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  • The wigwam he built from birch bark that made her fall from hope

    The wigwam he built from birch bark that made her fall from hope
    2026/10/30
    A soldier builds a birch-bark wigwam on Surrey heath and a nineteen-year-old woman moves in-how do you fall from that high?

    The wigwam he built from birch bark that made her fall from hope

    In this episode, we follow the last months of Joan Pearl Pearl’s life, her relationship with Private August Sangret, and the circumstances that led to her burial on Houndown Wood. What decisions, skills, and small discoveries shaped the path from a cricket pavilion to a dug grave?

    Person: Joan Pearl Pearl
    Person: August Sangret
    Date: 7 October 1942
    Location: Houndown Wood; Hankley Common; Jasper Camp near Godalming
    Event: Wigwam shelter built from birch bark, poles and bracken

    - Joan lived weeks sleeping in an abandoned cricket pavilion and wrote hopeful declarations on the walls while wearing a small wooden crucifix.
    - Joan met Private August Sangret in a Godalming pub on 17 July 1942; nine days later she wrote him a letter saying “You are all I have in the world.”
    - Sangret, a twenty-eight-year-old Canadian soldier with Cree heritage, arrived in Britain 24 March 1942 and was stationed at Jasper Camp from 13 July.
    - Sangret’s survival skills included building shelters from birch bark and bracken; by August he had constructed a wigwam on Hankley Common where Joan moved in.
    - Joan was found buried face down on 7 October 1942 after having been interred for about one month; she was nineteen and known locally as the Wigwam Girl.

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    © 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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    19 分
  • The refusal of a colonel's rank toppled the student-president

    The refusal of a colonel's rank toppled the student-president
    2026/10/29
    A scholar-turned-commander leads men through New Granada’s mountains, refuses a colonel’s rank - and his reputation hangs in the balance?

    The refusal of a colonel's rank toppled the student-president

    In this episode, we follow José Custodio Cayetano García Rovira from the lecture halls of Bogotá to the mountain campaigns of New Granada, tracing how a lifetime of learning and one quiet decision reshaped his path. What did it cost him to insist on remaining El Estudiante while commanding an army?

    Person: José Custodio Cayetano García Rovira
    Date of birth: March 2, 1780
    Event: Accepted lieutenant's commission and later commanded the Northern Army for seven months
    Date of presidency: July 30, 1816 (served nine days)
    Execution: August 8, 1816 at Huerta de Jaime

    - Born in Bucaramanga, baptized April 2, 1780, and educated at Colegio Real y Seminario de San Bartolomé in Bogotá
    - Earned degrees in Philosophy (1799), Civil Law (1804), and doctorates in Theology and Fine Arts; admitted to the Real Audiencia de Santafé in 1809
    - Taught Algebra, Mathematics, Trigonometry, Philosophy, Metaphysics, and Ethics to the next generation of republic leaders
    - Member of literary tertulias with figures like Francisco José de Caldas, José Fernández Madrid, Camilo Torres, and attended readings of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire
    - Offered a colonel’s commission but declined to use it, commanding roughly two thousand men as a civilian-scholar through mountain terrain

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    © 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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    19 分
  • The missing name cut into the Shoreham stone that erased him

    The missing name cut into the Shoreham stone that erased him
    2026/10/28
    A carved gap on a Shoreham war memorial marks a name erased after a nineteen‑year‑old soldier was executed; how do you fall from that high?

    The missing name cut into the Shoreham stone that erased him

    In this episode, we follow the life and military record that led to a blank on a local memorial and a government pardon decades later. We trace the decisions, documents and battlefield chaos that shaped Thomas James Highgate - and ask how an army made him and then marked him absent.

    Person: Thomas James Highgate
    Date: born 13 May 1895; executed 35 days into Battalion War I; enlisted 4 February 1913; shipped to France 15 August 1914
    Location: Shoreham, Kent; First Battalion, Royal West Kents; France (Battle of Mons)
    Status: pardoned in 2006; name omitted from memorial stone

    - Enlisted at 17 and served before the war in sea voyages and African postings that included two shipwrecks and yellow fever.
    - A Richmond Barracks memorandum noted a “peculiar disposition” and episodes of memory loss that entered his file.
    - Deserted for several months in 1914 to try to be stationed nearer his brother, was caught, jailed 42 days, and returned to service.
    - Sent to the Western Front three weeks after war began; arrived amid the chaotic retreat from Mons with breakdowns in discipline and mass casualties.
    - Arrested in civilian clothes miles from his regiment on 6 September 1914, tried that same day without a prisoner’s friend and executed after a 45‑minute trial.

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    © 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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    20 分
  • The hidden ashes he slipped into his own memorial toppled him

    The hidden ashes he slipped into his own memorial toppled him
    2026/10/27
    A retired Pan‑Asianist general leads Japanese troops into Shanghai to be “friends of China,” then faces a single charge that will topple him.

    The hidden ashes he slipped into his own memorial toppled him

    In this episode, we follow the career and contradictions of Iwane Matsui, from a sickly samurai’s son who rose through Japan’s military to a Pan‑Asianist who sought to bridge Japan and China, to his return from retirement to command in Shanghai. We trace the decisions, posts, and symbolic acts that set the stage for his downfall and ask how a man who mourned enemy dead ended up condemned for inaction.

    Person: Iwane Matsui
    Date: July 27, 1878 (birth); December 23, 1948 (execution)
    Location: Atami; Sugamo Prison; Shanghai; Manchuria
    Topic: Pan‑Asianism; Shanghai Expeditionary Army; Koa Kannon shrine
    Event: Four men hanged simultaneously; hidden ashes placed in shrine

    - Born in Nagoya, sixth son of a former samurai administrator, small, chronically unwell, rising through military academies.
    - Posted to China from 1907 onward: intelligence work, resident officer in Shanghai (1915-1919), adviser to Zhang Zuolin.
    - Promoted to major general (1923) and Chief of Intelligence (1925), becoming the army’s first China specialist in that role.
    - Founded the Greater Asia Association (1933) and retired in August 1935, commissioning the Koa Kannon shrine in Atami to honor soldiers from both sides.
    - Recalled to command the Shanghai Expeditionary Army on August 15, 1937, declaring Japanese troops would prove themselves “the real friends of China.”

    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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    19 分
  • The naval victory that buried his son and hardened his hand

    The naval victory that buried his son and hardened his hand
    2026/10/26
    The most powerful man in England throws his cap, weeps, and proclaims his enemy queen-how did a naval victory and decades of power end him?

    The naval victory that buried his son and hardened his hand

    In this episode, we follow John Dudley from a childhood marked by his father’s execution through forty years of building political and naval power, and the thirty-three days that unmade him. What choices, alliances, and iron rules of statecraft led to his public humiliation and downfall?

    Person: John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland
    Date: 20 July 1553 (Cambridge market square); born 1504
    Event: Battle of the Solent (1545); Mary Rose sank; son Henry died at Boulogne (1546)
    Topic: Rise to Lord President of the Council, naval administration, fiscal reform
    Location: Cambridge market square; Tower of London (imprisonment)

    - Inherited the stigma of his father Edmund Dudley’s execution and spent decades restoring the family’s name.
    - Built a permanent naval administration as Vice-Admiral and later Lord President Admiral, directing the fleet at the Battle of the Solent.
    - Oversaw fiscal reforms: brought in Thomas Gresham, reformed coinage to over 92% silver, and negotiated the Treaty of Boulogne to recover large payments.
    - Suppressed Kett’s Rebellion by storming Norwich, executing prisoners, negotiating with rebel leaders, and lobbying against mass executions afterward.
    - Nine days after riding out to capture Mary Rose, he stood in Cambridge, removed his cap, wept, and publicly proclaimed her-then faced arrest and imprisonment in the Tower.

    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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    22 分
  • The Rye House Window That Sent a Captain Falling

    The Rye House Window That Sent a Captain Falling
    2026/10/25
    A one-eyed ex-Captain at Rye House plots against a restored monarchy; how do you fall from that high?

    The Rye House Window That Sent a Captain Falling

    In this episode, we follow a single life from battlefield to scaffold and the decisions, beliefs, and alliances that carried him there. What choices at Rye House set a sixty-three-year-old veteran on a path to a five-day race toward execution?

    Person: Richard Rumbold
    Date: June 21, 1685
    Location: Rye House, Hertfordshire
    Event: Capture, trial and execution within five days
    Topic: Leveller politics, New Model Army veteran

    - Born 1622 in Hertfordshire, Rumbold first appears in records as a soldier and joins the New Model Army by 1645.
    - He fought at Dunbar and Worcester, lost an eye in service, and by the Restoration held the rank of Captain.
    - Present as a guard at King Charles I’s 1649 execution, Rumbold remained linked to Baptist and Leveller networks advocating soldier representation.
    - After mustering out he ran a malting business at Rye House, married a widow there, and kept company with fellow radicals.
    - On June 21, 1685, wounded and captured near Lesmahagow after his horse was shot, he was executed five days later amid officials’ fear he’d die of his wounds before hanging.

    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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    18 分
  • A door that was never knocked on made him march too soon

    A door that was never knocked on made him march too soon
    2026/10/24
    A 31-year-old captain in a Huesca courtyard refuses a blindfold and proclaims "Until Never." How do you fall from that high?

    A door that was never knocked on made him march too soon

    In this episode, we follow the life and choices that led a decorated captain to stand before a firing squad in December 1930. The episode traces his upbringing in military orphan schools, his career in Morocco, and the chain of events-conspiracies, prisons, and isolated postings-that pushed him to act; what drove him to move when the wider world had not yet caught up?

    Person: Fermín Galán Rodríguez
    Date: December 14, 1930
    Location: A courtyard in Huesca, northern Spain
    Event: Proclamation of a republic followed by execution attempt
    Period: 1909-1930

    - Orphaned at nine, Fermín and his two brothers were enrolled in the Colegio de Huérfanos de Guerra and funneled into military careers.
    - He entered the Toledo Infantry Academy at fifteen, became second lieutenant by eighteen, and was sent to fight in Morocco.
    - While in Tétouan and writing for the Colonial Troops Magazine he learned Arabic, proposed structured peace plans for Morocco, and saw them rejected by high command.
    - After joining the 1926 Sanjuanada conspiracy to restore constitutional government, he was sentenced to six years; he served three and a half and wrote an essay envisioning a federal republic and a United States of Europe.
    - Assigned to the isolated garrison at Jaca, he connected with anarcho-syndicalist networks and local figures like Ramón Acín, setting the immediate groundwork for the march.

    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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    20 分
  • Twelve imperial gold plaques recalled him - and toppled Yue Fei's rise

    Twelve imperial gold plaques recalled him - and toppled Yue Fei's rise
    2026/10/23
    A general poised to retake Kaifeng is halted when twelve imperial gold plaques summon him home - obey or make one last push?

    Twelve imperial gold plaques recalled him - and toppled Yue Fei's rise

    In this episode, we tell how Yue Fei rose from tenant farmer origins to command one of the most disciplined armies in Song history and stood within sight of Kaifeng. We follow the decisions, orders, and rituals that defined his command - and the moment those forces met an imperial recall that would reshape his fate.

    Person: Yue Fei
    Event: Twelve imperial gold plaques ordering recall
    Date: January 28, 1142
    Location: Encampment within sight of Kaifeng
    Topic: Military discipline, imperial orders, recall

    - Born to tenant farmers in 1103, Yue Fei rose through decades of combat to lead a famously disciplined army.
    - His troops trained in full armor, shared diluted wine equally, and enforced punishments so strict they included execution for theft.
    - Yue Fei applied his standards without exception, exemplified by his near-execution order for his son Yue Yun after a training fall.
    - By 1140 his forces had pushed north and positioned to strike Kaifeng, the captured capital whose recovery defined the Southern Song court.
    - Emperor Gaozong sent twelve gold plaques, each a formal order to return, arriving as Yue Fei's scouts marked the road to Kaifeng.

    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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    20 分