Category Archives: Podcasts 2024

The Rest is History Episode 418 Britain in 1974: The Election Crisis (Part II) In February 1974 a bus carrying servicemen was bombed, killing 12 people. This was the first IRA bombing on British soil, and during 1974 there was an IRA bombing every week in Britain. The Labour Party was disarray, led by Harold Wilson, the brilliant, suburban, Scoutmaster and said to be the Queen’s favourite PM. Although he had led the Labour Party to victory in 1964, ten years later he was tired and over it all. He was surrounded by strong characters in their own right: Tony Benn who wanted to nationalize everything and the rude and bullying Dennis Healey. Jeremy Thorpe, the pro-European leader of the Liberals was a cad, but the Liberals saw themselves as ‘nice’. Then there was the Tory Enoch Powell with his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, which ended up in him being sacked from the Conservative Party and now off the leash. Labour was not expected to win, but the result was that the Tories and Labour were the same, and the Liberals won 19%. The first-past-the-post system yielded 301 seats to Labour, 297 to the Tories and 14 seats to the Liberals. The Liberals refused to enter into a coalition with the Tories, which meant that Wilson became Prime Minister of a minority government.

Things Fell Apart. Episode 4 Spicy Brando tells the story of Brandon Caserta (not sure of the spelling) who as a troubled young man found himself attracted to Jordan Peterson’s ’12 Rules for Life’ which led him into involvement with militia groups and preppers, particularly when the state of Michigan imposed strict lockdown measures. His involvement with the Wolverine Watchmen found him arrested by the FBI in October 2020 over the group’s plan to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Although Brandon himself was found not-guilty, the ringleaders were found guilty. However, Jon Ronson (and the court case) raises questions over just how serious all this trash-talk was, and whether the Wolverine Watchmen were a white supremacist group, as they had been portrayed.

Emperors of Rome Episode CIV Slavery Slavery was central to Rome’s economy and power. At first, slaves were taken in conquest and then any children born to a slave woman became a slave. There were slave markets in Rome and the owners could do anything they wanted to their slave. Historian Keith Hopkins has estimated that 25% of the population was enslaved, making Rome a ‘slave society’. It was normal for even modest households to have one or two slaves. Slaves played a variety of roles: educated slaves would act as secretaries, agricultural slaves worked on the estates, others worked on construction especially of public buildings, and the worst of all was to work in mining. With such a high proportion of the population being enslaved, there was always fear of rebellion, so slave catchers were numerous. A slave collar has been found, with a ‘note’ attached given their name and that of their owner, and instructions on how to return the absconded slave. Manumission was not uncommon . When set free, former slaves became citizens with most (but not all) the rights of a Roman citizen. When freed, they would have three names, one of which was their former owner’s. There was the potential for social mobility, but Augustus passed laws against cohabitation between a free woman and a slave. Some have said that Christianity put an end to slavery, although Rhiannon Evans notes that the Apostle Paul sent an escaped slave back to his owner. It was more that slavery become economically unviable in the later Roman Empire.

The Daily Stoic. Heather Cox Richardson on What History Teaches us about Fighting the Dark Energy of the Human Soul I’ve been listening to Heather Cox Richardson since lockdown days but I was a bit surprised to see her pop up here on the Daily Stoic. I’m not really sure that she was as much into the idea of the “dark energy of the soul” as the presenter was, but what she did talk about was that in replacing one story in history, it needs to be replaced by another story. It can be the story of a group, or of an idea. Really, they’re just chatting away. Nonetheless, it was interesting to hear her talking about history in a forum that is not devoted to history.

Emperors of Rome Episode CIII Old Age in the Roman World. Professor Tim Parkin (Elizabeth and James Tatoulis Chair of Classics, University of Melbourne) is so careful to point out that the sources deal only with wealthy Roman men, that I don’t know that I learned much here. It’s hard to say what ‘old age’ was: people lived into their 60s and 70s in Rome, and people and headstones often exaggerated people’s age. There was variation in perceptions of old age across the Empire: in North Africa, for example, there was more openness about peoples’ ages on their tombstones. He talks about ideas of medicine at the time, with the four humours, and it was generally seen that during old age, the humours ‘dried up’. Tell me about it.

