Sathnam Sanghera blows the doors off the Hall of Fame today alongside his nominee, the Pirate Queen of Ireland, Grainne – or Grace – O'Malley.

Born in County Mayo when Henry VIII was on the throne of England, Grainne would command a fleet of ships, raid neighbouring clans, revenge the deaths of her loved ones and take on the English army. She would even meet with Queen Elizabeth to – in the best Jack Sparrow tradition – 'parley' with her opponent.

Grainne was pretty special and is a worthy addition to the Trapped History Hall of Fame – and its new protector too!

Mahatma Gandhi is a worldwide hero. Nehru led India through turmoil. But who in the West knows of Subhas Chandra Bose? Well, perhaps we should learn more about him because he is the man of the moment in Modi’s 21st century India.

Empireland’s Sathnam Sanghera joins us today to try to understand someone who lived and died by the maxim ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’. We find out what that actually meant in the 1940s and how we can navigate the ethical and moral quagmire which led Bose into the arms of the Nazis. This is an important episode, summed up by Sathnam’s own maxim: ‘it’s complicated’.

After demolishing and rebuilding Halls of Fame through the ages, our guest Habib Hajallie has chosen his own nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: the great Bill Richmond, an African-American born into slavery who by the early 19th century had become Britain's first Black sports star. Bill was the terror of the boxing ring, winning 17 of 19 matches, fighting the All England Champion, declining a title shot, and being a member of the sports first governing body.

More than that, Bill trained figures like Byron and Hazlitt, performed in front of European royalty and was an usher at George IV's coronation.

His was an astonishing life and Bill is a worthy entrant to the Hall of Fame.

We’re proud of our own Hall of Fame here at Trapped History, but what are they and where did the idea come from?

As we celebrate our three-year anniversary, join Oswin, Carla and MK for a very special episode in the company of award-winning British artist Habib Hajallie. His very own artwork, A British Hall of Fame, speaks to the past, present and future as we grapple with how we honour and remember people. This episode is literally packed with dozens of hidden heroes – and villains – and asks the question, what is fame and why do we feel a need to recognise it?

This holiday season, we've got a meditative and, we hope, nourishing bonus for you – as Michaela Strachan remembers taking part in the BBC series "Pilgrimage".

She is also remembering her friends and family and on the hike through the Welsh hills, she was walking hand-in-hand with grief. But the healing power of nature is truly something to behold. This is an emotional but also a fulfilling journey.

Have a peaceful and restorative festive break.

Michaela Strachan's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is one of the most selfless people we have heard of – Jill Robinson, who has dedicated her life to saving bears from the cruelty of the bear bile industry in China and across Asia.

It is a story rooted in horror but also in love. And Jill's life bears witness to our capacity for both. If you feel moved by her story, please visit Animals Asia to see how you can support Jill in her fight to save bears from this torment: https://www.animalsasia.org/support-us/

We have a wonderful season opener for you – as wildlife TV legend Michaela Strachan joins Trapped History to help us tell the tale of the woman who fought for nature. Her name was a bit of a mouthful – Ethel Haythornthwaite – but we know her as the defender of Britain’s National Parks and the Green Belt. She even has nearly 100 hills named after her (don’t worry, they’re ‘Ethels’ not ‘Haythornthwaites’!).

It's a delightful episode, full of passion, joy and hope as Michaela shares her love of nature, walking and conservation. She even persuades Oswin to pull on his boots . . .

We're delighted – chuffed even – to welcome you to Season 6. Trapped History is out of nappies and toddling all over the place (we're three years old this Christmas), clutching two international awards and a host of fabulous guests as we go!

So here's a quick taster of some of the stories you're going to be hearing over the next few months. Sit back, relax and set your reminders: the first episode drops on Monday 15th December.

Hope to see you there!

It's not a new episode I'm afraid, but we really need your votes! We're chuffed, delighted, over the moon – pick your favourite – to announce that Trapped History is a finalist in three international podcast awards. And we can shoot for the stars and try to get another award – the Listener's Choice – in two of them: America's Signal Award and Europe's Lovie Awards.

So please please please head over to vote.signalaward.com and vote.lovieawards.com, search for 'trapped history' and then just press a few buttons. Bingo. We're up against the big boys here so every vote counts – and every vote is a vote for your history, the history we are proud of presenting at Trapped History.

Thank you and keep on listening. Season 6 following in a couple of months . . .

Join us for Helen Lewis' nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: Constance Bulwer-Lytton, daughter of a Viceroy, sister to an Earl – but one of the bravest suffragettes of them all.

In changing women's history, she was imprisoned four times for campaigning for the vote, carved "V" for votes on her breast, went on hunger strike and was force-fed by prison guards.

In Constance's own words, which can stand for so much political action:

"People say, what does this hunger strike mean? Surely it is all folly. If it is not hysteria, at least it is unreasonable. They will not realise that we are like an army, that we are deputed to fight for a cause, and for other people, and in any struggle or any fight, weapons must be used . . . These women have chosen the weapon of self-hurt to make their protest, and this hunger strike . . . involves grave hurt and tremendous sacrifice, but this is on the part of the women only, and does not physically injure their enemies. Can that be called violence and hooliganism?"

Constance celebrated women winning the vote in 1918, a milestone in women's history – but she did not live to see women wield the vote in true equality with men. Because it was only at the 1929 general election that men and women aged 21 and over entered the voting booth as equals. But Constance, fatally weakened by her treatment in prison, had already died six years earlier in 1923, at the age of 54.

Hers was a bright short life in women's history: forgotten, unsung and hidden – but it is one captured beautifully by Helen here.