Histories of the Unexpected

Boxes, coffins, letter, houses, locks and more. Sam and James audio-google their way through the unexpected history of boxes. Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPod HistoryHit Network - Twitter   Facebook Producer -  Dan Morelle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doubt thou the stars are fire,Doubt that the sun doth move,Doubt truth to be a liar, ~Shakespeare, Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia But never doubt the unexpected historical links as the lieutenant of lifetimes, Professor James Daybell, and the investigator of intrigue, Dr Sam Willis, take the old post road from London to Dover. With a stop-off on Dartmoor, it’s then across the sea to Jamaica as they ch...

Like a well-spring of historical facts, bubbling over with unexpected links, Dr Sam Willis, the maitre’d of museums, and Professor James Daybell, the inspector of eons, take you on another intoxicating ride through history. From Oliver Cromwell’s Navigation Act of 1651, the American Boys Handy Book and the culture of childhood, South American colonies, and early cancer cures, (and with a little he...

“There’s many a man hath more hair than wit” But worry not for this is no Comedy of Errors and there’s certainly more to this unexpected history. Let us join our host with the Cranium full of Chronicles, Professor James Daybell, and the Authority of the Archives, Dr Sam Willis as they bob and weave their way through the unexpected history of hair. From the Duke of Wellington and theories of Great...

I call the Living I mourn the Dead I break the Lightning (inscribed on the Great Bell of the Minster of Schaffhausen) Join the Preacher of the Past, Dr Sam Willis and the Antidote to Antiquity, Professor James Daybell, as they steer their very own DeLorean through the unexpectedly charged history of lightning. It will be a high voltage flight from Nelson to Dickensian ghosts. Along the way, they w...

All about power and politics, the perfumed glove as a political gift, the history of the hand, and the history of touch. It's also about explosions and the Japanese industrial revolution. Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPdcst HistoryHit Network - Twitter   Facebook Producer -  Dan Morelle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...

This episode is all about the unexpected history of smoke. Which is all about state craft and diplomacy. It's ritualised smoking of the peace pipe. And it's to do with smuggling and public execution. Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPdcst HistoryHit Network - Twitter   Facebook Producer -  Dan Morelle Hosted on Acast. Se...

Find out about the unexpected history of the orange, how it's linked to the the Gunpowder Plot, and other extraordinary historical connections. Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPdcst HistoryHit Network - Twitter   Facebook Producer -  Dan Morelle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find out about the unexpected history of the window, how it's linked to the 30 years war, and other extraordinary historical connections. Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPdcst HistoryHit Network - Twitter   Facebook Producer -  Dan Morelle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Surely there’s nothing unexpected about the past? About History? Aha, well Histories of the Unexpected adopts a new approach to exploring out past. Gone is the traditional linear plotting of battles, monarchs and political movements. Histories of the Unexpected argues that everything has a history. The history of the itch, the history of crawling, the history of clouds or of lightning, or of zombi...