History Extra Chivalry: Everything You Wanted to Know. Featuring medievalist Lydia Zeldenrust, this episode talks about the changing perception of chivalry from its origins in the post-Carolingian world – about the 11th or 12th century as a way of knights treating other knights; through the Crusades; its adoption during Tudor and Elizabethan times (thinking of Henry VIII’s Cloth of God knightly games) and then its 19th century manifestation as manners. There is always an interplay between the warrior-reality and literature. The idea of the strong protecting the weak was not extended to peasants, and it does have a dark side, sliding at times into misogyny (women are there for kidnapping and rescuing) and colonialism (the Spanish Conquistadors drew on the language and imagery of chivalry to justify their actions).

New York Times A Guilty Verdict for a Mass Shooter’s Mother This was fantastic. In Michigan, Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a 16 year old mass shooter at his school, was found guilty of criminal manslaughter for the shooting. She didn’t do the shooting: her son did. However, she purchased the gun for her son and took him to a shooting range (legally); she did not take him out of school when she and her husband were called in because her son had drawn pictures of shooting and guns on his geometry paper (but then again, none of the other adults in the room, who were all under mandatory reporting rules, allowed him to stay at school) and she did not seem to take seriously strange messages texted to her by her son (which she says have been taken out of context). The reporter on the story, Lisa Miller (no, not ‘our’ Lisa Millar) obviously has concerns about the case, which legal experts said was unlikely to end up with a guilty verdict- but it did. Really interesting.

I Was a Teenage Fundamentalist. So was I. This podcast, which started in 2021, is hosted by two other men who were part of the big evangelical churches during their adolescence/early adulthood, but as middle aged men, no longer attend. It’s a story-based podcast, and each episode is pretty much self-contained. I went right back to the starting episodes, where they were rather coy about their identities, referring to themselves by the letter of their first name only, but that has obviously gone by the board as their website now names them openly. Episode 1: Brian’s Conversion Story and Episode 2: Troy’s Conversion Story are just what the name says: they talk about how they came to ‘give their lives to Jesus’ – something that I had done some ten years earlier than did, but which seemed to be very much the same experience. Now in its third year, there are more episodes here than I’m likely to want to listen to (there is, after all, a sameness about them) but as an ex-fundamentalist, I find them interesting. I like that it’s Australian.

Democracy Sausage. I was always bemused by the term ‘water cooler conversation’, given that I had heard of the expression before I even knew what a water cooler was, in those days when we didn’t feel compelled to lug water bottles everywhere and got water from a tap if we were thirsty. Anyway, the recent ABC documentary Nemesis has certainly gained ‘water cooler conversation’ status among my circle of left-leaning, politically-engaged friends. In the episode Do Unto Others Emeritus Professor Paul Pickering, Dr Marija Taflaga and Professor Mark Kenny discuss the recently-completed ABC Nemesis program. Interesting to get other perspectives on it.

Things Fell Apart Season 2 Episode 3 Tonight’s the Night Comrades Continuing on with Jon Ronson’s exploration of culture war skirmishes in 2020, this episode looks at a family who were going on a short camping holiday in their converted white camperbus, only to find themselves in a small town, surrounded by heavily armed townfolk. Locals had been riled up by media reports of ‘Antifa’ plans to move out of the city centres into the countryside, and they were ready.

History Hit. Continuing on with Episode 3 Napoleon: The Lover, this episode features Kate Lister from the Betwixt the Sheets podcast – she seems to be everywhere recently. I was critical of how the recent film depicted Napoleon as a sex-crazed emotional wreck and I expected Lister to share my criticisms, but she did not. She did, however, question the depiction of Napoleon as ‘the last chopper out of Saigon’ (her words, not mine) for Josephine, arguing that Napoleon needed her just as much for her connections and popularity. Josephine’s real name was ‘Maria’, but she went by ‘Rose’, and it was Napoleon who called her ‘Josephine’. She had had a rough revolution, and her first husband had been guillotined. She thinks that they really did love each other. Napoleon could have walked away after her affair but he didn’t. Our view of Napoleon as a lover is shaped by his letters to her, although she has never been able to find the famous “don’t wash” letter, only historians’ references to other historians.

Expanding Eyes I have been a bit disappointed in the recent episodes 53 and 54 about The Iliad, but Michael Dolzani returns to form with Episode 55: The Final Showdown. We have just sat through four books of procrastination- “Why?” he asks. In Book 21 Achilles fights with a river, and the gods start betting and fighting among themselves – it’s almost satiric. He suggests that we think of it like Shakespeare and other Elizabethan writers who would interpose a comedic scene before a dramatic episode e.g. the drunk scene before Duncan’s murder in Macbeth. We see through Hector’s soliloquy that it is he, rather than Achilles, who has imbibed the Heroic Code despite his father begging him to return to safety. But his nerve breaks, and he runs. So what do we think of Hector now? Is this showing us that Hector is still a great, if flawed man? Or is it cutting him down to size? Then the gods intervene and cheat, with Athena impersonating Hector’s brother. Hector falls and has a long conversation with Achilles, which strains credulity somewhat.

