Podcast recs
Mar. 17th, 2021 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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victorian221bHello everyone! There's been a lull in this comm due to RL things, and the read along is temporarily on hiatus, but soon we'll be back. Meanwhile, I'd like to talk about two awesome podcasts I've been listening to for the past few weeks.
The first one is History Extra podcast, produced by BBC History Magazine. There is a HUGE number of episodes, covering various topics from pre-historical to contemporary periods. I'm listening to it by selecting episodes which interest me, such as Victorian Medicine, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Victorians, Identifying Jack the Ripper, Science and Suffrage, The Roaring 1920s: Roaring or Tame?, etc. The episodes are structured as interviews with historians, writers, educators, and other specialists. For example, for the Victorian Medicine the hosts invited Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris, the author of The Butchering Art, a bookluthienberen recommended a while ago and which I am still to read. Dr. Fitzharris shared her in-depth knowledge of medical history in a fascinating interview. She is a really good storyteller which is important for the podcast format. Sometimes I couldn't finish an episode with an intriguing topic because the interviewee was boring, but Dr. Fitzharris was certainly not the case. Despite the gruesome aspects of medical realities of the early 19th century her tale was a sheer pleasure to listen to.
The episodes about the Suffrage movement were very interesting and insightful too. In one of them the host and the interviewee discussed terrorist methods which were employed by the Suffragettes, their motives, the price they payed for their beliefs, and the questionable morality of achieving higher goals with such means.
I'll continue to listen to this podcast for a long time still, since there are so many episodes. If you already knew about this podcast and have favourite episodes, please let me know in the comments!
I've learned about the second one from an episode of History Extra called The Big Questions of LGBTQ History. A very interesting episode in itself, it also referred to a podcast called Bad Gays. The Bad Gays podcast is hosted by Huw Lemmey, a writer and novelist, and Ben Miller, a writer, historian, and member of the board of the Gay Museum in Berlin. The hosts approach each episode in a creative way, studying their sources minutely and providing backstories of the people they talk about. Namely, they discuss queer men who did morally bad things or had problematic attitudes and questionable lifestyles. Just as the History Extra pod, Bad Gays include men from different histrical periods, from Alexander the Great to Truman Capote. Again, I haven't listened to all the episodes yet. So far I have chosen the episodes concerning men from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, such as Bosie (whom the hosts call 'evil twink' XD), Prince Albert Victor (Queen Victoria's grandson who was involved in the Cleveland Street Scandal and was even suspected to be Jack the Ripper), General Gordon (on whom Watson had a man crush), Lawrence of Arabia, and Roger Casement (a diplomat and Irish nationalist, whom ACD defended to the bitter end).
While in case of History Extra I had to be selective, as not every episode proved to be interesting, every epidose of Bad Gays I've listened to so far was excellent, really recommend it.
The first one is History Extra podcast, produced by BBC History Magazine. There is a HUGE number of episodes, covering various topics from pre-historical to contemporary periods. I'm listening to it by selecting episodes which interest me, such as Victorian Medicine, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Victorians, Identifying Jack the Ripper, Science and Suffrage, The Roaring 1920s: Roaring or Tame?, etc. The episodes are structured as interviews with historians, writers, educators, and other specialists. For example, for the Victorian Medicine the hosts invited Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris, the author of The Butchering Art, a book
luthienberen recommended a while ago and which I am still to read. Dr. Fitzharris shared her in-depth knowledge of medical history in a fascinating interview. She is a really good storyteller which is important for the podcast format. Sometimes I couldn't finish an episode with an intriguing topic because the interviewee was boring, but Dr. Fitzharris was certainly not the case. Despite the gruesome aspects of medical realities of the early 19th century her tale was a sheer pleasure to listen to.The episodes about the Suffrage movement were very interesting and insightful too. In one of them the host and the interviewee discussed terrorist methods which were employed by the Suffragettes, their motives, the price they payed for their beliefs, and the questionable morality of achieving higher goals with such means.
I'll continue to listen to this podcast for a long time still, since there are so many episodes. If you already knew about this podcast and have favourite episodes, please let me know in the comments!
I've learned about the second one from an episode of History Extra called The Big Questions of LGBTQ History. A very interesting episode in itself, it also referred to a podcast called Bad Gays. The Bad Gays podcast is hosted by Huw Lemmey, a writer and novelist, and Ben Miller, a writer, historian, and member of the board of the Gay Museum in Berlin. The hosts approach each episode in a creative way, studying their sources minutely and providing backstories of the people they talk about. Namely, they discuss queer men who did morally bad things or had problematic attitudes and questionable lifestyles. Just as the History Extra pod, Bad Gays include men from different histrical periods, from Alexander the Great to Truman Capote. Again, I haven't listened to all the episodes yet. So far I have chosen the episodes concerning men from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, such as Bosie (whom the hosts call 'evil twink' XD), Prince Albert Victor (Queen Victoria's grandson who was involved in the Cleveland Street Scandal and was even suspected to be Jack the Ripper), General Gordon (on whom Watson had a man crush), Lawrence of Arabia, and Roger Casement (a diplomat and Irish nationalist, whom ACD defended to the bitter end).
While in case of History Extra I had to be selective, as not every episode proved to be interesting, every epidose of Bad Gays I've listened to so far was excellent, really recommend it.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-17 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 07:38 pm (UTC)I hope you enjoy the Butchering Art!
no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-18 07:56 pm (UTC)Victorian Farm info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Farm
I'm also watching (need to recommence once life quiets a bit) Full Steam Ahead which has Ruth Goodman and brings together how the introduction and evolution of the train in the UK changed Victorian Britain across the broad: profession wise & domestically. I need to write a review of this when I have the opportunity 🤔
no subject
Date: 2021-03-19 09:17 am (UTC)There seemed to be transcripts for some of the episodes of Bad Gays. It’s fascinating to have a look at those people from a queer man’s point of view. Quite insightful.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-20 02:11 pm (UTC)That will be me as well!
Oh thanks for the update that there are transcripts for some of the episodes from Bad Guys. I agree, having a queer man's point of view on these topics is really insightful.