Episodes

  • Ep 185 Brent, Tommy Flowers and the colossal impact of Dollis Hill

    Ep 185 Brent, Tommy Flowers and the colossal impact of Dollis Hill
    Oct 22 2024
    Get your buzzers ready. We get competitive this week. Can you beat Alex in spotting the links to past episodes? Who'd have thought that Gladdie Park could be so well connected? And just around the corner was a unassuming building with a big story to hide. Partly the underground bunker, and partly their contribution to code breaking in WW2. Bletchley Park was the main centre for British codebreaking. Telecoms engineer Tommy Flowers and his team at Dollis Hill provided the equipment to break the most secret of all the codes. The Lorenz code of the Gerheimschreiber machines used by German high command. And if anyone doesn't know what Taskmaster is, where have you been? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Ep 184: Fanny Eaton, Overlooked Pre-Raphaelite Muse

    Ep 184: Fanny Eaton, Overlooked Pre-Raphaelite Muse
    Oct 15 2024
    You might not know her name but there's a decent chance you know her face. Fanny Eaton worked as a model for the Royal Academy and painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Was she chosen for her beauty or seen as an exotic other? Alex goes in search of the beautiful Mrs Eaton. Possibly the most seen woman of colour in Victorian Britain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    32 mins
  • Ep 183 Bromley - Margaret Finch, Queen of the Gypsies

    Ep 183 Bromley - Margaret Finch, Queen of the Gypsies
    Oct 8 2024
    Project 32, this week we're south of the river in Bromley. Home to Margaret Finch, Queen of the Gypsies. (We're using the term as that's how she would have been known at the time). A mysterious figure who loitered by a lychgate. Margaret was elected Queen by the Roma community. Part figurehead, part ambassador, part advisor, she drew visitors to Norwood to consult her cards. Royals, celebrities, that one who went everywhere, they all came to see and seek their fortunes. Editor's note: since recording this we've realised we've gone astray. Anyone who knows the list of London boroughs, and the alphabet, might spot that we've missed Bexley and arrived in Bromley too soon. Don't worry, there's no sinister reason to miss Bexley, and we'll get to her (her?) soon, around about the time we should have been doing Bromley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    52 mins
  • Ep 182 Barebones Barbon - The Fetter Lane dynasty

    Ep 182 Barebones Barbon - The Fetter Lane dynasty
    Oct 1 2024
    The radical preacher who served in Parliament and the son who followed in his footsteps, but maybe for very different reasons. Between them they span the 1600s,a time of great change in London, and the century that might just be Fiona's favourite. Praise God for the Barebones family. And the bricks and mortar legacy of one of London's most ambitious, unscrupulous businessmen. As Alex says "it's another historical rotter!". If Jesus had not died for thee, thou wouldst be damned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Ep 181 Project 32 The Battle of Barnet

    Ep 181 Project 32 The Battle of Barnet
    Sep 25 2024
    The 2nd week of project 32, and London's 2nd most populous borough. This week we are stumbling around in the fog of the Battle of Barnet. Who is fighting who? who trusts who? We're in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, and the kingdom is at stake. The biggest failure of the battle - it's Heraldry itself. Hang your head in shame heraldry, you cost lives that day. Plus the tale of Dirty Gertie's arrival from France, and the gift that Barnet keeps on giving to the rest of London. Ooh, a lovely Barnet fair, hexcellent. A little bit late this week - sorry gang. Fiona's internet died at the critical moment. She could have taken her laptop to a cafe to work, like a proper modern person, if she had a working laptop. There's nothing like losing the ability to do something, to realise how much we take it for granted when it works. Modern technology is a marvel. When it works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    53 mins
  • Ep 180 Degas's Miss Lala

    Ep 180 Degas's Miss Lala
    Sep 17 2024
    We're in between boroughs this week as Alex goes gaga for Miss Lala (as painted be Degas). She wowed the crowds in Paris and London with her phenomenal strongwoman act, on the trapeze, holding herself, and others, with her teeth. Her portrait is still wowing the crowds at the National Gallery. Pop in to pay her a visit and decide for yourselves, what do you see at first glance? Is she jumping? We know more about her performances than her life, but there are moments when we can glimpse her, moving to London, appearing at the Royal Aquarium, getting married. A mixed race pocket rocket gymnast who performed as at Black Venus and one half of Les Deux Papillons. She was last recorded applying for a passport, on the brink, maybe, of a leap across the oceans into the unknown. But we can admire her still, as Degas saw her that night, in white and gold, dazzling the Parisiennes high above the Cirque Fernando. Oh and we go off on a tangent for the benefit of Mr Kite. That makes a change, it's usually Fiona who does the tangents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    42 mins
  • Ep 179 Launching Project 32 - Barking and Dagenham

    Ep 179 Launching Project 32 - Barking and Dagenham
    Sep 10 2024
    It's the long awaited, hotly anticipated, much hyped launch of Project 32. Our deep dive into all the boroughs of London. And Alex is kicking off this week with Barking and Dagenham and a group of women who changed the world of work for the better. It's 1968 and the female sewing machinists of Ford are not happy. Not surprising when they are classified as less skilled than the men sweeping the factory floor. When striking doesn't work they head to Whitehall to meet the minister. With cars backing up at the factory, do they do a deal and get equal pay? And how much does the stoppage cost Ford? HOW MUCH?? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    44 mins
  • Ep 178 - London's Gas Lamp lighters - putting the spark into the dark

    Ep 178 - London's Gas Lamp lighters - putting the spark into the dark
    Sep 3 2024
    We're BAAAACK! Oh gang, we've missed you! After an eventful summer, Alex and Fiona are back in your ears, and we have been out and about. Following on from our episode with the Gasketeers a while ago, we have been to meet the very lamp lighters whose job it is to keep the London gas lamps lit - we have visited HQ and nerded out about finials, housings, mantles and how to tell your Grosvenors from your Rochesters. We've missed you!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 9 mins