We’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and it had us thinking about an episode we produced in 2014. It’s the story of one sentence, written in the hours after September 11th, 2001, that has led to the longest war in U.S. history. We examine how just 60 words ...Show more
Dolly Parton's America: Sad Ass Songs
The world lost a legend recently, and we wanted in some small way to pay tribute to the great Dolly Parton. So we’re playing you an episode from a series we had a small part in back in 2017, Dolly Parton’s America. The series kicked off with a simple question: How did the queen o ...Show more
A double header about the history of first names and last names. “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” As Romeo pondered the significance of the moniker of his beloved we have to admit, names are something we take for granted but the ...Show more
Michael Rosen talks to journalist Sheela Banerjee about the family and cultural histories revealed by our names. In her book What’s in a Name? Friendship, Identity and History in Modern Multicultural Britain, she takes a deep dive into her own personal and family names and those ...Show more
Say My Name, Say My Name: 9 Fantastic Eponyms and the People Behind Them
From boycotts to mavericks, nachos to Zamboni's, there are a whole lot of words we mindlessly use without thinking about the namesakes behind them. This week Will and Mango pay tribute to the fantastic gentleman the leotard is named for, a doctor who did not want a machine named ...Show more