What links zebras to the Second World War? What connects partying to mental illness in Victorian Britain? What ties the bed to the expansion of the British Empire? Whatñޙs the history of hair? Toilets? Oranges? Zombies? Paperclips?
Well, they are all topics that have been explored by Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis in their Histories of the Unexpected podcast series, which has rapidly gained a national following since its launch in September.
Backed by Dan Snowñޙs History Hit Network, the series of over 30 - 40 minute shows, recorded as a conversation between the two friends and colleagues, were among the top 15 most downloaded podcasts on iTunes at launch, and have regularly been inside the top 40 since.
ñޜPeople may think thereñޙs nothing unexpected about the past, or about history,ñޝ says James, Professor of Early Modern English History, and Director of the Arts Institute at the University. ñޜBut this series adopts a new approach to exploring our past arguing that, in fact, everything has a history ñޓ it is just about unpicking it. Itñޙs cultural history meets comparative history, a fusion of object biography let us say, with a form of history that requires you to make connections temporally and geographically.ñޝ
It was Sam, an Honorary Research Fellow in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and an award-winning BBC TV presenter, who first came up with the idea of a history podcast, and in conversation with James, the concept of a series of alternative histories began to take shape. Very quickly they had brainstormed a list of 150 potential topics that covered everything from objects and animals to themes and phrases.
Sam says: ñޜTo give an example of how these topics arise, we were talking about the Olympics and we began to consider where the phrase ñޘblood, sweat and tearsñޙ had come from. What does it represent? So weñޙve focused a podcast on each one of those three.ñޝ
ñޜWe pick four topics and then we go off to research them on our own,ñޝ adds James, ñޜWe donñޙt tell each other what weñޙre doing so when it comes to recording the programme, there is a genuine sense of mystery about what is going to happen. We introduce the topic via a freewheeling conversation around how you might think about an unexpected history. Usually we have prepared two or three case studies, but the rest is improvisation and seeing where the story goes.ñޝ
Having experimented with various locations, the duo now record their podcasts in a soundproof studio using professional equipment used by Sam in his previous television work ñޓ including programmes such as Operation Grand Canyon, Shipwrecks: Britainñޙs Sunken History, Castles and The Silk Road. Itñޙs an intensive process in which they shut themselves away from family to do four or five episodes back-to-back, each in a single take.
ñޜOne of the most memorable podcasts was on the history of the box,ñޝ recalls James. ñޜIñޙd had a student come up to me with this velvet covered box that had been found on a skip, and inside there were 500 letters dating back to World War II, which transformed it into an archive.ñޝ
ñޜI then showed James a picture that I had found of someone lying in a box, holding a rope attached to a bellñޝ adds Sam. ñޝIt was a safety coffin, something that came into existence during the 18th century, and itñޙs fair to say that the conversation took a left-field turn at that point.ñޝ
