Journey Through Time

Goalhanger

Forgotten stories from history and how they shaped the way we live today.

Hear about the ordinary people from history and the extraordinary impact they’ve had on the present. Hosted by historians David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell, Journey Through Time will show how everyday actions have the most remarkable unintended consequences that ripple through time.

From the first woman to run for President to the unknown story of how the world came to the brink of nuclear war in 1983, this podcast is for everyone, not just history lovers.

To hear more Goalhanger podcasts, go to www.goalhanger.com

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81 episodes
Updated March 23

Episodes81

Newest first

Jul 20, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
20. How Sci-Fi Became Reality: The History of AI
What role did WWII enigma hero Alan Turing play in the early development of AI? Why are games so important to the history of AI? Did 2001: A Space Odyssey influence the design of the iPad? Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga are joined by Steven Johnson, author and co-founder of Notebook LM, to discuss all this and more. Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 16, 2025 · 47 min
19. The Wrath of God: England’s Greatest Natural Disaster (Ep 2)
What death and destruction did the people of England wake up to after the 1703 storm? How did people make sense of this biblical devastation? Why do we remember The Great Fire of London and not The Great Storm? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they delve into the aftermath of the Great Storm. Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 9, 2025 · 49 min
18. England’s Hurricane: 10,000 Dead (Ep 1)
How did a storm in November 1703 turn into one of the deadliest natural disasters in England’s history? Why is Daniel Defoe, ‘father of the British novel’ and author of Robinson Crusoe, at the centre of this story? With 10,000 people dead, why has this storm been forgotten? Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they tell the story of the Great Storm of 1703. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 2, 2025 · 52 min
17. Britain vs America: The Deadly Culture War (Ep 2)
Why did the audience of Macbeth begin hurling theatre seats and food then cobble stones and bricks? What caused the militia, drafted in by New York’s mayor, to fire on the crowd? How did this riot change theatre and Shakespeare forever? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as the Astor Place Riots unfold, leaving many innocent New Yorkers dead. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 25, 2025 · 50 min
16. Carnage in New York: Killing Over Shakespeare (Ep 1)
How did a fight about Shakespeare descend into America’s bloodiest riot during peace time? Why were tensions so high in New York City in May 1849? Who were Edwin Forrest and William McCready, the actors whose personal rivalry was at the centre of all this? Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they explore the lead up to the Astor Place riots, the deadliest use of military force against civilians since the American Revolutionary War. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time ------ Esse Mildred WLA: © Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. Esse Somerville marriage: copyright THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Fairweather 1921 Census: © Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. Fairweather 1939 Register: © Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. Fairweather Patricia baptism: Images © Kent County Council Laing Joan M WLA: © Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. ----- Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 18, 2025 · 58 min
15. Showdown at Sea: Pirates vs Bounty Hunters (Ep 2)
What piratical crimes did ‘good girl’ Anne Bonny and ‘bad girl’ Mary Reed commit on the high seas? Who were the bounty hunters chasing Calico Jack’s crew? How did the swash buckling, gender bending pair finally get captured and find themselves languishing in a Jamaican jail? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they dive into all this and more in the story of the notorious female pirates. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 11, 2025 · 59 min
14. The Real Pirates of the Caribbean: Sex, Scandal, and the Golden Age of Piracy (Ep 1)
How did ‘good girl’ Anne Bonny and ‘bad girl’ Mary Reed end up sailing with Pirates of the Caribbean? Who was ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham, the infamous Pirate Captain and ladies man? Did our notorious female pirates have a scandalous love affair with each other? To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 4, 2025 · 59 min
13. The Woman Behind the Welfare State
Eleanor Rathbone was instrumental to the implementation of child benefit and the welfare state, why have we forgotten her? Who were the two million “superfluous women” recorded in the 1921 census? How did Eleanor campaign for over three decades for caregiving to be recognised as “real work”? Joining David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they explore the fascinating story of the campaigner and politician Eleanor Rathbone. Start uncovering stories in your family like this one today, in collections from censuses, military rolls and parish registers at: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 28, 2025 · 1 hr 3 min
12. Murder Trial of the Century: Execution, Dissection and Revenge (Ep 2)
17 murders in, what finally brought serial killers Burke and Hare to justice? How did the notorious partners in crime turn against each other? Which of the pair met a grisly end and who got off totally scot-free? Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they retell the capture and gruesome fate of Burke and Hare. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 21, 2025 · 55 min
11. Scotland’s Most Notorious Serial Killers (Ep 1)
How did Burke and Hare get into the lucrative business of murder? Why was there such a demand for fresh corpses in 1820s Edinburgh? What gruesome methods did the pair use to kill their victims? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they delve into the gothic story of Burke and Hare, the mass murderers who scandalised the nation. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 14, 2025 · 51 min
10. 1983: The World On The Brink (Ep 2)
Why did a military training exercise seem like an imminent threat of nuclear attack? Despite being minutes away from launching Nuclear missiles, what made the Soviets back down? Why does no one know how close we came to total annihilation? Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time as they discuss the days where we narrowly escaped full scale nuclear war. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 7, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
9. Able Archer: The Closest We Ever Came To Nuclear War (Ep 1)
Why was the world so close to the brink of nuclear war in November 1983? What tactics were the Americans employing to play high stakes mind games with the Soviets? And, what made the Soviets so exceptionally paranoid? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell on Journey Through Time as they discuss how a routine military training exercise in November 1983 nearly had cataclysmic effects. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 30, 2025 · 1 hr
8. The Myth of Tokyo Rose: Truman and the FBI Witch Hunt (Ep 2)
Why did Iva Toguri get branded America’s first female traitor, despite there being no evidence to convict her? How did her case become important to President Harry Truman’s re-election campaign? And, after decades, how did Iva and her supporters finally clear her name? Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time as they delve into the sad story behind the scandalous myth of Tokyo Rose. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 23, 2025 · 50 min
7. The Myth of Tokyo Rose: The Woman Accused of Betraying America (Ep 1)
How did Tokyo Rose, a woman who never existed, become one of WWII’s most well known Japanese figures? Who was Iva Toguri, the American citizen caught up in the myth? How did sensationalist journalists weaponise the story of Tokyo Rose to create a vicious narrative about post war Japan? To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 16, 2025 · 55 min
6. Darwin, Dickens, and a Giant Diamond: Inside The Great Exhibition (Ep 2)
Paranoid predictions of crime fill the newspapers - so how will the well-to-do react to the incoming crowds of the working-class? From Harrods to the Eiffel Tower, what iconic attractions do we have The Great Exhibition to thank for? Did this 'Peace Festival' unite a nation or expose the deep-seated class divisions of Victorian society? Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time as they delve into the surprising reality of the Great Exhibition's success. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 9, 2025 · 47 min
5. The Great Exhibition: Prince Albert, Revolutionaries, and the Duke of Wellington (Ep 1)
The Great Exhibition is to open in May 1851 and millions of people will descend on the capital to marvel at exhibitions of culture and industry. Victorian engineering and determination will transform one million square feet of glass into the Crystal Palace in London’s Hyde Park in just five months, ready to house the wares of the world. However, this celebration of progress also exposed the stark inequalities of Victorian society, as the wealthy of West London contemplated the arrival of vast crowds from the impoverished East End. Fears of social upheaval stirred, echoing the anxieties surrounding the Chartist movement and the revolutions sweeping Europe. Discover the extraordinary measures taken to manage these anxieties, from the deployment of an additional thousand police officers to the subtle surveillance by specially appointed guides. Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga to discuss the Great Exhibition, and whether it was a unifying moment for the nation, or did it serve to highlight the chasm between the privileged and the poor? To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 2, 2025 · 1 hr 5 min
4. The First Woman to Run for President: Sex, Scandal, and Suffragists (Ep 2)
From the trading floor of Wall Street to the campaign trail, Victoria Woodhull was a force to be reckoned with. Sadly, her scandalous presidential campaign ends in disaster, and she spends election night in a cell. She’s been arrested for trying to expose the hypocrisy of one of America's most revered figures, the preacher Henry Ward Beecher, and his secret affair. Victoria Woodhull’s explosive confrontation with societal hypocrisy caused her downfall and eventual departure for England. Discover the surprising and complex final chapter of her life, as this former champion of radical freedoms embraced the controversial pseudoscience of eugenics. How should we remember the "future president" – as a pioneering feminist or a figure whose legacy is deeply complicated by her later views? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell to explore the full, contradictory life of a woman who dared to defy every expectation. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 27, 2025 · 1 hr
3. The First Woman to Run for President: Rags to Riches (Ep 1)
The American public is outraged by the announcement of a woman running for president. The year is 1872 and the candidate is Victoria Woodhull. Victoria Woodhull’s fascinating life started in a rural frontier town in Ohio. By age twelve she had become her family’s main breadwinner, working as a travelling spiritual medium and faith healer. Her eccentric yet poor beginnings provided no clues that she would end up the first woman to run for president of the United States. After a marriage breakdown, Victoria used her spiritual healing and beguiling charm to ascend the social ladder of America’s gilded age high society. And, on the way, she found time to become the first woman to open a brokerage on Wall Street. Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time as we delve into the extraordinary and controversial story of Victoria Woodhull, the "future president” , and explore how her groundbreaking, and some might say unbelievable, bid for the White House reverberated through the fight for equality in America. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 21, 2025 · 46 min
2. The Attack that Shook America: Black Tom Explodes (Ep 2)
New York harbour erupts with an explosion as Black Tom island is ripped apart. The shock waves ripple out around Manhattan and New Jersey, shattering windows miles away and even registering on the Richter scale. However, despite the widespread destruction, the attack was downplayed as an accident by the US authorities and it was only years later that the truth of the event came to light. Despite its absence from public knowledge, the explosion at Black Tom island has a seismic legacy. It played a part in the rise of the Nazis, the brutal internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and the creation of America’s counterintelligence operations. Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time to explore how this explosion reverberated throughout the 20th century. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 20, 2025 · 47 min
1. The Attack That Shook America: German Spies in New York (Ep 1)
New York, 1916. America is supposedly neutral in the war but they are shipping huge quantities of supplies to the allies. However, it being a nation of immigrants means loyalties across the United States are divided and members of the German-American community are causing trouble. Led by Franz von Papen and funded from Berlin, a ring of spies and saboteurs are trying to disrupt these arms shipments any way they can. Soon their eyes will turn to Black Tom Island, America’s largest arms depot, which sits in the Hudson. Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell in the first episode of Journey Through Time to hear about the forgotten terror attack that shocked America to its core. To find out more about Find My Past visit: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/journey-through-time Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @ThroughTimePod Assistant Producer: Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices