Podcast stuff I enjoyed in April.

One day in the British empire -History Extra - the saying is that the sun never set on the British Empire. An Irish politician’s version of this was ‘the blood never dries on the British Empire’

Naomi Klein - Full Disclosure with James O’Brien - Naomi Klein’s grandfather was a cartoonist who worked on Bambi and other Disney stuff. Walt Disney had him sacked and blacklisted for being involved in a strike

Not Just the Tudors - Witches of St Osyth - Marion Gibson says that “History without empathy is only ever half a story.”

Short history of Titanic - the ship of dreams - at the time of her launch, the Titanic was the largest moving object ever built

Ashley Blaker’s Goyish Guide to Judaism - 2 - this will be available online sporadically as and when the BBC repeats it over the airwaves. It’s very funny. Ashley Blaker simultaneously celebrates and pokes fun at his flavour of Judaism

Hit Parade - Insert lyrics here - Chris Molanphy discusses the rise and fall of instrumentals. “Hocus Pocus by Focus” is indeed fun to say.

The Hated and the Dead - Barack Obama - “Obama was often the smartest person and the room, and he knew it”. I wonder if Obama struggled to work with people who were (a lot) less smart

History Extra - The shoemaker who helped slaves escape the South - this is about Thomas Smallwood, an previously enslaved guy who helped to run the Underground Railroad. He wrote satircal pieces under the name of Dickens' character Sam Weller

The Hated and the Dead - Barack Obama - “was he ready to be President? ……nobody ever is”

‘Swingtime for Hitler’ explores the Nazis use of jazz as a propaganda tool - Scott Simon has an audiobook called ‘Swingrime for Hitler’ in which he discusses the Nazis creating jazz records with propaganda and racist lyrics. One of the main guys in the band on the records went on to to be head of Polydor in Germany.

Word in your ear - Hooray! Tim Riley has a theory about everything in rock! - Tim Riley says that the Rolling Stones, and to a much lesser extent The Beatles, successfully sold African-American music back to America because, being white and English they had license to be more down and dirty, more rough and raw and more rock and roll than the orginal artists