Tony Robinson is best-known for playing turnip-brained Baldrick who always had 'a cunning plan' in the iconic TV show Blackadder. He's presented countless documentaries throughout his 50-year career, including 20-years on Channel 4's Time Team, inspired by his passion for history and for digging deep into the past to understand more about the present. That's his thing!
In his history podcast, Tony is delving into weird and wonderful stories that grab his attention. He’s asking: Why was Stonehenge built? What did the past smell like? Why were pies invented? Why do our dogs love us so much? When did tattoos stop being taboo? What do bones tell us about past humanity? When did Jelly become a thing? Who wrote the Bible? Who is Putin and what makes him tick? No subject is off limits, because everything has a history.
Along the way, Tony is joined by experts and special guests, including Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Fry, Raksha Dave, John Lloyd, Alice Roberts, Ben Elton, Grace Neutral and David Mitchell.
So join Tony Robinson as he hosts his cunningly curated history podcast. New episodes drop Thursdays.
Tony Robinson's Cunningcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
In advance of the new series of his cunningly curated history podcast, coming soon, Tony looks back at the best bits of Cunningcast Series 2 with series producer Melissa FitzGerald.
Series 2 features fabulous episodes about Tattoos, Bones, Jelly, Magic, Cars, Beards, Bletchley Park, Hadrians Wall, Turnips, Dr Who and more with some incredible guests including: Alice Roberts, David Mitchell, Grace Neutral, Ben Elton, Annie Gray, Richard Curtis and Sophie Aldred.
If you like these best bits but haven’t heard the full episodes, have a wander back on our #Cunningcast feed to check them out.
Follow us on our socials and hit follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you don't miss any new episodes of Cunningcast Series 3 coming soon...
Another chance to hear a Cunningcast Christmas treat: Tony reading his favourite poem ‘Goblin Market’ by Christina Rossetti. He's discussing the context and history of Rossetti’s iconic work with Madeleine Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Romantic Literature at the University of Sheffield.
In his electrifying reading, Tony captures all the magic and strangeness of ‘Goblin Market’, set in a fairy-tale world where a fraught encounter takes place between the two sisters Laura and Lizzie and a band of sinister goblin merchants who tempt Laura with their ‘forbidden fruits’. Can Lizzie save her sister from the evil Goblin’s temptations?
Madeleine Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Romantic Literature at the University of Sheffield. Author of ‘Shelley’s Living Artistry: Letters, Poems, Plays’ (2017) and ‘The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley’ (2019) published by Anthem Press. ‘Eternity in British Romantic Poetry’ (Liverpool University Press), June 2022.
Today Tony is talking to his old friend and collaborator, the screenwriter Richard Curtis. They share memories of making Blackadder from the early years to how it all ended. Along the way, they discuss Richard’s comedy roots and how he became a top comedy screenwriter: meeting Rowan Atkinson at Oxford Uni; working on Not The Nine O’Clock News; the influence of Fawlty Towers and plans for a Blackadder series set in the 1960s that never happened. Plus, they read lines from the Blackadder pilot script and discover where Baldrick’s ‘cunning plan’ catch-phrase comes from.
Last year Blackadder turned 40, to mark the occasion, Tony made a TV show in which he tracked down the lost Blackadder pilot to discover the truth of Blackadder's beginnings. For the show, Tony interviewed many old friends and people who are central to making Blackadder the success it was, as well as Blackadder superfan David Mitchell, who is featured in Cunningcast Series 2, Episode 4. You are hearing Tony’s unedited, behind the scenes chat with Richard Curtis recorded for the TV programme. The show is called Blackadder: The Lost Pilot and you can watch it on Sky, Virgin & Now.
Richard Curtis was Blackadder’s mastermind and writer, alongside Ben Elton. He’s one of Britain's most successful screenwriters and producers, with credits including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Mr Bean, The Vicar of Dibley, Love Actually, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Yesterday. He’s also the co-founder of Comic Relief.
Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald X @melissafitzg
Executive Producer: Dominic de Terville
The Past, Present and Future of CAR Engineering and Sustainability
Season 2 · Episode 6
Thursday, March 14, 2024 • Duration 52:54
Electric cars are the future of motoring, or so we are told, but today’s Cunningcast guests don’t agree. In fact, Hugo Spowers of Riversimple thinks hydrogen is the future and he’s designing hydrogen powered cars to prove it. Together with experienced car broadcaster Richard Sutton, they give Tony the low down on the past, present and their vision for the future of car engineering and sustainability.
Chief engineer and founder of Riversimple, who are pioneering the next generation of zero emission vehicles. They use hydrogen, not batteries and emit nothing but water. Hugo is responsible for all technical aspects of the cars and for the architecture of the business itself. He is considered something of a thought leader on the Circular Economy and has been invited to give talks on entrepreneurship at Imperial College, London and Cranfield University among others. At the Real Innovation Awards in October 2019 hosted by the London Business School, Hugo was awarded the George Bernard Shaw Unreasonable Person Award “for someone who has shown enormous tenacity and stubbornness in pursuing an idea despite the difficulties encountered along the way”.
Today Tony is conjuring up a history of stage magic: from Reginald Scot's 1584 ‘Discovery of Witchcraft’ to Servais LeRoy ‘The Belgium Conjuror’ and Talma, ‘The Queen of Coins’ via escapologist Harry Houdini to TV magic with David Berglas, Paul Daniels and David Copperfield. Tony also explores women in magic and how ‘female assistants’ were integral to the magic tricks they performed. He’s invited two accomplished magicians and knowledgeable members of the magic circle, Paul Kieve and Laura London, to help him out with the history and share some magic secrets along the way.
Designer of storytelling magic and illusion, Paul has devised original magic for over 100 productions internationally. Paul is an honorary lifetime member of The Magic Castle, Hollywood, Gold Star Member of the Inner Magic Circle and an associate artist at The Old Vic Theatre, London.
Laura is one of the world’s best female ‘sleight of hand’ artists specialising in cards and is also fabulous close-up magician with a large and varied repertoire. Laura’s interest in magic began at 10 years old, when, for a birthday present, she was given her first magic trick. Just one week after her 18th birthday, Laura became the youngest ever female member of The Magic Circle and is now a member of the Inner Magic Circle.
DAVID MITCHELL | Blackadder: The Lost Pilot
Season 2 · Episode 4
Thursday, February 29, 2024 • Duration 53:41
Comedian David Mitchell is joining Tony on Cunningcast today. They cover David’s comedy awakening; meeting Robert Webb and the early years of Peep Show; how Olivia Coleman got involved; his love of Blackadder; playing William Shakespeare and working with Ben Elton in Upstart Crow and meeting his wife, Victorian Coren Mitchell.
Last year the iconic comedy Blackadder turned 40, to mark the occasion, Tony made a TV show in which he tracked down the lost Blackadder Pilot to discover the truth of Blackadder's beginnings. The show is called Blackadder: The Lost Pilot and you can watch it on catch up on Sky, Virgin & Now.
For the show, Tony interviewed many of those involved and some who were inspired by Blackadder: you are hearing Tony’s unedited, behind the scenes chat with David Mitchell recorded for the programme.
David Mitchell has had a stellar career in British comedy. His big breakthrough was Peep Show with David Webb and Olivia Coleman and since then, he’s worked on a plethora of panel shows, including Would I lie to You, Mock the Week and QI. He starred as William Shakespeare in Upstart Crow, a historical comedy devised by Ben Elton. His new book ‘Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens’ is a thoughtful, funny exploration of the entitled and enthroned.
A Wobbly History of JELLY: From Elite Dining to Kids’ Parties and Back Again
Season 2 · Episode 3
Thursday, February 22, 2024 • Duration 49:53
It's all going a bit wobbly in Cunningcast Towers as we are talking about the history of jelly. Tony wants to rescue jelly from its place as a children’s party food because there was a time when making jellies was an art form and took pride of place on the tables of the wealthy. He’s invited leading food historian Annie Gray and jellymonger-in-chief Sam Bompas to help him out.
Food historian, Annie has worked widely across TV and radio talking about and recreating the food of the past, and has been the resident food historian on BBC Radio 4’s award-winning culinary panel show, The Kitchen Cabinet since its inception in 2012. She includes a recipe for Champagne Jelly in her ‘Downton Abbey Cookbook’.
What Do BONES Tell Us About Past Humanity With ALICE ROBERTS
Season 2 · Episode 2
Thursday, February 15, 2024 • Duration 01:10:02
Tony catches up with Alice Roberts to talk about her new book ‘Crypt’ and what developments in the extraction of ancient DNA from bones can tell us about the humans they once belonged to.
They cover the syphilitic anchoress of All Saints Church, Fishergate, York; new findings about the Black Death and the bones in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Braemore, Hampshire; damage to the bones of the Mary Rose crew; 'the cockle amongst the wheat’ and new finds relating to the St Brice’s Day Massacre via isotopic analysis of human bones at St John’s College, Oxford as well as revisiting their Time Team days.
‘We experience the world through our bodies, and our lives are written into those bodies and into our bones. And this is what the skeletons of the dead say to us when we find them: listen to us, we have stories to tell.’ (‘Crypt’ 2024, Alice Roberts)
Biological anthropologist, author and broadcaster. Alice’s new book ‘Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond’ is available from the 29th Feb, 2024.
The History of Painting on Skin: Where Do TATTOOS Come From?
Season 2 · Episode 1
Thursday, February 8, 2024 • Duration 01:04:40
The art of painting on the skin, it’s fashionable now, but it wasn’t always so. To kick of the second series of his cunningly curated podcast, Tony and his special guests Matt Lodder and Grace Neutral discuss where we can find the oldest tattoos, what’s the history behind them, ancient and modern tattoo techniques, tattoo inks, queer tattoo history, body modification including tattooing eyeballs and when did tattoos stop being taboo?
Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory, and Director of American Studies at the University of Essex. Matt is the UK's foremost expert on the history of tattooing. His book 'Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos' is out now.
Hand-poke tattoo artist, presenter and influencer. Grace runs Femme Fatale Studio, showcasing a wide range of tattoo styles from international artists.
Sir Tony Robinson is back with another series of his cunningly curated history podcast. Series 2 of Tony Robinson's Cunningcast treats listeners to brand-new cunningly curated episodes including;
· The history of painting on skin: where do TATTOOS come from?
· What do BONES tell us about past humanity with PROF ALICE ROBERTS
· Harry Houdini to David Blaine: conjuring up the history of stage MAGIC
· Who built HADRIAN’S WALL and why?
· From aristocratic dining centrepiece, to kids’ party favourite: A wobbly history of JELLY
· How does the past inform the future of CAR engineering and sustainability?
· Dr WHO at 60: exploring the history of Britain’s most famous time traveller with Ace, Aka Sophie Aldred.
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