Histories of the Unexpected

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get all festive again and offer another Christmas special on the unexpected history of SHEPHERDS! Which is all about costume and social status, shepherd's staves and the link with bishops' croziers (hooked pastoral staffs of office), Christian pastoral care, and the German Reformation! It's also all about Christm...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get all festive again and offer another Christmas special on the unexpected history of DONKEYS! Which is all about A.A. Milne, Eeyore and the history of gloom, WWI and military transportation, nativities and childhood memories! It's also all about the cheesy Italian-American Christmas song, Dominick the Donkey, t...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get all festive and offer for your delectation for this 2021 yuletide season an episode on the unexpected history of CHRISTMAS! Which is all about neolithic mince pies found at Stonehenge, Charles Dickens, selling Christmas Carol, and expensive first edition books; its also all about markets, theft, the history o...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis are inspired yet again by the blockbuster Netflix drama series Squid Game and plumb the depths in search of the unexpected history of SQUID! Which is all about H.G. Wells, 'The Sea Raiders' and Ladram Bay in Devon - walk there if you dare! It's about Archie the Giant Squid at the Natural History Museum in London,...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis are inspired by the blockbuster Netflix drama series Squid Game and dig deep into their pockets to discuss the unexpected history of DEBT! Which is all about the age of American Independence and character, morality and charity, debtors prisoner, the law and punishment (via Charles Dickens). It's about genealogy a...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis run for cover to discuss the unexpected history of RAIN! Which is all about superstitions, rain-making, rain dances and prayers for rain, Jonathan Swift and the etymology of 'It's raining cats and dogs', Hollywood rain scenes in Singing in the Rain , the sixteenth-century Spanish explorer, Francisco de Orellana,...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get inspired by the Jeymes Samuel film The Harder They Fall and uncover the unexpected history of COWBOYS! Which is all about black cowboys in the Wild West, Gunslingers, medieval chivalry and the duel; Victorian honour codes, 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 uncover the unexpected history of SKIN! Which is all about the history of love and beauty, seduction and eroticism; it's about the skin as a canvas onto which society imprinted itself (tattoos, scars, markings), colour, race and identity; it's also about protection; and the consumption of skins (fur and leather);...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of LEAVES! Which is all about agent orange and the Vietnam War, good luck, four-leaf clovers, superstition and nettle-eating, Christmas and what to do with festive foliage, and leaf-peeping in modern day New England! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of DOLLS! Which is all about seventeenth- and eighteenth-century fashions, the history of Barbie, twentieth-century consumerism and patriarchy, Lord and Lady Clapham and the Victoria and Albert Museum and Victorian Automatons! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of COUSINS! Which is all about Samuel Pepys, money-lending and pomposity, prohibited marriages, Lydia and Samuel DuGard and seventeenth-century love! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of GIN! Which is all about dutch courage, crime in the eighteenth century, addictive architecture, liquid poison, female drinkers and of course William Hogarth! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of EMBARRASSMENT! Which is all about the science of blushing, Charles Darwin, politeness and cultural taboos, social humiliation, Nazi Germany and cultures of shaming! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of CHAOS! Which is all about Lady Jane Grey and Mary I, the Cultural Revolution in China, the science of unpredictability, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, lawless hours and days, social anarchy and Lords of Misrule! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of TRUST! Which is all about seventeenth-century Dutch merchants, atrocities against First Nations, Inuit and Métis children in Canada, the Stolen Generations in Australia and the extension of credit and trade networks! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of SWITCHES! Which is all about cheating death, switching on Christmas lights and the history of celebrity, and the nuclear button via WW2 and the Cuban Missile Crisis! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of SHEDS! Which is all about the Grade II listed Devon-based writing hut of Henry Williamson (he of Tarka the Otter fame), Roald Dahl, Dylan Thomas, J.K. Rowling, Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, the American naturalist and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau and Walden Pond. It's also...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of DISTANCE! Which is all about Renaissance letter-writing, the Kentish knight, politician and antiquary Sir Edward Dering and his third wife Lady Unton Dering, Roman Vindolanda, Puritans in New England, loneliness and isolation, the Atlantic, communication and postal systems, medie...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of THE BOTTOM! Which is all about fashion and femininity and masculinity, political protest, cycling technology, the Reformation, political protest and the invention of comfort! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of PUPPIES! Which is all about family blackmail, breeding and the Victorian quest for pedigree perfection, Renaissance portraits, the rise of the pet, theft and poverty! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of READING! Which is all about Renaissance book wheels, medieval reading aloud, bibles, sending letters and the concept of privacy, reading glasses, secrecy and codes and snooping! Who knew!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of CONTEMPT! Which is all about William McMahon and Australian politics (courtesy of a superstar listener!), eighteenth-century rebukes, facial expressions, unrequited love, William Shakespeare and Sir Philip Sidney. Who knew!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more i...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of DANGER! Which is all about accidents in Tudor England, accident-prone children, the history of health and safety and the industrial revolution, stunt performers, Harold Lloyd and early cinema. It's also all about lion-taming and the history of bear attacks! Who knew! Hosted on Ac...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis invite you all to indulge your sweet teeth with the unexpected history of JAM! Which is all about WW2, rationing and the Women's Institute (think Jam and Jerusalem); it's also all about seventeenth century recipes, empire, sugar, colonial trade and slavery! Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis uncover the unexpected history of TEENAGERS! Which is all about the lost generation in China during the Cultural Revolution and oral history, teenagers bedrooms and anthropology, twentieth-century US pop culture and high schools. Who knew! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.