https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-012-with-a-bang/ In May 2005, the Kansas State Board of Education held the Kansas Evolution Hearings. Of course, both sides of the issues under debate were a little more complex than we have time to get into, but basically they aimed to introduce Intelligent Design into Science lessons, and to try and introduce a degree of… Continue reading EP 015: Monstrous Spaghetti
Episodes
EP 014: Sanskrit, Stories and Sages
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-012-with-a-bang/ Today we’re diving back into the realm of myth, magic, and talking animals, and we’re also taking our first steps into Ancient India and stories set down in in Sanskrit. I’m going to kick of with a confession here – I grew up in Southern Africa, and one of the groups of indigenous people… Continue reading EP 014: Sanskrit, Stories and Sages
EP 013: That Way Madness
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-012-with-a-bang/ If you’ve ever had a bad date, a botched interview, or a conversation with a stranger that left you awake at 2am, thinking ‘why on earth did I keep talking about my grade 3 schoolteacher,’ you’ve probably felt the seductive tug into a whirlpool of obsessive thoughts. And whether you chose to share these… Continue reading EP 013: That Way Madness
EP 012: With a Bang!
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-012-with-a-bang/ “In the beginning” – to quote Douglas Adams – “the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” If you ask high school science students, high school science teachers, and perhaps the odd struggling undergraduate, they might agree that this anger comes,… Continue reading EP 012: With a Bang!
EP 011: An Epic Defeat
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-008-how-anansi-got-his-tale/ Today we’re going back to an unknown author, in an unknown time, and a mostly unknown place to explore the murky roots of the Tale of Igor’s Campaign. Now if you had a high school history education that in any way resembled mine, you might have noticed something very odd about our textbooks. They… Continue reading EP 011: An Epic Defeat
EP 010: Let Them Eat Cake
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-008-how-anansi-got-his-tale/ In the late 1700’s, the French were (understandably) very cross. The old feudal regime had left a handful of people quite powerful, and very wealthy, and left pretty much everyone else out in the cold. Over the course of a handful of years, the French embarked on a Revolution, changed their constitution, chopped off… Continue reading EP 010: Let Them Eat Cake
EP 009: The Silk Ode
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-008-how-anansi-got-his-tale/ I’m really hoping somebody will write in and make me feel a bit less alone here, but for many years, I thought satin was silk. In fact, I spent most of my childhood believing that. But, as probably everyone in the world except me knows, silk is NOT satin, and its dead useful. You’ve… Continue reading EP 009: The Silk Ode
EP 008: How Anansi Got His Tale
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-008-how-anansi-got-his-tale/ A common feature of History – especially the way we were taught it in the 90’s – is that cultures who kept written records tend to get more airtime. That makes sense in some practical ways – sometimes we know more about those periods of History, and sometimes they’re much easier to teach, especially… Continue reading EP 008: How Anansi Got His Tale
EP 007: Beware the Ides
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-007-beware-the-ides/ If you’re in any way superstitious, Roman, or considering becoming a dictator, you might want to grab your lucky charms and lock your doors, because in this episode, we’re heading into the Ides of March. The big questions you probably have at this point are, in increasing order of importance: Are the Ides of… Continue reading EP 007: Beware the Ides
EP 006: It Takes Tutu
https://historycal.podbean.com/e/ep-006-it-takes-tutu/ Speaking to Delegates at the One Young World opening ceremony in 2010, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu – affectionately called ‘the Arch’ in his home country – tells a story. A school had recently been named after him in the Netherlands (which, he hastens to add, is not the important part of the story). The… Continue reading EP 006: It Takes Tutu
Historycal: Words the Shaped the World 