Patented: History of Inventions

<p>Get ready for the coming of our robot overlords by listening to this episode all about the history of AI. Who was Shakey the robot? Why did we spend thousands of hours trying to tell a machine the basic facts of life (like that the hot tap is coloured red)? What was King Charles’ grey goo theory all about?</p><br><p>The first half of the show is with Matthew Sparkes of the New Scientist. Matthew spends his life covering the latest developments in the field of AI and is a regular contributor to the New Scientist’s podcast ‘New Scientist Weekly’.</p><br><p>Then in the second half Dallas is with Professor Michael Wooldridge, author of <em>The Road to Consciousness: the story of AI</em>.</p><br><p>Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>When does spaghetti grow on trees? When can you milk a duck? When does Google read your brainwaves? On April Fool’s Day!</p><br><p>Come with us into the chaotic world of April 1st as we explore where the tradition originated and how many kinds of hilarious pranks there are.</p><br><p>Dallas’s guest today is Moira Marsh, a folklorist at Indiana University and author of <em>Practically Joking</em>.</p><br><p>Edited and Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Early aquariums didn't have much more in them than some sorry looking trout. Yet such was the excitement at being able to see this underwater world for the first time people queued for hours to get a peak.</p><br><p>Taking Dallas through the surprising history of fish tanks and aquariums is the world's only fish tank historian (that we know of) Samantha Muka, author of Oceans Under Glass: Tank Craft & Science of the Sea</p><br><p>Edited and Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The Ouija Board was patented in 1890. But in did not appear out of thin air. It was only one in a long, long line of devices attempting to pierce the veil between this world and the next.</p><br><p>Come with us, if you dare, on a journey through the Spiritualism that rocked America in the 19th century and the wild world of inventions the movement spawned.</p><br><p>Dallas’s guest today is the wonderful Brandon Hodge, expert on all things talking board. Find out more at Brandon’s website: <a href="http://www.mysteriousplanchette.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.mysteriousplanchette.com/</a></p><br><p>Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>In 1890, the Governor of New York called for a new method of capital punishment. A more modern, efficient, scientific method was being sought. There was still a buzz around the recently harnessed power of electricity, which, when delivered. at high voltage to a prisoner strapped to a chair, would do the job (though not quite, at least the first time). The terrifying prospect of the Electric Chair was also hoped to put off potential criminals. Mark Essig, author of Edison and the Electric Chair: a Story of Light and Death, tells Dallas how it came about. </p><br><p>Mixed by Benjie Guy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long. </p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subscribe today</a>! </p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Every bottle of Tabasco sauce on earth comes from one place - Avery Island, deep down in Louisiana. The same place where the sauce was invented by one Edmund McIlhenny in 1868.</p><br><p>Joining Dallas to uncover the origin story of the world’s favourite spicy sauce is the official Tabasco historian Shane Bernard.</p><br><p>Edited by Joseph Knight, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><br><p>If you’d like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subscribe today</a>!</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Concrete is the second most used material on earth after only water. There are more than half a trillion tons of it weighing down the earth. Which is a problem. Where did concrete come from? And why are we so addicted to it?</p><br><p>To get into the nitty gritty with Dallas is Barnabas Calder who is Head of the Architectural and Urban History Research Group at the University of Liverpool and the author of “<em>Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism” </em>and “<em>Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency.”</em></p><br><p><em><span class="ql-cursor"> </span></em>Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The war in Ukraine is being fought with tanks designed in the Cold War. The US Abrams. The German Leopard. The British Challenger. All have been sent to fight Russia’s soviet era machines. T-72s, T-62s, T-80s.</p><br><p>One year into the war in Ukraine we explore the origins of the tanks being used to fight the battle with David Willey of the Tank Museum.</p><br><p>Produced and edited by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>This is the story of the first modern computer program and the extraordinary woman who wrote it, Klara von Neumann.</p><br><p>The program Klara wrote was a list of numbers eight hundred odd lines long. Gibberish to look at now but to the room-sized computer she was working with, it translated into a sophisticated set of instructions telling it how to map out the path neutrons would take inside nuclear bombs.</p><br><p>To mark International Women’s Day we’re going in search of Klara von Neumann and giving her the recognition she so richly deserves.</p><br><p>Dallas’s guest to make this happen is Ananyo Bhattacharya. Ananyo wrote a wonderful book about John von Neumann called<em> The Man from the Future</em> and has championed Klara and her work.</p><br><p>Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The keyboard on the first ever commercially successful typewriter and the keyboard on your smartphone are separated by a gulf of time and technology. Yet their layout is essentially the same (plus or minus a few new buttons along the way).</p><br><p>Who invented the QWERTY keyboard layout and why hasn’t it been updated?</p><br><p>What is the Shift button all about?</p><br><p>Who else remembers the weird way it felt to type on the ZX Spectrum?</p><br><p>To tell the stories that lurk underneath the keyboards you use every day, Dallas is joined by Marcin Wichary. His book ‘Shift Happens’ is available via Kickstarter now: bit.ly/3ETOn8c</p><br><p>Produced by Sophie Gee, Edited by Freddy Chick, Senior Editor is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here.</a> </p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subscribe today!</a> To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple store </a></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>It’s perhaps the most overlooked invention of all time. Consigned to a forgotten corner in the basement of history. The Filing Cabinet.</p><br><p>Yet the humble Filing Cabinet was at the centre of an information revolution and became critical to the infrastructure of 20th century nation states and businesses. One sign of the deep mark it has left on us are the names we give things on our computers - Files, Folders, Tabs.</p><br><p>To help us restore the filing cabinet to its rightful place is Craig Robertson, author of <em>The Filing Cabinet: A Vertical History of Information</em>.</p><br><p>Produced and edited by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>In the year 2000 Japan was asked what its greatest invention of the twentieth century was. They had a LOT to choose from. The Walkman. The bullet train. Digital Cameras. Pokemon. But the winner was Instant Noodles.</p><br><p>Today Dallas learns about Momofuku Ando, the inventor-cum-tax-evader who invented instant noodles. Listen to Dallas’s chat with Barak Kushner, author of “Slurp! A Social and Culinary History of Ramen”, to discover:</p><br><p>Who invented the original ramen dish that these noodles are based on;</p><br><p>What America’s preparation for a land-invasion of Japan in WWII has to do with the story;</p><br><p>and Dallas’s recipe for a curry Pot Noodle sandwich!!!</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Anisha Deva, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here.</a> </p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subscribe today!</a> To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple store </a></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>At its peak, the BlackBerry was the world’s most popular smartphone with almost 50% of the US market. They were called the ‘CrackBerry’ so many people wanted one. Now they have a 0% share of the market. This is the story of their rise-and-fall.</p><br><p>Today on Patented we’re handing over the mic to a podcast we think you’ll like called ‘Today In History…with The Retrospectors’. A podcast where hosts Arion, Rebecca and Olly tell a ten minute story from this day in history in each episode.</p><br><p><span class="ql-cursor"> </span>If you enjoy what you hear then you can discover over 450 episodes over at <a href="http://podfollow.com/retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">podfollow.com/retrospectors</a></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>If God invented Heaven and Earth, then who invented God? To explain how gods ‘are invented’, how they evolve and why so many seem to have vanished, Dallas is joined by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, author of ‘God: An Anatomy’. They explore the human instinct to create deities and the origins of the God of Abraham, of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Who, it turns out, was once a lowly storm deity with black eyeliner and a pierced ear.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddie Chick. Mixed by Benjie Guy. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>It’s the most famous bath of all time. But what exactly was Archimedes so excited about?</p><br><p>We discover the truth behind the legend of Archimedes, and find out about the industrial revolution that almost happened in Ancient Greece, with today’s guest Armand D’Angour. He’s a Professor of Classics at Oxford University and author of <em>How To Innovate: An Ancient Guide to Creative Thinking</em>.</p><br><p>Edited by Joseph Knight. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here.</a> </p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subscribe today!</a> To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple store </a></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>It turns out that all those times you played Snakes and Ladders (Chutes and Ladders) as a child you were playing a game that once symbolised the whole universe and our place in it. Instead of crying when you landed on a snake you should really have been reflecting upon the nature of reality.</p><br><p>Get ready for a story that takes us back through Victorian England, to an India where boardgames were steeped in mysticism, and on to the empty nothingness at the heart of the universe. Leading Dallas down the rabbit hole is the wonderful Jacob Schmidt-Madsen from the University of Copenhagen, a historian of Indian board games and the culture surrounding them.</p><br><p>Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Exactly when, where, how, why our ancient ancestors ‘invented’ farming is one of the great questions of archaeology.</p><br><p>Surely if we can answer it we will understand something profound about humanity and the journey we are on.</p><br><p>But like all good invention stories, this one isn’t straightforward.</p><br><p>Dallas’s guest today is Robert Spengler, director of the Paleoethnobotany Laboratories at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, author of Fruit from the Sands, with an upcoming book about domestication.</p><br><p>Edited by Thomas Ntinas, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Spam Spam Spam, glorious Spam! Who invented Spam Emails? Just how much Spam activity is there online? And how will we survive once Spam AI gets going?</p><br><p>Spam has been the nemesis of the internet since its earliest days. And soon AI-powered spambots will force us to radically change our online behaviour if we don’t want to be perpetually duped.</p><br><p>Taking us on a tour of the murky world of spammers is Finn Brunton, Professor at UC Davis in Science and Technology Studies and author of the book <em>Spam: a Shadow History of the Internet</em>.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here.</a> </p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Fonts are usually invisible to us; we absorb the written word without noticing the medium (unless someone sends you an email in <em>comic sans</em> and then you can’t see past the choice of font!)</p><br><p>But every font is a piece of design, created for a specific purpose at a specific point in time. Laden with meanings, some of which we subconsciously absorb when we see it.</p><br><p>Today’s guest is Sarah Hyndman, author of <em>Why Fonts Matter</em> and whose company Type Tasting delves into the power that typography has over us.</p><br><p>Edited by Joseph Knight, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here.</a> </p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>How would you feel if you found out you had a very high or a very low IQ? Would it change you? The IQ test has an awful allure to it. A single number that ranks your mental ability against everyone else’s, for better or for worse.</p><br><p>Helping Dallas explore the origins of this blasted test is John Carson, historian and author of <em>The Measure of Merit: Talents, Intelligence, and Inequality in the French and American Republics, 1750-1940.</em></p><br><p>Edited by Joseph Knight, produced by Freddy Chick, senior producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here.</a> </p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>It’s time to talk about the toilet, or crapper, or bog, or the john, head, the comfort station, khazi, dunny, can, throne, pissoir.</p><br><p>Join Dallas and his guest, Rose George - author of <em>The Big Necessity</em>, on a trip down the toilet bowl of history as they uncover the origins of the flush toilet.</p><br><p>Listen in to find out how Queen Elizabeth’s naughty cousin tried to win back her favour, why sewers don’t smell as bad as we think, and what a condom filled with miso paste has to do with all this.</p><br><p>Edited by Aidan Lonergan, produced by Freddy Chick, senior producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here.</a> </p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>A hundred years ago next to no one was born via Caesarean Section. Today, one in five new arrivals on planet earth come via a Caesarean. Its meteoric rise is down to an invention most people won’t know. The Foetal Heart Monitor.</p><br><p>This is a story about how the law of unintended consequences led to Caesarean Section becoming the world’s most common major surgery.</p><br><p>Our guest today is Jackie Wolf, is a historian of medicine and author of <em>Caesarean Section: An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequence.</em> She’s also a repeat guest on Patented. Go back and check out her episode on Baby Formula if you haven’t heard it.</p><br><p>WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of childbirth and the death of a baby during childbirth.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here.</a> </p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>When this trick was first performed, ushers poured buckets of blood down the gutter outside the theatre to entice people into the macabre spectacle. Today Dallas is joined by Jim Steinmeyer to talk about the invention and development of the most iconic magic trick of all - Sawing Someone In Half.</p><br><p>It turns out that Dallas is something of a magician himself and has been fascinated by the history of magic for a long time. And Jim, author of Hiding the Elephant and many other books on magic, is something of a hero.</p><br><p><span class="ql-cursor"> </span>Edited by Joseph Knight, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here.</a> </p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>150 years ago a patent was lodged for the first ever pair of jeans (what we’d think of as jeans today at least). There were two names on it. One was the inventor Jacob Davis. The other was the company he was going into business with: Levi Strauss & Co.</p><br><p>How did Levi’s jeans come to be? Why are there a pair of horses on the label? What’s with the tiny rivets on all the pockets? And why are they called ‘501s’?</p><br><p>Find out on today’s episode of <em>Patented</em> with our guest Tracey Panek, historian for Levi Strauss & Co.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, Editing and Sound Design by Thomas Ntinas, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>250 million years ago the armour-plated Placoderm fish invented the act of sex as we know it. Hubba Hubba. Dive in the historical sack as we go in search of the origins of nature’s greatest ever invention.</p><br><p>Dallas’s guest on this episode is Australian palaeontologist John Long, author of The Dawn of the Deed.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>You can argue that plastics were invented to save nature from human depredation…that plan backfired a bit!</p><br><p>Early plastics were designed as substitutes for scarce natural products like ivory and shellac or the shells of endangered snails. But it didn’t take long for things to get out of hand.</p><br><p>In this episode we trace the story of plastic past, present and future by way of three inventions.</p><ol><li>The invention of plastics</li><li>The dawn of disposable plastic culture</li><li>The possibly new creatures that will emerge in response to the vast amounts of plastic littering the earth</li></ol><p><br></p><p>Our guest today is Heather Davis, professor of media and culture and the New School in New York. She’s pondered these questions for a long time and her book, Plastic Matter, looks at how plastics change our way of life.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Thomas Ntinas, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The Open Plan Office. A little bit of you might die inside every time you hear those words. But we promise you the history of how they came to be is worth hearing.</p><br><p>Born at the same time as the counter cultural revolution of the 60s, Open Plan was supposed to create the offices that the egalitarian, free-thinking children of that revolution would want to work in.</p><br><p>The Open Plan Office was supposed to do away with stultifying hierarchies of post-war offices (think Mad Men). To give workers the flexibility to be their best selves and to allow the free flow of ideas.</p><br><p>Oh how the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry!</p><br><p>Here to tell the story is Jennifer Kaufmann Buhler, a design historian and author of the book <em>Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office</em>.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Joseph Knight, senior producer is Charlotte Long</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Today we’re bringing you an episode from Dan Snow’s History Hit. Normal Patented service will resume in the New Year.</p><br><p>Accurate timekeeping is at the very root of all of the technological advances in the modern world, but how did it all begin? From Roman sundials to mediaeval water-clocks, people of all cultures have made and used clocks for thousands of years. Dan speaks to horologist, historian and former curator of timekeeping at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, David Rooney, about the importance of time, and what clocks can tell us about the history of human civilisation. David’s book, About Time: A History of Civilisation in Twelve Clocks, is out now.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Ho ho ho! Come with us on a Christmas tale of invention as we talk to the world’s only Christmas Cracker historian, Peter Kimpton of Norwich.</p><br><p>🎄Hear about Tom Smith the inventor of the Christmas Cracker</p><p>🎁Discover the strangest Christmas Cracker ever made</p><p>🧑‍🎄Learn what makes the “CRACK”!</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, senior producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>There’s so many versions of Monopoly these days. Which one is the original? London? No. Atlantic City? Uh uh. The original had property names like ‘Poverty Place’ and ‘La Swell Hotel’ and was designed as an anti-Capitalist game.</p><br><p>Our guest to tell the story of Lizzie Magie, the real inventor of the game we now know as Monopoly, is David Parlett a games historian and inventor.</p><br><p>And don’t all rush off to play Monopoly at the end because we’ve got a special update to one of our previous episodes.</p><br><p>After news that US scientists had made a breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Power we got Arthur Turrell, author of <em>The Starbuilders</em>, back on to update us on what’s happened.</p><br><p>If you’ve not listened to our amazing episode all about the race to conquer Nuclear Fusion Power then go back to October and check it out.</p><br><p>Produced and edited by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><p> </p><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Today it’s a Tupperware party and you’re all invited! Tupperware epitomises the post-war suburban dream. But pop open the lid and peep inside and not all is as it seems. There was a battle for the soul of Tupperware. A battle fought between the inventor of the Tupperware box, Earl Tupper, and the woman who made it famous through her Tupperware parties, Brownie Wise.</p><br><p>Helping Dallas uncover the true nature of Tupperware is the wonderful Alison Clarke, professor of design history and theory at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the author of <em>Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950's America.</em></p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Aidan Lonergan, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The hieroglyphs seem to hold a lot of secrets about Ancient Egyptians. What do emojis say about us? What on earth is their story?</p><br><p>Emojis originate in the notebooks of 1970’s Japanese schoolgirls obsessed with adding cute illustrations between words.</p><br><p>Their story ends in boardroom meetings in California where the emojis that we are all allowed, and the ones we aren’t, are decided.</p><br><p>What a strange journey for a form of communication to take. It must all mean something…but what? </p><br><p>Today’s guest is Philip Seargeant a lecturer in applied linguistics at the Open University and author of <em>The Emoji Revolution: the technology shaping the future of communication.</em></p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Lewis Mason, senior producer Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Why did the chicken cross the road? What came first, the chicken or the egg? Who invented the chicken anyway?</p><br><p>We answer at least one of these questions on today’s show.</p><br><p>We follow the chicken from the time of the dinosaurs (the chicken is the closest living relative to T-Rex) until today’s genetically engineered bird with today’s guest Sally Coulthard, author of <em>Fowl Play: A History of the Chicken from Dinosaur to Dinner Plate</em>.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Lewis Mason, senior producer Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Who invented LEGO, the world's favourite toy? To find out we have to head to a Danish fishing village where a family of toy makers live. A family who over the course of three generations, created the LEGO world we know today.</p><br><p>Dallas’s guest is Daniel Konstanski, a lifelong LEGO fanatic who builds breathtaking LEGO models and has recently published a book called <em>The Secret Life of Lego</em>.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick. Editing and sound design by Anish Deva. Senior producer Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>CROISSANTS WEREN’T INVENTED IN FRANCE. Mon dieu! C’est pas vrai!</p><br><p>Today Dallas finds out about the person responsible for bringing the croissant to France.</p><br><p>It wasn’t Marie Antoinette and it has nothing to do with the Turkish flag.</p><br><p>The person we have to thank is an Austrian entrepreneur called August Zang who set up a wildly popular Viennese bakery in Paris in the early nineteenth century. In amongst the Viennese goodies on show was a certain crescent shaped roll….</p><br><p>Our guest today is Jim Chevallier, author of <em>August Zang and the French Croissant</em>. Check out Jim’s website chezjim.com for more information on the croissant and beyond.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Joseph Knight, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Who invented aliens? We did. Each age invents its own. When we invented robots, aliens became robotic beings. In the Cold War, intergalactic peacemakers appear. Aliens came to abduct us in a decade when the news was full of kidnappings.</p><br><p>In this episode Dallas discovers when we first started to think about alien life and explores how our ideas about aliens have evolved over time. And we hear three stories of people who claimed to have met aliens.</p><br><p>His guide to alien lifeforms is Greg Eghigian, professor of history at Penn State university and author of an upcoming book about the phenomenon of UFO sightings and alien encounters.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Aidan Lonergan, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The world’s first Loop-the-Loop roller coaster gave so many people whiplash that they kept a medical team on the payroll.</p><br><p>Find out where roller coasters began; why your hands sweat when you’re on them; and how long it takes the human brain to realise that it’s fallen to its death (perhaps).</p><br><p>Dallas’s guest today is the world’s only thrill engineer Brendan Walker, the guy roller coaster designers turn to for advice on how to make their rides as thrilling as possible.</p><br><p>Keep your arms and legs inside the podcast at all times as we go on another roller coaster ride into the history of inventions!</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, Edited by Anisha Deva, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The Frozen Food industry was invented by the Birdseye company. And that company was started by a living breathing Birdseye; Clarence Birdseye.</p><br><p>Clarence Birdseye was a small, bespectacled New Yorker who lived a life somewhere between Buffalo Bill and Thomas Edison.</p><br><p>He came up with the idea for frozen food while starting a family in the barren wastes of North Eastern Canada, where he ate polar bears, skunks, lynx stewed in sherry, and horned owls.</p><br><p>He became a self made millionaire who invented not only the frozen food industry but also new kinds of lightbulbs, automatic whaling harpoons, and a whole new paper making process while living in the Colombian jungle. He died with more than two hundred patents in his name.</p><br><p>Our guest to tell the story of this remarkable inventor is Mark Kurlansky, author of <em>Birdseye</em> a biography of Clarence Birdseye.</p><br><p>Produced and Edited by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>***Real life inventor alert*** We speak to Rick Priestley the co-creator of the weird world of Warhammer where valiant humans, noble elves, savage orcs and a variety of monstrous creatures battle eternally. How on earth do you invent something like this?</p><br><p>If you have no idea what Warhammer is then don't worry; neither did Dallas before this! In his chat with Rick, Dallas tries to work out where Warhammer came from and how you invent a fantasy world that people will actually believe in. Whether that's Warhammer or Narnia or Hogwarts or [insert favourite fantasy world here]. Any of the fantasy worlds that millions of us love to lose ourselves in.</p><br><p>Buckle on your shields and swords at the ready as we embark on one of our stranger adventures in the history of invention.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Anisha Deva. Executive Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p><br><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Hold onto your fishing rods guys. We’re tracking down the origins of batteries and it turns out it has a lot to do with a fish with a nasty sting in its tail. Zzzaaap!!</p><br><p>Human’s have known that an electrical force existed for thousands of years. But it wasn’t until the turn of the nineteenth century that we were able to harness it for the first time in a battery. It opened the doors for a whole new way of life.</p><br><p>Get ready for stories of reanimated corpses, bitter scientific rivalries, shocking ancient medicine and electric fish.</p><br><p>Our guest today is Tim Jorgensen, author of <em>Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life</em>.</p><br><p>Produced and edited by Freddy Chick. Executive Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Hope you’re hungry because today we’re opening a can of historical worms as we discover the origins of canned food. </p><br><p>How did canned food go from something only explorers would consider eating to the centrepiece of kitchen cupboards? What does a competition run by Napoleon have to do with things? And is it true that the can opener wasn't invented until decades after the can was?</p><br><p>Our guest today is Anna Zeide, author of <em>Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry</em>.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick. Editing and sound design by Thomas Ntinas. Executive Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>They were cigars the size of ocean liners that floated through the clouds. Cow intestines filled with hydrogen held them up. The world’s first flight attendant served champagne and caviar.</p><br><p>Zeppelins seem almost too strange to have been real now. But they once carried paying passengers across the Atlantic in style. People foresaw a time when Zeppelins would dock at the top of the Empire State Building. For a moment they looked like the future.</p><br><p>And then came that awful day in May 1937 when the greatest Zeppelin of them all, the Hindenburg, exploded.</p><br><p>Who invented the Zeppelin? (The clue is in the name!)</p><br><p>What was it like to fly in one?</p><br><p>And why did the Hindenburg explode?</p><br><p>Find out all this and more on today’s episode! Our guest is the wonderful Dan Grossman, aviation historian and the man behind airships.net, one of the great websites of our time (if you’re into airships).</p><br><p>Produced and edited by Freddy Chick. Executive Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>What was the first ever internet ad? When was the last time someone actually clicked on one? What happened to all the proper ads with catchy jingles?</p><br><p>Today Dallas investigates one of the most infuriating aspects of modern life, online advertising. We discover how they started and the mind-boggling ways they work.</p><br><p>Is it possible that online advertising is a bubble that will one day burst? A world without online ads might sound appealing until you consider all the free services they underwrite, from emails, to search engines, to this very podcast (please don’t skip the ads guys!).</p><br><p>Our guest today is Tim Hwang author of the book <em>Subprime Attention Crisis</em>.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Aidan Lonergan. The Executive Producer is Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Welcome to <em>Patented-Gone-Paranormal</em>!! Thomas Edison tried to make a telephone that called the spirit world. One of the pioneers of radio believed he could talk with his dead son through the 'Ether'.</p><br><p>Technology might seem the antithesis of the spirit world. But just at that point in our history when technology began to dominate our way of life, it also sprouted supernatural arms and legs.</p><br><p>Spiritualism emerged in the middle of the nineteenth century. A new form of an old belief that it is possible to communicate with the dead.</p><br><p>And from the beginning it was deeply meshed in the new technologies that were emerging in the Victorian era and changing the way people saw the world.Ghostly photographs, haunted typewriters, spirit voices from the radio, paranormal podcasts even?</p><br><p>My guest today is Efram Sera-Shriar who studies how the occult intersects with science and is the author of a new book <em>Psychic Investigators: Anthropology, Modern Spiritualism, and Credible Witnessing in the Late Victorian Age</em>.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Executive Producer: Charlotte Long.</p><br><p>With thanks to Denna Cartamkhoob and Tom Chick</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>For almost a century we’ve been trying to build a star on earth. Not easy with temperatures reaching 150,000,000℃.</p><br><p>Today on Patented it’s the story of our efforts to make a nuclear fusion reactor with Arthur Turrell author of<em> The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet</em>.</p><br><p>Find out what people used to believe the sun was made out of; just how powerful the world’s biggest laser is, and what Argentinian fake news has to do with all this.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick</p><br><p>Executive Producer Charlotte Long</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Linoleum, or “lino”, once ruled the world (of flooring). It appeared everywhere from the Titanic to your gran’s kitchen. But where did it come from?</p><br><p>We hear the story of the Victorian inventor, Frederick Walton, who came up with lino whilst trying to find an alternative to rubber.</p><br><p>And we discover the Scottish town that was at the epicentre of world lino production during the golden years.</p><br><p>Our guests to tell the story is Lily Barnes, curator of Flooring the World, a project to celebrate Fife’s history of linoleum. And Angus Fotheringhame, the General Manager at Forbo Flooring Systems UK.</p><br><p>If you want to reach out to Lily with memories or questions about lino or anything else then you can email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[email protected]</a> </p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick</p><br><p>Edited by Anisha Deva</p><br><p>Executive Producer Charlotte Long</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>If a Victorian met Elon Musk they would completely get him. The world’s richest man, determined to use technology that doesn’t yet exist to colonise Mars. Classic Victorian thinking.</p><br><p>The Victorians didn’t really take us to the moon. But what they did do was give us a way of thinking about the future that helped us to.</p><br><p>Before the Victorians, people assumed the future would look a lot like the present.</p><br><p>After the Victorians, we started assuming that great inventors would make the future wildly different from today. And we began to look to the Elon Musks of the world to shape the future for us.</p><br><p>This is what today’s guest thinks anyway and it’s a convincing argument.</p><br><p>Iwan Morus is the author of <em>How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon</em> and a historian at Aberystwyth University.</p><br><p>Music from: www.motionarray.com</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick</p><br><p>Edited by Thomas Ntinas</p><br><p>Executive Producer Charlotte Long</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>George Washington Carver is well known to Americans as the Peanut Man. It’s been written of him that ‘peanuts were like paintbrushes: They were tools to express his imagination’.