Biographics: History One Life at a Time
349 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 736 ratingsFor better of for worse these are the people who changed our world.
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Episodes
353 - Prince - Music Royalty
September 11, 2020 14:02 - 16 minutes - 23.3 MBPrince Rogers Nelson was an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, actor, and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. A multi-instrumentalist who was considered a guitar virtuoso, he was well known for his eclectic work across multiple genres, flamboyant and androgynous persona, and wide vocal range which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams.
352 - Karl I - The Last Emperor of Austria
September 10, 2020 11:02 - 25 minutes - 34.5 MBCharles I or Karl I was the last Emperor of Austria, the last King of Hungary, the last King of Bohemia, and the last monarch belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine before the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.
351 - Ludwig Wittgenstein - The 20th Century's Greatest Philosopher
September 09, 2020 15:44 - 18 minutes - 25.8 MBAustrian-born British philosopher, regarded by many as the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. Wittgenstein’s two major works, Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung (1921; Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922) and Philosophische Untersuchungen (published posthumously in 1953; Philosophical Investigations), have inspired a vast secondary literature and have done much to shape subsequent developments in philosophy, especially within the analytic tradition. His charismatic personality has, in...
350 - Miss Dior - Resistance Fighter, Ravensbruck Survivor
September 08, 2020 14:27 - 19 minutes - 26.4 MBGinette Dior, better known as Catherine Dior, was a French Resistance fighter during World War II. Involved with the Franco-Polish intelligence unit F2 from November 1941, she was arrested in Paris in July 1944 by the Gestapo, then tortured and deported to the Ravensbrück women concentration camp.
349 - Ivan Pavlov - His Dogs and Conditioning Theory
September 07, 2020 13:41 - 24 minutes - 33.5 MBRussian physiologist known chiefly for his development of the concept of the conditioned reflex. In a now-classic experiment, he trained a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a metronome or buzzer, which was previously associated with the sight of food. He developed a similar conceptual approach, emphasizing the importance of conditioning, in his pioneering studies relating human behaviour to the nervous system. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his wor...
348 - Soapy Smith - King of the Frontier Con Men
September 04, 2020 13:04 - 19 minutes - 27.4 MBBorn in Georgia in 1860, Jefferson Randolph Smith went west while still a young man, finding work as a cowboy in Texas. Smith eventually tired of the hard work and low wages offered by the cowboy life, though, and discovered that he could make more money with less effort by convincing gullible westerners to part with their cash in clever confidence games.
347 - Blackbeard - Scourge of the Seven Seas
September 03, 2020 15:48 - 21 minutes - 29.2 MBEdward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies.
346 - Olga of Kiev - The Viking Saint of Russia
September 02, 2020 15:21 - 20 minutes - 28.1 MBIn today’s video we are covering our first Saint worshipped both by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, revered for having first introduced Christianity amongst the Rus. These were a pagan people of Nordic descent, who ruled over a vast land in the early Middle Ages, from the Baltic to the Black Sea. But her holy title should not fool you, as she did not dedicate her life solely to prayer and converting the heathen. This Saint was a ruler, the regent of the Principality of Kiev, and ...
345 - Norman Borlaug - The Controversial Father of the Green Revolution
September 01, 2020 13:43 - 20 minutes - 28 MBNorman Ernest Borlaug was an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution.
344 - Louis XIV - The Sun King
August 31, 2020 13:26 - 23 minutes - 32.6 MBLouis was the son of Louis XIII and his Spanish queen, Anne of Austria. He succeeded his father on May 14, 1643. At the age of four years and eight months, he was, according to the laws of the kingdom, not only the master but the owner of the bodies and property of 19 million subjects. Although he was saluted as “a visible divinity,” he was, nonetheless, a neglected child given over to the care of servants. He once narrowly escaped drowning in a pond because no one was watching him. Anne of ...
343 - Douglas Adams - His Life, the Universe, and Everything
August 28, 2020 15:43 - 22 minutes - 30.7 MBDouglas Noel Adams was an English author, screenwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist. Adams was author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which originated in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime and generated a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fa...
342 - Alfred Russel Wallace - The Forgotten Father of Evolution
August 27, 2020 15:49 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBAlfred Russel Wallace was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection; his paper on the subject was jointly published with some of Charles Darwin's writings in 1858. This prompted Darwin to publish On the Origin of Species. Like Darwin, Wallace did extensive fieldwork; first in the Amazon River basin, and then in the Malay Archipelago, where he identifi...
341 - George Stephenson - The Father of the Railways
August 26, 2020 14:18 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBWithout a doubt, one of the most exciting periods in history was the Industrial Revolution. At perhaps no other time was there a greater feeling that the sky was the limit. Innovations happened one after another and they all seemed destined to change the world forever. Assuredly, one of the most important novelties of the 19th century was the railway. It marked a decisive shift in how people could travel the world. Distances that previously seemed unreachable were now just a day or two away...
340 - Isaac Asimov - Foundation of a Writing Genius
August 24, 2020 13:50 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MBToday’s protagonist is universally recognised as one of the greatest science fiction writers in the history of literature. He won the Hugo and Nebula Awards, among many others, and is best remembered as the inventor of Robotics -- the brilliant mind that conceived the Foundation series and the concept of Psychohistory. During his long writing career, Isaac Asimov hopped back and forth between science fiction and mystery novels, essays, non-fiction textbooks, literary commentaries and disser...
339 - Mark Antony - Lover of Cleopatra, Rival for an Empire
August 21, 2020 15:51 - 27 minutes - 37.3 MBThe year is 30 BC. In the grand Egyptian capital of Alexandria, panic is sweeping the streets. A mighty Roman fleet is bearing down on the city, bringing fire, destruction. In a half-finished mausoleum, Cleopatra and her lover Mark Antony await the inevitable. Antony’s stomach has already been sliced open, and now the great general is merely waiting to die. As Roman boots pound the streets, the wounded man orders one last cup of wine. Then, as his lover looks on, he offers her a final toast ...
338 - Karl Benz - Father of the Automobile
August 20, 2020 14:32 - 19 minutes - 27.2 MBLooking back on humanity’s achievements, you can pinpoint certain landmark moments that changed the world forever. One such moment was, undoubtedly, the birth of the automobile which, like rail transport before it and aviation afterwards, completely revolutionized how humans moved around. Many people deserve credit for this achievement. As you are about to find out, the concept of the “first car in the world” is, by no means, a settled matter, but the lion’s share of the accolades goes to K...
337 - Croesus - All the Money in the World
August 19, 2020 13:13 - 20 minutes - 27.8 MBCan money truly bring happiness? Well, if you ask King Croesus, then the answer is a resounding “yes.” He ruled over the kingdom of Lydia at a time when it was one of the wealthiest and most powerful kingdoms on the planet. He amassed untold riches the likes of which the world had never seen. He spurred on the world economy by issuing the first gold coins. And yet...it all came crashing down in the end. Ever fickle, fortune abandoned Croesus and he witnessed his once-mighty kingdom crumble ...
336 - James Joyce - Ireland's Most Enigmatic Writer
August 18, 2020 15:23 - 20 minutes - 28.3 MBThe works of James Joyce — particularly Ulysses and Finegans Wake — are almost universally considered classics, but they're a little different than most of the great works of literature that have been read for decades — if not centuries — in all corners of the world. They're notorious amongst their peers: they're among the most dense and difficult books to try to read. They're full of obscure language, made-up words, and pages that just dissolve into a bizarre, stream-of-consciousness narra...
335 - Emmy Noether - The Greatest Forgotten Mathematician in History
August 17, 2020 15:57 - 22 minutes - 31.5 MBHuman history is littered with people who changed the world, only to have their achievements erased from popular memory. Gay men like computing pioneer Alan Turing, women like mathematician Ada Lovelace, even pure oddballs like Nikola Tesla were left out the curriculum for decades. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. On the internet, everyone from the Navajo code talkers, to NASA’s black, female number crunchers are having their stories told.
334 - Robert Louis Stevenson - Living Life Through Imagination
August 14, 2020 13:25 - 18 minutes - 25.9 MBRobert Louis Stevenson holds a special place in the hearts and minds of many readers. He often served as an introduction to real, grown-up books. Stories like Kidnapped and Treasure Island may be considered classics, but they're also full of adventure and intrigue — the sort of stories that make you wish you were one of his characters, sailing the high seas, looking for buried treasure, fighting to reclaim your legacy.
333 - Michael Faraday - The Father of Electricity
August 13, 2020 15:05 - 20 minutes - 28.3 MBWhat is the first name that comes to mind with the mention of electricity? Thomas Edison? Nikola Tesla? Perhaps even Benjamin Franklin. Yet Michael Faraday has every right to belong on that list, too, as it's impossible to imagine a world without his contributions to science. From chemistry to electricity, from theoretical science to practical experiments that revolutionized the world, Faraday's contributions can't be overstated. And there's more to the story than just success; it's also a ...
332 - Jakob Fugger - The Richest Man Who Ever Lived
August 12, 2020 14:23 - 20 minutes - 28.2 MBFor as long as mankind has had currency, a system of trading, and a market economy, the world has been split into the "haves" and the "have-nots," … and for much of that time, there's been a huge gap between the two. The idea of the 1 percent isn't a new concept by any means, and in order to talk about one of the richest men in history, we'll have to go all the way back to the 15th century. The man who would become known as Jakob Fugger the Rich was born in 1459, and he had an advantage tha...
331 - Richard the Lionheart - The Crusader King
August 10, 2020 14:51 - 21 minutes - 30.1 MB“He was a bad son, a bad husband, and a bad king, but a gallant and splendid soldier.” That was the description that historian Sir Steven Runciman thought best fitted Richard I. This was in line with the criticism brought against Richard by Victorian scholar William Stubbs who considered him a “mere warrior” who had no care for his kingdom or sympathy for its people. Indeed, Richard I was an absentee ruler, spending only a combined six months out of his ten-year reign in England. The rest o...
330 - The Wright Brothers First in Flight and Family
August 07, 2020 15:30 - 21 minutes - 29 MBHistory is a delicate endeavor. It tends to remember those who make a lasting impact as larger-than-life figures, defined by their contributions, as well as the the effects the ripple and unfold after the fact. It's easy to forget that many of the people who shaped our world started out just like everyone else. They had to obey their parents, for better or worse. They played — and argued — with their siblings. They got into trouble in school. They struggled to find a direction in life.
329 - Musa I of Mali - The Real Life King Midas
August 06, 2020 15:26 - 24 minutes - 33.4 MBPicture the richest person you can possibly imagine. Is it Jeff Bezos, the super-wealthy Amazon founder? Or maybe Microsoft head Bill Gates? No matter who you chose, their wealth will still be peanuts next to the subject of today’s video. Musa I was a man so wealthy that the true extent of his riches are almost indescribable. The ruler of the Malian Empire from 1312 AD to around 1337, Musa was a man whose life was built on gold. As king he personally owned over half the Old World’s known gol...
328 - The 47 Ronin - Japans Greatest Tale of Vengeance
August 05, 2020 15:36 - 20 minutes - 28.1 MBThis tremendous tale of samurai loyalty and honor goes by several names. It is usually referred to as the Akō jiken in Japan, translated as the Akō incident, or sometimes the Akō vendetta. It has been featured so prominently in Japanese literature and kabuki theater that it spawned its own genre - Chūshingura, or The Treasure of Loyal Retainers, that only includes fictional stories based on this historical event.
327 - Olive Oatman - Life among the Mohave
August 04, 2020 15:32 - 18 minutes - 24.9 MBEven those who aren't familiar with the name "Olive Oatman" are undoubtedly familiar with her photo. The young, dark-haired girl with the solemn expression and distinctive chin tattoo has become synonymous with the hardships faced by the pioneers who set out as a part of America's Westward Expansion, a mass migration that helped shape the middle of the 19th century.
326 - Porfirio Diaz Mexicos Gentleman Dictator
August 03, 2020 15:28 - 27 minutes - 37.2 MBIn November 1910, Mexico exploded. Triggered by a rigged election, the Mexican Revolution shook the nation. You’ve probably heard of its most-famous sons: Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. You probably even know its biggest set-pieces, such as the 1914 US occupation of Veracruz. But how much do most of us know about the guy who started it all? About the guy whose rule convinced hundreds of thousands of Mexicans to take up arms and fight to overthrow him?
325 - Elvis Presley - Life and Death of the King
July 31, 2020 15:33 - 23 minutes - 32.5 MBHe was the undisputed king of rock n’ roll. In the mid-1950s, 20-year old Elvis Presley exploded onto the airwaves. With a rockabilly blend of country music and blues, his curled lip, and his trademark wiggling hips, the southern boy caused a sensation. Coming just as youth culture was taking off, Elvis was everything these new teenagers wanted: dangerous, rebellious, and anathema to their parents. Across the nation, preachers denounced him from their pulpits. Judges issued writs against him...
324 - Tutankhamun - The Boy King of Egypt
July 30, 2020 15:00 - 20 minutes - 28.2 MBOn November 26, 1922, egyptologist Howard Carter entered the tomb he discovered just a few weeks prior. After decades of fruitless searching, he found something more amazing than he could have ever hoped for. When asked if he saw anything inside, he simply replied “Yes, wonderful things.” Carter had located the tomb of a pharaoh from the 18th dynasty who ruled over ancient Egypt during the 14th century BC. More importantly, though, it was a tomb that had been mostly undisturbed for over 3,0...
323 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel - The Genius of the Industrial Revolution
July 29, 2020 14:22 - 22 minutes - 31.5 MBHe’s likely the most famous engineer in history. In 2002, a BBC poll named Isambard Kingdom Brunel the second greatest Briton of all time, second only to Winston Churchill. A key player in the Industrial Revolution, Brunel helped turn Britain into a global powerhouse. Under his guidance, railway tracks were laid across England and Wales at a phenomenal rate; gravity defying bridges were built; and the first modern ships were engineered. With his trademark top hat and cigar, Brunel became an ...
322 - Melita Norwood - The Soviet Unions Longest-Serving British Spy
July 27, 2020 14:09 - 21 minutes - 29.9 MBImagine the scenario: you have an adorable grandmother, beloved by friends and family. She tends to her roses, bakes pies, and grows her own vegetables. You know she works for some sort of government outfit, something to do with science and metals. You know that now and then, she takes long trips to the other side of town. You don’t know exactly where she is going, or who she is meeting, but she always looks excited.
321 - Jimi Hendrix - Life and Death of an Electric Alchemist
July 24, 2020 13:20 - 27 minutes - 38.1 MBEven if you never cared for his songs, you surely heard of him. He was a musical prodigy, the first real electric guitar hero. He grew from humble beginnings and a fractured family to establish himself as one of the most influential guitarists of all time, a major force in 20th century music. Get ready to jam out on your air-guitar with today’s protagonist: Jimi Hendrix.
320 - Carl Linnaeus - The Father of Taxonomy
July 23, 2020 14:54 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBCarl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707, in Råshult, a tiny village in the province of Småland in southern Sweden. He was the eldest of five children to Nils Ingemarsson Linnaeus and Christina Brodersonia. His father was a church minister and an amateur botanist who believed in the importance of a good education. Ever since Carl was a little boy, he and his father would take trips through the garden where Nils taught him everything he knew about plants.
319 - Cornelius Vanderbilt - Americas First Tycoon
July 22, 2020 15:50 - 21 minutes - 29.1 MBCornelius Vanderbilt wasn’t exactly what you would expect out of one of the richest men in the world. He was brutish, ill-mannered, barely literate, and swore like a sailor. But, perhaps, it was these same traits that made him the definition of the American Dream with all the good and the bad that that entailed. He rose up from nothing; from less than nothing, in fact. His Dutch ancestors came to the New World as indentured servants. But through hard work and a keen eye towards the future he...
318 - Roald Dahl - The Incredible Life of an Incredible Author
July 21, 2020 11:27 - 29 minutes - 40.3 MBMany of us have grown up with his stories. In some cases, some of us even grew up because of his stories. We all know about his characters: the enigmatic chocolate magnate, the six-year-old girl genius, the fox and the tortoise. But how much do you know about his adventures as a fighter pilot, his espionage activities, and his contributions to medicine?
317 - George Washington Carver - More than Just the Peanut Man
July 20, 2020 15:40 - 20 minutes - 28.3 MBGeorge Washington Carver was born in a small town called Diamond Grove in Newton County, Missouri, today known simply as Diamond. His birth date is a mystery. Because he was born into slavery, the exact date was never recorded. It was sometime during the mid 1860s, but before slavery was abolished in January 1865. Later, Carver said that it happened “near the end of the war” so 1864 is generally given as his year of birth.
316 - Enrico Fermi - Godfather of the Atomic Bomb
July 17, 2020 15:52 - 24 minutes - 33.2 MBWho do you think of when you hear the words “father of the atomic bomb”? We’re guessing it’s Robert Oppenheimer, the leader of the Manhattan Project who famously responded to the first A-Bomb test by declaring “now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.” But what if we told you there was another contender? A scientist who came this close to making the big breakthrough in 1934… a breakthrough that could have resulted in Nazi Germany developing the world’s first nuclear weapon. The scientist ...
315 - Roald Amundsen - Conqueror of the South Pole
July 16, 2020 13:18 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MBThere was a period in history between 1898 and 1922 dubbed the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. It marked a time when daring adventurers set their sights on one of the few lands that still escaped humanity’s reach - the Antarctic. And this land was harsh, cold, and unforgiving, and all the people who dared face this unknown knew there was a good chance they might not come back. Generally, 17 expeditions are considered part of this era which made legends of men such as Ernest Shackleton, ...
314 - Wild Bill Hickok - Legendary Lawman of the Wild West
July 15, 2020 14:53 - 19 minutes - 27.5 MBAs a marshal, Wild Bill Hickok took a hands-off approach. He spent most of his day gambling in the saloon and his deputies knew where to find him if they needed him. And even though he policed some of the most lawless towns out in the west, this technique worked more often than not. Even back then, his name and reputation were enough to make other gunslingers think twice about causing trouble in the town where Wild Bill was the law.
