Trapped History

Poet, playwright, publisher. Campaigner, broadcaster, journalist. Six people in one, but if we've heard of Una Marson, it's usually because of her brief shining moment during the Second World War when she became the voice and face of the Caribbean through her pioneering work at the BBC.Tune in to hear about the six lives of Una Marson as Oswin and Carla are joined by her biographer and Orwell Prize winner, Dee Jarrett-Macauley. It's a tale of a young woman who came to represent a whole region, a whole continent even – and who sometimes found that burden too heavy to shake off.It's an inspirational story, it's a sad one too. But it's a story of our times – when the personal and the political become one.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

We ask all our guests to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Someone we've not heard of but should have.Most guests nominate someone who's, well, dead. But Pete Paphides joins Polly Vacher in nominating a living legend. In this case, the mesmeric Paolo Conte, Italy's answer to Tom Waits.Listen to Pete's nomination exclusively here.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

See if you can join the dots – Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, The Beatles. Well, there’s one man who sits at the centre of it all, and it’s more than likely that you won’t have heard of him: Jackson C Frank.A damaged, wounded singer-songwriter who wowed the British folk scene and presaged psychedelia and punk, Jackson only produced one album – but its influence can still be heard today in the work of artists like Laura Marling, Counting Crows, even Daft Punk.Oswin and Carla are delighted to be joined by the music journalist Pete Paphides to discuss Blues Run The Game, how hurt and pain can drive creativity and the transformative power of music.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have.Today, it's the turn of @that.spitfire.bird, instagram's very own Jo Rogers. We take a quick detour into Tilly Shilling's orifice – no, really! – before finding out what a Messerschmitt 108 turned up when it taxied into Jo's life.Find all about the magnificent Elly Beinhorn, a German aviatrix who rivalled Amy Johnson, fell in love with a dashing racing driver and turned her nose up at the Nazis who tried to control her life.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

The Battle of Britain is at its height. Spitfires and Hurricanes urgently need to get from the factories to the airfields and into the hands of ‘the Few’. Step forward Pauline Gower, a pioneering pilot of the 1930s, who alongside the 168 women who she brought into the Air Transport Auxiliary, would help ferry over 300,000 planes from where they were built to where they were needed.Tune in to hear Pauline’s story as Oswin and Carla are joined – buckled up inside a Dakota troop carrier – by Jo Rogers, AKA instagram’s magnificent @that.spitfire.bird. It’s a tale of bravery, tragedy, grit and sheer bloody-minded determination in the face of slack-jawed armchair generals. There are appearances from the great Amy Johnson and Jacqueline Cochran, so strap in and prepare to be inspired.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have.As it's the holiday season, today we have a twofer for you: first, there's Peter's light-hearted nomination of the explorer Richard Burton, in all his magnificent messiness. And then, hear about the courageous Father Stanley Rother, a missionary among the Tz'utujil people of Guatemala in the 1970s, who famously wrote, "The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger" and was murdered by paramilitary forces in 1981.It's a moving tale which deserves a full listen.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In 1880, the SS Jeddah was steaming across the Indian Ocean when her captain abandoned ship. He told his rescuers the 1,000 passengers had mutinied and that the ship had sunk. But this was a lie and the case became a cause celebre of British disregard – because the Jeddah’s passengers weren’t any ordinary passengers. They were Indonesian and Malaysian pilgrims – Muslims on their way to Mecca to perform the Hajj.Join Oswin and Carla and the great writer on religion, Peter Stanford, as we try to understand the mechanics, the money-making and the magic of pilgrimage.It’s a tale of technology, of power, of disease and migration. It truly is a tale of our times.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have.Tune in this week to hear Jeremy Corbyn's nomination – the quite brilliant Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Mexican writer, poet and philosopher from four centuries ago, variously known as The Phoenix of America and The Tenth Muse. Her's was an astonishing life and this is a great nominee.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

