Not What You Thought You Knew

By HISTORY

Society & Culture Education History

What's Not What You Thought You Knew about?

Think you know your history? Think again.
From the stories of the former slave that taught Charles Darwin to the first female playwright who was a spy for the English King... Historian, author and broadcaster Dr Fern Riddell is exploring some little-known characters from history to reveal not just their incredible stories, but also why they're so important for our view of what the past looked like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The Sacred Band of Thebes

11.10.2020

An army of lovers seems like something from ancient myth but the story of the Sacred Band of Thebes is based on reality. This elite fighting force of the Theban army played a crucial role in ending Spartan hegemony in ...

Not What You Thought You Knew episodes:

11.10.2020 The Sacred Band of Thebes An army of lovers seems like something from ancient myth but the story of the Sacred Band of Thebes is based on reality. This elite fighting force of the Theban army played a crucial role in ending Spartan hegemony in ...
11.03.2020 Olaudah Equiano and the British Abolitionist Movement Olaudah Equiano's autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was one of the very first slave narratives that spawned a popular literary genre. However, while relatively famous in the 18th century, his legacy was largely forgotten in ...
10.27.2020 A Tribute to Olaudah Equiano While Dr Fern Riddell takes a week off before we bring the final two episodes of the series, we have a special teaser for our penultimate episode. The BBC's Calypsonian-in-Residence Alexander D Great regularly works with organisations such as the ...
10.20.2020 Allan Noel Minns the WW1 Officer and Son of Britain's First Black Mayor Allan Noel Minns, son of Dr Allan Glaisyer Minns, Britain's first Black mayor when elected mayor of Thetford in 1904, served in the British Army as a medical officer during the First World War. To find out more Dr Fern ...
10.13.2020 The Ivory Bangle Lady and Roman Britain What does the archaeological evidence tell us about the Ivory Bangle Lady, a wealthy woman who died in 4th Century York, and what do her grave goods tell us about material culture in the African diaspora throughout history? To find ...
10.06.2020 The First Black British Football Heroes Uncovering the story of our pioneering Black British footballers, finding out what we can learn from their experiences, and their long history in The Beautiful Game. Dr Fern Riddell speaks to The Voice and Football Black List's Rodney Hinds, and ...
09.29.2020 The Night Witches and the Fighting Women of the Soviet Union The Night Witches were the feared, all-female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. Yet the Night Witches weren't the only Soviet women on the front-line during the Second World War. Women were pilots, doctors, partisans, snipers and anti-aircraft ...
09.22.2020 The Chevalier d'Éon and Gender Nonconformity Soldier, diplomat, spy and fencing champion: the Chevalier d'Éon lived an extraordinary life. But on top of that they are also an important figure for the understanding of gender diversity throughout history, Dr Fern Riddell speaks to author and historian ...
09.15.2020 Inghen Ruaidh, the Birka Grave and Viking Warrior Women We touch on the mythology behind Viking shield-maidens, what we do know about Viking warrior women and how we need to address bias in archaeology. Dr Fern Riddell discusses the legend of Inghen Ruaidh with Professor Judith Jesch and the ...
09.08.2020 Dr Fern Riddell returns with a brand new series sponsored by Ancestry Hosted by historian, author and broadcaster Dr Fern Riddell, Not What You Thought You Knew explores some unexpected stories of remarkable characters from history revealing why they’re so important for our view of what the past looked like. Sky HISTORY's ...
11.27.2019 John Edmonstone the Former Slave who Taught Darwin John Edmonstone was born into slavery in the former Dutch colony of Demerara in the late 1700s but died a free man in Scotland having taught one of the greatest men in the history of science, Charles Darwin, the skill ...
11.20.2019 Mary Anning the Pioneering Fossil Hunter A well-known celebrity in her day, we have somewhat struggled to appreciate the incredible weight of what Mary Anning's discoveries of ancient marine reptiles meant at the time for a burgeoning science. We speak to Dr Aubrey Roberts, a palaeontologist ...
11.06.2019 Aphra Behn and Female Espionage Aphra Behn, one of the first women in England to make her living as a writer, also just so happened to be one of the country's first female spies. To discover more about the world of female spies, Dr Fern ...
07.19.2019 The Mary Rose and the People of Tudor England Earlier this year, analysis on the remains of eight sailors who drowned on the Mary Rose yielded some astonishing results for our perception of the people of Tudor England. In speaking to Dr Alex Hildred and Dr Onyeka Nubia, we’ll ...
07.10.2019 Dr Fern Riddell's #NotWhatYouThought Hosted by historian, author and broadcaster Dr Fern Riddell, Not What You Thought You Knew explores some under-celebrated characters from history and reveals not just their incredible story but also why they’re so important for our view of what the ...