Quarantine Genius

In 2014, Salome Karwah was living in Monrovia, Liberia, when Ebola struck. It killed seven members of her family and infected her, her sister and her fiancé. As soon as Karwah recovered, she volunteered with Doctors Without Borders and went to help others. In the final episode of Quarantine Genius, we tell her story. Thanks for listening. Donate to Doctors Without Borders: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm?_ga=2.11903092.1946371403.1595857604-1914176887.1595857604Written and researched by Lucinda Smyth; composed and sound edited by Tom Chapman; logo by Al Konstam. (Refs: WHO, Origins of the 2014 Ebola epidemic, One Year Report (2016); 'Families Must Care For Sick at Home as ebola wards fill up', The Times (2014); Jonah Lipton, ‘What ebola taught me about coronavirus’, Guardian (March 2020); Medicin Sans Frontieres, Tribute: 'Salome Karwah survived ebola to help others', (2017); NPR, 'An Ebola hero had a baby in Liberia, 4 days later she was dead' (2017); Richard Preston, Inside The Ebola Ward, New Yorker (Aug 2014); Documentary – Ebola: The Story, Dir Pascal Magnin, (2018); Ebola: When Health Workers' duty to treat is trumped, BBC, (October 2014))

In May 1991, Queen shot their iconic video for These Are The Days of Our Lives. Six months later, lead frontman Freddie Mercury was dead from AIDS. In this episode we look at one of the worst disease outbreaks in modern history, and how Freddie Mercury - one of the century's the most charismatic & resilient creatives - worked through it. Donate to AKT: https://www.akt.org.uk/donate/roomforlove/10 Written by Lucinda Smyth, composed by Tom Chapman, logo by Al Konstam. (Refs: 'Thatcher Tried to block bad taste public health warnings', The Guardian, 2015; Documentary 'Days of Our Lives', BBC, 2011; 'Public Health History of AIDS', Futurelearn; Documentary: 'AIDS – The victims' (1985), BFI; Tom Crewe, 'Here Was A Plague', LRB (2018); 'The Vile, Horrific Way the Media reported the AIDS Crisis', Pink News. 'When Doctors Refuse to Treat AIDS Patients', New York Times, 1987.)

WARNING: Contains graphic descriptions of violence. In 1913, a six year old Frida Kahlo contracted polio disease in Coyoacan, Mexico. The following nine months she spent pent up as a result of the illness would ignite her creativity, and begin an artistic relationship with illness that lasted a lifetime. Written and produced by Lucinda Smyth, sound edited and composed by Tom Chapman, logo by Alice Konstam. (Refs: Hayden Herrera, Frida (1983); David Oshinsky, Polio: An American Story (2005); 'Exploring Frida Kahlo's relationship with her body', Google Arts; Gareth Williams, 'How a virus brought New York to a standstill in the summer of 1916', The Conversation; NPR, How The US Snuffed Out A Killer, 2012; Patrick Cockburn, Diary: the 1956 Polio Epidemic, May 2020, London Review of Books.)

In London 1918, Spanish Flu seemed a minor threat, especially compared to the pressing matter of the First World War. Living in the leafy suburb of Richmond, Virginia Woolf mocked The Times for an article comparing the flu with the Black Death. But the analogy was accurate, and later that year Woolf herself would be bedbound as a result of the disease. Written and presented by Lucinda Smyth; composed and edited by Tom Chapman; logo by Alice Konstam. (Refs: Laura Spinney, Pale Rider; Elizabeth Outka, Viral Modernism; Hunting the 1918 Flu, Kirsty Duncan; Robert Hume, Far Too Little Too Late, History Extra (2020); Joanna Bourke, ‘Another Battle Front’, Guardian (2008); Louis Menand, Practical Cat, New Yorker; (2011))

Lincoln had just given the Gettysburg address when, on the train back to Washington, he began to suffer from symptoms of smallpox. In this episode, we go over to the US to look at the effect of smallpox on Lincoln's presidency - and what happens when a leader is directly affected by a pandemic. Written, researched and produced by Lucinda Smyth; composed and sound edited by Tom Chapman; logo by Alice Konstam. Donate to Women's Aid: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/donate/ (References: The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania, Bradley R Hoch (2001); The Last Major Smallpox Outbreak in America, SciShow, Youtube (2017); Abraham Lincoln, Smallpox and the Gettysburg address, (2013): Civil War Profiles; Jim Downs, ‘The Epidemics America Got Wrong’, Atlantic, (March 2020); Greg Lange, Smallpox Epidemic of 1862 among Northwest Coast and Puget Sound Indians (2003); Washington: A History of The Capital, Constance McLaughlin Green (1962))

Poet John Keats was 25 years old when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1820. After his death he became an icon of the supposed relation of tuberculosis to art, beauty and genius. In this episode we investigate how a disease can become fetishized. Written and produced by Lucinda Smyth; composed and sound designed by Tom Chapman; logo by Alice Konstam. DONATE to TB Alert: https://www.tbalert.org/support-us/donate/ or text TBAL14 £10 to 70070 (Refs: Keats by Andrew Motion; Thomas M Daniel, The History of Tuberculosis, Respiratory Medicine (2006); The Lancet: Tuberculosis http://www.tbonline.info/posts/2017/7/24/lancet-tuberculosis/; 'How London Became the Tuberculosis Capital of Europe', Frances Wilson, Guardian; Tuberculosis and Fashion, Horror Everyday Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nz4_f6d93o; Tuberculosis: The Era of Consumption https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-73rQw3lX_g ; Pioneers of Medicine and their impact on Tuberculosis, Thomas M Daniel.)

When Cambridge University shut for plague in 1665, Newton was sent back to his parents' home in Lincolnshire. The eighteen months he spent there was the most productive time of his life. In this episode, we look at some of the theories Newton developed during what is now known as his Year of Wonders. Written by Lucinda Smyth; composed by Tom Chapman; logo by Alice Konstam. Donate to Student Minds: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/ (Refs: 1666: Plague, War, Hellfire, Rebecca Rideal; The Great Plague, Evelyn Lord; What social distancing looked like in 1666, NY Times, Annalee Newitz. (Mar 29, 2020); Newton's Dark Secrets, Documentary; Nova/PBS, 2005.)

In episode 1 of Quarantine Genius, we look at the effect of the plague on Shakespeare's life, work and legacy. The playwright/actor faced at least four outbreaks in his lifetime and his profession was continually disrupted by disease. In 1606, Shakespeare was lodging above a swanky hat-shop in London when plague struck yet again. This time, his lockdown schedule would lead him to write one of the greatest tragedies in the English language. (Written, produced and presented by Lucinda Smyth. Composed by and sound edited by Tom Chapman. Logo by Alice Konstam.) Donate to Black Ticket Project here: https://www.paypal.me/btproject. References: Charles Nicholl, Shakespeare The Lodger (2007); James Shapiro, 1606: Shakespeare and the Year of Lear (2015); Neil MacGregor's 'Shakespeare's Restless World' (BBC R4; ); Andrew Dickson 'Shakespeare in Lockdown' (Guardian, 2020); 'Broadway Shutdown could be Good for Theater' (Atlantic, 2020); Thomas Dekker, A Wonderful Yeare (1604); 'A Day in the Life of William Shakespeare' (BBC Teach); James Shapiro, 'How Shakespeare's Great Escape from the Plague Changed Theatre' (Guardian, 2015).