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An illiterate farm girl who claimed that the voice of God instructed her to take charge of her country's army and lead it to victory, Joan of Arc was able to convince the as-yet crowned King Charles VII to let her do it. What's more astounding is that once in charge, her swift victories led to the consecration of Charles and brought her family into nobility. A meteoric rise that ended as quickly as it began. 

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***Fair warning, this episode has some pretty gory details*** The Red Barn Murder was a notorious crime committed in Polstead, England in 1827, that provoked numerous newspaper articles, songs and plays that remained popular throughout the next century and continue to be performed today.

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The Odyssey begins after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, and Odysseus has still not returned home from the war after angering the god Neptune. Odysseus' son, Telemachus, is about 20 years old and is sharing his absent father's house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope and a crowd of 108 boisterous young men, "the Suitors", whose aim is to persuade Penelope to marry one of them, all the while reveling in Odysseus' palace and eating up his wealth...

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Jolly Ol' Saint Nick has become a cultural and commercial icon, but have you ever thought about where that image and idea comes from? An amalgam of Dutch, Middle Eastern, British and American versions, Santa Claus finds his roots as a pious saint from the tenth century. 

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Ebenezer Scrooge, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield were all borne from the mind of Charles Dickens, who is largely thought to be the best writer of the Victorian era. Through his own life he rose from extreme poverty to the highest echelons of society, but never forgot his roots and used his writing to highlight the challenges of the poor in the 19th century.

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Harry Houdini began his life as Erik Weisz, a young immigrant from Hungary who rose from poverty in America to be one of the most famous escape artists and entertainers in history. 

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A short fable written by Irish Poet and famous wit, Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince tells the story of a devoted little swallow who is compelled to serve a gilded prince despite his desire to fly to the warmer climes of Egypt where his friends have flown for the winter. 

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A writer who fought in the second world war, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was taken prisoner in the Battle of the Bulge and survived the bombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war. These experiences, among many, led Vonnegut to be a lifelong pacifist with a penchant for writing about the human condition in a way that few have been able to do. 

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Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story, first published in 1843. Told from the standpoint of one individual, it is a tale of self-delusion, guilt and the perils of having a roommate. 

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Written by Mary Shelly when she was just 18, the first edition of Frankenstein was published anonymously in London on January 1st, 1818. Shelly's name appeared on the second edition, published in 1823, and the story of Frankenstein has seen rises and falls in popularity in the 200 years since it was given its first breath.

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