Heroes and Howlers

“Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.“  Samuel Johnson Paul and Mikey serve up more juicy morsels, answer questions from listeners, and dig out a couple of extra maps! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win, otherwise why be a warrior? It is easier to count beads.” Miyamoto Musashi  Well, the Japanese navy was certainly not “counting beads” when it took on the Russians in 1904-5. In this episode Paul and Mikey look at the ‘Wild East’: Russian expansion, Japanese exp...

“Antarctica has this mythic weight. It resides in the collective unconscious of so many people, and it makes this huge impact, just like outer space. It's like going to the moon.” Jon Krakauer     The race to the South Pole was always going to throw up some Heroes, maybe a few Howlers too - but who should really get the credit for discovering the Seventh Continent? Paul and M...

“Rather fail with honour, than succeed by Fraud” Sophocles  If only Gregor McGregor had spent more time studying the Classics. This week Paul and Mikey go hunting for a Scottish rogue and find themselves marooned on Central America’s Mosquito Coast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“As for all your latest Mayan discoveries and poems, I want to hear every word of it.” Jack Kerouac, Letters to Allen Ginsberg The Americas were home to many fascinating nations and cultures, long before the Europeans arrived. And they did pretty well on the fruit and veg front too. In this episode, the boys take an in-depth look at the Maya, and see what Heroes and Howlers Meso-Americ...

“The past alone is truly real: the present is but a painful, struggling birth into the immutable being of what is no longer. Only the dead exist fully.” Bertrand Russell , On History Paul and Mikey dish up titbits galore, and answer listener questions from episodes 4-6. Time to close out Season 4 and enter a New Year in style. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“If a man were called upon to fix that period in the history of the world during which the condition of t he human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. “  Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Paul and Mikey serve up more juicy morsels, answer questions f...

"England was merry England, when Old Christmas brought his sports again. 'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale; ‘Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft could cheer, The poor man's heart through half the year."  Walter Scott - Marmion  Paul and Mikey are unwrapping presents for everyone early this year. They’ve got Wars on Christmas, Coke bottle San...

“ Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy” Henry David Thoreau   Captain Cook was the first to admit that the Dutch had been mapping New Holland decades before he set sail on The Endeavour . Could the Chinese have travelled that way too? The Spanish? The Portuguese? Paul an...

This week, Mikey is revisiting Treasure Fleet as Paul is still in the UK. Enjoy! We will be back with new episodes shortly. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Paul out of town, Mikey has chosen some of his all-time favourite episodes that he wants you to hear again. This week we have Napoleon (Wallpaper). Enjoy! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Paul off in the UK, Mikey wanted to take a walk down memory lane and remind you of where it all began- The Fourth Crusade. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Are we not like people sitting up with a corpse, and making merry in the house of the dead?” Herman Melville  Over a thousand years before Melville wrote his words one Pope actually did this very thing. In this episode Paul and Mikey look at the Cadaver Synod and the perilous political games played out amongst the early medieval papacy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

“ Do not to look upon the loss of 10 days with wonder or scorn. Do not regret the removal of 10 days from the calendar. All those who love sleep can console themselves by thinking about how wonderful it will be to go to bed on the second of the month and to sleep until the morning of the 14th”   - Benjamin Franklin Julian vs Gregorian. Ten months vs twelve. Lunar vs solar. Paul ta...

“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” Marcus Aurelius If only the Emperor Commodus had inherited a fraction of his father’s wisdom. In this episode Paul and Mikey look at the turbulent reign that many believe was the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire. As well as the fascinating role played by adoption amongst Rome's ruling elite....

“To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished leaving behind the pattern of its restlessness: counterfeit borders, unmapped peoples.” Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road Rather than being a bridge to link East and West, The Silk Road was a web of routes growing ever outwards. From its heart in Central Asia, it would...

“I know that all things pass away but history. History never dies. It is what defines us as a civilization, and we live out our collective histories every day, in ways both good and evil... History dies hard.” Paul Rusesabagina ( An Ordinary Man ) Paul and Mikey dish up more juicy morsels, answer listener questions from episodes 6-9, and bring Season 3 (and Lockdown!) to a close with a...

“History is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.” Voltaire ( L'Ingénu )  Paul and Mikey dish up more juicy morsels, answer questions from listeners, and dig out a couple of extra maps. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I could calculate the motions of the heavenly stars, but not the madness of people.” Sir Isaac Newton With ‘Money’ becoming more liquid, and ‘The Market’ more fluid, investors in ‘The City’ searched far and wide for new opportunities. Mikey and Paul are hot on their heels - hoping to catch a glimpse of the bubbles before they burst.   See...

"To win any battle, you must fight as if you are already dead." Miyamoto Musashi (Japanese Swordsman/Philosopher) Paul and Mikey head eastwards in search of Japan’s Three Great Unifiers… and some Black Ships!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I  asked: ‘Do you speaka my language?’ He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich.” Men at Work Do armies really march on their stomachs? Paul and Mikey tuck into how conflict has transformed food production over the centuries and given us some of our best-loved staples. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Young men make wars…, old men make the peace. And the vices of peace are the vices of old men. Mistrust and caution. It must be so.” Prince Faisal (Lawrence Of Arabia) The Arabian Peninsula has been pivotal since ancient times, and for good reason. Home to legendary figures such as the Queen of Sheba, and thriving trading hubs linking India to Africa to the Mediterranean, its t...

“They say openly that Christ and his saints slept.” The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Paul and Mikey look at how one howler of a booze cruise plunged twelfth century England and France into chaos. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I wish for adventure. I wish to matter.” Sins of a Wicked Duke Good Dukes, Wicked Dukes and Wicked Uncles - Tudor England had them all. Or was that just Shakespearean propaganda? Paul and Mikey dig deep to find out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself.” Josephine Cochrane  Paul and Mikey look at the life of this groundbreaking entrepreneur and inventor, and the rise of the women’s rights movement in late 19th century America. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.