⚡ In 1942, during the height of World War 2, Hitler ordered the deportation of more than a thousand islanders from Guernsey. In retaliation against the Allied Forces, innocent men, women and children were forced to leave their island homes - set on a path to Biberach internment camp.

💡 Jill Chubb was just 3 years old when she set sail, but her memories are vivid and clear. And in this special podcast series, her grandson, former BBC Guernsey presenter Ollie Guillou, charts her story - joined by three other deportees and two prominent historians.

With special thanks to:

Jill Chubb, Chair of the Guernsey Deportees Association

Ralph Godwin, Deportee

Janet de Santos, Deportee

Jill Oliver, Deportee

Alan Chubb, Secretary of the Guernsey Deportees Association

Dr Gilly Carr, University of Cambridge

Matthew Lucas, War Historian

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast exploring the history of everyday life, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your host:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou

Email: hello@ogpodcasts.co.uk

Photo by Enrapture Captivating Media on Unsplash

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💬 A new study is rewriting our understanding of Neanderthals and human evolution. It seems ancient Homo sapiens didn't just coexist with them - but they shared ideas, cultures and inventions.

⚡ In this episode we challenge long held beliefs about human origins - exploring what the world was like before we were the last species of human left. A time when Neanderthals and Denisovans lived among us.

We highlight one particular finding in Tinshemet Cave in Israel, where shared burial practices, stone tools and signs of symbolic behaviour have been found. Did early humans interact way more than we first realised?

Don't miss an episode - subscribe now:

https://podfollow.com/what-we-did-before

🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ What our shared Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA tells us

➡ Surprising findings about how we interbred with Neanderthals

➡ How Neanderthals buried their dead

➡ The real reason the Neanderthals died out

➡ New hints that Neanderthals could speak

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast exploring the history of everyday life, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your hosts:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Matt Pyle is a lead software developer and tech enthusiast with a keen interest in media, and a love for interesting conversation and learning.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou

Email: hello@ogpodcasts.co.uk

Image credits: Neanderthal-Museum, Mettmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fährtenleser, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fu et al. (2025), CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

💬 Did agriculture make life as a human worse? Many historians widely agree the answer is yes! Despite giving us an abundance of food and an ability to spread globally, there are many reasons it may have been a catastrophe for our species.

⚡ In this episode we explore 6 key arguements that outline exactly why agriculture may have created a world that has made inidividual lives more difficult. From creating vast social and economic inequalities, to increasing the spread of diseases - we examine some of the biggest arguments in favour of this idea.

We also highlight a multitude of very important caveats. The question is, were early human hunter-gatherers really better off than we are in the modern age? Or are we just romanticising the past?

Don't miss an episode - subscribe now:

https://podfollow.com/what-we-did-before

🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ How grain enabled the large-scale hoarding of wealth that led to vast inequality

➡ Why hunter-gatherers may have worked LESS than we do now

➡ How early human mental health (and sleep quality) was probably better

➡ How settled living has allowed diseases to spread more rapidly

➡ What the climate might have looked like without agriculture taking hold

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast exploring the history of everyday life, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your hosts:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Matt Pyle is a lead software developer and tech enthusiast with a keen interest in media, and a love for interesting conversation and learning.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou