Trapped History

Keith Lowe is one of our greatest historians of the Second World War and its aftermath. He joined us to share the story of Ben Ferencz, one of the Nuremberg prosecutors who made it his life's work to fight for peace. Search for Ben Ferencz and the Quest for World Peace: Keith Lowe on the Fear and the Freedom.Keith's choice for our Hall of Fame is equally impressive. Someone who fought to try and change a nation's story of its war. But it is an uncomfortable nomination, because Yuasa Ken was a Japanese war criminal who performed horrendous human experiments during the war. Afterwards, however, he saw the light and dedicated the time he had left in the world to educate his country about its culpability.This is a powerful and unsettling listen, but it is one which we all need to hear. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Joris Lechene joined us to understand the life and afterlife of the great John La Rose, one of the leading lights of Black British cultural life from the 1960s to the 1980s. And a few years ago, he was in the news again as London's Black Boy Lane was renamed in his honour. But the fallout was something to behold. This is a gripping episode – the very essence of Trapped History. You can find it as Black Boy Lane: Joris Lechene on the Legacy of John La Rose.And Joris' nomination for the Hall of Fame is equally fascinating. Because he doesn't nominate a person. He nominates a whole uprising, when the former slaves of Guadeloupe fought to the death against the French. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Anne Sebba breathed life into the story of the women of the French Resistance, in the brilliant The Women who Ran the Resistance: Anne Sebba on the Forgotten Heroines.And in this Hall of Fame nomination, she does the same for the women of the death camps. Hilde Grunbaum's life is a truly emotional one as both she and dozens of other female musicians would make up the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. It was a lifeline in the midst of horror.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Sathnam Sanghera joined us to find out all about Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to graduate from an Indian university, the first woman anywhere to get a law degree – from Oxford at that – and the first woman to represent the accused in a criminal case in a British-run court.Her story is incredible – but even more astonishing is the tale Sathnam brings to the Hall of Fame: that of Dean Mahomed, an Indian surgeon, soldier and writer who settled in England. Which is where he established the country's first Indian restaurant and introduced the art of "shampooing" to Europe.Prepare to be amazed! And then, head over to the main episode to hear all about The Indian Imperialist: Sathnam Sanghera on the Curious Cornelia Sorabji.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

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!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