Trapped History

Sculptor Ian Wolter accompanied us on a cold and windy day to the mesmerising Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. The insights of a practising artist were priceless and so his choice for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is equally insightful. Charles Jagger was a prize-winning young sculptor on the up when the First World War broke out. He quickly signed up and served in the trenches and at Gallipoli. He was awarded the Military Cross and was wounded three times. On his return to civilian life, Charles was a changed man. And a changed artist too. Because while he would create many sculptures and statues which were not war-related, it is for his war memorials which he is remembered. They can be found in Belgium, France, Egypt and Australia but perhaps his most famous and heart-breaking one is London's Royal Artillery Memorial. Ian is the perfect guide to the work and the emotions behind it. So when you've listened to this, head over to the main episode to hear Remembering the Ordinary: The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

The RAF pilot Trevor Edwards joined us to marvel at the life and times of Johnny Smythe. But here, he goes back to the very beginning and nominates Robbie Clarke, the very first Black RAF pilot. Robbie's was a charmed life – a mechanic who would be one of the first Jamaicans to drive a car, he crossed the Atlantic to sign up in 1915. Joining the Royal Flying Corps, he gained his wings in April 1917, making him the first Allied Black wartime pilot. It's an inspiring story so when you're done with this, head over to the main episode to hear about The Four Heroic Lives of Johnny Smythe. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Join us as Stephen Bourne unveils his Hall of fame nominee. You may remember, Stephen was our guest on our episode about the forgotten singer who was Adelaide Hall, and he doesn't stray far from the path here! Mabel was born in Burton-upon-Trent, but she made her name in Paris and New York, where Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein and even Ol' Blue Eyes himself fell under her spell. Her story is eye-opening and a real counterpoint to Adelaide's. When you've finished with this, turn to the main episode: Adelaide Hall – The Greatest Singer you've Never Heard Of. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

At last, Trapped History's inaugural Hall of Fame nomination is here: Rosemary Brown's nominee from our very first episode. You may remember that Rosemary joined us to find out all about the marvellous Nellie Bly, adventurer, entrepreneur, war reporter and one of the very first investigative journalists in history. And perhaps Nellie's greatest exploit was to play Jules Verne at his own game and travel around the world in (under) 80 days. But Nellie wasn't the only person to do that. There was another woman travelling around the world . . . So tune in to hear the story of that other great tenacious traveller, Elizabeth Bisland. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Picture a woman of the French Resistance, printing underground papers in her cellar, making bombs at her kitchen table, cycling across her country with codes hidden in her knitting. And then spin the globe 6,000 miles and find yourself in Vietnam. Because this is what Madame Xuan Phuong did. As a teenager, Phuong fought in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam for her country’s independence against the Japanese. And then the French. And finally the Americans. We are delighted and honoured to be joined by a very special guest to tell Xuan’s story – Madame Phuong herself. A legend in her homeland, named on the BBC’s 100 Women 2024 list and a recipient of the Legion d’Honneur, her fascinating story helps us see the Vietnam War through Vietnamese eyes. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In today's Hall of Fame, Fiona Keating nominates a queer, Jewish poet and novelist who slipped through the cracks nearly 140 years ago. But late last year, Cambridge University proudly announced that they had acquired the Amy Levy Archive and the hope is that "one of Victorian literature’s most enigmatic figures" will finally get the recognition she deserves. Amy's life may have been short and tragic – but it was also full to the brim. She knew W. B. Yeats, Eleanor Marx and Oscar Wilde (it was he who said Amy had a 'touch of genius') as well as a host of the literati both in England and France. She wrote short stories, essays and articles, and in her lifetime published two poetry collections and two novels (more would follow after her death). She was also one of the first generation of women to study at Cambridge. Being Jewish and queer in an era of buttoned-up Victorian jingoism was hard enough but Amy also struggled with her mental health. Her final novel was met with scathing reviews and at the age of 27, Amy killed herself by suicide. Wilde wrote her obituary, hinting at the darkness which sat at the heart of her life, but we are also left with the last poignant words in her diary: "Alone at home all day." This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

