We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast

Studebaker: a central cog in 20th century America's booming automobile industry, or just a punchy rhyme? There's something romantic about the story of this small company from South Bend Indiana that was a symbol of innovation and uniqueness for many, but whose struggle to keep up with the Big Three led to collapse in the 1960s. Editor of the Studebaker Owners Club UK Greg Diffen gives Tom and Kati...

"A mystery wrapped in an enigma." Episode nine is the first of three that will follow Nixon's rise from his poor Quaker roots in rural California, to the White House and Watergate. The fantastic Dr Rivers Gambrell brings alive Nixon's early career for Tom and Katie: his dream of being a sports star never far from his mind, the path that led Nixon to his 1968 win is one of rejection, awkwardness an...

Billy's eighth lyric invites Katie, Tom and UCL's Josh Hollands into the world of the Red Scare, the crippling anticommunist conspiracy that shrouded America in the '40s and '50s. Thousands of teachers, artists, army officials, and gay people were blacklisted or forced to leave the country. And at the heart of it all lies Senator Joseph McCarthy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...

Katie and Tom's romp through the 20th century meets baseball, and there's a darkness behind one of the greatest players of all time. From TV advert appearances and Simon and Garfunkel songs, to an obsessive and abusive marriage with Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio's private and public don't quite match up. They're joined by baseball player and author Josh Chetwynd. Learn more about your ad choices. V...

Sixth lyric, sixth topic. Katie and Tom are joined by historian of the popular press Dr Chris Shoop-Worrall, and together they delve into the dark world of the man who made gossip a currency: widely-loved and intensely-disliked columnist and broadcaster Walter Winchell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're five lyrics in, and Katie and Tom are getting musical. Literally, if you make it to the end. Dr Cara Rodway (Chair of the British Association for American Studies by day, musical nerd by night) gives a pretty convincing case for why the soundtrack has spent more weeks at UK number 1 than any other song. Even one of Billy's. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deaf in one ear, shy, bisexual, sensitive - are these the reasons Johnnie Ray isn't worshipped as the Father of Rock and Roll? Katie, Tom and author Cathi Unsworth delve into the world of the man who gave way to Elvis, the Beatles, Morrissey. It's a journey which will take them from a small farm in Oregon to African-American clubs in Detroit, and finally to hidden corners in smokey clubs where Lon...

It's episode 3 and Billy's transported us back to post-1949 Communist China. Katie and Tom talk to Prof. Yangwen Zheng about her childhood under the regime, and she's got a fascinating story to tell. It's one of stolen pencil cases, the class enemy, disappearing family members, widespread famine, murder - and the man at the heart of it all, Mao Zedong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...

Episode two brings us swanning into the Golden Age of Hollywood, with the charisma, charm and controversies of Doris Day, brought alive by Dr Tamar Jeffers-McDonald. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This brand new pop culture history podcast is nothing like anything you've heard before, and it's everything you need to understand the modern world. This is the start of an epic journey where Tom Fordyce and Katie Puckrik take each of the 120 people, places and things mentioned in 'We Didn't Start The Fire', the smash hit by Billy Joel, and record an episode on every single one - and in the proce...

A modern history podcast inspired by the lyrics of Billy Joel. Billy didn’t just write an unforgettable smash-hit with ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’, he also created the most fascinating, random and original history of the post-war world. Each episode, a new lyric and a fresh subject, all presented by Katie Puckrik and Tom Fordyce. It's politics, rock 'n' roll, sport, space, television, the Cold War,...