Journey Through Time

How were figures like Martin Luther King organising to fight for Civil Rights in the Jim Crow era? Why were tensions so exceptionally high in America in 1963? What caused hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country to descend on Washington that August?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they look at the events leading up to the 1963 March on Washington, one of the most conse...

How many times did Billy the Kid escape from prison? Who was Pat Garrett, the man who murdered Billy? Why does the story of Billy the Kid remain one of the most retold in history?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they explore the enduring appeal of Billy the Kid.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant...

Who was the notorious Western icon, Billy the Kid? How did he get caught up in the murder which made him famous? And, who was really in charge in the lawless Wild West?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they relive the true story behind the legend that is Billy The Kid. Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assis...

How did Hitler get caught after leading the failed Beer Hall Putsch, which killed 20 people? Why was he allowed to turn his 24 day trial into a piece of internationally received political theatre? How did a botched coup become a dangerous Nazi myth? Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they explore how Hitler’s trial for the notorious Beer Hall Putsch catapulted him into the limelight.  Emai...

The Nazis were voted into power in 1933, but how close did they come to seizing power 10 years before? What catastrophic economic conditions fuelled them? And where did Hitler take his inspiration from? Listen as David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell discuss the 1923 Beer Hall putsch and the Nazis’ attempt to seize power. Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: ⁠@ThroughTimePod⁠ Blue Sky: ⁠@Thro...

How did the NRA manage to gain so much control over the American President and the Supreme Court? Who are the armed citizens masquerading as secret police in America today? Why is an understanding of history so important in the fight to regulate America's guns? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they discuss how The National Rifle Association became such a powerful force in American politi...

Was the Wild West really lawless? Why did the 1960s mark a turning point in the gun debate? How did a convicted killer become one of the most influential figures in modern gun politics?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they discuss how the NRA changed from a sportsman's organisation to a pro-gun lobby.   Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTime...

How does the history of the National Rifle Association explain how the pro-gun lobby got such a stranglehold on modern US politics? Was the United States always a firearm-loving nation? How did race and class shape early American gun laws?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they delve into the first chapter in the history of America’s National Rifle Association. Email: journeythroughtime@...

How did the flames engulf the stone building of St Paul’s Cathedral, jump over the River Fleet, and reach 1,700 degrees celsius? After four days, how was this monstrous fire finally put out? What scars remain on the modern capital city from this fire nearly 400 years ago?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga to discuss the damage inflicted by The Great Fire of London.  Email: journeythroughtim...

What caused London to go up in flames on 2nd September, 1666? How did a fire that started in a bakery grow to engulf so much of the city? Who was Samuel Pepys, the great diarist who documented the fire?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they relive the first day of The Great Fire of London.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram:...

What role did WWII enigma hero Alan Turing play in the early development of AI? Why are games so important to the history of AI? Did 2001: A Space Odyssey influence the design of the iPad? Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga are joined by Steven Johnson, author and co-founder of Notebook LM, to discuss all this and more.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @Throu...

What death and destruction did the people of England wake up to after the 1703 storm? How did people make sense of this biblical devastation? Why do we remember The Great Fire of London and not The Great Storm? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they delve into the aftermath of the Great Storm.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagra...

How did a storm in November 1703 turn into one of the deadliest natural disasters in England’s history? Why is Daniel Defoe, ‘father of the British novel’ and author of Robinson Crusoe, at the centre of this story? With 10,000 people dead, why has this storm been forgotten?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they tell the story of the Great Storm of 1703.  To find out more about Find My P...

Why did the audience of Macbeth begin hurling theatre seats and food then cobble stones and bricks? What caused the militia, drafted in by New York’s mayor, to fire on the crowd? How did this riot change theatre and Shakespeare forever?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as the Astor Place Riots unfold, leaving many innocent New Yorkers dead.  To find out more about Find My Past visit: https...

How did a fight about Shakespeare descend into America’s bloodiest riot during peace time? Why were tensions so high in New York City in May 1849? Who were Edwin Forrest and William McCready, the actors whose personal rivalry was at the centre of all this?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they explore the lead up to the Astor Place riots, the deadliest use of military force against civi...

What piratical crimes did ‘good girl’ Anne Bonny and ‘bad girl’ Mary Reed commit on the high seas? Who were the bounty hunters chasing Calico Jack’s crew? How did the swash buckling, gender bending pair finally get captured and find themselves languishing in a Jamaican jail?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they dive into all this and more in the story of the notorious female pirates. T...

How did ‘good girl’ Anne Bonny and ‘bad girl’ Mary Reed end up sailing with Pirates of the Caribbean?  Who was ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham, the infamous Pirate Captain and ladies man? Did our notorious female pirates have a scandalous love affair with each other?  To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @Th...

Eleanor Rathbone was instrumental to the implementation of child benefit and the welfare state, why have we forgotten her?  Who were the two million “superfluous women” recorded in the 1921 census? How did Eleanor campaign for over three decades for caregiving to be recognised as “real work”?  Joining David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they explore the fascinating story of the campaigner and po...

17 murders in, what finally brought serial killers Burke and Hare to justice? How did the notorious partners in crime turn against each other? Which of the pair met a grisly end and who got off totally scot-free?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they retell the capture and gruesome fate of Burke and Hare.  To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-t...

How did Burke and Hare get into the lucrative business of murder? Why was there such a demand for fresh corpses in 1820s Edinburgh? What gruesome methods did the pair use to kill their victims?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they delve into the gothic story of Burke and Hare, the mass murderers who scandalised the nation.   To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmy...

Why did a military training exercise seem like an imminent threat of nuclear attack? Despite being minutes away from launching Nuclear missiles, what made the Soviets back down? Why does no one know how close we came to total annihilation?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time as they discuss the days where we narrowly escaped full scale nuclear war.   To find out more a...

Why was the world so close to the brink of nuclear war in November 1983?  What tactics were the Americans employing to play high stakes mind games with the Soviets?  And, what made the Soviets so exceptionally paranoid? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell on Journey Through Time as they discuss how a routine military training exercise in November 1983 nearly had cataclysmic effects.  To find o...

Why did Iva Toguri get branded America’s first female traitor, despite there being no evidence to convict her? How did her case become important to President Harry Truman’s re-election campaign?  And, after decades, how did Iva and her supporters finally clear her name?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time as they delve into the sad story behind the scandalous myth of T...

How did Tokyo Rose, a woman who never existed, become one of WWII’s most well known Japanese figures?  Who was Iva Toguri, the American citizen caught up in the myth?  How did sensationalist journalists weaponise the story of Tokyo Rose to create a vicious narrative about post war Japan?  To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythr...

Paranoid predictions of crime fill the newspapers - so how will the well-to-do react to the incoming crowds of the working-class? From Harrods to the Eiffel Tower, what iconic attractions do we have The Great Exhibition to thank for?  Did this 'Peace Festival' unite a nation or expose the deep-seated class divisions of Victorian society?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through...