Best Written By Alexander Podcasts (2025)

1
The Panda Was First Discovered By Theodore Roosevelt’s Sons During a 9-Month Expedition in Himalayan China 42:05

Play Pause

7h ago42:05

42:05

In the late 1920s, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his younger brother Kermit, sons of President Theodore Roosevelt, wanted fame and glory apart from the family spotlight. They were seeking the “empty spots” on the maps, the areas that had yet to be explored and described by Westerners. From these remote places, they hoped to bring back exotic animals t…

1
22nd July 1793: Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first recorded person to cross North America north of Mexico

14h ago

—

On 22 July, after travelling more than 3,000 miles, Mackenzie and his party reached the Pacific tidewaters at Dean Channel, near present-day Bella Coola, British ...By Scott Allsop

1
21st July 1861: First Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the American Civil War, takes place in Virginia

1d ago

—

Union troops, facing increasing resistance and mounting casualties, began to retreat in what soon turned into a disorganised ...By Scott Allsop

1
20th July 1807: The world’s first internal combustion engine is patented in France

3d ago

—

Napoleon granted a patent for the Pyréolophore to Nicéphore Niépce and his brother ...By Scott Allsop

1
19th July 1545: The Mary Rose, a Tudor warship of the English navy, sinks in the Solent in full view of King Henry VIII

4d ago

—

According to contemporary accounts, the Mary Rose had just fired a broadside at the French navy, and was turning when she keeled over and ...By Scott Allsop

1
18th July 1938: ‘Wrong Way’ Douglas Corrigan lands in Ireland from New York, despite filing a flight plan to Long Beach, California

5d ago

—

Corrigan later claimed that a navigational error, caused by a faulty compass and poor weather conditions, had led him to fly east to Ireland instead of west to ...By Scott Allsop

1
The Wayfaring Stranger- A folk and gospel song from 1858 still relevant today! 7:45

5d ago7:45

7:45

A review of the folk and gospel song The Wayfaring Stranger. The song first published in 1858, is still relevant for today’s audiences. The podcast provides a sample of the song, talks thru the most common lyrics, and provides a short history of the song. ENJOY the podcast! Thanks, Joey Your kind thoughts are appreciated.😁…

1
How Do We Really Know What Happened in the Past When Many Historians Were Propagandists and AI is Fabricating Everything Else? 48:46

5d ago48:46

48:46

“History is written by the winners.” This aphorism is catchy and it makes an important point that a lot of what we know about history was written with an agenda, not for the purposes of informing us. Unfortunately, it isn’t true. There are many times that the so-called “losers” wrote the histories remembered today. After the American Civil War, Sou…

1
17th July 1918: Russian Imperial Romanov family shot dead by Bolsheviks in the basement of the Ipatiev House in the city of Ekaterinburg

6d ago

—

The Romanov family were all shot or stabbed by bayonets, and their bodies were taken away in a truck and disposed of in a forest twelve miles north of the ...By Scott Allsop

1
16th July 622: Start date of the Islamic calendar

7d ago

—

The Islamic calendar was dated to start with the first new moon after the Prophet Muhammad and his followers migrated to ...By Scott Allsop

1
Eugénie de Montijo: The Spanish Empress Who Built Modern Paris and is Blamed For Imperial France’s Downfall 45:45

7d ago45:45

45:45

Thirty-three years after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empire, his nephew (known as Napoleon III) became the first president of France before becoming emperor himself. Although he was a capable ruler and reformer, Napoleon III’s failed military campaigns, especially France’s loss to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War, led to his defeat, capture,…

1
15th July 1099: First Crusade ends when Crusader forces capture the city of Jerusalem, after a siege lasting several weeks

8d ago

—

After two days of fighting, the Crusaders breached Jerusalem's defences and entered the city, leading to intense fighting in the streets and buildings that led to a large-scale massacre of the city’s Muslim and Jewish ...By Scott Allsop

1
14th July 1881: American outlaw Billy the Kid shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett

9d ago

—

American outlaw Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New ...By Scott Allsop

1
13th July 1985: The Live Aid ‘global jukebox’ concert broadcast to an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion people

10d ago

—

News reports the day after the concert stated that Live Aid had raised upwards of £40 ...By Scott Allsop

1
12th July 1790: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed by the National Constituent Assembly of France

11d ago

—

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy restructured the Church in France to align with the new administrative divisions of the country, bringing the Church under the control of the state and reducing the influence of the papacy in French ecclesiastical ...By Scott Allsop

1
11th July 1962: The world’s first satellite television broadcast took place using the recently-launched Telstar satellite

12d ago

—

Telstar's first broadcast involved relaying an image of a flag outside its base station at Andover Earth Station to the Pleumeur-Bodou earth station in ...By Scott Allsop

