The Z List Dead List

The Z List Dead List - a history of the not-so famous. Comedians, Historians and Podcasters talk about their favourite forgotten people from History. Full of laughs and facts. A mix of live show and interview hosted by BBC Radio 4's Making History's Iszi Lawrence.

S12E06 ATA GIRL! 08/23/2021

S12E06 ATA GIRL! While researching Billie Swift Takes Flight Iszi discovered the story of Diana Barnato Walker - a world record setting pilot who flew Spitfires during the second world war. Diana was one of many female pilots in the Air Transport Auxiliary that features in iszi's new children's book. The RAF needed planes delivered and women like Diana were the ones who did the flying. The work was dangerous. Find out how a simple lack of cushion nearly cost her her life! /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/20214176

S12E05 Gertie The Dinosaur 07/23/2021

S12E05 Gertie The Dinosaur Victoria Coules has the best PHD going. She is researching representations of Paleontology in media. This means she gets to look at dinosaurs all day. As part of her research she has been studying Winsor Mccay, the cartoonist who pioneered modern animation by drawing an interactive cartoon of Gertie the dinosaur. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/19906238

S12E04 A Sore-Footed Success. The life of Florence Price. 06/13/2021

S12E04 A Sore-Footed Success. The life of Florence Price. Were all composers white men with powdered wigs? The shocking truth is no, of course they weren't. Iszi speaks to Elizabeth de Brito of The Daffodil Perspective about the most famous of the non-male and non - white composers, Florence Price. Who I guess is still Z List unless you are very much into your classical music, and only old white men with powdered wigs like that, right? ;) /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/19450202

S12E03 Cry Hard with a Vision 05/12/2021

S12E03 Cry Hard with a Vision I worry I may have been too positive about Margery Kempe. I do find her fascinating because of how modern she feels as a character. She's the sort of person you'd expect to find on Dr Phil. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/19035887

S12E02 The Story of Sarah Baartman 04/12/2021

S12E02 The Story of Sarah Baartman Kim Kardashian is now famously a billionaire, mostly from selling shapewear which she promotes using her ass-sets. But was she the first person to commodify this particular body part and where has the idea of a large bottom being a sexual marker come from? Is it purely natural does it sinister undertones? /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/18679295

S12E01 Maggotty Headed 03/04/2021

S12E01 Maggotty Headed 'He was a shiftless person, roving and maggotty-headed, and sometimes a little better than crazed. And being exceedingly credulous would stuff his many letters with fooleries and misinformations which sometimes would guide him into paths of error.' Anthony Wood on John Aubrey 31st August 1667 /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/18175940

Terrible Lizards Trailer 06/09/2020

Terrible Lizards Trailer No episode this month BECAUSE I've been working on another podcast. I know. It is all about dinosaurs and this is just a small taster. Go to www.terriblelizards.co.uk for more information. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/14752862

S11E19 Dead Kean 04/15/2020

S11E19 Dead Kean Brill performance by Greg Jenner - author of the BRAND NEW book Dead Famous - and host of the You're Dead To Me Podcast. His performance is nearly as good as Edmund Kean. You know that hugely famous actor... you don't know Edmund Kean? Well listen up! /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/14006414

BONUS EPISODE WITH BECHDEL CAST 03/10/2020

BONUS EPISODE WITH BECHDEL CAST Unusual episode where I guest on The Bechdel Cast where Caitlin Durante and Jamie Loftus put movies to the Bechdel Test. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/13487780

S11E17 A Very British Spiderman 01/11/2020

S11E17 A Very British Spiderman No violence, all charm, this podcast isn't about Marvel, but it is of a man who marvels at the smallest and least understood creatures. Zayneb Allak explores the works of T.H.Savory. Recorded live at the Being Human Festival 2019. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/12699629

S11E16 I find this pig GUILTY 10/22/2019

S11E16 I find this pig GUILTY History is full of criminals, and some are not human. Here is a tale of animals of the past, some guilty, some innocent all judged by the LAW. And all too would have been forgotten without that great academic Edward Payson Evans. 1831-1917 /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/11738099

S11E15 The Serial Killer at No.45 09/05/2019

S11E15 The Serial Killer at No.45 Amelia Dyer was the most prolific of all British. Iszi recently found her address, so took a short stroll down to Kensington Road and ponders whether this serial killer was a product of her own insanity or if it was government policy that really allowed her to kill so many. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/11136398

S11 E14 Woe To The Conquered 08/13/2019

S11 E14 Woe To The Conquered iszi drunkenly chats to Stephen P Kershaw about one of the many characters in his enormous book. Barbarians Rebellion Resistance to The Roman Empire. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/10875903

S11 E13 Troy Story - Heroes Gods and Amazons! 07/18/2019

S11 E13 Troy Story - Heroes Gods and Amazons! What does it take to be a hero? Nowadays rescuing others, not being a coward, or just standing up for you principles seems to be the key. In the Trojan war you could spend years in a tent sulking while everyone else fights simply because you were denied a sex slave, and STILL be considered a Hero. Natalie Haynes has released a novel about the silenced women of the Trojan War, and chats to Iszi about a not-so-famous Amazon warrior - Penthesia, and debunks some of the myths surrounding her. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/10568255

S11 E12 The Donald Trump of Ancient Greece 06/11/2019

S11 E12 The Donald Trump of Ancient Greece The odds are never a problem if you own half the racers. This is a story of a populist who brought down his own people. Born into wealth and unrivalled privilege, at least this particular politician fought in the wars alongside his friends. It didn't stop him turning on them to save his skin, or indeed turning on his new friends to do it again. Featuring: Alcibiades David Stuttard is a writer, lecturer, theatre director, dramaturg and Fellow of Goodenough College, London.His Nemesis: Alcibiades and the Fall of Athens was published by Harvard University Press in April 2018. Iszi Lawrence is a presenter of BBC's Making History and The British Museum Membercast. and on twitter: /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/10122221

S11 E11 The Infinite Baker Kage 05/08/2019

S11 E11 The Infinite Baker Kage Accidentally predicting the future in her sci fi novels, Kage Baker's novels set alight to the dork celebrator extraordinaire, comedian Jackie Kashian. In this episode we discuss the limits of fiction, and of shame. This podcast was 4 years in the making, all because iszi is an idiot. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/9707921

S11 E10 Real Men 04/01/2019

S11 E10 Real Men Was Dr James Barry a pioneering transman or was she an insanely driven genius woman who sacrificed everything, even her own identity for her career? Iszi ponders the difficulty of trying to fit morden genders on people in the past. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/9222227

S11E09 REJUVENATE! 03/17/2019

S11E09 REJUVENATE! Was Otto Overbeck an abject failure? A brilliant polymath? A Quack? An Abuser? Iszi and James Stark explore the curious career of a bizarre creature with an electric personality. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/9033419

S11E08 Wild Orange Whitehouse Man 01/30/2019

S11E08 Wild Orange Whitehouse Man his isn't an episode about eating more fibre, it is about fibre optic's predecessor. The telegraph and how it is bloody difficult sending messages across the planet. Shouting might not work, but it is easier. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/8460872

S11E07 Pouring Bees on Vikings 12/25/2018

S11E07 Pouring Bees on Vikings MERRY CHRISTMAS! And what could be more festive than talk of pious Christians finally overcoming their pagan occupiers by clever use of marrying enemy Earls, raising a kick-arse nephew and stealing a corpse in the name of patriotism. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/8031896

S11E06 Her Name Wasn't Lola 11/25/2018

S11E06 Her Name Wasn't Lola She's Irish, Spanish, American and Mistress to the King of Bavaria married 3 times, Dancer, actress, lecturer, author and murderer? Iszi thinks so. Doug Segal isn't so sure. Meet Lola Montez AKA Eliza Rosanna Gilbert AKA Countess of Landsfeld... she has had more names than husbands. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/7679822

S11E05 Peach Baskets 10/10/2018

S11E05 Peach Baskets This is not a very Z List episode if you are already a Basketball fan but I'm guessing, not many of us history nerds are... Steve Cross is tho! He explains the magic formula to inventing a world-popular sport. ( it is more than just a random number generator with a soap opera attached.) /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/7153282

S11E04 The 19th Century Kim Kardashian 08/29/2018

S11E04 The 19th Century Kim Kardashian What has Pears Soap, a soprano, bell ringing orphans, a lesbian affair, ritual dowsing, litigation and a Monkey called Mr Titileehee have to do with the advancement of women's rights? Author, actor, comedian, hero Emma Kennedy will tell you from the BP Lecture Theatre at The British Museum and her very own back garden. And yes that is Sue Perkins providing snacks... /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6984523

S11E03 Tough As Old Boots with Alice Fraser 08/01/2018

S11E03 Tough As Old Boots with Alice Fraser How do 6 stolen boots, a snake and drawing lots result in a man being eaten? Welcome to the horrible tale of Alexander Pearce 1790-1824. Who would eat humans... even when he strictly didn't 'need' to. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6871828

S11E02 The Terror of the Taxi Cab with Jo Caulfield 07/12/2018

S11E02 The Terror of the Taxi Cab with Jo Caulfield The cry Mother Prodgers! echoes around the streets. Cab drivers flee, leaving the stand empty but for Mrs Caroline Giacometti Prodgers the nemesis of cabmen everywhere! /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6801690

S11E01 What are you Like? with Mitch Benn 06/13/2018

S11E01 What are you Like? with Mitch Benn Wilhelm Reich was an esteemed psychoanalyst who studied with Freud in the 1920s. So why was he deliberately written out of history? Mitch Benn explains! /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6701526

S10 E9 A F*!#ing Genius with Irving Finkel 05/16/2018

S10 E9 A F*!#ing Genius with Irving Finkel Think you're clever? Maybe you are: but are you a GENIUS? Irving Finkel doubts it. There is only one man this curator gives that label to and it is Edward Hincks... upstaged by the evil Rawlinson and with a blue plaque only dogs can see, it seems the only person left to champion him is a swearing beardy man with a passion for Cuneiform. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6599026

S10E08 The Typo That Won The War With Florence Schecter 04/19/2018

S10E08 The Typo That Won The War With Florence Schecter Do you know the difference between a cryptogamist and a cryptogramist? No? Well it turns out that, during the Second World War, someone in the Ministry of Defence didn’t either. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6498753

S10E07 The Mind Behind Einstein with Michael Conterio 04/04/2018

S10E07 The Mind Behind Einstein with Michael Conterio the most important woman in the history of mathematics... possibly the most important PERSON. So why have you never heard of her? /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6446382

S10E6 Ferguson's Gang with Lucy Porter 03/15/2018

S10E6 Ferguson's Gang with Lucy Porter What woman links Sanskrit, The National Trust, Narnia and Catholicism? Peggy Pollard's life sounds so made up its ridiculous... borne to the upper classes, a genius scholar, criminally minded fundraiser, a brilliant seamstress and deeply devout catholic. Her life is full of the tales of Narnia and metallic pineapples. Can it be true? Lucy Porter tells her story at The British Museum. /episode/index/show/zlistdeadlist/id/6365589

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