Journey Through Time is a new podcast from Goalhanger exploring the overlooked, forgotten, and untold sides of history.
These will include from hidden stories to new angles on events we thought we knew.
Co-hosted by British Nigerian historian and BAFTA-winning filmmaker David Olusoga and American cultural and literary historian Sarah Churchwell, Chair of Public Humanities at the University of London, the show will look at the past from the ground up.
David Olusoga says: “We don’t just tell you what happened in the past; we want to show you what it felt to live through it.
“Like the programmes I make on TV, this show will uncover the sorts of history that didn’t take place in parliament or palaces.
“What Sarah and I are going to do is explore how political decisions, new technologies and the random chaos of the past played out on the street, within the home or on the battlefield.”
Sarah Churchwell adds: “We want to uncover the hidden layers of history – stories of ordinary people navigating extraordinary times.
“Our goal is to challenge familiar narratives and reveal the surprising truths behind what you think you know – or maybe haven’t thought to question. It’s about understanding history not just as something we study, but as the force that shaped our world.”
David and Sarah, will be blending storytelling with historical insights, bringing their distinct perspectives to stories that challenge what we think we know about the past.
They will uncover the human experience behind events both famous and forgotten, revealing the choices, struggles, and ambitions that changed history in ways that continue to reverberate today.
In the first two episodes, David and Sarah explore a terrorist attack that shook America, led to the creation of new national security agencies, and helped push the United States toward war. But it’s not 9/11.
They uncover the story of the 1916 Black Tom Island explosion – a devastating blast that rocked Manhattan and helped pave the way for America’s modern security state.
Future episodes will include the story of Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president in the United States in 1872; track the path of the Great Storm of 1703, the most violent weather event ever recorded in England; and follow the scandalous murder of architect Stanford White, a crime that exposed the dark side of America’s Gilded Age.
David and Sarah will also revisit the Great Exhibition of 1851, where Britain put its industrial might and its insecurities on display; explore the true story of Bass Reeves, the formerly enslaved man who became one of the most legendary US Marshals of the American West; and uncover the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two women who defied the British Empire to become pirates in the Caribbean.
Journey Through Time launches on Thursday 20 March.