</p><br><p>If that sounds a bit ridiculous, it’s because it is.</p><br><p>George Washington Carver was far more radical and innovative than ‘the guy who did stuff with peanuts’.</p><br><p>At a time when the scientific consensus was pushing farmers to use more and more chemicals and machinery on their lands, Carver urged them to learn how to farm in harmony with nature.</p><br><p>He saw the direct link between the social injustice of the Jim Crow South and the ecological damage being wrought on the landscape.</p><br><p>He was a pioneer of ecological farming, a warrior for environmental justice before there was such a thing.</p><br><p>Our guest today is Mark Hersey, author of “My Work is that of Conservation: An Environmental Biography of George Washington Carver” and a historian at Mississippi University.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick</p><br><p>Edited by Aidan Lonergan</p><br><p>Executive Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at <a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">History Hit</a> - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.historyhit&hl=en_GB&gl=US" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Android</a> or <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/history-hit/id1303668247" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple</a> store.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The birth of DNA fingerprinting will forever be tied to Leicester, England. It was invented in a lab in the city’s university by Alec Jeffreys in 1984. And it was in the outskirts of the city that it was first used to catch a murderer – Colin Pitchfork who raped and killed the young girls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth.</p><br><p>It has gone on to revolutionise policing.</p><br><p>Our guest to tell this story is Turi King who was taught by Alec Jeffreys and is now professor of public engagement at Leicester University and the inhouse geneticist on the BBC TV show ‘Family Secrets’.</p><br><p>Since this is the final episode in our mini-series on forensics we thought it would be nice to round things out with a chat with a real forensic scientist. Niamh Nic Daeid is the head of Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science in Dundee. We talk about the realities of being a forensic scientist today and what the future might hold.</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick</p><p>Edited by Thomas Ntinas</p><p>Executive Producer was Charlotte Long</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Have you ever heard the story of how punk began?</p><br><p>“They are Dickensian-like urchins who with ragged clothes and pockmarked faces roam the streets of foggy gaslit London…Some of these ragamuffin gangs jump up on tables amidst the charred debris and with burning torches play rock and roll…One of these gangs call themselves the Sex Pistols.”</p><br><p>Those are the words of Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols. Together with other artists & designers who worked with the band, Malcolm created the image of the Sex Pistols and in doing so created the image of punk. The Sex Pistols were a giant art project.</p><br><p>That’s what today’s guests think at least.</p><br><p>Paul Stolper and Andrew Wilson are collectors of Sex Pistols’ artwork. Their horde is the stuff of any punk fan’s dreams. A ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’ poster that hung on Sid Vicious’s wall in the Chelsea Hotel; Johnny Rotten’s handwritten lyrics; Jamie Reid’s notebook with designs and so much more. Dallas went to see their amazing collection and hear the story of the birth of punk. Enjoy!</p><br><p>The collection is going up for auction at Sotheby’s from October 10th until October 21st 2022. If you want to nab yourself some punk history then have a look: </p><br><p>https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/the-sex-pistols-the-stolper-wilson-collection</p><br><p>*WARNING this episode contains explicit language*</p><br><p>Produced by Freddy Chick</p><br><p>Executive Producer is Charlotte Long</p><br><p>For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters<a href="https://www.historyhit.com/sign-up-to-history-hit/?utm_source=timelinenewsletter&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Timeline+Podcast+Campaign" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p><p> </p><p>If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit -<a href="https://access.historyhit.com/?utm_source=audio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Campaign&utm_id=Podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> subscribe today</a>!</p><p> </p><p>You've been listening to a History Hit podcast. Please take a couple of minutes to fill out<a href="https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/podcasts-survey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> this survey</a> with your feedback, we'd really appreciate it.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>