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Tales of History and Imagination: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Simone Whitlow
Ever heard the Tale of the man who tried to kill time as we know it? The mysterious beast which stalked a remote French village in the 1760s? What about the time a prankster ‘Zipped’ two Chicago television stations?Tales of History and Imagination tells the Tales from history less told. We discuss strange, enigmatic characters, the cameo roles in life’s play, and, sometimes, major events from a viewpoint rarely seen.
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- Today38 min
Things Fall Apart
This week we visit Sligo County, Ireland on a June day in 2009. Today we’re not the only tourists in town.. Who was the mysterious Peter Bergmann (or failing that) why did he go to Sligo, of all places to die? Content Warnings: Suicide, terminal illness, spousal abuse, marriage breakups, wartime violence - including assassination, espionage and torture. Sources Include: The Unsolved Mystery of Peter Bergmann by Rosita Boland Things Fall Apart: The Apocalyptic Appeal of W.B. Yeats The Second Coming by Dorian Lynskey The Man Who Deleted His Past Before He Was Found Dead by Francisco Garcia Our Man in Vienna by Panagiotis Dimitrakis Military Conscription in Austria by Anat Peled Rosses Point from Discover Ireland Rosses Point History and Folklore at Rosses point’s website Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
- 3 weeks ago22 min
Mad Jack Churchill
This week we’re all over the map, from Burma in the midst of the Saya San Rebellion, to the Island of Brač in the former Yugoslavia, to Britain’s Severn river. We follow the mad, occasionally performative life of Mad Jack Churchill - quite possibly the last man to kill an enemy combatant in war with a longbow. Content Warnings: Wartime violence, prisoner of war camps, colonial violence and forced migration. Sources Include: More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived by Paul Kirchner Shattered Lands by Sam Dalrymple These interviews with Jack from the Imperial War Museum Mad Jack Churchill… at War History Online, by Christian Oord. Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
- Aug 8, 202631 min
The Strange Case of Kaspar Hauser - Two
This week, on Tales we return to Nuremberg, Bavaria: Last month I warned you the Tale of Kaspar Hauser is no fairytale.. This time we ask, what if it is more like a fairytale than we take for granted - just we often misunderstand those old kids’ stories? Part Two of a Two parter. Content Warnings: Discussion of war, death, child neglect and imprisonment, violence, conspiratorial thinking and social deception. Apologies all, this has been held up by me catching a nasty nasal infection that has taken weeks to clear… For a while, at least I think we should be back on a fortnightly schedule - or close to it. Sources Include: Kaspar Hauser: The Foundling of Nuremberg by Paul Anselm von Feuerbach The Great Pretenders by Jan Bonderson Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
- Jul 5, 202624 min
(More) Tales from the Patreon - Pledge Week 2026
This week, on Tales - I’m still shaking off a cold, and was planning a Patreon pledge week episode in a month’s time... So, apologies all, I’ve moved things around a little. I’ll record part two of Kaspar Hauser, and the completed script for the episode following that as soon as my voice has returned. So, this week we’re headed to Bulgaria, Medieval France, and New York’s Chinatown to meet a man and his wife, a smart horse and a mock duck. Content Warnings: How I met your mother: slavery, inappropriate relationships, and brief talk of genocide. Marocco: Possible animal exploitation? Threats of execution, bodily functions. Mock Duck Meets His Match: Gang warfare, decapitation, domestic violence. Sources Include: Fascinating Footnotes from History by Giles Milton Circus Life and Circus Celebrities by Thomas Frost The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
- Jun 21, 202627 min
The Strange Case of Kaspar Hauser - One
This week, on Tales we’re in Nuremberg, Bavaria: The year is 1828. A young man has appeared as if from out of nowhere with a horrific tale of captivity. Some wonder if he is some deposed price - but be warned, the following is no fairytale. Part one of a Two parter. Content Warnings: Discussion of war, death, child neglect and imprisonment, violence, conspiratorial thinking and social deception. Sources Include: Kaspar Hauser: The Foundling of Nuremberg by Paul Anselm von Feuerbach The Great Pretenders by Jan Bonderson Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts And Historical Blindness’ excellent Two-Part podcast on Hauser, created by Nathaniel Lloyd. Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
- May 30, 202633 min
The Storm
This week, on Tales we’re in England, the date November 26th 1703 - as a giant storm settles over the country that would haunt the nation for many years - and give birth to at least one new profession. Content Warnings: Descriptions of animal cruelty, traumatic deaths, and period-appropriate superstitions which may now seem utterly ridiculous. Sources Include: Daniel Defoe’s The Storm. Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
- May 8, 202644 min
The Sacred Band -Three
This week, on Tales we return to Thebes one last time to discuss what happens when others even the field, the life and death or our two heroes, a young man named Philip - and a giant lion.. This is part three of a three parter. Content Warnings: Battlefield injury and death, some depictions towards the end are quite graphic. Political violence, slavery and hostage taking. Assassination. Suicide-adjacent fatalism. Mass burial. Discussion of LGBTQI+ history not that THAT one should ever need to be a trigger warning - but there you go…Yes I got hate mail a few weeks back, so let’s throw it in there… and back to the actual nasty stuff, discussion of Authoritarianism, tyranny and mass killing. Sources Include: James Romm’s ‘The Sacred Band’ Plutarch’s ‘Lives…’ Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
- Apr 10, 202631 min
The Sacred Band -Two
This week, on Tales we return to Thebes, to see how their Sacred Band is working out for them. We learn a little bit about Spartan King Agesilaus’ lost love, and we meet a warlord named Jason. This is part two of a three parter. Content warnings: historical ableism, homophobic attitudes, warfare, assassination, battlefield death, executions and forced displacement. Sources Include: James Romm’s ‘The Sacred Band’ Plutarch’s ‘Lives…’ Support Tales on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly. Tales of History and Imagination can be found on… | Facebook |TikTok | Threads | YouTube | Bluesky |
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About Tales of History and Imagination
Ever heard the Tale of the man who tried to kill time as we know it? The mysterious beast which stalked a remote French village in the 1760s? What about the time a prankster ‘Zipped’ two Chicago television stations?Tales of History and Imagination tells the Tales from history less told. We discuss strange, enigmatic characters, the cameo roles in life’s play, and, sometimes, major events from a viewpoint rarely seen.
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