Biography

Joan of Arc is a historical superstar, a peasant who rose above her rank and gender to help free France from foreign occupation.

Claiming to be acting under the orders of saints and angels, she became a symbol of national freedom.

But how did a near-illiterate teenage girl win the hearts and minds of soldiers and citizens alike? What was behind her angelic visions?

And why was she abandoned to a brutal fate at the age of just nineteen?

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Kathryn Harrison, author of Joan of Arc, A Life Transfigured.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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Marilyn Monroe was one of the most famous screen actors of all time.

Known for her charisma and beauty, her private life and turbulent health made headlines throughout her career, and her early death cemented her iconic status.

But how was she shaped by her disrupted childhood? Did she change Hollywood – or did it destroy her?

And why does her legend still inspire and exert such power, sixty years after her death?

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Kate Harrison. With thanks to Michelle Morgan, author of Marilyn Monroe – Private and Undisclosed.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first truly global celebrity, Charlie Chaplin was once the most famous man in the world. 

The king of the silent movie, over the course of 82 films his wistful slapstick saw him light up the silver screen like no one else. 

But how did he leave behind the extreme poverty of his London childhood? What’s the truth about his complicated love life? 

And how did personal and political conflict threaten to derail one of the most celebrated careers in entertainment history?

This is a biography of Charlie Chaplin.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Dan Smith. With thanks to Lucy Moore, historian and author of Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thomas Edison was one of history’s greatest inventors, a man who gave the world not only electric light but other landmark innovations in sound recording and moving pictures.

He accumulated more patents in his lifetime than anyone had before, and filled over 4,000 notebooks with his work.

But how did this ordinary, home-schooled boy from the American mid-West overcome ill-health and hearing loss to change the world?

And was he really a lone genius, or did he rely on the work of others?

This is a biography of Thomas Edison.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Dan Smith. With thanks to Paul Israel, director and general editor of the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University and author of Edison: A Life of Invention.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Though he ruled for just thirteen years, Alexander the Great casts a long shadow, famed as much for his hedonistic lifestyle as his military genius.

But how did he become one of the best known military leaders in history? What inspired such loyalty among his troops?

And what drove this young man in his endless quest to conquer the known world?

This is a biography of Alexander the Great.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Linda Harrison. With thanks to author Philip Freeman, a professor of humanities at Pepperdine University, Malibu.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the day he burst onto the scene, Muhammad Ali changed boxing history.

But he also influenced the American civil rights movement, the perception of Islam, the view of the war in Vietnam, and the self-branding of athletes themselves.

So how did his beliefs affect his career? What drove him to keep fighting for so long – even when boxing itself was taking away the gifts that made him famous?

And was he really the greatest of all time?

This is a biography of Muhammad Ali.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Kate Harrison. With thanks to Jonathan Eig, author of the award-winning biography Ali: A Life.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frida Kahlo is as much a modern icon for her personal flair as she is for her paintings.

But how did her style develop, and what did she intend it to communicate? What was so subversive about her work, and the subjects she chose to portray?

And why is she such an enduring figurehead for feminists, women with fertility issues, the queer community, and those living with disabilities and chronic pain?

This is a biography of Frida Kahlo.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Lindsay Galvin. With thanks to Circe Henestrosa, co-author of Frida Khalo: Making Herself Up and curator of a Frida Kahlo exhibition at London’s V&A museum.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No single writer has shaped the way we speak and think more than William Shakespeare.

Whether we’re being cruel to be kind, wearing our hearts on our sleeves, or wrestling with the green eye’d monster — it’s almost impossible to use the English language without quoting him.

But who was Shakespeare? And what vaulting ambition drove a young writer from a sleepy town in the West Midlands to stardom in London?

Was he born great, or did he have greatness thrust upon him?

This is a biography of William Shakespeare.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Dr Anjna Chouhan, Senior Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

Noiser+ members get ad free listening, exclusive content, and early access to new episodes across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started, or visit noiser.com/subscriptions.

No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pocahontas is probably the best known Native American in history. But the true story of her life has been eclipsed by a fictionalised version, played out as a romance between an intrepid English captain and a wild native princess.

So what is known about the real Pocahontas, and her life before the arrival of the white colonisers? How did she spearhead a period of truce between her tribe and the Europeans?

And did she truly have a say in her own fate, and the fate of her people?

This is a biography of Pocahontas.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Lindsay Galvin. With thanks to Camilla Townsend, professor of history at Rutgers University, and author of Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abraham Lincoln’s life reads like an American folk tale: the story of a boy born into poverty, whose drive and determination saw him become the most powerful man in the nation.

But how did he navigate a path for a youthful country so deeply divided over slavery? What was his role in the devastating civil war?

And how did one man attract both public adoration and murderous wrath all at the same time?

This is a biography of Abraham Lincoln.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.

Written by Dan Smith. With thanks to David S Reynolds, Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York, and author of Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times.

This episode was originally featured on Short History Of...

Noiser+ members get ad free listening, exclusive content, and early access to new episodes across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started, or visit noiser.com/subscriptions.

No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.