Hi everyone, just thought I’d drop a quick update. This week’s blog/podcast episode is likely to be a day or two late.
You may know, New Zealand was pummelled last week by a tropical cyclone. I came out of it fine – myself and my loved ones are all safe and sound. None of us found ourselves in flooded homes, though my brother may still be getting all his power from a diesel generator at time of writing. We were extremely lucky to come through unscathed. At time of writing there have been eleven deaths. Thousands of people have lost their worldly belongings to flooding. A couple of billion dollars worth of damage has been done to homes, land and infrastructure like a number of roads…

Please don’t think I’m complaining when I say several days of heavy rain and howling winds have put me a couple of days behind schedule. The noise bled into my mic too much, so I had to wait out the storm to record the next one. Apologies to everyone for the delay – I think I’ll have this week’s episode up Thursday night NZ time – Friday at the very latest.

If anyone is curious, that head start I got this year has mostly gone into preparations for a three parter that will drop in April. I’ll probably be sitting an exam for my day job some time around then and figured a little breathing space to study would be useful. The scripts for those three needed a tonne of re-writing… and as it’s a topic I have blogged about in the past, I’ve written three shorter blog pieces to go up blog-only those weeks also.
Well, technically not quite blog only – I’ve recorded those blog posts as Patreon minisodes to bulk up the Patreon a little to folks who prefer to listen.

Anyway, sorry folks, please hang in there, the next one is coming.

(Note: Featured image is just a stock picture I had around – not of the cyclone.)

Hey all, the You Choose episode for August will be a choice from one of the following.

 The newspapers tell me Indy is turning 40 this year – Raiders of the Lost Ark of course released in 1981. My understanding is, while Spielberg and Lucas have spoken at length on the fictional influences on the character (everything from Charlton Heston in The Secret of the Incas, to early Scrooge McDuck.. in both cases check out that hat and jacket!), it’s always been assumed several real life adventurers were also in the mix. 

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Sooner or later I’m bound to write on Percy Fawcett and his Lost city of Z, so I’m taking him out of contention… Roy Chapman Andrews, Hiram Bingham III, Carl Akeley? etc I don’t know. Maybe we’ll get to those guys if Tales runs long enough… In a couple of decades maybe? 

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Ok, Carl Akeley in less than a paragraph. Akeley was the taxidermist who stuffed Jumbo the elephant, after Jumbo was killed by a train. He went on safari with Teddy Roosevelt; and once choked an attacking leopard to death with his bare hands – not getting at all wounded in the exchange (see picture).. A lot of the ‘real life Indy’s’, I think, could be similarly covered… Most of them are interesting, but few of them have ever struck me as being as interesting as a Henry Morton Stanley, Richard Francis Burton or even a Mungo Park. 

Some characters however, seem very worthy of this own short Tale.

One – Frederick Russell Burnham. 

 Not only did he literally teach Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, a thing or two, and serve as an inspiration for H.Rider Haggard’s Allan Quartermain, he got into a load of scrapes across the globe. Burnham was involved in the Pleasant Valley War (a Wild West feud mentioned briefly in the post on Tom Horn), and the Apache Wars before moving to South Africa where he… well, vote to find out. 

Two – Giovanni Batista Belzoni.

An Italian giant, and one time circus strongman with a formal education in civil engineering – Belzoni made one hell of a grave robber. Among the items he stole away with is that famous 7 tonne bust of Ramesses II everyone has probably seen at some time or other. He had many adventures in Egypt, before travelling to West Africa… Want to know more? Vote Belzoni.  

Voting Closes midday NZ time 21st June 2021.

Hi all just a quick update.

First, apologies ahead of time – this week’s blog + podcast post on rocket pioneer and occultist Jack Parsons may run a little late. It ran longer than expected and will be a two parter. Part one is written up. The podcast episode is recorded and waiting for second pass editing tonight.
All going well I’ll release both on Wednesday… otherwise it’ll be a Thursday release?

Second, I’ve been thinking about doing a series of one minute ‘Today in History’ videos on YouTube. My plan is to do three or four month’s worth on my next break from the blog (in 6 weeks’ time) with a new video for every day of the year.

Check out the ‘pilot’ below. Please leave me some feedback on the video – Simone

Hey all – from the next season of Tales of History and Imagination (both the blog and podcast) I’m bringing in a semi- regular ‘You Decide’ episode where you – the reader, or listener – get to choose the subject of the Tale.

I’ll be completing, then advertising the Patreon – and when the Patreon reaches a tipping point these will become ‘Patreon Decides’. Until then everyone gets a vote.

The first You Decide will be released 2nd June 2021. The theme, mysterious disappearances. The two choices

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Lord Lucan – a British peer who disappeared 7th November 1974 – having attempted to kill his estranged wife… and succeeded in killing the children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett. Rumours persist to this day as to the whereabouts of the murderous peer.

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Hale Boggs – The House majority leader, and representative for Louisiana’s 2nd district who mysteriously vanished with Alaskan congressman Nick Begich – while aboard a small plane. Did someone want the men dead, and how much bother would they go to, to ensure Boggs and Begich never made it back alive?

Voting starts now (below), and will run till midday May 1st. Please check out the YouTube video I made for the vote also. – Lucan v Boggs, who do YOU choose?