Full Story (The Guardian) has a series at the moment called ‘The Tale I Dine Out On’. Comedian Wendy Harmer talks about going to the Oscars in 1998, just weeks after an emergency caesarean, with a moth-eaten dress, a hacked fringe, and post-natally hormonal. William McInnes, who I could listen to forever takes us back to Redcliffe in 1975 when he was a 15 year old in love with the local hairdressing apprentice, who gave him a terrible perm.

Emperors of Rome Podcast Episode CI The Last Will and Testament of Caesar. OK, so JC has died at the Forum- what happens next? Brutus and Cassius claimed the assassination as a victory and Brutus gave a speech about the murder which was received silently, but with respect. Mark Antony wasn’t sure that he wasn’t going to be next, so he went into hiding. Nobody really knew what was about to come next. The assassins all had provinces that they could go to, and Caesar’s wife spirited away his personal fortune, which was about $60 million worth in today’s money. Mark Antony read Caesar’s will which left 3/4 of his fortune to Octavius (his great nephew and adopted son) and the title Caesar. Caesar provided 300 sesterces per person for Roman citizens, which was equivalent to 4 months of a soldier’s salary. Some money was left to Decimus, one of the assassins, which was not a good look and the people turned against the assassins so they left before the funeral, leaving Mark Antony to organize the funeral. Octavian was only 19.

The London Review of Books Podcast Proust in English features Michael Wood, prolific contributor to the LRB. There have been six translations of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and we need to ask Do we need another translation? And is it correct? The translator of any work has two options: first, to make it sound like English; or second, to emphasize the strangeness of the language so that you are always aware that you are reading a translation. As far as the book is concerned, is the narrator Marcel Proust? The name ‘Marcel’ appears twice- were the other mentions removed, or is he playing with the question. In fact, when you get to the end of the seven volumes, did the narrator even write the book anyway? Is the book you are reading the final product? Questions, questions…

Sydney Writers Festival The Arc of Racism in Australia I always get a little frisson of pleasure when I see one of my fellow students from the PhD program at La Trobe in the media. In this case, it’s Andonis Piperoglou who leads a panel discussion with Anthropologist and social critic Ghassan Hage, Palestinian-Egyptian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, The Sydney Morning Herald culture editor Osman Faruqi, and Gomeroi academic and author Amy Thunig. It’s all a bit sad, listening to a podcast recorded before the Referendum.

The Rest is History The Fall of the Aztecs: War to the Death Part 7. It’s time that I finished this 8-parter off, before I forget how it started. This episode deals with the Siege of Tenochtitlan – the last stand of the Aztec warriors. As they point out, Meso America was so divided that it was easy to colonize. Conquest by the Spanish wasn’t inevitable- after all, the Chinese and Ottomans had empires too- but they were unlikely to colonize Meso-America, and given the competitiveness and entrepreneurship in Europe at the time, the Europeans were always going to come. The Spanish Conquest established a template for other conquests, transforming Meso-America into a Spanish place. They talk about Matthew Restall’s approach towards the conquest (I must seek him out) which depicts Cortez as a mediocrity, and which seeks to take out the glamour of the Conquistadors, leaving the horror and drama. Sandbrook and Holland (the presenters) don’t go that far: they claim that there was courage on both sides. 

The Fall of the Aztecs: The Last Emperor Part 8 As Tenochtitlan falls in August 1521, the story of sacking of a city repeats, as it has through Western stories (think Troy, think Jerusalem). Is the Spanish Conquest to be condemned? Certainly, Protestants dined out of its barbarity, and there is a strong progressive argument against it. Cortez was still desperate to find gold, and he was prepared to torture the Mexica to find it. Meanwhile, Charles V in Europe gave his approval of the expedition, and Cortez’s wife Catalina (a forced marriage) turned up in Tenochtitlan, only to die suddenly (how convenient). How much changed after the conquest? The Mexica were not slaves and they continued to work as peasant labourers, much as they had under the Aztecs. The Spanish were deferential towards rank and hierarchy amongst the people they conquered, as long as their opponents converted. The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared, speaking Nahuatl, at a place that was already a pilgrimate site to fertility goddesses. Cortez was not good at governing. He married Malinche and gave her her own estates, remarried and started another family, then sailed off to Spain to fight innumerable lawsuits- the fate of most of the Conquistadors- and he died there.

