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  • She sent a telegram the day Paris fell - and stayed a celebrated filmmaker

    She sent a telegram the day Paris fell - and stayed a celebrated filmmaker
    2026/09/10
    A celebrated filmmaker sends a telegram as Paris falls - her sealed archive later reveals a private letter to Adolf Hitler. How is that possible?

    She sent a telegram the day Paris fell - and stayed a celebrated filmmaker

    In this episode, we follow the life, work, and sealed archive of Leni Riefenstahl as it collides with the events of the 1930s and 1940s. The episode lays out the films she made, the meeting that linked her to Hitler, and the archival evidence that complicates her lifelong claim to be only an artist.

    Person: Leni Riefenstahl
    Event: Telegram sent on 14 June 1940 (day Paris fell)
    Works: Victory of Faith (1933), Triumph of the Will (1934), The Blue Light (1932)
    Proceedings: Four denazification tribunals; verdict "Mitläufer" (sympathizer)
    Archive: Seven hundred boxes containing letters, film canisters, photographs

    - She rose from dancer and actress to directing The Blue Light, which drew Adolf Hitler's attention and led to a personal meeting.
    - She filmed mass Nazi rallies with unprecedented technical methods: thirty camera operators, cranes, tracking shots, and staged crowd choreography.
    - On 14 June 1940 she sent a telegram the day Paris fell; the archival record confirms its existence and timing.
    - Photographs show her photographed in uniform with a pistol at her hip and German soldiers during the war period.
    - After arrest in 1945 she faced four separate Allied denazification proceedings, was detained and placed under house arrest, and was classified as a Mitläufer.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    13 分
  • A Pirelli suit and fins surfaced-no head, no hands, 14 months later

    A Pirelli suit and fins surfaced-no head, no hands, 14 months later
    2026/09/09
    A Pirelli suit and Admiralty fins wash ashore 14 months after a Royal Navy frogman vanished beneath Portsmouth Harbour - whose body is this?

    A Pirelli suit and fins surfaced-no head, no hands, 14 months later

    In this episode, we lay out the facts of a cold, baffling case: a decorated Royal Navy frogman disappeared beneath a visiting Soviet cruiser, and a mutilated, suited torso surfaced over a year later. Who the body belongs to, what happened under that ship, and why the government locked away the files are the questions that drive the story.

    Person: Lionel Crabb
    Date (disappearance): April 20, 1956
    Date (body found): June 9, 1957
    Location: Portsmouth Harbour / Pilsey Island, Chichester Harbour
    Agency: MI6

    - Crabb, a decorated wartime frogman nicknamed "Buster," was recruited by MI6 for a covert survey of the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze during a 1956 state visit.
    - He checked into the Sally Port Hotel with an MI6 handler who signed the register under a false name and later tore out Crabb’s entry page.
    - After two dives on April 20, 1956, Crabb failed to return; the handler left the hotel and the operation was kept from Prime Minister Anthony Eden.
    - Fourteen months later a torso in a Pirelli two-piece diving suit and Admiralty Pattern fins was hauled up; the head and hands were missing and the suit had been deliberately cut open.
    - At the coroner’s inquest, pathologist D.P. King found no identifying marks, Crabb’s ex-wife and girlfriend could not identify the body, and longtime dive partner Sydney Knowles disputed that it was Crabb.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分
  • Thirty-one days at 63 feet produced two years' worth of reef work

    Thirty-one days at 63 feet produced two years' worth of reef work
    2026/09/08
    A grandson moves into Aquarius at 63 feet to outwork his grandfather and gather reef data - can saturation diving beat years of fieldwork?

    Thirty-one days at 63 feet produced two years' worth of reef work

    In this episode we follow the plan, place, and pressure behind a month-long undersea mission. It lays out why living inside Aquarius changes the tempo of ocean science and asks what that uninterrupted access could make possible.

    Person: Fabien Cousteau
    Location: Aquarius, 63 feet below the Atlantic, nine miles south of Key Largo, Florida
    Date: 2014 mission; 2013 shutdown affected planning
    Duration: 31 days inside the habitat
    Facility: Aquarius undersea laboratory, 43 feet long, 9 feet wide

    - The habitat is a pressurized steel cylinder on the seafloor that lets aquanauts avoid repeated decompression.
    - Saturation diving allowed up to nine hours per day working the reef, rather than forty-minute surface dives.
    - A surface team using standard scuba would need two years to match the same amount of field hours.
    - The mission was conceived at a fundraiser when funding cuts threatened Aquarius and Fabien chose the site deliberately for its unique access.
    - Federal shutdown in October 2013 froze NOAA funding and suspended the mission’s schedule, crew, and protocols.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    15 分
  • She wore the steel-ring suit and swam with great whites

    She wore the steel-ring suit and swam with great whites
    2026/09/07
    A woman in a chainmail suit descends into open ocean among great white sharks - how is that possible?

    She wore the steel-ring suit and swam with great whites

    In this episode, we follow Ron and Valerie Taylor’s shift from spearfishing champions to pioneering underwater filmmakers and conservationists. The story centers on a single, untested steel-ring suit and the 1981 moment Valerie donned it to enter waters with great white sharks - what drove that decision and what they hoped to prove?

    Person: Ron Taylor
    Person: Valerie Taylor
    Date: 1981
    Location: open ocean / Great Barrier Reef context
    Event: descent into water among great white sharks wearing a steel-ring suit
    Topic: shift from shark hunting to conservation through film

    - Ron Taylor, an award-winning spearfisher and underwater cinematographer, designed a protective suit woven from interlocking stainless steel rings.
    - The suit was conceived to stop a shark's tooth from penetrating skin, borrowing the logic of medieval chainmail for open-ocean use.
    - The garment was built to fit Ron’s frame but did not fit Valerie, who was smaller - yet Valerie volunteered to test it anyway.
    - By 1981 the Taylors had transitioned from hunting sharks to filming and advising scientific expeditions on the reef, bringing a new perspective to marine life.
    - The suit had never been tested on a living person before Valerie’s descent into shark-filled water without a cage or barrier.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    15 分
  • A 20th‑century Coca‑Cola bottle wedged inside an ironclad cannon

    A 20th‑century Coca‑Cola bottle wedged inside an ironclad cannon
    2026/09/06
    A Coca‑Cola bottle wedged in a Civil War ironclad cannon makes a diver's credibility an unresolved dare: how did it get there?

    A 20th‑century Coca‑Cola bottle wedged inside an ironclad cannon

    In this episode, we follow the claims and career of Robert Marx, the prolific diver who said he slipped a Coca‑Cola bottle into the USS Monitor's gun barrel and later reported controversial finds across the globe. What does a lifetime of dramatic discoveries and relentless self-promotion mean for the line between proof and performance?

    Person: Robert Marx
    Event: USS Monitor sinking
    Date: December 31, 1862
    Location: Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
    Output: 5,000 dives and 59 books

    - Marx claimed he put a 20th‑century glass Coca‑Cola bottle inside a Monitor cannon as a joke during dives decades after the wreck sank.
    - The Monitor sank in a storm on December 31, 1862, and divers reached the wreck in the 1970s to survey corroded iron and encrusted cannon.
    - Marx built authority through a long career: Marine Corps Diving School director, five thousand dives, television appearances, and testimony to international bodies.
    - In 1982 in Guanabara Bay Marx reported Roman amphorae that Brazilian authorities authenticated but found sediment disturbances implying recent movement.
    - The tension between verifiable finds and theatrical claims - the bottle, the amphorae, the perfectly timed crossings and media moments - is the recurring problem his record poses.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分
  • A man lived 24 hours at 200 feet inside a telephone‑booth cylinder

    A man lived 24 hours at 200 feet inside a telephone‑booth cylinder
    2026/09/05
    A Belgian cave diver spends 24 hours alone inside a pressurized cylinder 200 feet below the Mediterranean - how is that possible?

    A man lived 24 hours at 200 feet inside a telephone‑booth cylinder

    In this episode we follow Robert Sténuit from flooded Belgian caves to deep‑sea experiments and treasure hunts that trained him for an unprecedented endurance test. We trace the inventions, failures, and decisions that led to a 24‑hour solo occupation of a pressurized tube and ask what that night revealed about human limits and underwater living.

    Person: Robert Sténuit
    Date: September 7, 1962
    Location: Mediterranean Sea, 200 feet / 61 meters deep
    Event: 24‑hour occupancy of a pressurized cylinder
    Sponsor/Builder: Edwin Link

    - At 29 Sténuit entered the cylinder, breathing a helium‑oxygen mix in a steel tube the size of a telephone booth lowered on a cable.
    - Sténuit’s background: teenage cave diver in Belgium, trained as a commercial diver with SOGETRAM, and twice failed treasure expeditions that honed his archival and technical skills.
    - Edwin Link applied flight‑simulator thinking to the sea, believing time at depth beyond saturation was “free,” and built the device to test that theory.
    - During the descent and 24‑hour stay a storm above sank the only boat carrying his air supply, leaving the surface support compromised.
    - The experiment’s engineering and Sténuit’s endurance were both tested in total darkness and confinement, with decompression obligations determined solely by depth.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    16 分
  • Ten Yugoslav Lloyd steamers volunteered to Britain before Yugoslavia fought

    Ten Yugoslav Lloyd steamers volunteered to Britain before Yugoslavia fought
    2026/09/04
    A young Yugoslav shipowner in 1940 volunteers ten steamers to Britain - why did he risk half his fleet for the Allies?

    Ten Yugoslav Lloyd steamers volunteered to Britain before Yugoslavia fought

    In this episode, we follow Ivan "Vane" Ivanović from his Olympic refusal in Berlin to the boardrooms of Yugoslav Lloyd, tracing the choices that led him to place ten steamers at Britain's disposal before Yugoslavia entered the war. What compelled a neutral nation's shipowner to commit nearly half his fleet to a foreign war?

    Person: Ivan Stefan Ivanović (Vane)
    Date: 1940 autumn
    Location: operations of Yugoslav Lloyd, Britain and Mediterranean/Atlantic routes
    Event: ten Yugoslav Lloyd steamers volunteered to Britain's Ministry of War Transport
    Background: Vane appointed director of Yugoslav Lloyd in 1937

    - Vane set a national 400m hurdles record at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and refused to perform the Nazi salute.
    - Born in Osijek in 1913, he was raised between Yugoslavia and London and educated at Westminster and Peterhouse, Cambridge.
    - His stepfather, Božo Banac, owned Yugoslav Lloyd and made Vane director in 1937, giving him operational control before WWII.
    - In autumn 1940, while Yugoslavia remained officially neutral, Vane placed ten of Yugoslav Lloyd’s twenty-two steamers at Britain’s disposal.
    - Ten ships amounted to nearly half the fleet Božo had built, a material leverage Vane deliberately risked before any treaty obliged Belgrade.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    16 分
  • A seven-year-old's Cozumel swim launched four decades of whale shark genetics

    A seven-year-old's Cozumel swim launched four decades of whale shark genetics
    2026/09/04
    A seven-year-old in Cozumel swims over a giant whale shark, sparking a decades-long quest to map whale shark genetics across Mexico's coasts.

    A seven-year-old's Cozumel swim launched four decades of whale shark genetics

    In this episode, we follow how a single childhood encounter with a whale shark at Chankanaab in 1985 set one scientist on a career building the first genetic tools to study whale shark populations in Mexico. What did that moment lead her to create, and how did it reshape whale shark science and conservation?

    Person: Dení Ramírez Macías
    Date: 1985 (Chankanaab encounter); 2007 (first population genetics study)
    Location: Chankanaab, Cozumel; Gulf of California, La Paz
    Topic: whale shark population genetics, molecular markers, sampling protocols
    Event: first population-level genetics study of whale sharks in the Gulf of California

    - A seven-year-old encounter at Chankanaab became the formative moment that directed Dení Ramírez Macías toward marine biology.
    - Ramírez grew up inland, studied biology in La Paz, and chose the Gulf of California because whale shark aggregations there enabled population studies.
    - In 2007 she published the first population-level genetic study of whale sharks, using mitochondrial control region sequences from La Paz samples.
    - To answer population questions she developed new tools: molecular markers, sampling protocols, and genetic maps tailored for whale sharks.
    - The genetic work aimed to determine whether whale sharks off western Mexico and the Caribbean represented one connected population or distinct groups with separate conservation needs.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分