As we head into spring, Trapped History takes a brisk wintery walk through the streets of London’s Docklands to seek out the Limehouse Chinatown of the 1880s. Jack the Ripper is striking fear into the heart of the East End, the Bryant & May matchgirls are on strike and the magnificent Ching Hook is knocking them dead at the Sebright Music Hall. And Pearl Fitzgerald, a young woman with a Chinese mother and an Irish father, is trying to secure her inheritance. But Pearl isn’t real. She is a fiction, the main character in novelist Fiona Keating’s bodice-ripping Smoke & Silk. Everything else, though, is true – and so Fiona is taking us and you on a journey through Pearl’s world to re-discover London’s first Chinatown. Here you will find laundries and opium, poverty and anger – but above all else a small Chinese community, hanging on by its fingernails in the onslaught of the tabloid ‘yellow peril’ scare. It's bracing, it’s exciting and it might help change your mind about Sherlock Holmes. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Here's a great Hall of Fame nominee from Christina Wade – and it's another oldie. In 1275, Gillian Pykard told the sheriff's bailiffs in Exeter precisely what they could do with their rules. She was a brewer and knew what her customers wanted. It's a small story but it's a slice of life which shows us so much about a world which seems so foreign to us in the 21st century. But if there's one thing we've learned from history, it's that people and people – and they don't take kindly to being told what to do! Enjoy this medieval rebel's tale. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

With a name and a story Dickens would have killed for, Peg Plunkett owned Dublin in the 1780s. Surviving a horrific childhood, she escaped to the big city and swiped right and left to her heart’s content until she blew everything up with her incendiary memoirs. Award-winning Filthy Queens author, Christina Wade, plunges us into the life of an 18th century courtesan – a world in which Peg is a modern day Samuel Pepys, with views on men, marriage, chastity and responsibility which seem so fresh and yet alien to her times. This is a rip-roaring, rumbustious tale – so buckle in and check your pockets! This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Sathnam Sanghera blows the doors off the Hall of Fame today alongside his nominee, the Pirate Queen of Ireland, Grainne – or Grace – O'Malley. Born in County Mayo when Henry VIII was on the throne of England, Grainne would command a fleet of ships, raid neighbouring clans, revenge the deaths of her loved ones and take on the English army. She would even meet with Queen Elizabeth to – in the best Jack Sparrow tradition – 'parley' with her opponent. Grainne was pretty special and is a worthy addition to the Trapped History Hall of Fame – and its new protector too! awcwipxh This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Mahatma Gandhi is a worldwide hero. Nehru led India through turmoil. But who in the West knows of Subhas Chandra Bose? Well, perhaps we should learn more about him because he is the man of the moment in Modi’s 21st century India. Empireland’s Sathnam Sanghera joins us today to try to understand someone who lived and died by the maxim ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’. We find out what that actually meant in the 1940s and how we can navigate the ethical and moral quagmire which led Bose into the arms of the Nazis. This is an important episode, summed up by Sathnam’s own maxim: ‘it’s complicated’. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

After demolishing and rebuilding Halls of Fame through the ages, our guest Habib Hajallie has chosen his own nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: the great Bill Richmond, an African-American born into slavery who by the early 19th century had become Britain's first Black sports star. Bill was the terror of the boxing ring, winning 17 of 19 matches, fighting the All England Champion, declining a title shot, and being a member of the sports first governing body. More than that, Bill trained figures like Byron and Hazlitt, performed in front of European royalty and was an usher at George IV's coronation. His was an astonishing life and Bill is a worthy entrant to the Hall of Fame. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

We’re proud of our own Hall of Fame here at Trapped History, but what are they and where did the idea come from? As we celebrate our three-year anniversary, join Oswin, Carla and MK for a very special episode in the company of award-winning British artist Habib Hajallie. His very own artwork, A British Hall of Fame, speaks to the past, present and future as we grapple with how we honour and remember people. This episode is literally packed with dozens of hidden heroes – and villains – and asks the question, what is fame and why do we feel a need to recognise it? This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

This holiday season, we've got a meditative and, we hope, nourishing bonus for you – as Michaela Strachan remembers taking part in the BBC series "Pilgrimage". She is also remembering her friends and family and on the hike through the Welsh hills, she was walking hand-in-hand with grief. But the healing power of nature is truly something to behold. This is an emotional but also a fulfilling journey. Have a peaceful and restorative festive break. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Michaela Strachan's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is one of the most selfless people we have heard of – Jill Robinson, who has dedicated her life to saving bears from the cruelty of the bear bile industry in China and across Asia. It is a story rooted in horror but also in love. And Jill's life bears witness to our capacity for both. If you feel moved by her story, please visit Animals Asia to see how you can support Jill in her fight to save bears from this torment: https://www.animalsasia.org/support-us/ This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

We have a wonderful season opener for you – as wildlife TV legend Michaela Strachan joins Trapped History to help us tell the tale of the woman who fought for nature. Her name was a bit of a mouthful – Ethel Haythornthwaite – but we know her as the defender of Britain’s National Parks and the Green Belt. She even has nearly 100 hills named after her (don’t worry, they’re ‘Ethels’ not ‘Haythornthwaites’!). It's a delightful episode, full of passion, joy and hope as Michaela shares her love of nature, walking and conservation. She even persuades Oswin to pull on his boots . . . This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Join us for Helen Lewis' nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: Constance Bulwer-Lytton, daughter of a Viceroy, sister to an Earl – but one of the bravest suffragettes of them all. In changing women's history, she was imprisoned four times for campaigning for the vote, carved "V" for votes on her breast, went on hunger strike and was force-fed by prison guards. In Constance's own words, which can stand for so much political action: "People say, what does this hunger strike mean? Surely it is all folly. If it is not hysteria, at least it is unreasonable. They will not realise that we are like an army, that we are deputed to fight for a cause, and for other people, and in any struggle or any fight, weapons must be used . . . These women have chosen the weapon of self-hurt to make their protest, and this hunger strike . . . involves grave hurt and tremendous sacrifice, but this is on the part of the women only, and does not physically injure their enemies. Can that be called violence and hooliganism?" Constance celebrated women winning the vote in 1918, a milestone in women's history – but she did not live to see women wield the vote in true equality with men. Because it was only at the 1929 general election that men and women aged 21 and over entered the voting booth as equals. But Constance, fatally weakened by her treatment in prison, had already died six years earlier in 1923, at the age of 54. Hers was a bright short life in women's history: forgotten, unsung and hidden – but it is one captured beautifully by Helen here. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

We are delighted to be joined today by Helen Lewis, whose new book, The Genius Myth, rips apart the stories we like to tell ourselves about ‘them’ – the heroic geniuses we idolise and adore. This is the ultimate history reboot. And it's one of the reasons we created Trapped History in the first place – because we don’t need more stories about Leonardo, Churchill or Elon. We need the hidden history, the forgotten history, the untold stories. But if anyone can take down ‘The Great Men of History’ it’s going to be Helen! So strap in as we rip through the centuries and the rulebook of what makes someone ‘special’, what constitutes ‘importance’ and why we might just be able to live without these geniuses. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Jet's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is an oldie – 850 years old, to be precise. A Renaissance Woman centuries before the Renaissance, a medieval queen of music, philosophy, science and medicine, the Mother of Everything: we give you Hildegard von Bingen. Throw in poetry, mysticism and sainthood and you have perhaps the greatest genius of the medieval world. A paragon of women's history and cultural history. Kings, emperors and popes certainly thought so as they sought our her teachings on the weightiest matters of the medieval age. So tune in to find out why a Gladiator thinks an Abbess should be in the Hall of Fame . . . This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

There’s a photo – you can google it – which when you see it, you’ll laugh, you’ll double-take, you’ll think ‘whaaaat?’. It’s of a young woman, she’s small, five foot nothing and she’s in a fitness gym. But it’s what she’s carrying that makes you stare. Because balanced on her shoulders is none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Her name is Lisa Lyon and she is a legend in the fitness world. The first female bodybuilding world champion, the inspiration for the Marvel superhero Elektra and the muse for the mould-breaking photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. So tune in for a very special episode as Carla and Oswin are joined by none other than Jet from Gladiators, Diane Jetstrong, to celebrate a woman who shook the worlds of fitness, art history, gender and health. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy