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© 2024 Since the World's been Turning
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This podcast series is a journey through history, one guided by the lyrics of Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire". Join us for an educational and fun exploration of the events, people, and inventions that helped to shape the modern world during the Cold War. These roughly half-hour episodes place a microscope on each of Billy Joel’s lyrics, discovering the rich detail that helps breathe life into the past. Narrated by Robin Harrison, each episode also features interviews with guest speakers, including experts in the field and friends and family of the people being discussed. Together, we’ll learn why Billy Joel wrote the lyrics he did and hopefully come to understand what he meant when he sang “We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning, since the world’s been turning.”
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In this episode, we’re heading to America’s Atlantic Coast, circa 1987. People are fleeing the beaches, and it’s not because of sharks. To the horror of both tourists and residents alike, the coasts of New York City, Long Island, and the Jersey Shore have been covered in medical waste. Hypodermic syringes, to be specific. To help us with this episode is our guest, Jeremy Greene. Jeremy is a historian of medicine, and the director of the history of medicine department at Johns Hopkins Uni...
In this episode we’re back in New York in the 1980s and looking at a controversial figure who’s little-known today: Bernie Goetz. Goetz, who shot four teenagers on the New York subway, has been variously portrayed as a racist villain, a victim, and a hero. We’re very lucky to be joined in this episode by a guest who was almost as close to the case as you can get. He’s civil rights and criminal defence lawyer Ron Kuby, who represented the family of Darrell Cabey, one of the victims,...
Following on from our previous episode on the AIDS epidemic, this time we’re focussing on another large scale social issue that swept the world - but more specifically the United States - in the late 1980s and early 90s. This is an epidemic of a different kind - drug use, in the form of Crack Cocaine. The so-called “War on Drugs” will reach a fever pitch over this period, irrevocably changing the United States’ relationship with its black population, drug use, and its federal prison sys...
In this episode we delve into one of modern histories deadliest diseases AIDS. The AIDS epidemic swept through the United States and the world at large in the 1980’s and 90’s, devastating the communities of queer people and drug users. Here to help us understand the history of AIDS is Professor Jonathon Engel from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in Manhattan. Professor Engel is the author of The Epidemic: A Global History of AIDS
In this episode we’re returning to America and catching up with the Vietnam veterans who proudly served their country in the 1960s and 70s.We explore the complex damages caused by war and one of the darker sides of the American dream: a problem with apparently no easy solution, in a country that prides itself on its military might.
In this episode we’re looking at foreign debts in the 1980s, as we explore the economic system introduced by American President (and former B movie actor) Ronald Reagan. The 80s also saw a massive debt crisis in Latin America, where it’s known as La Decada Perdida or the Lost Decade. Money might seem like a dry topic compared to some of the many colorful events and personalities we’ve profiled on this podcast: but in the increasingly globalized world of the late 20th century, every...
Throughout modern history, there have been few things in popular culture as stigmatised as heavy metal music. Coated in all forms of macabre imagery and dealing with dark and provocative themes - metal has always sought to test the limits of what is socially acceptable. In this episode, we’ll be telling many tragic stories about people who’ve suffered the ultimate loss and wound up putting their grief into the wrong places. We’ll examine how this stigma affected heavy me...
In the early 1980s, more than a decade after the Moon Landing, America saw the stratospheric rise of Sally Ride, the third female astronaut and the first woman from the United States to go into space. Overnight, she became a national hero: but she never felt comfortable with her celebrity status. She also became a pioneer when it came to promoting science education, particularly for girls. Here with us to discuss Sally Ride is a very special guest, former NASA official from the Office of...
This time we’re focussing on one of the more seemingly innocuous inclusions in Billy Joel’s lyrics, the TV game show Wheel of Fortune. Thriving off a deceptive simplicity, and a healthy amount of audiences yelling at their TV screens, this spruced up version of Hangman was at one point the highest rated television show in all of syndication. However, the story of Wheel and its creator is far more complex than you might expect.
In this episode, we return to the Middle East and explore the country known as the Graveyard of Empires: Afghanistan. More than 30 years before America’s War on Terror began, Russian troops invaded the mountainous region and plunged the country into conflict. Joining us to talk about the Russian presence in Afghanistan is special guest, British military historian and author of over 60 books Anthony Tucker-Jones. He takes us through the background to, and the main events of the war –...
In this episode we’re back in the Middle East and one of the world’s most hotly-discussed countries – the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today, it’s often depicted in Western media as a closed and repressive society. But prior to the Revolution of 1979, Iran looked very different. We’re joined by a very special guest, Ervand Abrahamian, to discuss the downfall of the Shah, Iran’s last monarch, and the rise of the Islamic leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Ervand Abrahamian is widely regar...
In this episode, we’re returning to a time before restrictive airline security, where - if you had a ticket - you could stroll onto a plane carrying anything you wanted. The 1960s - 70s are known now as the golden age of airline hijacking. It was a time of political crime, of massive, subversive, system challenging actions. It was also a time of personal crime, borderline petty grievances elevated to extreme lengths. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this era is just how seemingly...
In this episode we’re returning to the Middle East and taking on a contentious and sad topic: the history of Palestine. We’re joined by a very special guest, the Israeli-born historian Ilan Pappe [Eelahn Pah-pay] who is a Professor of History and the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. Prof Pappe shares his time between the UK and Israel. He’s also the author of a number of books including The Biggest Prison ...
This episode we’re tossing on our cowboy hats and riding horseback all the way from Sunset Boulevard to the White House. The first celebrity U S president, Ronald Wilson Reagan, marked a turning point in world history. From the aggressive deregulation of Reaganomics, to the massive consequences of his aggressive foreign policy, Reagan’s influence on the world is undeniable. Working as a Military Filmmaker, Movie Star, Labour Organiser, Governor, and the President of the Unit...
In this episode, we’re traveling back to the Middle East, and the birth of modern Israel. Key to the founding of the state of Israel in the 1940s was Menachem Begin – a soldier, a right-wing zealot and a Zionist.Joining us to discuss the controversial figure who was Menachem Begin is special guest Avi Shilon. Avi is a historian who specializes in Israel studies. His published works include Menachem Begin: A Life, published by Yale University Press, and a biography of Begin’s fellow Isra...
While it struggled for radio play, Punk managed to take over the world anyway. Digging its teeth into the pillars holding up “respectable society”, it leaked its way out of the world’s cultural centres to disenfranchised, embittered youth and gave them the tools to fight back. This is music as war, music as identity, music as freedom. So, Cheers to our hundredth episode - let’s talk about Punk. We have special guest Legs McNeil, co-author of the book Please Kill Me, which is inarguably ...
This time we’re doing something a little unconventional for us. The Watergate Scandal, even all these years on, is still a controversial issue; in the historical community, potentially more controversial than ever. So, we’re making two separate episodes hearing from guests with two different perspectives on the issue. We are joined by very special guest Geoff Shepard who was the youngest lawyer for Nixons White house staff . He has written three books on the topic of Watergate and g...
In this episode, we’re heading to the world’s most famous music festival, Woodstock. This pivotal moment in cultural history was held in the summer of 1969, and more than 50 years later it still has a mesmeric hold over our imaginations. At the time though, it was an unlikely success. With the help of special guest Joel Makower, we go behind the scenes. Joel is a journalist by training and the author of Woodstock: The Oral History, which is available in paper form and on audio...
In this episode we look into the epic story of how man got to the moon. Our guest is historian David Whitehouse, author of “Apollo 11: The Inside Story.” David is a former BBC science editor and Asteroid ‘4036 Whitehouse’ is named after him.
This episode, we’re telling the story of one of the most tumultuous events in contemporary American political history - the 1968 presidential election. Our guest for this episode it Dr Luke Nichter, Professor of History at Chapman University, California. His area of specialty is the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, from John F. Kennedy through Watergate. Dr Nichter’s latest book, The Year that Broke Politics, has just been released and is all ab...
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