313 - Hannibal Romes - Greatest Enemy
July 14, 2020 14:30 - 21 minutes - 29 MBThe power of Ancient Rome seems absolute today, but that wasn’t always the case. Over 150 years before the great drama of Julius Caesar, the Roman Republic faced its greatest existential threat. Carthage, the great North African merchant empire, battled Rome for supremacy of the Mediterrenean. And at the vanguard of Carthage’s forces was one of the most brilliant tacticians the world has ever seen: Hannibal.
312 - Kublai Khan - Chinas Mongol Emperor
July 13, 2020 14:30 - 23 minutes - 32.1 MBIn 1298, a manuscript was published that took Western Europe by storm. Known today as the Travels of Marco Polo, it detailed the Venetian’s adventures in Asia - from India, to Japan, to Sri Lanka. Impressive as those tales were, though, it was the figure at the heart of Book Two who really set Europe alight. The wise, ancient emperor who ruled a China so wealthy, so enlightened, that it seemed like Heaven on Earth. That great emperor’s name was Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty and gr...
311 - Robert Johnson - How The Blues Never Lost Its Soul
July 10, 2020 15:35 - 12 minutes - 17.7 MBThere are many tales of people achieving all sorts of fortune and fame by selling their souls to the devil. Blues guitarist Robert Johnson is probably the most famous subject of that tall tale. The legend goes that he offered his soul at a Mississippi Delta crossroads, and in return he would receive musical success and talents beyond his wildest dreams. And, yes, to this day he is considered a pioneer of American blues guitar and songwriting. But the devil is in the details. And with a life ...
310 - Horatio Nelson - Britains Most Beloved Sailor
July 09, 2020 15:38 - 20 minutes - 28.5 MBHoratio Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe on Sept. 29, 1758. He entered the Royal Navy at the age of 12, and by 20 he had risen from midshipman to commander. In 1780 Nelson took a convoy to America and the West Indies, but the Admiralty placed him on half pay the next year after the American Revolution ended. Nelson then went to France to learn the language.
309 - Calico Jack - The Worst Pirate
July 07, 2020 15:40 - 20 minutes - 28.6 MBJohn Rackham (26 December 1682 – 18 November 1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, while Jack is a nickname for "John".
308 - Frederick Sanger - The Quest for DNA Sequencing
July 06, 2020 13:55 - 24 minutes - 34.1 MBIn the 125 years since Alfred Nobel’s estate first established the Nobel Prize, Cambridge University has had a remarkable group of laureates honored for their work. Their names are synonymous with excellence and innovation: Bertrand Russell. Francis Crick. Neils Bohr. Milton Friedman. There are literally a hundred more.
307 - Marcus Aurelius - The Philosopher King
July 03, 2020 15:26 - 23 minutes - 32 MBAll good things must come to an end. And so did the Pax Romana, a 200-year-long period of time which represented the Roman Empire at its most glorious and most powerful. It started with the formation of the empire under Augustus and ended with the death of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors.
306 - William the Conqueror - Warrior King
July 02, 2020 14:00 - 18 minutes - 25.7 MB1066 CE. The English Throne sits vacant after the King dies without an heir. Three claimants to the title quickly rise, and prepare to do battle over who would wear the crown. At the end of this turbulent year, invasions would be mounted, battles would be fought, and only one man would be left standing with the prize grasped in his bloody fist. It is a tale that reads easier as fiction than fact, and in fact has been the inspiration for many famous fictional dynastic struggles, including Ga...
305 - Harry S. Truman - The Accidental President
July 01, 2020 13:12 - 25 minutes - 35.4 MBIn 1922, Harry Truman sat in his mother-in-law’s house in small town Missouri, contemplating the failure that had been his life. He was nearly 40; behind him lay a string of failed businesses and unfulfilling odd-jobs. He was close to bankrupt, deeply in debt, and looked down upon by his wife’s elitist family. Aside from one brief stint in the Army, he had never lived outside his one horse town. He was, in short, a loser. A man who had failed at life so thoroughly even Jon Arbuckle would app...
304 - The Spanish Flu - The Greatest Pandemic of the 20th Century
June 30, 2020 14:43 - 29 minutes - 40.4 MBThe “Spanish” flu pandemic was the single worst disease episode in modern world history. In the space of eighteen months in 1918-1919, its four epidemic waves killed tens of millions of people around the globe, ravaging a population that had already been exhausted by the mass killing tactics of the War to End All Wars. In today’s video we will look at the Spanish flu from three perspectives: first, how did it spread across the world and what was its impact on the every day lives of ordinary...