The Real Network Blind History

Blind History

Blind History is a crash course in getting to know history’s greatest men and women - and by great we don’t always mean good.

Hosted by Gareth Cliff and Anthony Mederer, this series will tell you what the history books sometimes leave out - the sordid stories, the less well-known details, some of the stuff they didn’t teach you at school.

Each person will help you put a piece of the puzzle in place, and bring history to life.
Weekly English South Africa History · Education
98 Episodes
32 – 52

Jesse James

The most famous bandit of the Wild West, Jesse James and his gang terrorised many American cities for more than a decade. Apart from a treacherous death, a crazy mom and many crimes, we’ll tell you all about one of the most dangerous men the USA ever knew…
1 Jun 2021 17 min

Hernán Cortés

To the Spanish he was a conquering hero, a conquistador, spreading Christianity to the 'savage tribes' of the new world. To the Aztecs and the native people of Central America, he was a harbinger of death, a destroyer of culture, and a frightening apparition that heralded the end of their…
25 May 2021 21 min

Leopold II

We know you love the bad guys, but this one is close to impossible to like. The fact that he perpetrated his crimes against humanity only three generations ago makes it somehow more monstrous. When the story of humanity is told, King Leopold II of the Belgians will not find…
18 May 2021 18 min

Vikings

The fearsome northmen in all their violence, strength, courage and ferocity probably shouldn’t be summarised in one lowly episode, but we’ll tell you how much more they gave us, and not just words like pillage and ransack. Their gods, society, women and sophistication were every bit as crucial as their…
11 May 2021 18 min

Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII lived at a great intersection of history... where Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome collided. She was undoubtedly one of the personalities of the age - and a woman of tremendous power and influence. While the story ended in Shakespearean tragedy, to have seen history unfold through…
4 May 2021 18 min

Robert Sobukwe

Robert Sobukwe was one of the great thinkers and leaders of the struggle for democracy and freedom in South Africa. A humble man of academic bent, he ended up founding the Pan-Africanist Congress and was sentenced to solitary confinement on Robben Island. His story is both sad and inspiring, but…
28 Apr 2021 20 min

King George III

The longest reigning King of England watched the birth of America, the French Revolution, the dawn of modern science and the Agricultural revolution without ever leaving England. In fact, he hardly left Windsor. He was proud to be English and his bizarre eccentricities eventually proved to be real madness -…
20 Apr 2021 20 min

Al Capone

Before the words ‘gangster', ‘thug', ‘mafia' and 'mob boss' were used by pretenders, rappers and small-time thieves, those words were used to describe really dangerous, wily, streetwise and charismatic underworld people... people who started modern organised crime in America. Al Capone was the most real of them all.
13 Apr 2021 20 min

Bonus episode: Simon Sebag Montefiore

Blind History has spanned centuries of incredible people and events. We’ve marvelled at the heroic efforts of titans, and could scarcely believe the evil of some of history’s villains. But, good or bad, they’ve all helped shape the world in which we live. And someone who helped to bring these…
15 Dec 2020 38 min

Maximilien Robespierre

The Terror! That’s what they called it. Nobody was safe from the depraved madness of the peak of the French Revolution… and the fearsome man who became virtual dictator - Maximilien Robespierre. He came from humble origins, but bore the scars of a life of rejection - and he took…
15 Dec 2020 23 min

Tomás de Torquemada

Torquemada! The name that struck fear into Spanish conversos and just about everyone else in Spain in the 15th Century. Torquemada! Grand Inquisitor and the all-powerful religious zealot who burned thousands and tortured many more thousands in his quest to rid Spain of sin. Torquemada - who had the ear…
8 Dec 2020 20 min

Pirates

In this episode of Blind History, we take you on a rollercoaster ride featuring some of the terrifying men (and women) who ruled the seas. Were the most famous pirates of history one-eyed, one-legged, parrot-on-the-shoulder caricatures, or were they - like so many of the greatest characters from our past -…
1 Dec 2020 20 min

Grigori Rasputin

The dirty, smelly Siberian peasant was a bizarre fixture at the richest, most extravagant court in the world, and for a time, he might have been the most powerful man in the Empire. Grigori Rasputin was a celebrity, a priest, a seducer of women and a healer. He was also…
24 Nov 2020 20 min

Wu Zetian

There was once a great emperor, who ruled over the most cosmopolitan and rich empire. This emperor built skyscrapers, palaces, giant statues and ruled for half a century. This isn’t the start of a fairytale, and it isn’t the story you might expect. This emperor was a woman... and she…
17 Nov 2020 19 min

Lawrence of Arabia

The modern Englishman can only dream of a life of adventure, exploration, excitement and provenance. Sadly, those days may be gone. For the enduring spirit of T.E. Lawrence, his influence on the Middle East is still being felt. Lawrence of Arabia may only be familiar to you because of the movie, but his real life was perhaps even more epic.
10 Nov 2020 21 min

Lawrence of Arabia

The modern Englishman can only dream of a life of adventure, exploration, excitement and provenance. Sadly, those days may be gone. For the enduring spirit of T.E. Lawrence, his influence on the Middle East is still being felt. Lawrence of Arabia may only be familiar to you because of the…
10 Nov 2020 21 min

The Borgias

The name Lucrezia Borgia is synonymous with poison, the name Cesare Borgia with murder, and the name Rodrigo Borgia with orgies, incest and nepotism. Maybe that’s why he changed his name to Pope Alexander VI when he was elected by the college of cardinals. Were the Borgias really the worst…
3 Nov 2020 18 min

Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar was the Napoleon of South America - although if you called him that, he might have cut your head off. He could have had the easy life of a rich landowner in Venezuela, but chose instead to create a new Europe in South America. Bolívar made a mark on…
27 Oct 2020 15 min

Pol Pot

Pol Pot sounds like the kind of dish you’d order at a Cambodian restaurant - but it’s actually the name of one of the most horrific people ever to walk the Earth. For some reason he never makes it to the first division of truly maniacal, genocidal monsters of history…
20 Oct 2020 21 min

Paul Kruger

Although he was born Stefanus, nobody ever called him that. Paul Kruger went from pioneer, hunter and farmer to being the loneliest old man in Switzerland, dying on the banks of Lake Geneva. The part in between was remarkable. 
13 Oct 2020 21 min
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