We Didn't Start The Fire (podcast)
| We Didn't Start The Fire | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Katie Puckrik, Tom Fordyce |
| Genre | history and pop culture |
| Publication | |
| Original release | 2021 – present |
| Website | crowdnetwork |
We Didn't Start The Fire is a modern history podcast started in 2021. It is hosted by Katie Puckrik and Tom Fordyce and produced by Crowd Network.[1]
Premise[]
The podcasts takes topics from the pop song We Didn't Start the Fire, released by Billy Joel in 1989. The song lists, via a series of fast-paced lyrics, brief references to 118 significant political, cultural, scientific, and sporting events between 1949, the year of Joel's birth, and 1989, in a mainly chronological order. The podcast looks at these in turn with expert guests, with topics including the politics of Harry S. Truman, space exploration, rock'n'roll[2] and also including American, Korean and Cuba-Soviet Union relations at the height of The Cold War.[3]
Reception[]
Miranda Sawyer in The Guardian reviewed a "funny, informative discussion.. genuinely interesting and fun" and describes it as her "new favourite show".[4] Sawyer later noting that "Puckrik and Fordyce are funny, but also excellent interviewers and this show, which incorporates war, philosophy, celebrity and political machinations, is far better than you would ever imagine."[5] Sawyer later put the podcast in her top 10 of the year for 2021.[6]
Billy Joel himself heard the show and appears as a special guest on an episode first broadcast on 25 October, 2021.[7][8]
Episodes[]
| Episode | Subject | Guest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Harry Truman | Dr Nick Witham | |
| 2. | Doris Day | Tamar Jeffers-McDonald | |
| 3. | Red China | Prof. Yangwen Zheng | The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until Mao Zedong's death in 1976. |
| 4. | Johnnie Ray | Cathi Unsworth | |
| 5. | South Pacific | Dr Cara Rodway | A musical composed by Rodgers and Hammerstein |
| 6. | Walter Winchell | Dr Chris Shoop-Worrall | |
| 7. | Joe DiMaggio | Josh Chetwynd | |
| 8. | Joe McCarthy | Josh Hollands | |
| 9. | Richard Nixon | Dr Rivers Gambrell | |
| 10. | Studebaker | Greg Diffen | Automobile manufacturer |
| 11. | Television | Dick Fiddy | |
| 12. | North Korea | Dr Sojin Lim | |
| 13. | South Korea | Mary Lynn Bracht | |
| 14. | Marilyn Monroe | Shar Daws | |
| 15. | Rosenbergs | Dr Josh Hollands | Convicted of being Soviet spies. |
| 16. | H-bomb | Margaret MacMillan | The first full-scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952 |
| 17. | Sugar Ray | Steve Bunce | Sugar Ray Robinson was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. |
| 18. | Panmunjom | Colin Thackery | The location where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that paused the Korean War was signed. |
| 19. | Brando | Jonathan Ross | Marlon Brando 1924-2004, was an actor. |
| 20. | "The King and I" | Dr Cara Rodway | 1951 the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and became a 1956 film |
| 21. | "The Catcher in the Rye" | Caroline O'Donoghue | Novel by J.D. Salinger |
| 22. | Eisenhower | Dr Rivers Gambrell | Dwight D. Eisenhower
34th U.S. President |
| 23. | Vaccine | Dr Gareth Millward | The first effective polio vaccine was developed in 1952 by Jonas Salk and a team at the University of Pittsburgh. |
| 24. | England's got a new Queen | Margaret MacMillan | Elizabeth II was crowned in June 1953 |
| 25. | Marciano | Steve Bunce | Rocky Marciano was an American professional boxer who held the World Heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. |
| 26. | Liberace | Jo Kendall | |
| 27. | Santayana, goodbye | Dr Matthew Flamm | Santayana was a philosopher, poet, essayist and novelist. |
| 28. | Joseph Stalin | Alex Halberstadt | |
| 29. | Malenkov | Dr Natalya Chernyshova | Georgy Malenkov briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. |
| 30. | Nasser | Tarek Osman | Gamal Abdel Nasser was an Egyptian revolutionary and Egyptian president 1956-70. |
| 31. | Prokofiev | Alexander Karpeyev | Russian composer, pianist and conductor |
| 32. | Rockefeller | Angie Maxwell | |
| 33. | Campanella | Josh Chetwynd | Roy Campanella (1921-1993), a former catcher and a member of the baseball Hall of Fame. |
| 34. | Communist bloc | Eric Halsey | |
| 35. | Roy Cohn | Matt Tyrnauer | |
| 36. | Juan Peron | Natalia Milanesio | |
| 37. | Toscanini | Harvey Sachs | Italian composer Arturo Toscanini (1967 - 1957) |
| 38. | Dacron | Dr. Cara Rodway | Polyethylene terephthalate, a polyester referred to by the brand names Terylene in the UK, Lavsan in Russia and the former Soviet Union, and Dacron in the US. |
| 39. | Dien Bien Phu falls | Dan Snow | The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was fought between 13 March and 7 May 1954. |
| 40. | Billy Joel | Billy Joel | |
| 41. | Rock Around the Clock | Peter Doggett | 1954 hit record for Bill Haley & His Comets on Decca Records |
| 42. | Einstein | David Bodanis | Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) theoretical physicist |
| 43. | James Dean | Jake Lambert | |
| 44. | Brooklyn’s got a winning team | Josh Chetwynd | 1955 Baseball World Series winners the Brooklyn Dodgers |
| 45. | Davy Crockett | Dr Amy Davis | |
| 46. | Peter Pan | Sarah Wolf | |
| 47 + 48. | Elvis Presley | Sally Hoedel | |
| 49. | Disneyland | Dr Amy Davis | |
| 50. | Bardot | Caroline O'Donaghue | Brigitte Bardot, French actress born 1934 |
| 51. | Budapest | Eric Halsey | Hungarian Revolution of 1956 |
| 52. | Alabama | Chris Wilson | Bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, protesting racial segregation |
| 53. | Khrushchev | Dr. Natalya Chernyshova. | Nikita Khrushchev (1894 - 1971) First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1953 to 1964 |
| 54. | Princess Grace | Kate Williams | Grace Kelly (1929 - 1982) American actress. |
| 55. | Peyton Place | Dr. Cara Rodway | Novel and TV series |
References[]
- ^ "Newsday | Long Island's & NYC's News Source". Newsday. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
- ^ "A thoughtful look at love and sex – podcasts of the week | Podcasts". The Guardian. 5 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "The week in audio: Welcome to Your Fantasy; Sideways; The Bias Diagnosis – review | Podcasts". The Guardian. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
- ^ "Raves, musicals and a time-travelling diner: 20 must-listen indie podcast gems | Podcasts". The Guardian. August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
- ^ "Miranda Sawyer's best audio of 2021". TheGuardian.com. 26 December 2021.
- ^ "Glass speaks to presenter Katie Puckrik about her new podcast". The Glass Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
- ^ "billy joel podcast we didnt start the fire". Newsday. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
- ^ "We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast on Apple Podcasts". podcasts.apple.com. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
- ^ "We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast on acast". aca.st. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
- History podcasts
- Audio podcasts
- 2021 podcast debuts