Trapped History

Eric Williams was Trinidad and Tobago's first Prime Minister after independence. Pretty consequential stuff. But for us, and for this week's guest Alex Renton, Eric was so much more. Because in the 1940s, he became the first historian to forensically question the economics of slavery. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has dubbed his masterpiece, Capitalism and Slavery , "the most influen...

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 stor...

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 hea...

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...

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 d...

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%...

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...

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,...

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...

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. M...

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' pe...

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 survivin...

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...

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...

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...

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 Auschwi...

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,...

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 Gallipo...

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 191...

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-open...

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 t...

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...

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 tra...

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 Chines...

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...