Making History Matter: A Live Debate with Joshua Levine and Oswin

Making History Matter: A Live Debate with Joshua Levine and Oswin

Author: trappedhistory August 12, 2025 Duration: 43:58

It's time for a history reboot. In this Trapped History Special, Oswin and historian Joshua Levine discuss truth, myth and storytelling in front of an invited audience at an event hosted by Saboteur, a London-based brand agency.

In a wide-ranging conversation which covers everything from Trump and Putin to Downton and Dunkirk, we grapple with the fundamentals of what we mean when we talk about history, hidden history, forgotten history and unsung heroes. Josh gives us some fascinating insights into how history is turned into entertainment from his time as a historical consultant on blockbuster movies, while Oswin gives you his best (or actually his worst) Churchill impression!

With extraordinary and sometimes shocking tales about the SAS, 911 and America's longstanding desire for Canada, this is a great summertime listen which will set you up nicely for the rest of the season.



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Trapped History digs into the corners of the past that standard narratives often overlook, guided by James Baldwin's idea that people and history are mutually confined. This podcast is a deliberate effort to loosen that grip, one story at a time. You'll hear detailed accounts of individuals and events sidelined by traditional textbooks, from strategic minds in forgotten battles to cultural pioneers whose influence was deliberately minimized. Each episode reconstructs a specific moment or life, focusing on the nuanced realities of women's history, Black history, military history, and cultural history. The aim is to provide a more complete and human picture, moving beyond dates and dominant names to the textures of lived experience. By engaging with these overlooked chapters, the podcast invites a deeper understanding of how our present is shaped. It’s for anyone who suspects there's more to the story, offering a thoughtful and researched alternative to the history many of us were first taught. Listening feels like a conversation with a knowledgeable friend, one committed to unearthing truths that resonate with our contemporary world. The result is an educational and compelling narrative that challenges simple takeaways, encouraging listeners to question what they think they know about the forces that have built and bound our societies.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 76

Trapped History
Podcast Episodes
The Hall of Fame Special: Who Would You Like to Add? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:53
We've spent so long asking our guests who they'd like to see in the Trapped History Hall of Fame, that for our 30th episode we thought we'd do something a bit different.And so Carla, MK and Oswin have each brought along…
The Animal King: Zippo, Frank Bostock and the Magic of Circus [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:34
Roll up, roll up for the Season Four closer — as we take a trip to the circus!At Trapped History, we look at lives and stories which have been forgotten or ignored, and there is one community in Britain which is still sh…
Hall of Fame: Seventy-Five Letters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:30
Join Oswin and Carla for this moving Hall of Fame from historian Clare Mulley as she remembers wartime nurses, Dorothy Field and Mollie Evershed. They are the only women among over 22,000 men to be remembered on the Norm…
The Missing Holes: Clare Mulley on the Courage of Agent Zo [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:32
She is one of the most important women of the Second World War — a fighter, a secret agent, a government envoy and a commando. But have we heard of her? Can we sing her name? If not, you've come to the right place.Tune i…
Hall of Fame: The Meaning of Memory [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:08
Tune in to a fascinating Hall of Fame as Professor Chris French nominates Ellizabeth Loftus, a psychologist famed for her work on false, recovered and repressed memory.It's not just Elizabeth's life story here — Chris fi…
Dikki Redux: The Woman Behind the Record [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:08
We might have heard of Amelia Earhart or even Amy Johnson, but who remembers Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to fly around the world?Well, someone does because on 19th August this year, a blue plaque was unveiled a…
The Amazing Randi: Patron Saint of Sceptics [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:56
Welcome back after our mid-season break! And what a return – with (drum roll) the mysteries, magic and mayhem of The Amazing Randi. He had everything a conjuror should have – the baffling genius, the cape, the beard, the…
Hall of Fame: Mark Twain and the Dishonesty of the American Flag [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:17
Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Usually, it's someone we've never heard of but really should have. But sometimes, just sometimes, it's someone we think we know al…