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History Hit


This podcast investigates the curious history of invention and innovation. Did Thomas Edison take credit for things he didn’t actually invent? What everyday items have surprising origins? And would man have ever got to the moon without… the bra? 


Each episode host Dallas Campbell dives into stories of flukey discoveries, erased individuals and merky marketing ploys with the help of experts, scientists and historians. 


Expect new episodes every Wednesday and Sunday. 


Patented: History of Inventions

Stories of invention and innovation through history hosted by Dallas Campbell.

Welcome to Patented: History of Inventions

Over the course of only half a century, genetic engineering has developed from an intellectual concept to a medical reality. Yet the ethical and moral questions underpinning it remain unanswered.

Genetically modified crops, illegal human experimentation, and a handy hip-hop analogy - Dallas is joined by Dr Adam Rutherford (The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry, BBC R4) to help dig into the story of this invention, that is still very much in progress

For more History Hit content, subscribe to our History Hit newsletter here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Genetic Engineering

The revolution in speed ground to a halt in the 1960s. The previous half-century saw great leaps in how quickly people could get from place to place: high-speed railways, cars, intercontinental flight. In our lifetime transport may have become safer and comfier — but we aren't getting anywhere any faster. 

How did these great leaps happen? What grove this focus on transport innovation and where does collaboration come into play? And why has the focus shifted? 

In this episode, we talk to Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works, about the acceleration of transport innovation from the steam engine to space travel. 

This episode was produced by Emily Whalley

The senior producer is Charlotte Long

Edited and mixed by Seyi Adaobi

Steam Engines and Transport Innovators

Drone technology has transformed the way we wage war today. They have been key in every major conflict since at least 2008, including the current war in Ukraine. But military drones have a much longer history than you might imagine, dating all the way back to the First World War.

In this episode Dallas is joined by James Rogers, host of History Hit's very own Warfare podcast, who walks us through the century-long history of military drones.

For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Military Drones

As today’s guest puts it, there have been condoms for as long as there have been penises. But, how did condoms as we know them — thin, latex and single use — come about?

This episode, Dr Jessica Borge, author of Protective Practices: A History of the London Rubber Company and the Condom Business, explains it all through the story of the world's most popular contraceptive brand, Durex.

Find out more about Jessica's work here: www.londonrubbercompany.com.

For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Condoms

In a world at war, and with no end in sight, the atomic bomb was positioned to be the one weapon that could end the conflict for good.

In this episode Dallas is joined by Dr Campbell Craig, who argues that it may have put an end to World War Two — but also laid the foundations for the Cold War that was to define the second half of the 20th century, as well as continued anxieties to this day.

For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

The Atomic Bomb

Kellogg's Cornflakes are arguably the most iconic breakfast cereal, and for good reason. It was this product that launched breakfast cereal as we know and love today. But as with all good invention stories, it isn’t quite as simple as a good idea at the right time.

The invention of Cornflakes is wrapped up in 20th Century health fads, transformations in labour and the mother of all family feuds. Today Dallas is joined by food historian Sarah Wassberg Johnson to get the full story.

For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Breakfast Cereal

Creating a successful spacesuit was one of the biggest challenges in man's quest to land on the moon. And, it required borrowing skills from some surprising places to pull it off.... namely, women's underwear.

With the help of Ryan Nagata, artist and replica spacesuit maker, we chart the evolution of the spacesuit from the Wiley Posts, to the iconic Apollo suits and beyond.

For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Spacesuits

In medieval times it was monks who were the masters of invention. They were the most educated members of society who saw scientific and philosophical investigation as a way to get closer to god. However, any experimentation had to be carefully balanced with religion, the threat of being labelled a heretic looming large. 

Today Dallas is joined by Matt Lewis, co-host of our sister podcast Gone Medieval, who explains how monks navigated this balance and tells the story of one man in particular: Roger Bacon. A friar and incredible polymath, Bacon has been credited with designing the magnifying glass but also predicted cars, powered ships and manned flight.

For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Monks: Medieval Masters of Invention

Ear Trumpets are seen as old fashioned and clumsy, mostly deployed in pop culture for comic effect as a snarky shorthand for how old and out-of-touch a person is.

But during the Enlightenment there was a wider embrace of this new technology as a means of increased participation.

This episode we are joined by medical historian Dr Ruben Verwaal to explore how the popularity and stigma of the ear trumpet tracks with attitudes towards deafness, and where our cynicism towards the ear trumpet came from.

The Ear Trumpet

This is the story of the first modern computer program and the extraordinary woman who wrote it, Klara von Neumann.

The program Klara wrote was a list of numbers eight hundred odd lines long. Gibberish to look at now but to the room-sized computer she was working with, it translated into a sophisticated set of instructions telling it how to map out the path neutrons would take inside nuclear bombs.

To mark International Women’s Day we’re going in search of Klara von Neumann and giving her the recognition she so richly deserves.

Dallas’s guest to make this happen is Ananyo Bhattacharya. Ananyo wrote a wonderful book about John von Neumann called The Man from the Future and has championed Klara and her work.

Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

The First Computer Program

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