Free Daily Podcast Summary
The Untitled History Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Gareth Edwards
Deep dives into history’s fascinating rabbit holes.Untitled History Podcast is the podcast that takes you beyond the textbooks to explore the untold stories of the ancient and modern worlds.Join Gareth Edwards and a lineup of world-leading experts that lifts the lid on famous episodes and obscure global events alike.Do you like our podcast?Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot!Host: Gareth EdwardsMore about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#hostTo comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supportersUse our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or
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- 2 days ago53 min
Episode 40: The Rise and Fall of Mr. Blobby
For five years in the nineties, one figure dominated British cultural life. His economic impact would change the BBC forever. On this episode, we’ll be looking at the rise, fall and historical impact of Mr Blobby. In 1993, revenues for BBC Enterprise climbed 17%. This was almost entirely due to one figure. Adjusted for inflation, over 100 million pounds of licensed Mr Blobby merchandise had been sold in the UK in that year alone. Described as a “Cultural Amoeba” by the Guardian, the character shaped - and some might say traumatised - an entire generation. Look beneath the pink skin of Blobby’s story, however, and you’ll find a cultural and economic titan. One built on deep-seated British folk traditions around the Lord of Misrule. Perhaps the reason why the character has seen a second renaissance during the Social Media age. To quote Mr Blobby himself: “Blobby Blobby Blobby, Blobby Blobby Blobby Blobby.” Guest Matthew is a filmmaker, comedian and pop culture enthusiast. He has just completed his debut film, is a stalwart of the alternative comedy scene and is known for his numerous viral hits, many of which star the pink spotty creature itself. Cats present Cecilia, Missy (guest Kitty) Useful links Mr Blobby on Noel Edmonds’ House Party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMe8VzUnRE4 Mr Blobby on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97fw8xjB5u4 Matt on BlueSky: https://matthighton.bsky.social Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Hunter Christensen - Production: Linus Klaßen - Production Assistant: Sophie Rebairo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago45 min
Episode 39: How Do Humans Invent Monsters?
People define what they mean by human by defining where human ends. On this episode, we’re going to explore the history of humans and monsters. When exploring the history of monsters, it’s easy to see them as a literary or folk construct. Yet to truly understand the importance of monsters in the history of humanity, one must look at them through the window of how humans see themselves. As the author Terry Pratchett once wrote:"It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? " Guest Dr. Surekha Davies is a British historian of science, speaker, historical-monster consultant. She is the author of Humans: A Monstrous History (University of California Press, 2025), one of History Today’s “Best Books of the Year 2025,” and the prizewinning Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps and Monsters (Cambridge University Press). Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Foreign Policy, the Times Literary Supplement, Nature, Science, Aeon, Reactor, and elsewhere. She has worked as a history professor and a British Library Map Library curator. She now writes, speaks, and consults on topics. This includes the categories of human and monster in science, the arts, and society; knowledge and media revolutions; and the age of European exploration. She writes a free newsletter, Strange and Wondrous: Notes from a Science Historian. Cats present Cecilia Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago51 min
Episode 38: Did One Telegram Bring America into the Great War?
In January 1917, as war raged across the globe, only one major power remained neutral: the United States. Having swayed between pro- and anti-German sentiment since 1914, it was recognised by most that American involvement could decide the outcome of the war. It was with that knowledge that the German government sent a telegram that would, just perhaps, seal its fate. The Zimmermann Telegram was an offer to Mexico. If the United States entered the war, Germany would provide money and support for Mexico to open a front against the US and reconquer its lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. With Britain having cut Germany’s transatlantic cables in 1914, the message was sent through the only route available, the United States’ own diplomatic network. What Germany didn’t know was that, in a small office in the Admiralty, the codebreakers of Room 40 were reading both German and American traffic. Within hours, Dilly Knox, Nigel de Grey and William Montgomery had uncovered the telegram’s contents. The challenge for Room 40’s ruthless chief, Admiral “Blinker” Hall, was how to put it into American hands without revealing that Britain had been reading their mail all along. In this crossover episode with the Not So Quiet on the Western Front podcast, we explore the story behind the Zimmermann Telegram, the spycraft that brought it to light, and whether it really was the moment that brought America into the First World War. Guest Dan Hill is a military historian, battlefield guide and co-host of the Not So Quiet on the Western Front podcast, part of the Battle Guide Network. Cats present None Useful links Not So Quiet on the Western Front: https://battleguide.co.uk/podcastThe Battle Guide Network: https://battleguide.co.uk/shows Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago46 min
Episode 37: Milton Keynes: The Future that Could Have Been
In post-war Britain, the drive to build new housing and a better world led to a number of plans focused on creating modern towns. The boldest and most visionary of these was to be Milton Keynes, a city from nothing. Today, Milton Keynes is either famous, or infamous, depending on your perspective on its design. But what’s not in doubt was that the process that led to its creation was unique. A story filled with challenges its architects, planners and landscapers had to overcome. Guest John Grindrod is a social historian of modern places. He runs the podcast Monstrosities Mon Amour and has written books including Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains and Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain. Cats present Cecilia and Napoleon Useful links https://www.johngrindrod.co.uk Cliff Richard’s “Wired for Sound” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0lV9h7b9B0Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Oct 15, 202650 min
Episode 36: How Rome used cheese to conquer Britain
The Roman Army was powered by cheese. It fuelled its soldiers through war and occupation and, as Rome’s armies swept through western Europe, altered how an entire continent produced and consumed cheese. “It is a remarkable circumstance that the barbarous nations, which subsist on milk for so long, have been for so many ages either ignorant of the merits of cheese, or else have completely disregarded it.” So wrote the Roman historian Pliny. In doing so, he highlights that cheese was a key foodstuff for the Romans. Rome’s conquests were powered by cheese, with every Roman soldier received a daily ration of it. In fact, the Roman army’s reliance on cheese was so great that it would reshape the agricultural and culinary map of western Europe. This was particularly true in Britain, where the legacy of the Romans means that even today there are more sheep per square mile in northern Britain than anywhere else in Europe. Guest Thomas Ntinas is a food historian and host of the Delicious Legacy podcast, a podcast in which he explores both tastes both modern and ancient. Cats present None. Useful links Thom on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedeliciouslegacy The Delicious Legacy Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4AeiOjVa9rf99xOM0U3Fmg Recommended Cheeses Pecorino Romano - The closest cheese to that consumed by Legionaries Manchego - Close to the cheese Legionaries would have eaten in Spain Gouda - A good example of a cheese, influenced by the Legionary colony legacy in northern Europe Cheshire Cheese - The myth! Not a Roman-era cheese, but likely not dissimilar to what would have been eaten in Roman Britain Feta - A good example of goats cheese, as would have been common particularly in Greece Comte, Stilton and Roquefort - The kind of cheeses western Europeans would have eaten, pre-Rome’s arrival Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Sander van Kammen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Oct 8, 202655 min
Episode 35: The Anti-Fascist Italian Art Forger that fooled America
In September 1926, art expert Paul Arndt was shown a newly-unearthed Ancient Greek statue by an Italian dealer. It was an extraordinary piece. Its sale for a vast sum of money to an American museum, along with other pieces unearthed, would create excitement across America. The statues were fake. Throughout the 1920s, American interest in ancient art and sculpture exploded. As a result, American collectors and museums became a primary source of income for art dealers from across Europe. Inevitably, this also drew the attention of the darker side of the art world - including forgers. Today, we are going to talk about one of the most extraordinary acts of art fraud perpetrated during this era. One that would trigger a vicious war of words between experts across Europe and America. It would also make a colourful, Italian anti-fascist sculptor called Alceo Dossena one of the most infamous forgers in history. Guest Erin L. Thompson has a PhD in ancient Mediterranean art history as well as a law degree. She is now a professor of art crime at the City University of New York. Cats present None. Useful links Erin’s website: https://www.artcrimeprof.com Pre-order her book: https://www.amazon.com/Styrofoam-Mummy-Tales-Antiquities-Market/dp/1324035870 Erin on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/artcrimeprof.bsky.social Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Oct 1, 202653 min
Episode 34: The last stand of HMS Glowworm and the invasion of Norway
On the 8th of 1940, a lone British destroyer encountered part of the German invasion force bound for Norway. The heroic last stand of HMS Glowworm against overwhelming odds earned her captain the first Victoria Cross of the war. Incredibly, this award was granted based on the recommendation of the German Admiral he had fought. Both the Allies and Axis were eyeing up Norway for invasion. The events that would unfold that month would affect the entire course of the war. Against the backdrop of these events, a battle took place between HMS Glowworm and a heavy German cruiser - the Hipper - and her escorts. This battle remains one of the most remarkable naval engagements of the war, highlighting the skill of both navies, as well as incredible acts of maritime respect in the face of the shared dangers of the sea. It also stands as the only instance where the senior nominating officer, as required by the awards committee, was an enemy combatant. Guest Dr Alex Clarke, is a naval historian. He is the author of Tribals, Battles and Darings, and specialises in grand strategy, naval logistics and the projection of overseas power. He can also be found on Twitch and Youtube as dralexclarke Cats present Cecilia Useful links Tribals, Battles and Darings: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/tribals-battles-darings-the-genesis-of-the-modern-destroyer-alexander-clarke/22cc89bce03e017b Dr Alex on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE2x09tU0GwAGiSbFPEhIwQ Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Linus Klaßen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 24, 202649 min
Episode 33: Charles De Gaulle and the birth of the 5th Republic
In 1940, Charles de Gaulle saved France. He called for resistance to the Nazi occupation from London. In 1958, with the French republic crumbling, he stepped forward to save France again. In English language history, it is de Gaulle’s defiance in WW2 and his role in the rise of the Free French that dominates discussion. In post war study, he is sometimes portrayed as an aloof figure and a man out of time, obsessed with restoring French glory over all else. This is an unfair portrait. Post war, de Gaulle was both loved and loathed. Churchill planned the route of his own funeral to include Waterloo station, precisely because he knew it would annoy de Gaulle who would be forced to attend. But during the late 1950s the French fourth Republic teetered on the edge of collapse. With the French military already moving to launch a coup d’etat, de Gaulle’s intervention would prove critical to the restoration of stability, and the birth of the Fifth Republic. He would go on, as president, to oversee many of the pillars of cultural, structural and international relations that still form the basis of France today. In this episode, we’re going to look at France’s near-coup and collapse, and the role of de Gaulle in its salvation. Guest Charles Devellennes is senior lecturer in political and social thought at the university of Kent. He’s a historian of political thought, having written his thesis on atheism in the radical enlightenment, as well as a political theorist and scholar of French politics. He has written three books, including ´The Macron regime’ in 2022, and is currently finishing his fourth book which deals with the institutional decline of the Fifth Republic: ‘The 18 Brumaire of Emmanuel Macron’. Cats present Cecilia Useful links Charles on substack: https://charlesdevellennes.substack.com A Certain Idea of France - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/a-certain-idea-of-france-the-life-of-charles-de-gaulle-julian-jackson/e4feca363fe8c17a?ean=9780141049533&bkshp-astro=t The Macron Regime - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-macron-regime-the-ideology-of-the-new-right-in-france-charles-devellennes/d6c07a27454ebc7c?ean=9781529227093&bkshp-astro=t Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Gareth Edwards More about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supporters Use our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or join as a free member. Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://untitled-history.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: @NSQPod Our WW2 Podcast: @BSOWPod Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Gareth socials BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius Battle Guide Twitter: https://x.com/BattleguideVT General Enquiries: untitled@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Gareth Edwards - Editing: Sander van Kammen - Production: Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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About The Untitled History Podcast
Deep dives into history’s fascinating rabbit holes.Untitled History Podcast is the podcast that takes you beyond the textbooks to explore the untold stories of the ancient and modern worlds.Join Gareth Edwards and a lineup of world-leading experts that lifts the lid on famous episodes and obscure global events alike.Do you like our podcast?Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot!Host: Gareth EdwardsMore about Gareth Edwards: https://battleguide.co.uk/untitled-history#hostTo comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://untitled-history.com/supportersUse our code: Rabbit and get one month free as a Captain, or
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