We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast

The whole Communist Bloc? What are you doing to us Billy?!? Thank goodness we’ve got host of the Bulgarian History Podcast, Eric Halsey, to guide us through it all! So what was life like in a Soviet satellite state? How is Bulgaria’s Communist history still impacting the country today? And why were the Bulgarians so darn keen to suck up to Stalin? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....

Roy Campanella had a huge role in breaking the colour bar in American baseball, but you might not know him because his career was cut short by segregation and a horrific car accident. Join us and friend of the show, Josh Chetwynd, as Billy forces us to descend further into being a fully-fledged baseball podcast... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a heck of a lot of famous Rockefellers, but only one has gone from family black sheep to gossip column party animal to transforming US politics forever. That's right, this week we're talking about Winthrop Rockefeller with Southern politics expert, Angie Maxwell! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve ever watched Romeo and Juliet or The Apprentice, you’ll know the iconic music of Prokofiev! This week, we chat about the Russian composer who lived through World War I, II, the Russian Revolution and the Great Purge AND kept making music through it all, with pianist Alexander Karpeyev. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He’s all work no play… except for the occasional Western movie. This week we’re nattering about Egyptian revolutionary Nasser, with author and broadcaster, Tarek Osman! So, would the revolution have happened without Nasser? What inspired his political career? And what’s his legacy? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who's Malenkov, you're probably asking? He might only have been top dog of the USSR for 9 days after Stalin die, but Georgy's pretty interesting. The wonderful storyteller Dr Natalya Chernyshova joins Katie and Tom to talk about the days that followed Stalin's death. Natalya's currently working on a project funded by the British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

What was it like to live under Stalin’s Soviet Union? And how does this period still impact people today? This week, we’re speaking to Alex Halberstadt, the grandson of Stalin’s last bodyguard, about this despotic, charismatic and tyrannical leader. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He’s a material boy living in a material world - this week we’re chatting philosopher George Santayana with Dr Matthew Flamm! Are philosophers just mansplainers in ivory towers? What is the meaning of life according to ol’ George? And most importantly, what is the Fire philosophy? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This man was glitz, show, and absolute musical talent. He influenced Elvis, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga. We all know his name, but who was Liberace? Music journalist Jo Kendall helps Tom and Katie dig into the life of the man who was loved by millions but who, behind the chunky rings, charm, applause and piano trills, had a secret that he took with him to the grave. Learn more about your ad choices...

When hero to American Italians Rocky Marciano hangs up his gloves in 1955, he's undefeated world heavyweight champion. Voice of British boxing Steve Bunce is back to tell Tom and Katie about Rocky's biggest and best fights, and why he was such a key figure of the 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's 1953 and Britain and the Commonwealth are still recovering from the war, when the King dies. Princess Elizabeth finds herself thrust onto the throne at the age of 27, and so a new era began. Katie and Tom are joined once again by the wonderful historian Margaret MacMillan to talk coronation chicken, surprise guests, and that ruby-encrusted dress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

What's actually behind the manufacture of a vaccine? And why was the polio vaccine such a huge deal? In a fascinating first for We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy is plunging us into the depths of medical marvels, mysteries and conspiracy theories. Vaccine expert Dr Gareth Millward joins Tom and Katie this week, and has a weird story to tell about monkeys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...

Why is Eisenhower, an army officer who in 1953 became the 34th man to enter the White House, still one of the most highly-regarded presidents? Dr Rivers Gambrell is back again to help Tom and Katie piece together the full picture of Ike. From his Jehovah's Witness childhood, his failed career as a sportsman and his involvement in documenting the Holocaust, to his marriage with Mamie - and, horrify...

JD Salinger created the dismissive, arrogant, spiralling out of control Holden Caulfield in 1951, and with it he changed the face of fiction forever. The book's impact is fascinating and huge: presidents talk about Holden, teenagers want to be him, teachers ban the book from classrooms, serial killers use it as their 'manifesto'. Here to help Katie and Tom understand the Catcher cult is novelist a...

This jaunty look at 1800s Thailand is the final musical that Billy thought worth mentioning in his Cold War breakdown. But does The King and I deserve spot 20 in Billy's song, or is it just a handy rhyme for next week's Catcher in the Rye? Back again is musical superfan Dr Cara Rodway from the British Library and, in a shocking We Didn't Start The Fire first, our guest isn't convinced. See acast.c...

You know him from The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Guys and Dolls. You know his dreamboat smile. But what about Brando's fight for civil rights and his support of Native Americans? Probably the most memorable actor of the 20th century, Marlon Brando's influence stretched far beyond the screen; and here to explore how is broadcasting icon Jonathan Ross for a very special episode of We Didn't Start Th...

How did a tiny village in the Korean mountains come to symbolise the north and south split? The answer lies in the year 1953, when a piece of paper was signed to end what became known as The Forgotten War. But Colin Thackery, Korean War veteran and oldest ever winner of Britain's Got Talent, remembers it well. Memories of gunfire, bodies, starving children, American soldiers playing the piano, fro...

How do Muhammed Ali, Marciano and Sonny Liston stand up against Sugar Ray "sweet as sugar" Robinson? Legend of the boxing world Steve Bunce opens the lid on Sugar Ray's world, and gives Katie and Tom a glimpse of Harlem in the 1940s and 50s, the life led and the fights fought by possibly the greatest boxer of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hydrogen bomb. A nuclear threat bigger and badder than any atomic bomb that came before it. How close did the USA and Soviet Union come to global annihilation during the Cold War? Very. And renowned historian and wonderful storyteller Margaret MacMillan is here to tell us why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1953, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death by electrocution and died side-by-side: Julius after one shot of electricity, Ethel after three. They left behind two small children. Their crime? Conspiracy to spy for the Soviet Union. UCL's Dr Josh Hollands joins Katie and Tom again to explain why their case shook the world, pulling in the likes of Frida Kahlo, Einstein, Jean Paul Sart...

From the makers of We Didn't Start The Fire, this is Death of a Film Star. If you'd like to hear more, search for 'Death of a Film Star' in your favourite podcast platform, or click here: https://podfollow.com/1562008537. WARNING: this episode contains references to suicide. It’s not true to say there’s never been anyone like Marilyn Monroe. There’s always been movie stars. There’s been blonde one...

Norma Jean is surely the most iconic figure of the 20th century. She was painted by men, photographed, directed and loved by men. She was also resented, abused, and put in a strait jacket. Author and Marilyn megafan since the age of 7 Shar Daws talks with Tom and Katie about the truth behind the blonde: strong, smart, and vastly underestimated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...

The second of four episodes on Korea. Author of award-winning 'White Crysanthemum' and captivating storyteller Mary Lynn Bracht takes Katie and Tom to a deeply sinister side of Korea's history: comfort women. An estimated 50-200,000 women and young girls fell foul of the Japanese occupation during WWII: sold as sex slaves, they were brutalised and mutilated. This began a scar in the country's psyc...

The world's most elusive country, Billy's 12th lyric, and the first of four on Korea. Dr Sojin Lim from The University of Central Lancashire takes Katie and Tom back to the 1950s to find out why this tiny Asian peninsular was split in two and how North Korea became North Korea. It's a story of escape, state-sanctioned haircuts, coercion, and global powers gently flexing their muscles, a fire bubbl...

"The babysitter." Television is Billy's eleventh lyric, and the BFI's TV expert Dick Fiddy takes Tom and Katie back to the 1950s when it began to take hold. The impact of TV through the 20th century and into today is fascinating and unexpected, from advertising and snooker to presidential elections and the moon landing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices