It has been said that the past is another country, but the events we discuss in this episode feel all too familiar. Media interference in elections, Russian influence on Western politics, controversial immigration policy and the technology industry are all as close to the top of the agenda today as there were in 1924.
Today Violet is joined on a tour back to 1924 by the celebrated writer Simon Winchester. Simon is one of the great literary figures of his generation. His career as a journalist and an author spans the past half century, from reports on the Troubles in Northern Ireland to pioneering works of creative non-fiction like Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Born in Britain, in this episode he joins Violet from his home in rural Massachusetts.
Simon’s latest book, which has just been published, Knowing What We Know, The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic takes us from ancient Babylon to Chat GPT, analysing many of the subjects that are discussed here.
For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com.
Also, if you want to have a look - here's the Sandisfield Times!
Show notesScene One: 25 October 1924, the Zinoviev Letter is published in the British press, setting Ramsay MacDonald and the Labour Party up for election disaster.
Scene Two: 1924. In New York City, the creation of IBM – International Business Machines.
Scene Three: 1924. In Washington, the Asian Exclusion Act passes through Congress, enshrining anti-immigration policy and racism into law.
Memento: IBM ‘golf ball’ font attachment for typewriter.
People/SocialPresenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Simon Winchester
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours
Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_
See where 1924 fits on our Timeline
John Darlington: The Port Royal Earthquake (1692)
Katja Hoyer: Beyond The Wall (1973)
Company of Heroes 3: David Milne (1942-4)
Sarah Bakewell: Petrarch and Boccaccio (1348*)
Nandini Das: The first English embassy to India (1616)
[From the archives] Ariana Neumann: When Time Stopped (1944)
Nicholas Spencer: The Great Debate (1860)
Christopher Hadley: Roman Roads and the Invasion of Britain (51 AD)
Don Hollway: The Year of Three Battles (1066)
[From the archives] Rebecca Wragg Sykes: Neanderthals (Eemian)
James Hall: Michelangelo and Leonardo in Florence (1504)
Tania Branigan: Mao and the Cultural Revolution (1966)
Marion Turner: The Wife of Bath (1397)
John Sellars: Aristotle (347 BC)
Simon Akam: The Changing of the Guard (2006)
[From the archives] Diarmaid MacCulloch: Thomas Cromwell (1536)
Tim Clayton: James Gillray and a Revolution in Satire (1792)
Harry Sidebottom: The Mad Emperor (218)
Josiah Osgood: Caesar, Cato and the Fall of the Roman Republic (46BC)
Philip Mansel: Louis XIV, The Sun King (1700)
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