Tales of History and Imagination

On 16th October 1962, American President John F Kennedy was presented with three indistinct photos taken of several tubes laid out in a field in Cuba. Kennedy at first took the scene for a football field. His brother Robert, on viewing the scene, wondered if it depicted a farm house in mid construction. 

It was, of course, a nuclear missile site in mid construction, and the following thirteen days brought humanity closer to nuclear war than any time before of since. 

One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs

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Tales of History and Imagination is on

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Music, writing, narration, mixing yours truly

Hi everyone, this week we’re doing things a bit different. I’ll be back from my mid year break with new episodes in two weeks’ time. In the meantime we’re running a pledge week for the Patreon channel. 

Tuesday through Friday I’ll be dropping on old Patreon minisode per day - today, after visiting the set of the Donohue Show, we ask the question… Is a Nude Horse a Rude Horse? 

Check out my Patreon! For just $2 a month* you get a minimum of one tale every month 

(we’re committed to 20 a year there this year, and will start releasing two a month every month when we hit the first stretch target.) 

As a patron you are helping to keep independent creators like me keep going. This includes occasionally putting down a month’s membership on some paywalled newspaper or other. This episode was penned a long time ago, and I’ve since lost the bibliography - but am pretty sure it grew out of something paywalled I found in the Washington Post. 

Unsure if you want to join up yet? Try a 7 day free trial. 

*Dollars quoted in USD…

Hi everyone, this week we’re doing things a bit different. I’ll be back from my mid year break with new episodes in two weeks’ time. In the meantime we’re running a pledge week for the Patreon channel. 

Monday through Thursday I’ll be dropping on old Patreon minisode per day - today we’re going to meet a now obscure, but terrifying General named Uqba Ibn Nafi. 

(we’re committed to 20 a year there this year, and will start releasing two a month every month when we hit my first stretch target.) 

As a patron you are helping to keep independent creators like me keep going, in my case Patreon money helps me buy books to research these tales, like the main source in this tale 

Francois-Xavier Fauvelle’s ‘The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages

Unsure if you want to join up? Try a 7 day free trial. 

*Dollars quoted in USD. 

Hi everyone, this week we’re doing things a bit different. I’ll be back from my mid year break with new episodes in two weeks’ time. In the meantime we’re running a pledge week for the Patreon channel. 

Tuesday through Friday I’ll be dropping on old Patreon minisode per day - today we’re discussing one of history’s stranger What if’s. Thomas Johnson was a renowned smuggler, a talented escape artist - and it is rumoured he had a submarine - in 1820. Was he hired to bust Napoleon Bonaparte out of St Helena?

(we’re committed to 20 a year there this year, and will start releasing two a month every month when we hit my first stretch target.) 

As a patron you are helping to keep independent creators like me keep going, in my case Patreon money helps me with the rental costs of the blog page - Speaking of blog pages, though I used half a dozen texts for this Tale - I first read this tale on the incomparable

Emilio Ocampo’s The Emperor’s Last Campaign

Unsure if you want to join up? Try a 7 day free trial. 

*Dollars quoted in USD. 

Hi everyone, this week we’re doing things a bit different. I’ll be back from my mid year break with new episodes in two weeks’ time. In the meantime we’re running a pledge week for the Patreon channel.

Tuesday through Friday I’ll be dropping on old Patreon minisode per day - today we visit Milan, the year 1630. A comet blazing across the sky spooks the people. Augurers spoke, the comet portends death - in one form or another. Then people started dying. This reminded the folk of an ancient legend… That one day, The Devil himself would come to Milan.

Check out my Patreon! For just $2 a month* you get a minimum of one tale every month 

(we’re committed to 20 a year there this year, and will start releasing two a month every month when we hit the first stretch target.)

As a patron you are helping to keep independent creators like me keep going. This includes occasionally putting down a month’s membership on some paywalled newspaper or other. This episode was penned a long time ago, and I’ve since lost the bibliography - but am pretty sure it grew out of something paywalled I found in the Washington Post. 

Unsure if you want to join up yet? Try a 7 day free trial. 

*Dollars quoted in USD…

Hey all I’m on holiday, though I’ve got a few things programmed to drop while I’m away… including this; a re-upload of this episode from October 2021.  

“On 9:14 pm, 22nd November 1987, Chicago’s WGN TV was ‘zipped’ by a mysterious attacker - a figure wearing a rubber Max Headroom mask. The attacker would strike again, upsetting Whovians in the Windy City. 

In this short Tale we discuss the Max Headroom Incident.”

Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

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Hey all I’m on holiday, though I’ve got a few things programmed to drop while I’m away… including this, my short ode to the astronomer Tycho Brahe.  

Sources include: Apologies all, this is from an old blog post where, now very much to my shame - I never noted my sources. If I’m recalling correctly I first heard the story of the moose/elk on a cracked.com video on YouTube (which I couldn’t find to link.) I think several of the posts I used have been taken down since, or paywalled? 

Tales of History and Imagination is on 

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This week we conclude our mob Tale. With the bosses banged up, the Morello family must do their best to navigate a rapidly changing world - and several vicious wars. How will they deal with upstarts, Kings, The Camorra, prohibition - and the arrival of a Fifth Family?

Also, I normally try to give myself a mid-season break after episode 10, where I’ll drop a couple of episodes I’ve prepared earlier. Cause this one ran to three parts I’m taking that break now, at episode 12. I’ll have a re-upload of 2021’s The Max Headroom Incident to drop in a little over a week’s time; a biographical piece on the Astronomer Tycho Brahe to drop two weeks after that, and a Patreon Pledge week (thanks to the Patrons for this one) where I’ll drop four minisodes from 2023 into the feed over four days… I’ll be back, all rested and good to go - two weeks after that. 

Sources Include: 

The First Family; Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia by Mike Dash

Support the show on | Patreon | for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. 

Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

| Facebook | TikTok | Threads | Instagram | YouTube | 

I haven’t yet made my X-it from X, but am very close to it… If Twitter was your thing come hand out with me on Threads.  

Music, writing, narration, mixing yours truly. 

This week, (sorry all, please bear with me- day job’s running me a little ragged, but I should be on track again in August) we’re returning to our mobsters - Giuseppe ‘The Clutch Hand’ Morello and the 107th Street Gang. In part two of this three parter we discuss the rise of the professional hitman, the first Capo de Tutti Capi - and the ballad of an ambitious young man named Antonio Comito.                    

Sources Include: 

The First Family; Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia by Mike Dash

Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

Tales of History and Imagination is on 

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Music, writing, narration, mixing yours truly. 

This week, (apologies for the delay all, I’ve been an absolute wreck the last couple of weeks) we’re returning to Little Italy; the year 1903. In part one of this two parter we discuss the early life of America’s first Capo di Tutti Capi, Giuseppe ‘The Clutch Hand’ Morello.                    

Sources Include: 

The First Family; Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia by Mike Dash

Tales of History and Imagination is on 

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Music, writing, narration, mixing yours truly.