Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPod HistoryHit Network - Twitter Facebook

Producer - Dan Morelle

Dr Sam Willis and Professor James Daybell whisk you through the mysterious crannies in the unexpected history of pockets! For more exclusive interviews and documentaries, subscribe to HistoryHit.TV - a new kind of history channel.

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Theme tune: Dan Morelle

Dr Sam Willis & Professor James Daybell explore the unexpected history of bells. For more exclusive history documentaries & interviews, subscribe to HistoryHit.TV.

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

James and Sam explore the UNEXPECTED history of the Vikings. Who knew that the Vikings are all about graffiti, break-ins, criminal profiling, colour, teeth, keys, birds, nicknames, saunas, silk, mischief, staffs and goading!

Sam and James discuss the unexpected history of the Nazis. They're all about, motherhood, shame, medals, public speaking, architecture and cars....who knew?

James and Sam explain how you can think about the history of humans...it's all about behaviour, art, hands, animals, hats...you'll never think about yourself in the same way ever again...GUARANTEED.

Dr Sam Willis & Professor James Daybell explore the unexpected history of Christmas in the first of this two part series. For more exclusive history documentaries & interviews, subscribe to HistoryHit.TV.

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Peter Curry

Dr Sam Willis & Professor James Daybell explore the unexpected history of accidents. For more exclusive history interviews and documentaries, subscribe to HistoryHit.TV.

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Sam Willis and James Daybell tackle the UNEXPECTED history of FABRIC! It's all about museums, (especially the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Vasa Museum) LGBTQ+, flags, handkerchiefs in WW2, silk, the Vikings, trade, subversion, heirlooms, communication, politics...a whole world of fabulous history.

Sam and James discuss all of the unexpected aspects of WWII, which is all about rubble, carrots, blood, pockets, suicide, gates, Zen Buddhism, furniture, cancer, Mozart, King Arthur, cows, mothers, puppets, handkerchiefs, and much, much more! It's not just all about the Nazis, Churchill and the Battle of Britain...

Dr Sam Willis & Professor James Daybell discover the unexpected history of nonsense! For more exclusive history interviews and documentaries, subscribe to HistoryHit.TV.

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

James and Sam explain how you can think about the history of spies...it's all about honey, codes, eggs and invisibility!

James and Sam explain why the Reformation - that schism in the Christian church in the sixteenth century that transformed the landscape of Europe - is actually all about fire, windows, bones and kissing!

In this episode Dr Sam Willis and Professor James Daybell talk about the unexpected history pirates, which is all about authors, cross-dressing, ferocious women, childhood memory, beards and empire.

In this episode, James interviews Miss Walsingham herself, Nadine Akkerman from Leiden University on her new book about seventeenth-century female spies, 'Invisible Agents'!

Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis
Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell
Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPod
HistoryHit Network - Twitter Facebook

Producer - Dan Morelle For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Sam Willis and James Daybell take on the UNEXPECTED history of CLOTHING! It's all about social control, death, recycling and mending, nationalism, Venice, knights and maidens, the Crown Jewels, ostriches, Thomas Wolsey, and the rediscovery of a long lost dress that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth I of England!

Sam Willis and James Daybell are inspired by the new film Judy and Punch to explore the fascinating history of puppets! They're all about noses, propaganda, domestic violence, totalitarian rule, mischief, squeaking, industrialisation and disease. Who knew?!!!

Inspired by Bonfire Night, Sam Willis and James Daybell explore the unexpected history of fire. It's all about communicating with fire, propaganda, speeches, hunting, exploring, Captain Cook, arrows, burning barrels, heresy, greed, Zoroastrianism, the rise of Islam, eternal flames, paisley, Dante's Inferno, treachery and Julius Caesar!

Inspired by Halloween and Bonfire Night, Sam and James discuss the unexpected history of blood and bones: it's all about prehistoric axes, mass graves, Viking armies, Tudor surgery, bear baiting, blood sports, how much it costs to make a human being, Ottomans, Italy, and eating human bone powder. So that's cannibalism too...

Sam and James explore the UNEXPECTED history of the Spanish Armada. It's all about collapsed expectation, flags, spies (as always), threat, fire, people not doing the right jobs, seasickness and lies.

Sam Willis and James Daybell tackle the UNEXPECTED history of FABRIC! It's all about museums, (especially the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Vasa Museum) LGBTQ+, flags, handkerchiefs in WW2, silk, the Vikings, trade, subversion, heirlooms, communication, politics...a whole world of fabulous history.

In this episode, James interviews Miss Walsingham herself, Nadine Akkerman from Leiden University on her new book about seventeenth-century female spies, 'Invisible Agents'!

James and Sam explain how you can think about the history of spies...it's all about honey, codes, eggs and invisibility!

Sam spends a happy hour talking to the scientist Adam Rutherford about humans! The history of humans is all about - masks, ties, make-up, sea-otters, penguins, and whales playing the violin.

James and Sam explain how you can think about the history of humans...it's all about behaviour, art, hands, animals, hats...you'll never think about yourself in the same way ever again...GUARANTEED.

James and Sam take time out before their show at Dartington Hall to explore its UNEXPECTED history: It's all about the history of wild swimming, accidents, hiding, subversion and the Knights Templar!

Sam and James explore the extraordinary history of executions! It's all about judgement and seagulls - and obviously pirates and highwaymen, And cannibals. And fattening. And the law. And wheels and entrails. And encouragement. And speeches. And smiles, propaganda, entertainment and...the self. And poor old Lady Jane Grey.

Sam and James take time out from preparing their live show at Beaminster to visit the local museum and discuss their latest discoveries. Beaminster? Well it's all about pronunciation, community, witches, punishment and, of course...deer.

Sam and James continue their Unexpected History of Cricket with an interview of Vic Marks, England and Somerset spin bowler, author, journalist and legend of the BBC Test Match Special commentary team. It's all about cowmen, photos, memory, language and entertainers....

Sam and James discuss the unexpected history of the Nazis. They're all about, motherhood, shame, medals, public speaking, architecture and cars....who knew?

Sam and James discuss the unexpected history of cricket! It's all about empire, sexism, national perceptions of history, slavery, violence and hurricanes...

James and Sam explain why the Reformation - that schism in the Christian church in the sixteenth century that transformed the landscape of Europe - is actually all about fire, windows, bones and kissing!

James and I chat before our show at the Cambridge History Festival at the beautiful Wimpole Hall just outside of Cambridge. It's a beautiful country house built in the 1640s and it's all about...symmetry, ruins, yellow, windows, sitting down and standing up!

In this episode Dr Sam Willis and Professor James Daybell talk about the unexpected history pirates, which is all about authors, cross-dressing, ferocious women, childhood memory, beards and empire.

James and Sam launch their first Green Room podcast! Unexpected historical thoughts as they travel around the country's theatres and arts centres with their Histories of the Unexpected show...this one's about shopping lists and the history of lost fame...