (the transition from swords to pistols as the weapon of choice), masculinity and codes of honour. It's also all about elite status in ancien regime Europe, porcelain and female power at the French court, and the marketing of baby clothes in the late 20th century! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis don their shades of history, bag the sun beds by the pool of the past, relax and pontificate on the UNEXPECTED history of SUNSHINE! Which is all about religion and worship of sun deities (via Ra, the falcon-headed Ancient Egyptian sun god, and the tomb of Nefartari in Egypt's the Valley of the Queens!) as well as the history of the suntan (and Little House of the Prairie). It's also all about the military use of the Archimedes heat ray, René Descartes and Isaac Newton, and Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get rather maudlin and nostalgic about the UNEXPECTED history of HOMESICKNESS! Which is all about colonial settlers, the US civil war, nineteenth-century immigration, WW2 and modern childhood in America! It's also all about displacement of Jews during the Holocaust, the kindertransport, recipes and childhood diaries. And it's also all about space travel, sexism, and the history of paternal relationships. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis prostrate themselves upon the ground and humbly beg forgiveness with the UNEXPECTED history of APOLOGIES! Which is all about British politeness and bumping into people as an experiment; public apologies and historical reconciliation for slavery, the holocaust and atrocities in WW2 (including the Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama 'On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war's end' (15 August 1995). It's also all about letters of apology, politeness in Tudor England, and drunkenness and Edgar Allan Poe. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

RERELEASED for your listening pleasure, one of our favourite episodes from our back catalogue: the unexpected history of GLOVES!The gloves are off as the general of generations, Professor James Daybell, and the seadog of centuries, Dr Sam Willis, take us on a rip-roaring ride through the unexpected history of the glove. From the Holy Roman Empire to one of Japan's most popular sports. Join the intrepid two as they handle with kid gloves, relics of remembrance, challenges to masculinity, weapons of death, signals of availability, and symbols of status. If you thought gloves were just to keep your hands warm, well you might want to consider your next purchase of a pair, or even one, carefully. Now where did I drop that glove…?‘See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!O, that I were a glove upon that hand,That I might touch that cheek!' (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis clutch the walking stick of the past to uncover the UNEXPECTED history of FRAILTY! Which is all about the history of old age, loneliness, well-being and medical history (via the seventeenth-century English diarist Sarah Cowper). It's also all about the history of accidents (falling off things, stumbling and fatalities) and the depiction of disabilities in the margins of medieval manuscripts. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In honour of mothers around the world, past and present, a rerelease of our episode on the Unexpected History of MOTHERS!THE UNEXPECTED HISTORY OF MOTHERS! A boy's best friend is his mother' (Norman Bates – Psycho, written and directed by Joseph Stefano and Alfred Hitchcock, 1960). Welcome to Histories of the Unexpected where you will discover the history of things you did not know even had a history, like the history of nonsense or the history of the itch. For this episode let us join the Abbott of historical action, Dr Sam Willis, and the Marconi of long distance historical communication, Professor James Daybell, as they bring forth the unexpected history of mothers.Join the very well preserved and embalmed historical adventurers as they take you on a journey of nurturing and sometimes less than tender care, from Freud's controversially proposed Oedipus complex to the archaeological site of Banpo, China, discovered in 1953, from the Cross of Honour handed out to mothers in Nazi Germany to Stalin's Order of Maternal Glory, and from the maternal conflict and violence evidenced within the fifteenth-century Paston Letters to the poignant seventeenth-century diary extracts of a worried mother, Lady Anne Clifford.Our two old maters discover that this unexpected history is actually all about: conflict and matriarchy, communist theory and shared economies, capitalism and inherited material wealth, legitimisation and state doctrine, propaganda and ideology, tyranny and idealism, cultural conformity and social engineering, knowledge transmission and dissemination, … and ugly babies, which were disliked by Queen Victoria.Listen out for James's own tribute to his mother, and a big Hi! to all mums listening.‘Good mother, do not marry me to yond fool' (Anne – Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 3, Scene 4, written by William Shakespeare, 1602). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis stretch their weary limbs, yawn and check their proverbial watch all in order to unpick the UNEXPECTED history of WAITING! Which is all about industrialisation, boredom and anxiety, and the history of queuing (via Winston Churchill and WW2 and Margaret Thatcher), power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the history of migration. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis scale the great heights of the UNEXPECTED history of WALLS! Which is all about ancient Rome (via Ovid's Metamorphoses and Pyramus and Thisbe), Hadrian's Wall, graffiti in Pompeii, and the House of Maius Castricius. It's also all about Medieval Castles and the Crusades, and the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

STRIPES!In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis try on the city slicker pinstripe suits and speculate on the history of STRIPES! Which is all about the Carmelite order, the banning of striped clothing and stripes as a marker of social stigma (via the sartorial garb of the gangster). It's also all about the eighteenth-century maritime world (including Nelson's stocking), stripes as a marketing phenomenon, zebras and patterned cathedrals, as well as about the moving story of concentration camp uniforms. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy Valentine's Day to our listeners! For this episode let us join the Cupid of history, Professor James Daybell and the Casanova of historical crime, Dr Sam Willis as they, with arrows notched and ready to fly, bring you from the back catalogue: the unexpected history of LOVE.Our two star crossed history hunters take the lead along love's fickle twisting and turning path, from the modern phenomenon of attaching inscribed padlocks to public bridges in Paris to the votive offerings made through centuries past, from the tempestuous affair between Peter Abelard and Heloise d'Argenteuil in the 12th century and one of the earliest examples of a love letter to Verona in the 1930s and the beginnings of the ‘Juliette Secretary's', from the in-twinned savagery of politics and courtly love of the Tudor period and the poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt to Stalin and the Soviet state and the poignant last letters of those condemned to death, and from the letters of Sir Edward Dering to his ‘dearest and best friend' his beloved wife Unton in the mid fifteenth century to the earliest recorded English valentine letter from the Paston papers, written in 1477, love is most definitely all around.Knowing no bounds and conquering all, Sam and James discover that this unexpected history is actually all about; affection and romance, family and companionship, cultural expression and interpretation, attraction and biology, chemistry and psychology, endurance and expectations, security and commitment, permanence and loss, betrayal and sacrifice, intimacy and passion.“Farewell love and all thy laws forever;Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more” (Sir Thomas Wyatt, 1557) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis don the waders, bait the hook of history and cast out to land the unexpected history of FISH! Which is all about the fascinating history of cod (via the Vikings and Mr Birds Eye), it's about Samuel Pepys, the Royal Society, Sir Isaac Newton and Willughby and Ray's exceptionally unsuccessful De Historia Piscium (The History of Fishes). It's also all about the History of Fish and Chips, fly fishing and feathers stolen from historic birds, and marlin fishing off the coast of Australia. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get all mechanised and programme the unexpected history of ROBOTS! Which is all about AI and the rise of ChatGPT, popular culture, science fiction and imagining good and bad machines (think C3PO, R2D2 and Metal Mickey). It's also all about the Brazen Head automaton and the late medieval polymath Roget Bacon, via Robert Greene's Elizabethan play, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (c.1590), as well as the Industrial Revolution, dancing bears and mechanical automata. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this RERELEASE episode from the archive the Histories of the Unexpected team explain how the history of Christmas is actually all about BAD LUCK - Who Knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest RERELEASED episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis don their most Artic-like winter wear to track down the extraordinarily unexpected history of SNOW! A festive taster for all our listeners! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis take stock of half a century (in honour of the Daybell's milestone Birthday!) to unwrap the extraordinarily unexpected history of THE NUMBER 50! Which is all about models of how we interpret the past, the headlines on 3 December 1972, and the remarkable meanings and symbolisms of the number 50!! It's also about the fascinating history of the £50 bank note, and the notion of historical figures on the back of legal tender. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis pinch the historical pus out of the extraordinarily unexpected history of SPOTS! Which is all about female beauty and false advertising in the nineteenth century in the United States of America, and the strangely titled Arsenic Wafers, which it was advertised were entirely safe and ensured a blemish free complexion. It's also all about the Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, and the history of acne, teenagers and dermatology!! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis shout TALLY HO! and follow the historical scent of the extraordinarily unexpected history of FOXES! Which has nothing whatsoever to do with fox-hunting, but is in fact all about the remarkable sport of fox-tossing (as well as aerial golf!), and Basil Brush and the history of British light entertainment. It's also all about Operation Fantasia in the aftermath of Pearl Harbour when the Office of Strategic Service (America's wartime intelligence agency) experimented with psychological warfare against the Japanese based on Shinto kitsune, or fox-shaped spirits with magical abilities. And it's also all about stuffed foxes (and/or wolves) in museums; Aesop's Fables and the story of the fox and the grapes, and the board game Fox and Geese. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get all hush, hush (we'd love to tell you, but then we'd have to kill you....) about the extraordinarily unexpected history of SECRETS! Which is all about Elizabethan Catholics, recusancy laws and priest holes (and a recent adventure at the wonderful Harvington Hall); it's about secret codes and ciphers, and the practice of hiding sweaty gloves in chimneys to deter malign spirits. It's also all about D-Day and operations in WW2, misogynistic attitudes in the past of women not being able to keep secrets, and Charles Swynnerton's Indian Nights' Entertainment; or, Folk-Tales from the Upper Indus. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis tackle the extraordinarily unexpected history of BEARS! It's not all about Teddy Bears - Paddington, Winnie-the-Pooh and Rupert bear - in fact it's all about bear attacks and how to avoid them; keep bears at pets (via Lord Byron). It's also all about accidents and bear-baiting in Shakespearean England, and travel. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis tackle the extraordinarily unexpected history of MUMBLING! Yes! It does have a history, and this one takes us back to the basics of the concept of histories of the unexpected, which is the historical equivalent of rambling around the past like a bull in a historical china shop. Mumbling is all about historical definitions and talking with your mouth full; it's about 90s rap phenomenon, mumble rap; linguistic compression trips and the history of colour, as well as Rocky Balboa and Marlon Brando's Don Corleone in The Godfather. It's also all about speaking in tongues, and the great vowel shift and mass migrations! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the fascinating and remarkably unexpected history of OLD AGE! Which is all about being rude about old people and the gendering of the muff, via William Hogarth's 1746 etching 'A Taste of the High Life' and Piercy Roberts ‘Comfort for an Old Maid'. It's also all about intergenerational oral history projects between school pupils and residents in car homes, the history of isolation and loneliness; the photograph and William Turner's famous painting The Fighting Temeraire! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.