We Didn't Start the Fire: The History...
This brand new pop culture history podcast is nothing like anything you've heard before, and it's everything you need to understand the modern world. Katie Puckrik and Tom Fordyce, an American pop culture buff and a British music lover, have taken the smash-hit song by Billy Joel and turned it into a podcast. Billy lists 120 people, places, and things in 'We Didn't Start The Fire', and Katie and Tom will do an episode on every single one to create the most fascinating, random and original history of the post-war world. Over the next two and a half years, we're going to learn about politics, rock 'n' roll, sport, space, television, the Cold War, guided along the way by historians, eyewitnesses, and mega-fans. Billy started it. We're going to finish it. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @spreadthatfire, email us at fire@crowdnetwork.co.uk, and go to spreadthatfire.com to buy merch.
101
Communist Bloc
The whole Communist Bloc? What are you doing to us Billy?!? Thank goodness we’ve got host of the Bulgarian History Podcast, Eric Halsey, to guide us through it all! So what was life like in a Soviet satellite state? How is Bulgaria’s Communist history ...
45 min
102
Campanella
Roy Campanella had a huge role in breaking the colour bar in American baseball, but you might not know him because his career was cut short by segregation and a horrific car accident. Join us and friend of the show, Josh Chetwynd, as Billy forces us to...
33 min
103
Rockefeller
There's a heck of a lot of famous Rockefellers, but only one has gone from family black sheep to gossip column party animal to transforming US politics forever. That's right, this week we're talking about Winthrop Rockefeller with Southe...
32 min
104
Prokofiev
If you’ve ever watched Romeo and Juliet or The Apprentice, you’ll know the iconic music of Prokofiev! This week, we chat about the Russian composer who lived through World War I, II, the Russian Revolution and the Great Purge AND kept making music thro...
31 min
105
Nasser
He’s all work no play… except for the occasional Western movie. This week we’re nattering about Egyptian revolutionary Nasser, with author and broadcaster, Tarek Osman! So, would the revolution have happened without Nasser? What inspired his political ...
36 min
106
Malenkov
Who's Malenkov, you're probably asking? He might only have been top dog of the USSR for 9 days after Stalin die, but Georgy's pretty interesting. The wonderful storyteller Dr Natalya Chernyshova joins Katie and Tom to talk about the days...
41 min
107
Joseph Stalin
What was it like to live under Stalin’s Soviet Union? And how does this period still impact people today? This week, we’re speaking to Alex Halberstadt, the grandson of Stalin’s last bodyguard, about this despotic, charismatic and tyrannical leader.
32 min
108
Santayana Goodbye
He’s a material boy living in a material world - this week we’re chatting philosopher George Santayana with Dr Matthew Flamm! Are philosophers just mansplainers in ivory towers? What is the meaning of life according to ol’ George? And most imp...
34 min
109
Liberace
This man was glitz, show, and absolute musical talent. He influenced Elvis, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga. We all know his name, but who was Liberace? Music journalist Jo Kendall helps Tom and Katie dig into the life of the man who was loved by millions b...
43 min
110
Marciano with Steve Bunce
When hero to American Italians Rocky Marciano hangs up his gloves in 1955, he's undefeated world heavyweight champion. Voice of British boxing Steve Bunce is back to tell Tom and Katie about Rocky's biggest and best fights, and why he was suc...
37 min
111
England's got a new Queen with Margaret MacMillan
It's 1953 and Britain and the Commonwealth are still recovering from the war, when the King dies. Princess Elizabeth finds herself thrust onto the throne at the age of 27, and so a new era began. Katie and Tom are joined once again by the wonderfu...
35 min
112
Vaccine
What's actually behind the manufacture of a vaccine? And why was the polio vaccine such a huge deal? In a fascinating first for We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy is plunging us into the depths of medical marvels, mysteries and conspiracy theori...
38 min
113
Eisenhower
Why is Eisenhower, an army officer who in 1953 became the 34th man to enter the White House, still one of the most highly-regarded presidents? Dr Rivers Gambrell is back again to help Tom and Katie piece together the full picture of Ike. From his Jehov...
42 min
114
The Catcher in the Rye with Caroline O'Donoghue
JD Salinger created the dismissive, arrogant, spiralling out of control Holden Caulfield in 1951, and with it he changed the face of fiction forever. The book's impact is fascinating and huge: presidents talk about Holden, teenagers want to be him...
37 min
115
The King and I
This jaunty look at 1800s Thailand is the final musical that Billy thought worth mentioning in his Cold War breakdown. But does The King and I deserve spot 20 in Billy's song, or is it just a handy rhyme for next week's Catcher in the Rye? Ba...
34 min
116
Brando with Jonathan Ross
You know him from The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Guys and Dolls. You know his dreamboat smile. But what about Brando's fight for civil rights and his support of Native Americans? Probably the most memorable actor of the 20th century, Marlon Brando...
40 min
117
Panmunjom
How did a tiny village in the Korean mountains come to symbolise the north and south split? The answer lies in the year 1953, when a piece of paper was signed to end what became known as The Forgotten War. But Colin Thackery, Korean War veteran and old...
36 min
118
Sugar Ray with Steve Bunce
How do Muhammed Ali, Marciano and Sonny Liston stand up against Sugar Ray "sweet as sugar" Robinson? Legend of the boxing world Steve Bunce opens the lid on Sugar Ray's world, and gives Katie and Tom a glimpse of Harlem in the 1940s and ...
35 min
119
H-Bomb with Margaret MacMillan
The hydrogen bomb. A nuclear threat bigger and badder than any atomic bomb that came before it. How close did the USA and Soviet Union come to global annihilation during the Cold War? Very. And renowned historian and wonderful storyteller Margaret MacM...
40 min
120
Rosenbergs
In 1953, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death by electrocution and died side-by-side: Julius after one shot of electricity, Ethel after three. They left behind two small children. Their crime? Conspiracy to spy for the Soviet Union. UCL...
39 min
121
New series: Death of a Film Star (Marilyn Monroe)
From the makers of We Didn't Start The Fire, this is Death of a Film Star.If you'd like to hear more, search for 'Death of a Film Star' in your favourite podcast platform, or click here: https://podfollow.com/1562008537.WARNIN...
30 min
122
Marilyn Monroe
Norma Jean is surely the most iconic figure of the 20th century. She was painted by men, photographed, directed and loved by men. She was also resented, abused, and put in a strait jacket. Author and Marilyn megafan since the age of 7 Shar Daws talks w...
45 min
123
South Korea
The second of four episodes on Korea. Author of award-winning 'White Crysanthemum' and captivating storyteller Mary Lynn Bracht takes Katie and Tom to a deeply sinister side of Korea's history: comfort women. An estimated 50-200,000 wome...
41 min
124
North Korea
The world's most elusive country, Billy's 12th lyric, and the first of four on Korea. Dr Sojin Lim from The University of Central Lancashire takes Katie and Tom back to the 1950s to find out why this tiny Asian peninsular was split in two and...
45 min
125
Television
"The babysitter." Television is Billy's eleventh lyric, and the BFI's TV expert Dick Fiddy takes Tom and Katie back to the 1950s when it began to take hold. The impact of TV through the 20th century and into today is fascinating and...
39 min