Short History Of...

Since it was created 900 years ago, the Bayeux Tapestry has survived war, revolution and the ravages of time. This fragile piece of linen, almost seventy metres long, depicts the events leading up to the Norman invasion of England. But who created it, and why? What do its graphic scenes of battle and cruelty reveal about life, death and warfare in the middle ages?This is a Short History of the Bayeux Tapestry.Written by Kate Harrison. With thanks to Michael Lewis, Head of Portable Antiquities & Treasure at the British Museum.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe is one of the most widely published books in history. This story of a man stranded alone on an island is said to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. But who was Defoe’s inspiration for creating one of the best-known protagonists in literature? And what led to this real-life sailor spending years of his life cut off from human contact?This is a Short History of the Real Robinson Crusoe.Written by David Jackson. With thanks Dr Rebecca Simon, historian and the author of Why We Love Pirates.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. 500 years old and just 77x53cm in size, it is kept behind bulletproof glass in the Louvre museum in Paris, where it draws 10 million visitors a year. But how did a small portrait find global fame? Who is the woman in the painting, and why is the world so intrigued by her smile?This is a Short History Of the Mona Lisa.Written by Nicola Rayner. With thanks to Donald Sassoon, historian and the author of Mona Lisa: The History of the World’s Most Famous Painting.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1947, the British divided up its former colony of India into two provinces. What followed was confusion, chaos, and an unprecedented wave of sectarian violence that left up to a million dead. 15 million more were forced to flee their homes. So why was the country broken up? What prompted the ferocious backlash? And how do the events of 75 years ago still haunt the region, its residents and the diaspora?This is a Short History of The Partition of India.Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Nisid Hajari, author of Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition, and Aanchal Malhotra, author of Remnants of Partition.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At approximately 8:13 p.m. on November 24th, 1971, a hijacker exited Northwest Airlines flight 305 at an altitude of 10,000 feet, carrying just a case, a bagful of money, and a parachute. The subsequent investigation became one of the largest and strangest in the FBI’s history. But was what the true identity of the man who called himself D.B. Cooper? And could he still out there, living among us?This is a Short History of D.B. Cooper.Written by Joe Viner. With thanks to Robert Edwards, author of the book D.B. Cooper and Flight 305 and Darren Schaeffer, host of The Cooper Vortex podcast.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Retaining the title of the “Queen of Crime” to this day, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Across 66 novels, 14 short-story collections, and 20 stage plays, she depicted the evil lurking in the hearts of ordinary people. But how did this homeschooled daughter of a privileged English family learn so much about poisons, psychopaths and murder? What in her personal life informed such a suspicious view of ordinary people? And how did she trigger a real-life mystery in 1926 that saw the whole country turn amateur detective?This is a Short History Of Agatha Christie.Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to best-selling crime writer Sophie Hannah.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kristina Kinealy, a distinguished historian and director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute, delves into the heart-wrenching tale of the Irish Potato Famine. She discusses the devastating impact of the potato blight, exacerbated by British neglect and political choices. Kinealy highlights the ongoing food exports during the crisis and the desperate emigration to escape hunger, detailing the dangers of 'coffin ships.' The conversation also touches on the long-lasting effects of the famine on Irish identity and the political landscape.

Best known for its world-class casinos and lavish hotels, the desert city of Las Vegas, Nevada has a darker side, too. For decades, connections to organised crime tarnished its reputation. Now, Las Vegas attracts tens of millions of tourists every year, many of whom come to gamble. But did games of chance really drive the transformation of this small, dusty desert town? And will it ever shed its persistent nickname of Sin City?This is a Short History Of Las Vegas.Written by Emma Christie. With thanks to Dr Michael Green, associate professor of history at the University of Nevada and Las Vegas.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No single writer has shaped the way we speak and think more than William Shakespeare. Whether we’re being cruel to be kind, wearing our hearts on our sleeves, or spotting the green eye’d monster — it’s almost impossible to use the English language without quoting him. But who was Shakespeare? What vaulting ambition drove a young writer from a sleepy town to stardom in London? Was he born great or did he have greatness thrust upon him?This is a Short History of William Shakespeare.Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Dr Anjna Chouhan, Senior Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s Christmas eve, 1914. On the Western Front, a British soldier peers out across No Man’s Land. A sound catches his attention – not artillery fire, but music. The enemy are singing Silent Night. The Christmas Truce of 1914 remains a unique historical anomaly. But how did these sworn enemies set down their weapons and meet as friends? What does the truce reveal about the First World War?This is a Short History of the Christmas Truce.Written by Duncan Barrett. With thanks to Anthony Richards, Head of Documents and Sound and the Imperial War Museum, and author of The True Story of the Christmas Truce: British and German Eyewitness Accounts from World War I, and Catriona Pennell, Professor of Modern History and Memory Studies at the University of Exeter. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices