Footnotes of History Dan Nesbitt / Tim Philpott

Recorded in the FOH Buckinghamshire Outpost via a secure line to the Beckenham Bunker, our intrepid hosts run their mouths (again) about recent political events.

This could potentially be our last episode if we are to take cultural trends seriously, so listen fast before we are ourselves “toppled”!

Full site and more episodes at footnotesofhistory.com as always.

Yes we may be in the midst of a viral outbreak right now, but there was one far worse just over 100 years ago. In this episode, our daring hosts Tim and Dan take to the FOH darkweb-comms system (Tim's house phone) to discuss:

The upside-down pattern of the virus that attacked the young, the strong and the able first Obscene conditions on the frontlines  that created the pandemic Why Spain was the fall guy of Europe thanks to a media blackout! The reliable methods of virus protection people are still using today!

As always you can sign up for our emails on our home page but you may as well do something fun while you're there: we have a highly entertaining "survive the revolution" test which can also be found on our site!

Scrooge is practically tangible in the room with us today. Actually that’s me.

As usual it falls to the sensible people to do the important work of wishing you a Merry Christmas in an entertaining and informative way.

So in the absence of any sensible people on the FOH team, we’ve drafted in a glamourous assistant to do the work for us in this episode, which will be a short sleigh ride through some of the historic events we’ve covered on the podcast, as well as some we haven’t.

Our assistant will draw from the hat (ok Dan, beret) each time a number linking to a particular theme.

There are as always varying interpretations of the brief. For some reason, I singularly failed to make any of mine Christmassy, but Dan’s make up for it!

In case you can’t keep up with what is probably our greatest rapport to date (given that Dan sounds about 30 years older than usual due to inexplicable illness, probably not), what we discuss is listed below:

1 - The number of frost fairs held on the Thames in the 19th Century (1814).

2 - The actual number of governments there were in Revolutionary France in 1848.

3 - The number of print runs A Christmas Carolwent through in December 1843 (published on 19 December 1843).

4 - The number of armies on the march in the Hapsburg Empire in 1848

5 - 1845 - the Irish potato famine. Episode: https://footnotesofhistory.com/28

6 - Premier of The Nutcracker in the Old Style calender (6 December 1892). Episode: https://footnotesofhistory.com/27

7 - The number of the Pre-Raphaelites, one of whom; Edward Burne-Jones painted many versions of the Nativity. Episode: https://footnotesofhistory.com/26

8 - For the year of the general election 1868, the year after Disraeli extended the franchise to the working classes… then lost.

9 - 1869 and the completion of Monet's painting 'The Magpie '. Episode: https://footnotesofhistory.com/18

10 - For our tenth episode The Great Stink - still one of my favourites. Episode: https://footnotesofhistory.com/10

11 - In the song, it's usually “Swans a Swimming” so we can talk about The Swan King. (NB: it’s actually Seven Swans a Swimming in the Christmas song, but I think we got away with this one) Episode: https://footnotesofhistory.com/29

12 - December 1812, the Grand Armèe is chased out of Russia.

P.S. Make sure you sign up to our email list and play the revolution game here: https://footnotesofhistory.com/revolutionchallenge, become an FOH legionnaire and pick up your special Christmas present from the FOH team!

You won’t regret it!

After much anticipation we release today our latest Footnotes main series episode: Number 35, on the Bryant and May matchgirls strike of 1888.

As always - if you want the backdrop as well as knowing exactly when an episode is coming out and the ability to ask us email questions, join the subscriber list on the homepage: footnotesofhistory.com

As you would expect from this kind of episode, we entangle ourselves in centuries of highly politicised labour history, slightly questionable economics and – surprisingly – a number of insights which we really think ought to be better known, one of which includes the historian’s number one mistake: grafting modern views onto the past.

So what does a matchgirl want? Well they’re striking for a reason and you’ve got to listen in to find out. The episode will include:

· A profile of the idealistic Fabian-socialist writer who exposed conditions at the factory and why she – counterintuitively - didn’t want industrial action!

· The White Terror: the deadly chemical in matches and what they could do to someone’s face if the fumes were inhaled!

· Tim’s bigger-picture take on how match factory conditions may not have been as bad as we think - especially when compared to other East-End London jobs at the time!

· Bryant and May’s early match factories and why they turned to the dark side - and more dangerous products!

· A live, historic example of the Streisand Effect!

· Dan makes the case against the “uneducated” defenceless young women argument!

· How Big Matches churned through workers despite penury-level wages, a vicious discipline system and potentially lethal long term conditions (Hint: Irish immigration)!

As always, thanks for listening (and some apologies from Dan for his croaky voice) and if you get the chance, go to our page on apple podcasts to leave us a review.

This’ll help us get the word out about Footnotes of History and we can record more and more regular episodes!

Listeners,

Today after a lengthy interlude, Dan and I release the second half of the Scramble for Africa episode.

It’s controversial of course since, despite our normal dismissal of all the virtue signalling in modern media about empire and European history, we actually found ourselves rather moved by the cold brutality of the operation.

Dan actually burst into tears, but out of deference to his ego, I cut this from the tape.



Okay that didn’t happen, but before we get too carried away by the number one mistake historians always make (i.e. imposing modern values on the past), two caveats:

1) The right of conquest of course was a recognised concept at the time and 2) many lands were bought rather than “stolen”.

As historians, our role – unlike the famous quote – IS to reason “why”.

This being said, it doesn’t get away from the fact that European leaders treated much of the continent as if it were essentially empty.

As well as the fact that they hid their imperial ambitions behind the veneer of respectability or “civilisation” (eg anti-slavery).



The Congress sounds cold and you’d be dead right:

It is a fascinating bureaucratic horror that saw a group of faceless civil servants draft the rulebook for late empire in Africa.



An interesting, if at times disturbing episode of a ruthless and impersonal governmental process applied to foreign lands, including:


How the latecomers to empire used the moral high ground to blackmail the frontrunners
The grotesque distortion of the meaning of free trade for imperial ends
Bismarck as the civil servant’s pin-up idol: a mastery of bureaucratic greyness that subjugated a continent at the stroke of a pen
Why the haplessness of one nation’s empire building actually won it more allies in Europe
“PEC”: a single definition that was so bitterly controversial, it nearly caused a world war

Listen in and listen good.
Tim

PS: In the buildup towards Christmas we're going to be sending out an exclusive link to some special content - 7 extra episodes from our Santa's sack of history content. If you want to get the really good stuff you can - by signing up to the email list: footnotesofhistory.com

On today’s tape: Dan managed to work his holiday story into the recording – he went to St. Nazaire on what he calls an “Inbetweeners Holiday” but with added history – notably from World War Two.

It’s a daring story of bravery, tenacity and pocket battleships.

On the flipside, I recall the numerous moments I’ve had with some people who seem to think “Austrians speak Austrian” and that’s just the way it is and always has been.

Granted, the stereotype of their culture is a little different nowadays, but there are few heated moments in history when things could have turned out differently for the former heartland of the Hapsburgs.

As always with these mini episodes, we’re diving deeper into the kind of topics that come up in our email dispatches. You can be a part of that secret society right here: footnotesofhistory.com