logo
episode-header-image
May 2022
38m 16s

EP308: Triumph and Disaster: The Life of...

iHeartPodcasts
About this episode
tail spinning
Up next
Jul 17
The Only Photographer Inside the Manhattan Project
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1943, the U.S. government transformed farmland outside Oak Ridge, Tennessee, into a top-secret city of 75,000 people racing to build the atomic bomb before Nazi Germany. Cameras were forbidden, except for one.Richard Cook, author of Ign ... Show More
38m 16s
Jul 17
The Estate Sale That Solved the Mystery of Alan Shepard's Moon Golf Balls
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard famously hit two golf balls on the Moon. For decades, NASA never revealed their brand, and Shepard never publicly told the story.Then an estate sale in Rogers, Arkansas, uncovered a signed photogra ... Show More
20m 19s
Jul 17
Why Victorian Women Fainted So Often: What Science Says Now
On this episode of Our American Stories, picture a crowded parlor in the 1800s. The air is heavy, the fire is roaring, and the women are laced into corsets that leave little room to breathe. In moments like these, fainting became common, so common that homes often had special cou ... Show More
9m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2014
Rudyard Kipling
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Rudyard Kipling. Born in Bombay in 1865, Kipling has been described as the poet of Empire, celebrated for fictional works including Kim and The Jungle Book. Today his poem 'If--' remains one of the best known in the English ... Show More
45m 44s
Mar 2024
Rudyard Kipling: A Life of Imagination and Adventure
Step into the fascinating world of Rudyard Kipling from his childhood in India to becoming one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century. Kipling's journey is filled with adventure, inspiration, and timeless tales such as 'The Jungle Book' and 'Kim'. Get ready for a whir ... Show More
8m 56s
Sep 2025
CLASSIC: Feral Children and the True Story Behind The Jungle Book
Now, let's be honest. Rudyard Kipling was a cartoonishly problematic guy. Yet his work made a permanent impression on global literature -- and, to a surprising degree, he based a lot of his writing on real-world events. In today's Classic episode, Ben and Noel ask: What inspired ... Show More
29m 37s
Nov 2018
Feral Children and the True Story Behind The Jungle Book
What inspired Rudyard Kipling to write The Jungle Book? Join the guys as they explore the real-life, tragic stories of feral children abandoned by their human parents, adopted by animals and raised in the wild. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork. ... Show More
28m 24s
May 2024
#12 (of 446) BEST OF 1001 GARM-A HOSTAGE by RUDYARD KIPLING
A humorous Rudyard Kipling story based upon his time serving the military in India when it was a British colony. The narrator is an officer who has been given an extremely intelligent bull terrier by a subordinate whose career he saved after a drunken incident. The officer tries ... Show More
37m 39s
Nov 2022
The Elephant's Child
Today’s story is about a very curious young elephant, and it was imagined by the English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist Rudyard Kipling. 
16m 12s
May 2019
Alfred Bernhard Nobel
The prize most coveted by the best and brightest minds in society owes its name to one man: Alfred Nobel. This Swedish inventor born in 1833, has a complicated history after battling through childhood poverty in which only three of his seven siblings reached adulthood. Parcasters ... Show More
44m 48s
Feb 2017
A revolutionary engineer and Victoria’s Indian confidant
Journalist and author Julian Glover describes the life and remarkable career of Georgian engineer Thomas Telford, the subject of his new biography. Meanwhile, we meet up with the writer Shrabani Basu to discuss the relationship of Queen Victoria with her Indian teacher Abdul Kari ... Show More
49m 40s
Jul 2023
The Coup, the Poet and the Secret to Winning Wimbledon
“If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss..." Those words - from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" - were based on charismatic nineteenth century doctor, Leander Starr Jameson. In Britain, Jameson was worshipped as a plucky hero: a bastion ... Show More
35m 58s
Feb 2022
Family Stories Series 2: Episode 12
This week’s family stories include an IRA man who ended up fighting for Britain and being torpedoed twice, a Scot who spent five years as a prisoner of war, a teenage sailor who braved the Atlantic and the U-boats, and a pilot who never forgave his enemy. A Goalhanger Films produ ... Show More
22m 16s