A podcast about history, science, tales and everything in between. A father and son discuss things they are curious about from science and history to monsters and games. We look at the quirky and unusual from around the world as well as seeking out local history, events and characters. We keep it friendly and embrace what we discover - the world is an amazing, curious place.
…
continue reading
This episode we brew poison! But how dangerous is it? Join us to find out as we take a look at the history and science of poison. You’ll learn about the hemlock used to kill Plato and Pliny’s less than effective remedies to the arsenic detecting Marsh test developed in the 1800s. We also find a not so famous Famous Anton who should probably be bett…
…
continue reading
This episode we take a peek at the devil’s picture books – a name given to playing cards. We start with Chinese accounts dating back nearly 1000 years then go via beautiful Mamluk designs to Thomas de la Rue industrialising the printing process 100 years ago. But what are playing cards without magic? We meet one of Anton’s namesakes, Anton Zamloch …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
50: ♠️♥️ Magic and Playing Card History with Magician Lee Asher ♣️♦️
1:25:21
1:25:21
Відтворити пізніше
Відтворити пізніше
Списки
Подобається
Подобається
1:25:21
It’s episode 50 and we have a very special guest - the magician and playing card historian Lee Asher! Anton has been learning magic for the last 18 months and also become an avid playing card collector so Lee was the perfect guy to have on. He’s worked with some of the big names in magic and even invented his own card tricks - his knowledge and adv…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
49: 👁️The Curiosity of Sight. How eyes work and how we discovered that.
1:08:07
1:08:07
Відтворити пізніше
Відтворити пізніше
Списки
Подобається
Подобається
1:08:07
We’re back! Podcasts, being an audio format, make the perfect medium for talking about sight and how eyes work. This episode Anton and I discover how animals see. From the Cambrian Explosion and mass of new creatures that evolved to neutral implants via some unfortunate German rabbits we uncover the history and the science. Show notes: https://curi…
…
continue reading
A mini bonus episode for you to let you know we are talking at Intelligent Speech 2023 this 4 November. Full details and tickets are available at https://intelligentspeechonline.com/ - use offer code curiosity at checkout for 10% off!* As we love you, our listeners, we’re also releasing Anton’s story set in Takarajima from our bonus Patreon treasur…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
48: 🪙 Tales of treasure. Cocos Island, the Centurion and a Hermit
1:19:02
1:19:02
Відтворити пізніше
Відтворити пізніше
Списки
Подобається
Подобається
1:19:02
This episode we go treasure hunting, exploring three stories from around the world focussing on our obsession with greed and wealth. We sail around the globe the wrong way telling an epic tale of survival, visit a tropical island in search of lost treasure and learn about an unusual hermit. Each story is about more than glittering gold and priceles…
…
continue reading
In celebration of Margaret Ann Neve’s birthday we’re re-releasing our feature about her 110 year life! It was buried at the end of episode 19 so deserves to be surfaced. Listen to how much Anton has changed in the 2 and a bit years since release then imagine what 110 years of change must have felt like for Margaret. She was the first person recorde…
…
continue reading
This feature was researched and written by Anton! Have you heard of the 1903 Potato boom? No? Neither had we until recently. Join Anton as he tells you all about Archibald Findlay and his amazing potatoes that were reaching prices of £5000 a ton - that’s half a million in today’s money. But are they all they’re cracked up to be? For more bonus cont…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
47: 👾 Interview with Paul Mayze: Cards, the Universe and Everything
1:09:14
1:09:14
Відтворити пізніше
Відтворити пізніше
Списки
Подобається
Подобається
1:09:14
This episode we take a break from talking history and science and interview Paul Mayze MD of Avid Games, the creators of Cards, the Universe and Everything affectionately known as CUE Cards. CUE Cards is a great fun mobile game that’s chock-full of facts about… well everything! It’s a deck building and battling game where you can learn about everyt…
…
continue reading
The potato, it’s been with us forever, it’s so mundane and everyday it’s hardly worth thinking about, right? Wrong! A relatively recent arrival to Europe and much of the world this not so simple vegetable has had a very big impact on the modern world. Easily outstripping the nutritional value of grains and other primary crops it can be argued the m…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
45: 🤖 Artificial intelligence, creativity and talking to animals
1:04:05
1:04:05
Відтворити пізніше
Відтворити пізніше
Списки
Подобається
Подобається
1:04:05
Artificial intelligence is set to transform the world altering how we work, access content and create. Many visions of AI show it as robotic, machinelike and impersonal but is this really the case? In this first AI revolution it’s creativity and artistic disciplines that are most touched. But can a computer really be creative and what does creativi…
…
continue reading
Last episode we were dragged down to hell through our naive use of magic and magical elements - this time we break free thanks to the real elements that make our world - the atoms. Anton and I recreate a Roman casting technique, melting tin in cuttlefish bone moulds to get a closer look at one of the earliest metals humans would have worked. From o…
…
continue reading
Magic has a long and complex history. From the earliest times people have sought to understand and control the world around them. The Babylonians would be guided by celestial movements, the Romans would give young boys a Divine Phallus to ward off the evil eye. We start at the beginning and work our way through magical practice taking in stories of…
…
continue reading
We were honoured to be invited to talk at Intelligent Speech 2022 on the theme of crossings. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ We selected the Balmis expedition - a Spanish attempt to vaccinate their empire from smallpox in the early 1800s but in an age before air travel and refrigeration how do you transfer a delicate vaccine across the…
…
continue reading
Ahoy me hearties, weight anchor and lets be off! We look at the life of one of the most amazing but forgotten men of the 1600s, William Dampier. Ever curious he was an explorer, navigator, naturalist, writer and so much more. The author of A New Voyage Around the World, his accounts opened the world to the public. Never before had people experience…
…
continue reading
Time is one of the biggest mysteries of science but also one of the fundamental aspects of our reality. It’s nature has been discussed for centuries, from Aristotle to Newton to Einstein, we’ve sought answers but only found more questions as we’ve peeled back it’s layers. There is no fixed ‘now’, every point in space has it’s own flow of time. Does…
…
continue reading
In this bonus episode we present Anton’s short story Guilty Chocolate read by Anton himself! He claimed second prize in the Guernsey Literary Festival WriteStuff competition judged by leading international author Anthony Horowitz. The competition gave students the following brief: ‘Write an imaginary 300 word story inspired by Detectives or Spies’.…
…
continue reading
Legend tells of an early pioneer of rocketry who, in 1633, blasted off over Istanbul in celebration of the birth of the Sultan’s daughter. There are stories of an eccentric French couple flying horses and bulls into the sky to entertain the masses. There were inventors who saw the future of travel in personal balloons that allowed us to bound acros…
…
continue reading
We are very excited and proud to announce that we will be talking at the 2022 Intelligent Speech conference! Our talk will be about 22 orphans packed onto a ship to America and deliberately infected with cowpox! We would love our listeners to join us. Tickets cost $20 for the early bird (and 8 hours of talks) or $30 thereafter, but if you use promo…
…
continue reading
We travel downunder to meet one of Australia’s most unusual creatures: Ornithorhynchus anatinus, better know as the Platypus. Few animals have caused such debate as our duckbilled friend, for nearly a century leading scientists across Europe (maybe they should travel a bit closer to their subject) debated exactly what this paradoxical animal was – …
…
continue reading
This episode Anton takes the lead as he explores the development of Norman castles in the British Isles. Whilst fortifications dotted the English landscape long before the 1066 Norman invasion nothing quite like their castles existed before. Anton and I talk about early motte and bailey fortifications that offered only rudimentary protection to vas…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
36: 👑 King of Spices: The Potent Power of Pepper
1:07:33
1:07:33
Відтворити пізніше
Відтворити пізніше
Списки
Подобається
Подобається
1:07:33
Pepper, king of the spices. Found in every kitchen and on every restaurant table pepper is a spice that’s ‘just there’. Today we take this spice for granted but this wasn’t always the case as great European powers fought over it’s control wanting to monopolise the trade and the wealth it brought. The Portuguese, Dutch and British sent countless sai…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
35: ⭐ Interview: Science Communicator Greg Wah
1:08:30
1:08:30
Відтворити пізніше
Відтворити пізніше
Списки
Подобається
Подобається
1:08:30
We are honoured to be joined by Greg Wah, science communicator from Australia and co-host of the excellent Smart Enough to Know Better podcast. We discuss the size of the universe and how the JWST is going to help us look back further than ever, iconic images from Hubble, the beauty and importance of science and more. Podcast: https://smartenough.o…
…
continue reading
Keeping with our space theme we chat to Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy about how he captures his incredible images, space travel, aliens and more. You have to check out Andrew’s photos, they’re mind-blowing. He definitely has an eye for creating something beautiful but it’s backed up by a sound scientific knowledge and genuine love for the wonde…
…
continue reading
History remembers many great men but it forgets far more. Warren De la Rue, born 1815, was an engineer and scientist who pioneered astral photography. From designing and operating the photoheliograph – the first instrument created specifically for photographing celestial bodies – to improving chemical processes to decrease exposure times De la Rue …
…
continue reading
We go ghost hunting in a Neolithic passage grave, taking with us an infrared robot, an EMF metre and recording equipment for EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon). Do we capture anything? Does anything capture us!? Belief in ghosts and spirits is a worldwide phenomenon, it crosses cultures and ages. You’d expect modern science to taper these ideas, but…
…
continue reading
Halloween is drawing near and the spirits are stirring so what better time than now to chat with Tim Brown from the Paranormal Intelligence Gathering Service (PIGS). Anton and I really enjoyed talking to Tim as he explained how PIGS conduct their research, what findings they’ve discovered and the use of EVP in some of the unique locations Guernsey …
…
continue reading
We were invited to chat to our local BBC radio station and they very kindly gave us permission to reproduce the show. If you’re curious how the podcast begun and what Anton’s favourite topic has been (I can’t believe he said it live on air, on the BBC!!) then have a listen! It was great fun and we’re so pleased they invited us on, thank you BBC Gue…
…
continue reading
This episode marks our two year anniversary and we celebrate in style! I recreate the 1858 Great Stink of London, a terrible smell caused by an overburdened sewerage system and unresponsive government. Cholera filled the streets killing thousands - bad air or miasma was thought to be the cause. The city needed a hero... Anton then tells of modern d…
…
continue reading
What is perception? How do we see the world? How do our senses trick and lie to us? Through a series of simple experiments you can try at home we look at all these questions. We then delve deeper into our perception and understanding of the world around us. Most people perceive themselves as above average, can’t take on new ideas and misremember ev…
…
continue reading
We are honoured to be joined by the very charming George McGavin. One of the leading entomologists he taught at the University of Oxford before embarking on TV career that has taken him deep into the jungles of Guyana, New Guinea and more. Always lively and passionate George is full of stories of his adventures and the importance of understanding o…
…
continue reading
War is never nice but sometimes it drives people to their extremes. In desperation to gain the upper hand all logic and rational thought is flung out the window and insane proposals for weapons are put forth. From dropping cakes seeded with anthrax on herds of cows to bats with bomb-backpacks and giant siege towers to expanding foam guns mankind ha…
…
continue reading
In possibly our most uncomfortable episode yet for Anton we talk Oxen! In school history lessons they just seem to turn during the agricultural revolution to help with crop rotation and then disappear. But what exactly are Oxen, how are they used, where do they come from and what is their history? We travel the world to answer all these questions. …
…
continue reading
After its independence in 1821 Costa Rica was a poor nation with very little outside trade but one man, from a small island halfway around the world, would change that. William Le Lacheur, born 1802, was a merchant and sea captain who is widely credited with transforming Costa Rica’s economy through the coffee trade. Commanding a fine fleet of ship…
…
continue reading
Come settle down next to the fire, help yourself to a mince pie and glass of mulled wine for we have a festive delight for you. This episode we take a relaxed look at popular toys from days gone bye, what will Anton make of Tonka Trucks, Pet Rocks and Cabbage Patch kids? But it’s not long until the warmth of the fire sends the drowsy child to sleep…
…
continue reading
This episode we go nuts! For conkers and hazelnuts to be exact. Have you ever heard of Melch Dick, a forest guardian who punished children for picking unripe nuts? Or do you know why Ministry of Munitions asked school children to collect conkers during WW1? We reveal all this an more in our nutty winter special. We also interview Conker Cup represe…
…
continue reading
People across cultures and ages have practiced corpse medicine – using the human body or it’s secretions to cure ailments ranging from baldness to epilepsy and toothache to mania. From Europe to China to Arabia a special quality has been attached healing powers of the human body. Crushed skull and cocoa, mellified man, the blood of the recently dec…
…
continue reading
We’ve made a podcast about pigments and colours because why not? I know you can’t see them but we’ve tried really hard to describe them! When Sir Isaac Newton first draw his colour wheel after seeing light through a prism he matched each colour to a musical note, but our love of colour goes back far further than that, to a time when we maybe weren’…
…
continue reading
Every 19 September is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and we thought we’d celebrate with some pirate tales, history and facts. We aren’t just looking at the golden age of piracy though - we take our time machine to see how Julius Caesar handles being captured by pirates and tell the tale of the Eustace Black Monk. He was a medieval pirate, mon…
…
continue reading
This episode we travel far back in time to look at some frozen dogs found in the Siberian tundra. These amazingly preserved animals are helping scientists understand the evolution and domestication of modern-day canines - could they be ancestors of the first Russian space dogs? We follow this with the life of Margaret Ann Neve, the first woman to l…
…
continue reading
Since the last episode Anton has turned 10 so as a little treat and a sign of his new levels of responsibility he selected the topic for this show. We’ll not reveal it here but it’s fun and maybe a tiny bit rude but still full of science, facts and history! Anton also has a lovely birthday message from the Flatpack History of Sweden podcast and we …
…
continue reading
28 June 1940, German bombers attack the town and harbour of St Peter Port, Guernsey. Misidentifying a row of trucks containing tomatoes for military vehicles they destroy them killing 33 civilians in the process, luckily just over a week earlier many of the islanders had been evacuated. Just two days later the island is under German occupation. For…
…
continue reading
Every person alive today is here thanks to pollinators – bees, wasps, butterflies, beetles and more. They are vital to all life on our planet but their habitats aren’t always protected. Anton investigates the pollinators found in Guernsey and the Pollinator Project – a local initiative to help protect and raise awareness of their importance. I then…
…
continue reading
This episode we look at the winners of the WriteStuff. It’s a local writing competition for school children and part of the Guernsey Literary Festival, the theme this year was freedom. We are very lucky and have been allowed to play some clips from the winning stories. Visit https://writestuff.gg for more. Anton then reads his winning entry from tw…
…
continue reading
This episode we leave lockdown to see what’s living in the rock pools at low tide - far away from other humans - and discover a lot of crabs! Anton tells us more about our many legged friends and I discover what barnacles actually are. We then island hop to the Banda Islands, the home of nutmeg, a spice with an interesting history and effects on yo…
…
continue reading
After a long delay we are back with a bumper episode! We begin with Anton’s look at pre-Christian festivals that may have inspired Easter as well as odd modern day traditions, then Curious Mummy shares her experience of Easter in Russia and her love of Fabergé eggs. Being our unlucky 13th episode I delve into where this superstition may have come f…
…
continue reading
Anton is feeling a bit off colour but bravely soldiers on in this episode about viruses. We start by looking at who discovered them and when, then shrink down to investigate if they are living organism or not. After getting so close to a virus it’s wise to wash your hands so we do just this and find out how soap destroys them. Finally we offer a li…
…
continue reading
Anton discovered a 500-year-old journal that has been handed down by generations of archaeologists exploring the history of the Maya. Something very strange happens when we open it as we’re transported back in time. Continuing the Chronometry theme I look why we have leap years and how they lead to 11 missing days. Show notes: https://curiosityofpo…
…
continue reading
In 1203 Richard the Lionheart’s favourite castle is sieged after his death. Will it survive or will the French find a humorous fatal design flaw? In Anton Investigates he reveals all and also looks at the role of medieval blacksmiths. We also listen to the voice of a 3000 year-old Egyptian mummy thanks to cutting edge research and introduce our fir…
…
continue reading
We are back and with our most delicious episode ever! Anton and I are joined by Curious Granny and Curious Gramps as we taste our way through a multitude of chocolate bars learning a little about each along the way. What’s the fourth kind of chocolate? How many cocoa beans would buy a slave? And who was the neighbour of the man who invented milk ch…
…
continue reading