Episodes
Wednesday Mar 09, 2022
On Cheating Death and Inventing the Saxophone
Wednesday Mar 09, 2022
Wednesday Mar 09, 2022
In 1846 Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax received his patent for the saxophone, but not before he cheated death at least seven times. He was so accident prone that his own mother didn’t believe he would survive childhood. His close calls with death earned him the nickname “Little Sax the Ghost.”
Sax’s life was a roller coaster of ups and downs. Mired the backstabbing world of invention, he fought years of legal battles, narrowly escaped death multiple times, battled cancer in the 1850s, and still helped shape music history.
Both hated and loved in his own time, Sax would revolutionize the French military band, register over 40 different patents, and invent 14 different types of saxophones as well as an entire family of saxhorns.
Come explore the surprisingly tumultuous history of the saxophone.
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
600 Years of Animals Put on Trial
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
We’ve been putting animals on trial probably as long as we’ve been putting one another on trial. In this episode we examine several animal trials spanning nearly a 600-year period. We cover six trials extending over three continents: A monkey in Hartlepool accused of espionage, a murderous pig in Savigny, a group of slugs who just wouldn’t listen, a circus elephant in Tennessee we should never forget, a bear who served time with good behavior in Kazakhstan, and a rooster (or basilisk depending on whom you ask) in Basel, Switzerland, burned at the stake for laying an egg. Grab you gavels and get ready to travel on this sometimes whimsical, sometimes sad, and constantly strange episode exploring the history of animals put on trial.
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Stealing the Mona Lisa
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
She has one of the most recognizable smiles in the world, but why is the Mona Lisa so famous? She is undoubtedly a masterpiece, but didn’t become a worldwide sensation until 1911 when Vincenzo Peruggia stole her from the Louvre museum in Paris. It has been dubbed by some as the greatest art theft of the 20th century. Find out how he pulled it off and how the Mona Lisa, known as La Joconde in France and La Gioconda in Italy, made her way back to France to become the world’s most visited painting.
Wednesday Oct 30, 2019
Père Lachaise Cemetery: A History of Death in Paris
Wednesday Oct 30, 2019
Wednesday Oct 30, 2019
Join me on a tour of Père Lachaise Cemetery and explore the tombs of some of histories most incredible icons including Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Isadora Duncan, Abelard and Heloise, and Chopin. We examine the cemetery's history, make a side tour to the catacombs beneath Paris, and explore the dark moments in history that have occurred in Père Lachaise since its establishment by Napoleon. Let's go to Paris!