The Fall of Constantinople

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1. 

   E113 · 10 Jan 2022 · 10 min

   Captain Cook and the European Discovery of Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii

   Sophie (age 8) and Ellie (age 6) tell the story of the great explorer Captain Cook who was the first European to discover Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.----more----Before we even start our episode Sophie and Ellie point out that there were already people living there who did not need to be discovered as they had their own cultures, languages and homes. However, we decide to tell the story anyway as Captain Cook was still a great explorer. James Cook was born 300 years ago in Britain. Britain was a powerful country who got rich through trading and from her colonies. James Cook was born…

2. 

   E112 · 20 Dec 2021 · 7 min

   History of the Christmas Carol

   Sophie (age 8) and Ellie (age 6) tell the history of the Christmas Carol. Songs used to be sung by pagans thousands of years ago to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Christmas was at the same time as the Winter Solstice so the Church carried on with the singing but instead made the songs about Christmas. The first Christmas Carol we know of was from 2000 years ago and was called the Angels Hymn. All the early carols were in Latin and over time people stopped speaking Latin – and they stopped singing the Latin carols. Then around 800 years ago a monk called St Francis of Assisi wrote the first…

3. 

   E111 · 6 Dec 2021 · 10 min

   World War Two - Blitzkrieg

   Sophie (age 8) and Ellie (age 6) tell the story of Blitzkrieg – how the Germans used tanks to conquer much of Europe at the start of World War Two. In World War One Britain invented the tank. America, Russia and Britain used tanks to defeat Germany. However, after the war people in those countries did not want to fight any more wars. They made their armies small. They also decided to defend in the future not to attack. The French built a line of forts for defence. They did not have many tanks and those they did have they used for defence. The Germans though had other plans. After Hitler came…

4. 

   E110 · 29 Nov 2021 · 9 min

   The Invention of the Tank

   Sophie (age 8) and Ellie (age 6) tell the story of the invention of the Tank.----more----At the outbreak of World War One, armies had infantry, artillery and cavalry. Many of the general had been in the cavalry themselves. However, once war started everyone realized that cavalry was not going to be very useful in this war. Machine guns fired bullets so fast that the cavalry were shot dead before they could finish their charge. The war soon became trench warfare as soldiers dug trenches to keep safe from the bullets. You couldn’t put a horse in a trench. The area between the trenches was also…

5. 

   E109 · 22 Nov 2021 · 9 min

   The History of Pollution and Saving the Planet

   Sophie (age 8) and Ellie (age 6) have been learning about Climate Change at school as part of the COP conference. They have made a podcast about the history of pollution and saving the planet.----more----Our story starts 800 years ago. Edward I was King of England. Coal was discovered in Newcastle and many London homes started using it to keep their houses warm. However, it made the city very smokey. The King’s mother thought it was so smokey that she left the town. The King decided to act. He banned people from using coal for their fires to try to make the air cleaner. However, people just…

6. 

   E107 · 8 Nov 2021 · 10 min

   The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

   Sophie (age 8) and Ellie (age 6) tell the story of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in the week of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.----more---- World War One had been a terrible war. Millions had been killed by machine guns and explosions. The fighting was so terrible that many of the bodies were never found. Back in Britain that meant is was difficult for people to properly grieve. It was decided to bury one unknown soldier in Britain to represent everyone who had died. That way everyone would have a place to go and to mourn. Four unknown soldiers were dug up from their graves in…

7. 

   E106 · 1 Nov 2021 · 9 min

   The Aztecs

   Sophie (age 8) and Ellie (age 6) tell the story of the mighty Aztec Empire.----more---- The Aztecs ruled central America for hundreds of years. They conquered it from other countries. They were fierce warriors. Their capital was called Tenochtitlan. This is now the capital of Mexico. Back then it was an island on a lake. It had gleaming white palaces and Pyramids with temples on the tops of them. Religion was very important to the Aztecs. They practiced human sacrifice. This is where they would kill people to make the Gods happy. They used to capture enemies and sacrifice them. They would…

8. 

   E105 · 25 Oct 2021 · 9 min

   Hallowe‘en Special: Ghosts in History

   Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) celebrate Hallowe’en by telling Ghost stories from history.----more---- They start with stories from ancient times. They tell how Odysseus went down to the underworld after winning the siege of Troy and met with ghosts. Aeneas, a Trojan prince, was fleeing Troy. He also visited the underworld and met with ghosts. The Romans loved ghost stories and lots of their stories have survived, including a spooky one about a haunted house with a ghost wrapped in chains. The Arabs also loved their ghost stories. The famous book, the Arabian nights has lots of ghost…

9. 

   E104 · 18 Oct 2021 · 9 min

   The History of the Police

   Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) tell the story of the History of the Police.----more---- The first police were in Ancient Egypt. They were used to guard markets and temples. They had sticks to beat criminals with. They also used animals to help. They had trained monkeys and dogs who helped them catch baddies. In Ancient Greece they also had police. Every city was different. In Athens they used special slaves as police to keep order during meetings. We get the word Police from the Greek word “Polis” which means City. The Romans had lots of different types of police. They had the vigiles who…

10. 

    E103 · 11 Oct 2021 · 10 min

    The Cold War

    Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) tell the story of the Cold War.----more---- At the end of World War Two the Soviet Union (the old name for Russia) and the United States of America were suspicious of each other. The Soviet Union would not let their newly conquered lands in Eastern Europe be free. They also would not disband their armies. This worried the capitalist and democratic countries of what we call the West. They agreed to protect each other. The Americans had nuclear weapons which the Soviets did not have. These weapons could destroy whole cities. The Soviets though had spies. Their…