She was a super-rich romantic novelist, sister to one of the most famous men in late-Victorian England. And then, out of nowhere, Charlotte Despard suddenly finds her true calling. Over the next 40 years, she is a suffragette, a socialist, a peace campaigner, an animal rights activist and an Irish nationalist.So who better to help Oswin and Carla tell her story than the Charlotte Despard of the 21st century – Jeremy Corbyn. The former leader of the Labour Party was so excited to be part of this episode – Charlotte is one of his all-time greats – and he tells us a thing or two about finding and losing tribes, how injustice can move people to great deeds, and how we all need a Charlotte to inspire us.Hers is a fascinating story so please join us for this wonderful episode.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Evelyn Dunbar was the only full-time female war artist in World War II. She recorded an almost exclusively female experience of war, painting Land Girls and members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force going about their work. Meticulously, quietly and with an air of supreme concentration.Join Oswin, Carla and the art historian Frances Spalding as we delve into Evelyn's life and art, understand life in the 1930s and what being a woman artist means today.You can find the paintings we're talking about on the Trapped History website, trappedhistory.com, and on our instagram page @trappedhistoryThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

He was a war hero but never felt that he was. Ben Ferencz was sickened to the core by his experience of battling through Europe in 1945 – and of uncovering horrific evidence of war crimes, atrocities and genocide. And so he decided to do something about it.Tune in to hear the compelling story of the last of the Nuremberg prosecutors in the company of the great historian of our post-war world, Keith Lowe. History is fascinating and exciting but it can also be complex, murky and compromised. Ben's story is the story of our times.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

John La Rose is one of the most important – and most overlooked – cultural icons of the last 60 years. Helping to forge a Black British identity, he set up dozens of political, cultural and community organisations and campaigned for justice for the victims of police brutality and of the New Cross Fire.So earlier this year, it seemed obvious – and right – to name a street in his honour. But the furore over the renaming of Black Boy Lane threw John and everything he stood for back into the cultural and political spotlight.Join Oswin, Carla and our very special guest the cultural commentator Joris Lechene as we celebrate John's life and try to understand how a simple street renaming can ignite racism and intolerance.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

You're falling through the sky above Belgium after your bomber has been hit. It's August 1941 and you're an RAF front gunner. Who will save you when you land? Who will look after you, hide you, keep you safe? Who will get you home?Meet the women of the Resistance, Dédée, Tante Go and countless others – the women of the Comet Line.Join Carla, Oswin and our special guest the historian Anne Sebba who last year made the journey which hundreds of downed aircrew took, over the Pyrenees and into neutral Spain. Hear about her crossing and about the fear and the danger which Dédée had to conquer.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Meet Cornelia Sorabji, an Indian woman who broke through barriers – the first woman at an Indian university, the first woman to study law anywhere, the first woman to plead a criminal case in a British-run court. And yet, Cornelia was also an arch-imperialist, extolling the British Empire, castigating Gandhi and dismissing the Indian independence movement.Join Oswin, Carla and our very special guest Sathnam Sanghera as we try to understand what drove someone like Cornelia – and why 'empire' still resonates more than 75 years after India gained its independence.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

With Eurovision upon us, join Oswin and Carla in a special episode of Trapped History as we take a look back at the song contest's history and lift the Iron Curtain on Eurovision's big brother: Intervision and the incredible Sopot Song Festival.Tune in to hear the Northern Soul Legend Sam Jones tell us all about the time she won Sopot – and what John Lennon, Frank Sinatra and others thought about her. It's a great listen!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Thrill to the story of the boys and girls who took on the richest men in America: and won. It's 1899, we're in New York and the 'newsies' – the boys and girls who sell papers on the city's streets – have had enough.Join Oswin, Carla and six young people from today as we time travel 125 years to find out about Kid Blink, Joseph Pulitzer and how news has changed – or remained the same . . .And listen in to hear who Shane, Dillon, Dalani, Elijah, Marley and Maya agree on for their Hall of Fame nominee.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Tune in to hear Clare Mulley's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In earlier episodes, we have featured women who have flown the world and men who have flown for freedom. But what about the courageous, pioneering women who powered the Nazi war machine?Join Oswin and Carla as we learn about the troubled and troubling lives of Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg. The acclaimed historian, Clare Mulley, guides us through this knotty moral, ethical and historical challenge – a story which will open your eyes and your ears to the very nature of history, memory and truth.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

It's Hall of Fame time! Tune in to hear an extended nomination from Sums of Anarchy's wonderful Dominique Miranda. This has everything: revolution, freedom and poetry, with a smattering of maths thrown in . . .This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Emmy Noether, the greatest mathematician of the 20th century.Emmy fought multiple prejudices all her life – she was a woman, she was Jewish and she came from a left-wing family. And this was Germany before the Nazis, already one of the most conservative places on earth. And yet, her pioneering work in abstract algebra and her proofs of Einstein's theory of relativity still stand today and are the basis of so much of our modern world.Join Oswin and Carla as we explore Emmy's world and try to understand a bit about the barriers she dealt with every day. And if you're lucky, you might pick up some of the maths too from Sums Of Anarchy's brilliant Dominique Miranda – with a side order of Einstein!Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Dominique's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Polly Vacher's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is a true hero of our time.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to fly around the world.Richarda was a bored and lonely young woman in post-war Britain. But she had a dream and she knew that she was the only person who could make it happen.Join Oswin and Carla and the legendary circumnavigator Polly Vacher MBE as we try to understand what drives someone to climb into a cockpit and set off on a year-long journey. Just like Richarda, Polly did it too – as the first woman to fly solo around the world via the polar regions – and she shares her secrets of success.Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Polly's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. But as we hit mid-season, we thought we'd do something slightly different: look at a whole bunch of unsung heroes. The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in fact.Join us as we leave the studio and venture out into wintery London to find out about this fascinating place. It's Victorian, but not as you know it – there's no pomp, there's no circumstance. Instead, this is a memorial to ordinary people who did extraordinary things.The artist and sculptor Ian Wolter leads us through the complex world of memorialisation and remembrance as we learn about the man behind the Memorial, the people on it and what it teaches us about memory today.Tune in also to hear the powerful story of Ian's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Johnny Smythe – four heroes in one, across three continents.Sierra Leonean Johnny was an RAF bomber navigator, a Prisoner of War, his country's top lawyer and the mastermind behind the Windrush.In this special episode, Oswin and Carla are joined by Trevor Edwards, who flew for the RAF for a decade and who clues us in about the fear, the nerves, the pain, the racism and the ignorance he and Johnny would have faced every time they climbed into a plane.Tune in also to hear the astonishing story of Trevor's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Adelaide Hall, the greatest singer we’d never heard of.Ella Fitzgerald called her the first lady of jazz. She was the first to dance the Charleston, one of the richest Black women in America, the highest paid female entertainer in Britain during the war – so whatever happened to Adelaide Hall?Join Oswin and Carla as we hear Adelaide sing and find out from the great Stephen Bourne all about Adelaide's life, the Cotton Club, the Harlem Renaissance, the Blitz, music halls and why we should know more about her.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Trapped History shares the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Peter Stevens, a complex courageous man who speaks to our age more than anyone we've come across before.Peter is a chancer, a thief, a scrounger and a fraudster. But he's also a genuine war hero. And one of the most complicated, hidden and secretive people you'll ever meet.Join Oswin and Carla and the military historian Joshua Levine as we try to understand the tangled world of Peter Stevens – and to make sense of how war can free people to be whoever or whatever they want to be.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Trapped History shares the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Nellie Bly, one of the greatest people we've never heard of . . .Nellie was born in the 19th century but she is a 21st century woman. An investigative journalist before the job existed, a travel writer before people knew what to write about, an anthropologist before people wanted to understand different cultures – and an entrepreneur at the dawn of a new age. You really want to hear about Nellie . . . you really need to.Join Oswin and Carla as we delve into Nellie's life and hear from Rosemary Brown, a historian who followed Nellie on her greatest adventure: to beat Jules Verne at his own game and travel around the world in under 80 days.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy