Marching 73 miles from coast to coast across the narrowest neck of England, Hadrian’s Wall was the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire for nearly 300 years and yet there is still so much we don’t know about it: only 5% of the wall has been excavated and 7% is viable today. Tony is joined by leading archaeologist Richard Hingley and Collections Curator for Hadrian's Wall and the North East at English Heritage, Frances McIntosh, to give him the low down on how and why Hadrian’s Wall was built, by whom and what it means to us today. 

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Prof. Richard Hingley | https://richardhingley1.wordpress.com/

Professor Emeritus in Archaeology at Durham University. An expert on Hadrian’s Wall, Richard is the author of Conquering the Ocean: The Roman Conquest of Britain (Oxford University Press) and Hadrian’s Wall: A life, (Oxford University Press). https://global.oup.com/academic/product/conquering-the-ocean-9780190937416?cc=gb&lang=en& | https://academic.oup.com/book/27846.

Dr. Frances McIntosh | @englishHeritage | @wallcurator

Collections Curator for Hadrian's Wall and the North East at English Heritage. An archaeologist by training, Frances specialises in Roman small finds, having completed her PhD on the Clayton Collection material, on display at Chesters.

Follow the Show:

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Instagram @cunningcastpod

YouTube @cunningcast

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Cover Art: The Brightside

A Zinc Media Group production

If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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Passwords and codes are something we take for granted in the digital age, but this is such a new development and today Tony is going back to a time when making and breaking codes was an almost exclusively high-level military activity: most famously done behind closed doors by the brains at Bletchley Park. He is joined by two people who are giving him the long view on codes and codebreaking: the Bletchley Park military historian David Kenyon and the Chief Information Security Officer at the BBC, Helen Rabe.

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Dr David Kenyon

David is responsible for historical research in support of all public content at Bletchley Park, the Second World War code-breaking site in Buckinghamshire, now a museum. He has published two books on BP; Bletchley Park and D-Day in 2019, and Arctic Convoys, Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas in 2023.

https://bletchleypark.org.uk/  | X @bletchleypark | IG @bletchleyparkuk

Helen Rabe

Chief Information Security Officer at the BBC, Helen has a proven track record of developing, executing, and maturing bespoke ISMS strategies. She has managed successful high performing teams to mitigate risk, counter threats and deliver world-class security & data privacy management solutions across varied industry sectors ranging from financial services, life sciences & more recently, broadcasting & media.

Cover photo courtesy of the Bletchley Park Trust

Follow the show:

X @cunningcastpod

Instagram @cunningcastpod

YouTube @Cunningcast

Credits:

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

A Zinc Media Group production X @zinc_media

If you enjoyed my podcast, please follow the show and leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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Men’s facial hair is very prone to fashions: moustaches and beards are back in, but why is that and what sparks bread trends and facial hair fashions? To help him find out, Tony has invited ‘beard’ historian Alun Withey and male grooming influencer Robin James | Man For Himself. They discuss 17th Century notions of facial hair as a waste product; through barber-surgeons and early shaving practices; powdered wigs; the Victorian beard movement; King Camp Gillett’s safely razor; the First World War military moustache; film star fashion icons to the rising popularity of men’s hair products and male grooming.

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Robin James | Man For Himself

www.ManForHimself.com and IG @ManForHimself 

Exploring men’s hair, grooming, fragrance and lifestyle.

Dr Alun Withey | Historian

http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/staff/withey/

Historian of early modern medicine and senior lecturer in History at the University of Exeter. Alun's major research project ‘Do Beards Matter?’, funded by the Wellcome Trust forms the basis of his book Concerning Beards: Facial Hair, Health and Practice in England, 1650-1900 (London: Bloomsbury, 2021). 

Follow the show:

X @cunningcastpod

Instagram @cunningcastpod

YouTube @Cunningcast

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Cover Art: The Brightside

A Zinc Media Group production

If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x 

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

Today Tony is talking to his old friend and collaborator, the screenwriter Richard Curtis. They share memories of making Blackadder from the early years to how it all ended. Along the way, they discuss Richard’s comedy roots and how he became a top comedy screenwriter: meeting Rowan Atkinson at Oxford Uni; working on Not The Nine O’Clock News; the influence of Fawlty Towers and plans for a Blackadder series set in the 1960s that never happened. Plus, they read lines from the Blackadder pilot script and discover where Baldrick’s ‘cunning plan’ catch-phrase comes from.

Last year Blackadder turned 40, to mark the occasion, Tony made a TV show in which he tracked down the lost Blackadder pilot to discover the truth of Blackadder's beginnings. For the show, Tony interviewed many old friends and people who are central to making Blackadder the success it was, as well as Blackadder superfan David Mitchell, who is featured in Cunningcast Series 2, Episode 4. You are hearing Tony’s unedited, behind the scenes chat with Richard Curtis recorded for the TV programme. The show is called Blackadder: The Lost Pilot and you can watch it on Sky, Virgin & Now.

Richard Curtis was Blackadder’s mastermind and writer, alongside Ben Elton. He’s one of Britain's most successful screenwriters and producers, with credits including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Mr Bean, The Vicar of Dibley, Love Actually, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Yesterday. He’s also the co-founder of Comic Relief.

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Richard Curtis

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Blackadder: The Lost Pilot is produced by Red Sauce

A Zinc Media Group production

Follow:

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Instagram @cunningcastpod

YouTube @cunningcast

If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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Electric cars are the future of motoring, or so we are told, but today’s Cunningcast guests don’t agree. In fact, Hugo Spowers of Riversimple thinks hydrogen is the future and he’s designing hydrogen powered cars to prove it. Together with experienced car broadcaster Richard Sutton, they give Tony the low down on the past, present and their vision for the future of car engineering and sustainability.  

Hosted by Si Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Hugo Spowers

Chief engineer and founder of Riversimple, who are pioneering the next generation of zero emission vehicles. They use hydrogen, not batteries and emit nothing but water. Hugo is responsible for all technical aspects of the cars and for the architecture of the business itself. He is considered something of a thought leader on the Circular Economy and has been invited to give talks on entrepreneurship at Imperial College, London and Cranfield University among others. At the Real Innovation Awards in October 2019 hosted by the London Business School, Hugo was awarded the George Bernard Shaw Unreasonable Person Award “for someone who has shown enormous tenacity and stubbornness in pursuing an idea despite the difficulties encountered along the way”.

https://www.riversimple.com/project/hugo-spowers/

IG @Riversimplemovement

X @Riversimple

Richard Sutton

Richard presented ‘Deals on Wheels’ on Channel 4 and he also worked at Goodwood, he’s been immersed in cars for many years. 

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Cover Art: The Brightside

A Zinc Media Group production

Follow:

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Instagram @cunningcastpod

YouTube @Cunningcast

If you enjoy my podcast, please follow us and leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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Today Tony is conjuring up a history of stage magic: from Reginald Scot's 1584 ‘Discovery of Witchcraft’ to Servais LeRoy ‘The Belgium Conjuror’ and Talma, ‘The Queen of Coins’ via escapologist Harry Houdini to TV magic with David Berglas, Paul Daniels and David Copperfield. Tony also explores women in magic and how ‘female assistants’ were integral to the magic tricks they performed. He’s invited two accomplished magicians and knowledgeable members of the magic circle, Paul Kieve and Laura London, to help him out with the history and share some magic secrets along the way.

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Paul Kieve

Designer of storytelling magic and illusion, Paul has devised original magic for over 100 productions internationally. Paul is an honorary lifetime member of The Magic Castle, Hollywood, Gold Star Member of the Inner Magic Circle and an associate artist at The Old Vic Theatre, London.

www.stageillusion.com/

IG @kievepaul

Laura London

Laura is one of the world’s best female ‘sleight of hand’ artists specialising in cards and is also fabulous close-up magician with a large and varied repertoire. Laura’s interest in magic began at 10 years old, when, for a birthday present, she was given her first magic trick. Just one week after her 18th birthday, Laura became the youngest ever female member of The Magic Circle and is now a member of the Inner Magic Circle.

www.lauralondonmagic.co.uk/

IG: @lauralondon52

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Cover Art: The Brightside

A Zinc Media Group production

Follow:

X @cunningcastpod

Instagram @cunningcastpod

YouTube @Cunnningcast

If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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

Comedian David Mitchell is joining Tony on Cunningcast today. They cover David’s comedy awakening; meeting Robert Webb and the early years of Peep Show; how Olivia Coleman got involved; his love of Blackadder; playing William Shakespeare and working with Ben Elton in Upstart Crow and meeting his wife, Victorian Coren Mitchell.

Last year the iconic comedy Blackadder turned 40, to mark the occasion, Tony made a TV show in which he tracked down the lost Blackadder Pilot to discover the truth of Blackadder's beginnings. The show is called Blackadder: The Lost Pilot and you can watch it on catch up on Sky, Virgin & Now. 

For the show, Tony interviewed many of those involved and some who were inspired by Blackadder: you are hearing Tony’s unedited, behind the scenes chat with David Mitchell recorded for the programme.

David Mitchell has had a stellar career in British comedy. His big breakthrough was Peep Show with David Webb and Olivia Coleman and since then, he’s worked on a plethora of panel shows, including Would I lie to You, Mock the Week and QI. He starred as William Shakespeare in Upstart Crow, a historical comedy devised by Ben Elton.  His new book ‘Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens’ is a thoughtful, funny exploration of the entitled and enthroned.

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

David Mitchell

@RealDMitchell 

#Unruly | https://www.waterstones.com/book/unruly/david-mitchell/9781405953177

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald | @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Blackadder: The Lost Pilot is produced by Red Sauce

A Zinc Media Group production

Follow the show:

X @cunningcastpod

Instagram @cunningcastpod

Youtube @Cunningcast

If you enjoyed my podcast, please leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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

It's all going a bit wobbly in Cunningcast Towers as we are talking about the history of jelly. Tony wants to rescue jelly from its place as a children’s party food because there was a time when making jellies was an art form and took pride of place on the tables of the wealthy. He’s invited leading food historian Annie Gray and jellymonger-in-chief Sam Bompas to help him out.

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Sam Bompas

Food designer, one half of Bompas and Parr food design agency.

www.bompasandparr.com

X @bompasandparr 

IG @bompasandparr

To buy jellies and kitchenalia:

https://www.benhamandfroud.com

Annie Gray

Food historian, Annie has worked widely across TV and radio talking about and recreating the food of the past, and has been the resident food historian on BBC Radio 4’s award-winning culinary panel show, The Kitchen Cabinet since its inception in 2012. She includes a recipe for Champagne Jelly in her ‘Downton Abbey Cookbook’.

http://www.anniegray.co.uk/ 

X @DrAnnieGray

IG dranniegray

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Cover Art: The Brightside

A Zinc Media Group production

Follow:

X @cunningcastpod

Instagram @cunningcastpod

Youtube @Cunningcast

If you enjoyed my podcast, please follow us and leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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Tony catches up with Alice Roberts to talk about her new book ‘Crypt’ and what developments in the extraction of ancient DNA from bones can tell us about the humans they once belonged to.

They cover the syphilitic anchoress of All Saints Church, Fishergate, York; new findings about the Black Death and the bones in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Braemore, Hampshire; damage to the bones of the Mary Rose crew; 'the cockle amongst the wheat’ and new finds relating to the St Brice’s Day Massacre via isotopic analysis of human bones at St John’s College, Oxford as well as revisiting their Time Team days.

‘We experience the world through our bodies, and our lives are written into those bodies and into our bones. And this is what the skeletons of the dead say to us when we find them: listen to us, we have stories to tell.’ (‘Crypt’ 2024, Alice Roberts)

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | IG

With

Professor Alice Roberts

Biological anthropologist, author and broadcaster. Alice’s new book ‘Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond’ is available from the 29th Feb, 2024.

X | IG

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Cover Art: The Brightside

A Zinc Media Group production

X @cunningcastpod

Instagram @cunningcastpod

Youtube @Cunningcast

If you enjoyed my podcast, please follow the show and leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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

The art of painting on the skin, it’s fashionable now, but it wasn’t always so. To kick of the second series of his cunningly curated podcast, Tony and his special guests Matt Lodder and Grace Neutral discuss where we can find the oldest tattoos, what’s the history behind them, ancient and modern tattoo techniques, tattoo inks, queer tattoo history, body modification including tattooing eyeballs and when did tattoos stop being taboo?

Hosted by Sir Tony Robinson

X | Instagram

With

Dr Matt Lodder

Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory, and Director of American Studies at the University of Essex. Matt is the UK's foremost expert on the history of tattooing. His book 'Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos' is out now.

https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/LODDE23007/Matt-Lodder

@mattlodder | @beneaththeskin

Grace Neutral

Hand-poke tattoo artist, presenter and influencer. Grace runs Femme Fatale Studio, showcasing a wide range of tattoo styles from international artists.

https://www.youtube.com/@graceneutral | @graceneutral

https://www.femmefatalelondon.com/ | @femmefataletattoo 

Credits: 

Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg

Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville

Cover Art: The Brightside

A Zinc Media Group production

Follow:

X @cunningcastpod

Instagram @cunningcastpod

Youtube @Cunningcast

If you enjoy my podcast, please follow the show and leave us a rating or review.

Thank you, Love Tony x

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