Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly, the leader of the infamous Kelly gang, has been described as Australia's only truly national hero. During a short but intense crime spree at the end of the 1870s, he led a gang of notorious outlaws who rampaged through the Australian bush, robbing banks and stealing horses as they evaded capture for more than two years.   For some, Kelly embodies a certain rugged, masculine Australian spirit - a heroic anti-establishment figure, standing up for poor farmers against the corruptions of the government and powerful landowners. Yet to the Victorian police who hunted him, he was nothing more than a thief and murderer.   So what put Ned Kelly on a collision course with the law? Was he a brave rebel, or a cold-blooded criminal? And how did the Australia he grew up in determine the course of his life – and the legend that formed after his death? This is a Short History Of Ned Kelly. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Professor Graham Seal, an expert on Australian folklore and the author of 'Tell em I Died Game': The Legend of Ned Kelly. Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Mirianna Pitman-Latham and Matthew Peaty | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman Unlock the next two episodes of Short History Of… right now by subscribing to Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network, including Real Survival Stories and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed, or head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions [https://www.noiser.com/noiser-plus] to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Longitude

It was once one of the great unsolved problems of the early modern world: the calculation of exactly how far east or west a given point was on the surface of the Earth. Longitude was a challenge that sat at the intersection of science, navigation, empire and time itself.     For centuries, sailors had been able to determine latitude, or their position north or south, with reasonable confidence. But its counterpart remained dangerously elusive, leaving those traversing the oceans vulnerable to error, shipwreck and disaster. In the search for a solution, astronomers, inventors, statesmen, and seafarers all played their part.     But why was Longitude so hard to figure out reliably? Who really solved the problem? And what changed when sailors could finally measure their position at sea with precision? This is a Short History Of Longitude. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Dr Emily Akkermans, Curator of Time at Royal Museums Greenwich. Written by Sean Coleman | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by George Colwey | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw Unlock the next two episodes of Short History Of… right now by subscribing to Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network, including Real Survival Stories and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed, or head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions [https://www.noiser.com/noiser-plus] to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Ireland’s Easter Rising

In April 1916, a small group of poorly-armed Irish radicals made a stand against the British Army, in a bid for independence for their homeland. Over six days during Easter week, almost 500 people died in the uprising, and thousands more were injured, leaving Dublin one of the most war-damaged cities in Europe.   The Irish insurgents in what some call the Poet’s Rebellion were not soldiers but writers, teachers, and thinkers. And though these men and women brought destruction and bloodshed to their own city, they were later hailed as heroes and martyrs who set the country on a new course.    So what prompted intellectuals to take up arms in 1916? How did the rebels plan to overthrow the biggest empire on the planet? And why did a failed insurrection mean the beginning of the end of 800 years of British rule in Ireland? This is a Short History Of Ireland’s Easter Rising. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Dr Diarmuid Ferriter, Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin. Written by Jo Furniss | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Mirianna Pitman-Latham and Matthew Peaty | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman Unlock the next two episodes of Short History Of… right now by subscribing to Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network, including Real Survival Stories and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed, or head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions [https://www.noiser.com/noiser-plus] to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

In 1986, seven astronauts boarded Space Shuttle Challenger for what was meant to be a routine tenth flight of the orbiter. Seventy-three seconds after lift-off, the shuttle broke apart in front of millions of viewers, in what remains one of the worst disasters in the history of human spaceflight.   But how did a craft NASA claimed was as safe as an airliner come to fail in full view of a watching nation? Who knew the risks, and when? And why, seventeen years later, did it happen again? This is a Short History Of the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Dr. Matthew Hersch, an historian at New York and Harvard universities, and author of Dark Star: A New History of the Space Shuttle. Written by Kate Harrison | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Mirianna Pitman-Latham and Matthew Peaty | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman Unlock the next two episodes of Short History Of… right now by subscribing to Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network, including Real Survival Stories and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed, or head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions [https://www.noiser.com/noiser-plus] to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Brink’s-Mat Robbery

The Brink’s-Mat robbery was one of the largest thefts in British history. The discovery of the record-breaking haul in a west London warehouse in 1983 set off a chain of events that would echo through Britain’s criminal underworld for decades. It helped shape the property boom of the 1980s, the drugs trade of the 1990s and left an enduring mark on UK crime and policing.   But who were the men behind the so-called robbery of the century? Why did the tentacles of the theft reach so far? And what is the “curse of Brink’s-Mat”? This is a Short History Of the Brink’s-Mat Robbery. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Wensley Clarkson, author of The Curse of Brink’s-Mat: 25 years of Murder and Mayhem. Written by Nicola Rayner | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Pascal Wyse | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman Unlock the next two episodes of Short History Of… right now by subscribing to Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network, including Real Survival Stories and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed, or head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions [https://www.noiser.com/noiser-plus] to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]