Histories of the Unexpected

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 project...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis try to take very seriously indeed the unexpected history of IDIOTS! Which is all about the current disarray in British politics (the kamikaze budget) and the concept of the useful idiot - or a person who is duped into acting for a cause without properly knowing what they're doing - a la Tory party recklessness vi...

In this fourth and final RELEASE for HALLOWEEN 2022, 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 2022, 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 2022, 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 2022, 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 h...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis wander down memory lane and bump into old friends in this reminiscence about the unexpected history of REUNIONS! Which is inspired by James's recent gaudy at his old college, and is in fact all about the history of fine dining, pomp and ceremony in twentieth-century Oxford University; it's black family reunions a...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis unpack the box, set up the pieces and roll the dice of history to play around with the unexpected history of BOARDGAMES! Which is all about POW camps during WW2, portability and the Vasa Warship, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628; it's about Hadrian's wall and chess as a way of look at a cultural history of...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis are inspired by having just watched a fantastic new film on Netflix called I Used to be Famous , so much so that we have done a whole episode based around it on the unexpected history of FAME! Which is all about the phenomenon of celebrity, and the changed fortunes of the famous from Ancient Rome, through P....

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis head down to the beach of history and dig into the unexpected history of BUCKETS! Which is all the history of seaside holidays, sandcastles, childhood pastimes and sand eels. It's also all about the Great Fire of London in 1666 (via seventeenth-century fire buckets); Roman and medieval situlas and religious cerem...

In this bonus episode, the Histories of the Unexpected duo, James and Sam, take a FURTHER MEATY bite out of the UTTERLY BIZARRE history of SHARKS! Which is all about power and status in ancient China, Pompeii, education, irrational fear, the Spanish Americas in the sixteenth century, and much much more…. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, the Histories of the Unexpected duo, James and Sam, take another bite out of the frankly fascinating history of SHARKS! Which is all about power and status in ancient China, Pompeii, education, irrational fear, the Spanish Americas in the sixteenth century, and much much more…. 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 bling of the past to explore the unexpected history of JEWELLERY! Which is all about amulets, magical powers and animal protection (via native Americans, Tudor caul lockets and unicorn horns) and eighteenth-century lockets. It's also all about the Mughals, courtesans and female power, the Queen's jewels a...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis head outdoors and pitch camp in order to savour the unexpected history of TENTS! Which is all about ancient Rome and the Dacian campaign recorded on Trajan’s Column in Rome, the Industrial Revolution, nomadism, and the American Civil War. It's also all about Tudor glamping, Henry VIII and the Field of the Cloth o...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis scratch their collective heads really hard and blink their collective eyes many times to grabble with befuddlement the unexpected history of DISBELIEF! Which is all about abortion rights and the overturning of Roe Verses Wade by the US Supreme Court; it's about the first use of poisoned gas in the trenches and fi...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis carefully roll out the pastry of the past, fill it with meat of memory and tuck in to devour the unexpected history of PASTIES! Which is all about Cornish diaspora (via Michigan, Australia and elsewhere around the globe where this tasty foodstuff has travelled), myth busting, and 3D scanning and printing of one o...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis walk very carefully down the pathway of the past to stumble upon the unexpected history of FOOTSTEPS! Which is all about Roman civilisation, animal prints frozen in time, and treading in the footsteps of the past! It's also all about the history of religion, pilgrims and pilgrimages, and the religious routes mapp...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis bring out the paper plates and plastic cups and reach into the decorations box of the past to celebrate in jubilant fashion the unexpected history of BUNTING! Which is all about celebrations, pageantry and of course the Queen's Platinum Jubilee! It’s also all about pennants and naval history, southern pride and t...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis bring out the paper plates and plastic cups of the past to celebrate in jubilant fashion the unexpected history of STREET PARTIES! Which is all about celebrations, peace, the coming together of communities and of course the Queen's Platinum Jubilee! It’s also all about town planning, block parties, riots and prot...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis tip of the condiment bottle of the past and pour out the unexpected history of KETCHUP! Which is all about eighteenth-century housewives, cookery and medicine; it's about crime and poisoning and Jonathan Swift's poetry! It’s also all about US nationalism, geopolitics and trade wars (including McDonalds pulling ou...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis peel back the layers to uncover the unexpected history of BANANAS! Which is all the quest for the lost perfect tasting banana, the development of the Cavendish banana at Chatsworth House, and the first time a banana appeared in a British shop window! It’s also all banana republics, colonialism and the United Frui...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis inspired by real life events uncover the unexpected history of THE THUMB! Which is all torture, extraction of confessions and leaning on people (via slave owners, witches, the Gestapo, mobsters and early modern Scotland), and gladiatorial combat! It’s also all about hitchhiking, hand gestures and the folklore tal...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis swing through the trees of the past to uncover the unexpected history of MONKEYS! Which is all Shakespeare and the infinite monkey theorem, monkeys (and dogs!) in space, and Dutch art! It’s also all about the history of racism and ancient Egypt! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...

James and Sam tackle the humbling history of RIBBONS! From the use of ribbons for commemoration, mourning, decoration and gifting, Sam and James rampage around history of ribbons before settling on the tragic history of the eighteenth-century Foundling Hospital, established by the philanthropist Thomas Coram (c. 1668-1751), the plight of Georgian and Victorian children parted from their mothe...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis explore the UNEXPECTED history of CORRIDORS! Which is all about the history of humanitarian corridors, it's about Victorian hierarchy, French social planning, madness, crime and social control, and the anti-corridic (yes, that is a term!) world of the open space. It is also all about diplomacy and corridors of po...