Histories of the Unexpected explores the past in ways that you never dreamt possible. Surely there’s nothing unexpected about the past? About History? Aha, well Histories of the Unexpected adopts a new approach to exploring our past. Gone is the traditional linear plotting of battles, monarchs and political movements. Histories of the Unexpected argues that everything has a history, even the most unexpected of subjects. Like SLIME. Or COURAGE. or APPLAUSE.... Presented by Dr Sam Willis and Professor James Daybell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
https://www.historiesoftheunexpected.com
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 8 days 23 hours 54 minutes
SUNSHINE!
In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis don their shades of history, bag the sun beds by the pool of the past, relax and pontificate on the UNEXPECTED history of SUNSHINE! Which is all about religion and worship of sun deities (via Ra, the falcon-headed Ancient Egyptian sun god, and the tomb of Nefartari in Egypt's the Valley of the Queens!) as well as the history of the suntan (and Little House of the Prairie)...
HOMESICKNESS!
In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis get rather maudlin and nostalgic about the UNEXPECTED history of HOMESICKNESS! Which is all about colonial settlers, the US civil war, nineteenth-century immigration, WW2 and modern childhood in America! It's also all about displacement of Jews during the Holocaust, the kindertransport, recipes and childhood diaries. And it's also all about space travel, sexism, and the history of paternal relationships...
APOLOGIES!
In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis prostrate themselves upon the ground and humbly beg forgiveness with the UNEXPECTED history of APOLOGIES! Which is all about British politeness and bumping into people as an experiment; public apologies and historical reconciliation for slavery, the holocaust and atrocities in WW2 (including the Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama 'On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war's end' (15 August...
RERELEASE: GLOVES!
RERELEASED for your listening pleasure, one of our favourite episodes from our back catalogue: the unexpected history of GLOVES!
The gloves are off as the general of generations, Professor James Daybell, and the seadog of centuries, Dr Sam Willis, take us on a rip-roaring ride through the unexpected history of the glove. From the Holy Roman Empire to one of Japan’s most popular sports...
FRAILTY!
In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis clutch the walking stick of the past to uncover the UNEXPECTED history of FRAILTY! Which is all about the history of old age, loneliness, well-being and medical history (via the seventeenth-century English diarist Sarah Cowper). It's also all about the history of accidents (falling off things, stumbling and fatalities) and the depiction of disabilities in the margins of medieval manuscripts...
MOTHER'S DAY SPECIAL!
In honour of mothers around the world, past and present, a rerelease of our episode on the Unexpected History of MOTHERS!
THE UNEXPECTED HISTORY OF MOTHERS! A boy’s best friend is his mother’ (Norman Bates – Psycho, written and directed by Joseph Stefano and Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)...
WAITING!
In this latest episode, the Unexpected duo, Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis stretch their weary limbs, yawn and check their proverbial watch all in order to unpick the UNEXPECTED history of WAITING! Which is all about industrialisation, boredom and anxiety, and the history of queuing (via Winston Churchill and WW2 and Margaret Thatcher), power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the history of migration. Who knew!