When you pick up a dictionary and look up a word, have you ever stopped to consider who it was that compiled such meticulous work? Was it a scholar, or group of scholars, holed up in a musty backroom somewhere dedicating their lives to the task, or a wide group of volunteers, crowdsourcing an otherwise unthinkable workload? Or was it perhaps, a madman and mu ... Show More
Nov 18
Flying Carrots & Little Divers: The French UFO Wave of 1954
In the autumn of 1954, France found itself gripped by a strange and unnerving spectacle. From quiet rural villages to bustling towns and cities, witnesses reported everything from flying discs, cigars and carrots, to little creatures in diving gear waddling beneath a glowing sphe ... Show More
1h 6m
Feb 2025
#284 - Dead Man's Hand (Bayswater, London, UK)
<p>Monday 31st of October 1960, at 5:30pm, the body of 53-year-old William Davies was found inside the top-floor flat of 5 Westbourne Park Road in Bayswater, London, W2. There was no sign <u>of a break-in,</u> no struggle and no obvious robbery. He was found on his knees, with a ... Show More
1h 2m
Feb 2025
#286 - The Black Cap Farce (Edith McQuaid, Soho, UK)
<p>On 1st January 1932, in the attic room of 27 Old Compton Street in Soho, 19-year-old domestic servant Edith McQuaid gave birth to a baby boy. Whether he died of natural causes, or she took his life by infanticide will never be known. But she wasn't alone. Edith was one of 1000 ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 20
742 Edgar Allan Poe (with Richard Kopley) | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (#12 GBOAT) | My Last Book with Christopher Herbert
It's October, the perfect month to celebrate the master of mystery and the macabre. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Richard Kopley about his book Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, a comprehensive critical biography that combines a narrative of Poe's enduring challenges (including h ... Show More
1h 17m
Oct 13
740 Mel Brooks and Other Eminent Jews (with David Denby) | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (#13 GBOAT)
In this episode, Jacke talks to author David Denby about his new book, Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer, a group biography (loosely inspired by Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians) that describes how four larger-than-life figures upended the restrained culture of ... Show More
1h 3m
Sep 9
After 1066: The Harrying of the North
Dr. Eleanor Janega unravels the blood-soaked aftermath of the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England. Joined by Professor Levi Roach, Eleanor delves into the harrowing campaign, known as the Harrying of the North, where William the Conqueror brutally suppressed the ... Show More
51m 47s
Aug 28
The Subway Vigilante Shooting (1984) w/ Leon Neyfakh [Archive Favorite]
<p>It’s August 1st. This day in 1996, a judge ruled that Bernie Goetz still owed his victims millions of dollars in damages as a result of the “Subway Vigilante” incident some twelve years earlier.</p><p>Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Leon Neyfakh to discuss the subway shoo ... Show More
31m 9s