Keith Lowe is one of our greatest historians of the Second World War and its aftermath. He joined us to share the story of Ben Ferencz, one of the Nuremberg prosecutors who made it his life's work to fight for peace. Search for Ben Ferencz and the Quest for World Peace: Keith Lowe on the Fear and the Freedom . Keith's choice for our Hall of Fame is equally impressive. Someone who fought to try and change a nation's story of its war. But it is an uncomfortable nomination, because Yuasa Ken was a ...
Mar 09, 2026•4 min
Joris Lechene joined us to understand the life and afterlife of the great John La Rose, one of the leading lights of Black British cultural life from the 1960s to the 1980s. And a few years ago, he was in the news again as London's Black Boy Lane was renamed in his honour. But the fallout was something to behold. This is a gripping episode – the very essence of Trapped History. You can find it as Black Boy Lane: Joris Lechene on the Legacy of John La Rose . And Joris' nomination for the Hall of ...
Mar 08, 2026•3 min
Anne Sebba breathed life into the story of the women of the French Resistance, in the brilliant The Women who Ran the Resistance: Anne Sebba on the Forgotten Heroines . And in this Hall of Fame nomination, she does the same for the women of the death camps. Hilde Grunbaum's life is a truly emotional one as both she and dozens of other female musicians would make up the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. It was a lifeline in the midst of horror. This podcast uses the following third-party services f...
Mar 07, 2026•4 min
Sathnam Sanghera joined us to find out all about Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to graduate from an Indian university, the first woman anywhere to get a law degree – from Oxford at that – and the first woman to represent the accused in a criminal case in a British-run court. Her story is incredible – but even more astonishing is the tale Sathnam brings to the Hall of Fame: that of Dean Mahomed, an Indian surgeon, soldier and writer who settled in England. Which is where he established the cou...
Mar 06, 2026•4 min
Sculptor Ian Wolter accompanied us on a cold and windy day to the mesmerising Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. The insights of a practising artist were priceless and so his choice for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is equally insightful. Charles Jagger was a prize-winning young sculptor on the up when the First World War broke out. He quickly signed up and served in the trenches and at Gallipoli. He was awarded the Military Cross and was wounded three times. On his return to civilian life, C...
Mar 05, 2026•4 min
The RAF pilot Trevor Edwards joined us to marvel at the life and times of Johnny Smythe. But here, he goes back to the very beginning and nominates Robbie Clarke, the very first Black RAF pilot. Robbie's was a charmed life – a mechanic who would be one of the first Jamaicans to drive a car, he crossed the Atlantic to sign up in 1915. Joining the Royal Flying Corps, he gained his wings in April 1917, making him the first Allied Black wartime pilot. It's an inspiring story so when you're done with...
Mar 04, 2026•3 min
Join us as Stephen Bourne unveils his Hall of fame nominee. You may remember, Stephen was our guest on our episode about the forgotten singer who was Adelaide Hall, and he doesn't stray far from the path here! Mabel was born in Burton-upon-Trent, but she made her name in Paris and New York, where Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein and even Ol' Blue Eyes himself fell under her spell. Her story is eye-opening and a real counterpoint to Adelaide's. When you've finished with this, turn to the main episode:...
Mar 03, 2026•6 min
At last, Trapped History's inaugural Hall of Fame nomination is here: Rosemary Brown's nominee from our very first episode. You may remember that Rosemary joined us to find out all about the marvellous Nellie Bly, adventurer, entrepreneur, war reporter and one of the very first investigative journalists in history. And perhaps Nellie's greatest exploit was to play Jules Verne at his own game and travel around the world in (under) 80 days. But Nellie wasn't the only person to do that. There was a...
Mar 02, 2026•4 min
Picture a woman of the French Resistance, printing underground papers in her cellar, making bombs at her kitchen table, cycling across her country with codes hidden in her knitting. And then spin the globe 6,000 miles and find yourself in Vietnam. Because this is what Madame Xuan Phuong did. As a teenager, Phuong fought in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam for her country’s independence against the Japanese. And then the French. And finally the Americans. We are delighted and honoured to be j...
Feb 23, 2026•59 min•Season 6Ep. 6
In today's Hall of Fame, Fiona Keating nominates a queer, Jewish poet and novelist who slipped through the cracks nearly 140 years ago. But late last year, Cambridge University proudly announced that they had acquired the Amy Levy Archive and the hope is that "one of Victorian literature’s most enigmatic figures" will finally get the recognition she deserves. Amy's life may have been short and tragic – but it was also full to the brim. She knew W. B. Yeats, Eleanor Marx and Oscar Wilde (it was h...
Feb 16, 2026•3 min
As we head into spring, Trapped History takes a brisk wintery walk through the streets of London’s Docklands to seek out the Limehouse Chinatown of the 1880s. Jack the Ripper is striking fear into the heart of the East End, the Bryant & May matchgirls are on strike and the magnificent Ching Hook is knocking them dead at the Sebright Music Hall. And Pearl Fitzgerald, a young woman with a Chinese mother and an Irish father, is trying to secure her inheritance. But Pearl isn’t real. She is a fi...
Feb 09, 2026•44 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Here's a great Hall of Fame nominee from Christina Wade – and it's another oldie. In 1275, Gillian Pykard told the sheriff's bailiffs in Exeter precisely what they could do with their rules. She was a brewer and knew what her customers wanted. It's a small story but it's a slice of life which shows us so much about a world which seems so foreign to us in the 21st century. But if there's one thing we've learned from history, it's that people and people – and they don't take kindly to being told w...
Feb 02, 2026•3 min
With a name and a story Dickens would have killed for, Peg Plunkett owned Dublin in the 1780s. Surviving a horrific childhood, she escaped to the big city and swiped right and left to her heart’s content until she blew everything up with her incendiary memoirs. Award-winning Filthy Queens author, Christina Wade, plunges us into the life of an 18th century courtesan – a world in which Peg is a modern day Samuel Pepys, with views on men, marriage, chastity and responsibility which seem so fresh an...
Jan 26, 2026•49 min•Season 6Ep. 4
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 addit...
Jan 19, 2026•4 min
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 a...
Jan 12, 2026•52 min•Season 6Ep. 3
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 train...
Jan 05, 2026•3 min
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 ...
Dec 29, 2025•48 min•Season 6Ep. 2
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. This podcast uses the following third-party servic...
Dec 25, 2025•4 min
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.a...
Dec 22, 2025•5 min
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 nat...
Dec 15, 2025•56 min•Season 6Ep. 1
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...
Sep 16, 2025•7 min
We are delighted to be joined today by Helen Lewis, whose new book, The Genius Myth, rips apart the stories we like to tell ourselves about ‘them’ – the heroic geniuses we idolise and adore. This is the ultimate history reboot. And it's one of the reasons we created Trapped History in the first place – because we don’t need more stories about Leonardo, Churchill or Elon. We need the hidden history, the forgotten history, the untold stories. But if anyone can take down ‘The Great Men of History’ ...
Sep 09, 2025•45 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Jet's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is an oldie – 850 years old, to be precise. A Renaissance Woman centuries before the Renaissance, a medieval queen of music, philosophy, science and medicine, the Mother of Everything: we give you Hildegard von Bingen. Throw in poetry, mysticism and sainthood and you have perhaps the greatest genius of the medieval world. A paragon of women's history and cultural history. Kings, emperors and popes certainly thought so as they sought our her t...
Sep 02, 2025•5 min
There’s a photo – you can google it – which when you see it, you’ll laugh, you’ll double-take, you’ll think ‘whaaaat?’. It’s of a young woman, she’s small, five foot nothing and she’s in a fitness gym. But it’s what she’s carrying that makes you stare. Because balanced on her shoulders is none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Her name is Lisa Lyon and she is a legend in the fitness world. The first female bodybuilding world champion, the inspiration for the Marvel superhero Elektra and the muse...
Aug 26, 2025•36 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Tune in for a riveting Hall of Fame as Joshua Levine nominates Mick Gurmin, a member of the SAS before the SAS even existed. This is the very apex of forgotten history, hidden history and untold stories. Warned by the debonair master of deception Dudley Clark that "any carelessness or indiscretion on your part may well upset carefully arranged and important plans and have far-reaching consequences" Mick and a fellow soldier carried out their mission to bring the SAS to life with perfection. Find...
Aug 19, 2025•6 min
It's time for a history reboot. In this Trapped History Special, Oswin and historian Joshua Levine discuss truth, myth and storytelling in front of an invited audience at an event hosted by Saboteur, a London-based brand agency. In a wide-ranging conversation which covers everything from Trump and Putin to Downton and Dunkirk, we grapple with the fundamentals of what we mean when we talk about history, hidden history, forgotten history and unsung heroes. Josh gives us some fascinating insights i...
Aug 12, 2025•44 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Tune in to hear the historian Gwen Strauss' nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. A hidden history hero of the Resistance, she is someone we have truly never heard of but she is perhaps one of the bravest people we should know about. Please be upstanding for Odette Pilpoul, the Parisian soul of the French Resistance who took it upon herself to document and save evidence of atrocities when she survived a series of concentration camps and bore witness to the horrors perpetrated against the...
Aug 05, 2025•3 min
It’s October 1940 and you are walking down a dusty lane when someone slips a scrap of paper into your hand. You hold it tightly in your palm, waiting until you’re round a corner and away from prying eyes. When you manage to find that moment and open the folded paper square, you read: “Milena from Prague requests a meeting.” You are Margarete Buber-Neumann and you are a prisoner in Ravensbruck concentration camp. The note in your hand is from Milena Jesenska, a Czech legend who has just arrived i...
Jul 29, 2025•44 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Please put your hands together for Sarah-Jane Morris' Hall of Fame nominee, music's hidden hero Mary Margaret O'Hara. So many of our nominees are lost in the mists of history. They are part of our forgotten history, our hidden history. But Mary Margaret O'Hara is very much still with us. She is loved and admired by other music industry greats, such as Michael Stipe, Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones and Everything But The Girl. Mary makes music magic and Sarah-Jane thinks we should love her too. And w...
Jul 22, 2025•4 min
A decade before Dylan, there was Connie Converse – arguably the very first singer-songwriter with inner-city tales of loss and longing. But have you heard of her? Have you heard her music? Connie's story is the epitome of forgotten history, hidden history. But her name deserves to be shouted from the rooftops. Oswin and Carla are joined today by the singer Sarah-Jane Morris to help us understand the joy and sorrow of Connie’s short life, the pressures on women in the music industry then and now ...
Jul 15, 2025•40 min•Season 5Ep. 2