1
John Adams: The Most Influential Yet Overlooked Founding Father? 38:38

12d ago38:38

38:38

John Adams is arguably America’s most underrated Founding Father. He has no currency that bears his image. No national holidays celebrate his birth. He’s nearly never named as anyone’s favorite president. And he has no dedicated memorial in Washington, D.C. Despite this, he was perhaps the most influential early American, rivaling Washington, Jeffe…

1
10th July 1940: The Vichy government established in France

13d ago

—

The Vichy government was established in France after the National Assembly approved a new French Constitutional Law that granted full powers to Marshal ...By Scott Allsop

1
Edgar Allan Poe: The Forgotten 36:38

13d ago36:38

36:38

Two stories from Edgar Allan Poe about the masks we wear and the work we do and the profound consequences of both. Today's stories were adapted from: "Hop-frog" by Edgar Allan Poe: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Tales_of_Mystery_and_Imagination/Hop-Frog "The Oval Portrait" by Edgar Allan Poe: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Works_of_the_…

1
9th July 1877: The world’s first official lawn tennis tournament begins at Wimbledon in London

14d ago

—

The first Wimbledon Championship was staged in order to raise money to repair the roller that was used to maintain the lawns at the club, and only featured a Gentlemen’s Singles ...By Scott Allsop

1
Presenting: The Perfect Sentence 12:14

14d ago12:14

12:14

The Perfect Sentence is an audio fiction concept album written by Jeff Van Dreason and Oliver Morris (Kane and Feels). It's coming out on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and other music streaming services on Friday, July 11th. There will be an online listening party on July 10th at 10pm EST. Click here to register for the Zoom event.…

1
Why Thomas More -- Henry VIII’s Hatchet Man and Heretic Hunter -- Was Himself Executed For Heresy After the English Reformation 49:11

14d ago49:11

49:11

Thomas More was one of the most famous—and notorious—figures in English history. Born into the era of the Wars of the Roses, educated during the European Renaissance, rising to become Chancellor of England, and ultimately destroyed by Henry VIII, he hunted Protestants for heresy and had them burnt at the stake in the final years of Catholic England…

1
8th July 1497: Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon on the first known voyage to India from Europe

15d ago

—

In May 1498, the expedition reached the Indian city of Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast. Da Gama met with the the local ruler, and attempted to establish a trading ...By Scott Allsop

1
7th July 1928: Pre-sliced and wrapped bread first sold by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri

16d ago

—

The Chillicothe Baking Company's ‘Kleen Maid Sliced Bread’ proved incredibly popular and was advertised as ‘the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was ...By Scott Allsop

1
6th July 1988: Piper Alpha oil platform destroyed by a series of explosions in the deadliest offshore oil disaster in history

17d ago

—

The public inquiry into the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster identified numerous failings in maintenance procedures, communication, design, and emergency ...By Scott Allsop

1
5th July 1865: United States Secret Service established in Washington, D.C., by the Department of the Treasury

18d ago

—

Although the Secret Service is now most commonly associated with the protection of national leaders, this didn’t begin until after the assassination of President William McKinley in September ...By Scott Allsop

1
4th July 1862: Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) first tells the story of Alice in Wonderland

19d ago

—

Charles Dodgson, better known as the author Lewis Carroll, told a story to the sisters Alice, Lorina and Edith Liddell that was to develop into Alice's Adventures in ...By Scott Allsop

1
Eternal Father Strong To Save- The great Hymn written by William Whiting, melody by John Bacchus Dykes. 8:25

19d ago8:25

8:25

A review of the great hymn Eternal Father Strong To Save, written by William Whiting, melody written by John Bacchus Dykes. This great hymn was adopted by the United States Navy, and many other organizations around the world. The music in the background of this podcast is an arrangement of this hymn, written and performed by Gregory Fisher. Below i…

1
Don’t Look to 1903s Germany to Understand American Populism. Look to 1830s New York Revivals Instead. 1:03:45

19d ago1:03:45

1:03:45

Something strange happened in Upstate New York during the 1830s. This area was called the "Burned-Over District" because so many fiery religious revivals swept through that it was metaphorically burned over. This region became a key source of the Second Great Awakening, a Protestant revival movement marked by emotional preaching and mass conversion…

1
3rd July 1973: David Bowie announces the end of Ziggy Stardust during a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London

20d ago

—

Prior to the last song of the performance, Bowie told the crowd, “Not only is it the last show of the tour, but it’s the last show that we’ll ever do.” Even some of the band members were taken by surprise at the ...By Scott Allsop

1
2nd July 1881: American President James A. Garfield shot by Charles J. Guiteau

21d ago

—

James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, ...By Scott Allsop

1
Operation Barbarossa Saw Millions of POW Executions, Civilian Murders, and Starvation Deaths 52:35

21d ago52:35

52:35

Operation Barbarossa, launched by Nazi Germany on June 22, 1941, aimed to swiftly conquer the Soviet Union, targeting key cities like Moscow, Leningrad, and Kyiv. Hitler reportedly said a meeting with his generals before the campaign began "We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down," With German forces …

1
1st July 1979: Sony Corporation releases the Walkman portable cassette player in Japan

22d ago

—

While retailers were unsure about the demand for a playback-only cassette device, Sony conducted street demonstrations and distributed units to celebrities and influencers that led to the Walkman selling over 30,000 units in Japan within its first two ...By Scott Allsop

1
30th June 1894: Tower Bridge in London officially opened by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII

23d ago

—

The opening ceremony was attended by the Lord Chamberlain and the Home Secretary, H. H. Asquith, who watched the Prince of Wales formally declare the bridge open while a parade of vessels passed underneath the raised ...By Scott Allsop

1
29th June 1613: The Globe Theatre in London burns to the ground

24d ago

—

The Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground during a performance of Henry ...By Scott Allsop

1
28th June 1935: United States approves the construction of a vault to hold the country’s gold reserves at Fort Knox, Kentucky

25d ago

—

Constructed of granite-lined concrete and reinforced with steel, the vault is located at the centre of the building. Gold began arriving in January 1937, transported by the U.S. Army in a series of high-security rail ...By Scott Allsop

1
27th June 1950: President Truman sends US navy and air force to Korea

26d ago

—

US President Harry S. Truman ordered air and naval forces to assist South Korea against an invasion by North ...By Scott Allsop

1
Pistol Duels Existed Across the 19th-Century World, But Only the Chaos of the American West Produced Gunfighters 51:30

26d ago51:30

51:30

To understand American history and its deep-seated relationship with violence, we must look to the last three decades of the 1800s in the American West, which had the highest murder rate per capita in American history. And it all boils down to one place: Texas. Texas was born in violence, on two fronts, with Mexico to the south and the Comanche to …

1
26th June 1794: French army makes the first recorded military use of an aircraft for reconnaissance during the Battle of Fleurus

27d ago

—

The aircraft used was a tethered hydrogen balloon named l’Entreprenant, operated by the French army’s newly established Company of Aeronauts, and it represented an innovation in military ...By Scott Allsop

1
Philip K. Dick: Veg 35:49

27d ago35:49

35:49

Dr. Henry Harris has been called to the outpost for asteroid Y-3, humanity's first line of defense against a vast, strange galaxy, because there's a strange infection growing among the soldiers of the outpost: they think they're turning into plants. Adapted from "Piper in the Woods" by Philip K. Dick: (Warning, link NSFW as it contains a drawing of…

1
25th June 1678: Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to receive a PhD

28d ago

—

Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to receive a Doctorate of Philosophy, otherwise known as a ...By Scott Allsop

1
Rome Definitively Eclipsed Greece in 197 BC By Making the Alexandrian Phalanx/Cavalry Obsolete 46:35

28d ago46:35

46:35

The battle of Cynoscephalae represents a key moment in the history of the Greco-Roman world. In this one battle the Macedonian hold over mainland Greece was broken, with the Roman Republic rising in its place as the pre-eminent power in the Greek East. At Cynoscephalae, the proud Macedonian kingdom of Antigonid monarch Philip V was humbled, its arm…

1
24th June 1509: Henry VIII crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in London

29d ago

—

Henry's joint coronation with his wife, Catherine of Aragon, marked the start of a 38 year rule, during which England experienced political, religious, and dynastic changes that dramatically altered the landscape of English ...By Scott Allsop

1
23rd June 1757: British East India Company troops defeat the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey

30d ago

—

The two armies met near the village of Palashi, on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, in present-day West Bengal. Despite commanding an estimated 50,000 troops, his army was ineffective so the Nawab fled the battlefield and was later captured and ...By Scott Allsop

1
22nd June 1942: The words of the Pledge of Allegiance formally adopted by Congress

1M ago

—

Congress formally recognized the Pledge when it was included in the U.S. Flag ...By Scott Allsop

1
21st June 1675: Foundation stone laid for the new St Paul’s Cathedral in London following the Great Fire of London

1M ago

—

St Paul’s Cathedral was completed in 1710, and was the first cathedral in England to be completed under the direction of a single ...By Scott Allsop

1
20th June 1948: The Western Allies introduce the Deutsche Mark in the three western zones of occupied Germany

1M ago

—

The introduction of the Deutsch Mark sought to stabilise the German economy and curb widespread inflation and black-market activity in the aftermath of the Second World War, but caused concern in the Soviet Union which implemented its own currency reform in the eastern zone and soon after began the Berlin ...…

1
Exploring the Wreckage of the Britannic (the Titanic’s Sister Ship) and Discovering Why It Sunk in 50 Minutes 48:25

1M ago48:25

48:25

The RMS Titanic is history’s most famous shipwreck, but it wasn’t the only ship of its kind. The White Star Line built two other nearly identical vessels: The RMS Olympic and Britannic. The Olympic carried passengers until 1935 and can be visited today. The Brittanic sank only four years after her sister ship the Titanic off the Greek island of Kea…