Return Ticket (ABC) I wanted something light to fill in about 20 minutes, and this travel series is certainly light. Hosted by Jonathan Green, of whom I am not particularly enamoured, these are short travel segments taking a somewhat quirky view of popular travel spots. I’m not particularly interested in hearing about places that I haven’t seen (and am unlikely to do so now), but I was attracted to the episodes where he talks about places that I have been to. Order and chaos in Mumbai juxtaposes the sheer crush of so many people against the unseen networks that somehow make this place work. He visits the dhobiwalas in the huge open air laundry near Maha Laxmi Railway Station ( I wrote about them in my travel blog here), then Churchgate Station, where the dabbawalas collect and distribute tiffin boxes throughout the city. He finishes off in a national park in Mumbai where he sees a leopard. 

The very first episode of this program (S1E1) is London Underground- Literally starts off in the Underground but then excavates deeper into the other services laid below the Tube like British Telecom, bolt-rooms for politicians and passageways for police. He then discusses the Iceberg Houses in Kensington, where a standard Regency exterior hides multiple basement levels with pools, gymasiums, theatres etc.- in effect, inconspicuous consumption in houses that are largely unlived-in, and merely an investment product. The juxtapositon between extreme wealth and poverty is jarring, with the Grenfell Towers nearby.

But this program is too flippant for me: too many ‘stingers’ breaking up the program, too much silliness.

Expanding Eyes. I haven’t enjoyed the last couple of episodes as much- there’s a bit too much re-telling of the Iliad, with not much more added. Episode 53 deals with the turning point of Book 16, where Patroclus dresses in Achille’s armour and goes and gets himself killed. In Episode 54 the Achaeans get Patroclus’s body back, minus the armour, and Achille’s mother Thetis goes to the workshop of Hephaestus on Mt. Olympus to get a replacement. Breisis speaks of her sorrow at the death of Patroclus, and finally Achilles goes into battle himself.

History Hit The WW2 Witch Trial of Hellish Nell features Kate Lister, who presents the Between the Sheets podcast about sex- her specialty. It’s a very noisy podcast and I find her accent rather grating. She interviews Jess Marlton, manager of Bodmin Jail, which markets itself as a site of paranormal activity. Hellish Nell was actually Helen Duncan (she gained the nickname from a brattish childhood) and she was the last woman to be tried under the 1735 Witchcraft Act, more than 200 years later, during WW2. The concept of ‘ghost’ changed over time, and after World War I, at a time when communication technologies were coming into their own, people wanted to communicate with the dead. Women in particular were seen to cross over between the real and the mystical, and being a medium was a way of women having spiritual authority that they otherwise did not have. Helen began her career in the 1920s. She specialized in manifesting the dead through ectoplasm, or spiritual energy, which ended up being exposed as a mixture of cheesecloth and egg white that she regurgitated- metres and metres of the stuff.. She was brought undone by a naval officer who attended one of her seances where she ‘spoke’ with a sailor who supposedly died in a sinking that the British Government had not publicized. Although she had been charged under the vagrancy act previously, the government wanted to make an example of her. She was sentenced to nine months jail. The 1735 Act focussed on fakery, rather than earlier Witchcraft Acts which tacitly recognized the reality of witches. The act was changed again in 1951 to the Fraudulent Medicine Act, and was later incorporated into Consumer legislation.

The Partial Historians I’ve been aware of this podcast, featuring Australian historians Dr Fiona Radford and Dr Peta Greenfield but I hadn’t listened to it. Ye Gods, one of them has the most annoying braying laugh (I think that it’s Dr Rad, but I may be wrong). I was particularly interested in this episode on Roman Naming Conventions, because I find Roman names really confusing. There are four naming conventions: the praenomen (the first name), the nomen (a reference to the clan or gens that the person came from), the cognomen (this name could have a variety of meanings!), and the agnomen (nickname). It’s comical that some of the names that we know Romans by were actually quite abusive: Galba meant ‘fat belly’; Crassus meant ‘fat’; Blazus meant ‘stutterer’. Adoption was taken very seriously by the Romans, and the suffix ‘-anus’ was added to their name to denote that they had been adopted. There was change over time in women’s status vis-a-vis their family, when instead of becoming part of their husband’s family, they remained part of their gens (i.e. birth family). Slaves were often given a cute name, and freedmen often had to keep their former owner’s name, although later generations dropped it.