The Man Who Didn’t Want to be Pope

The Man Who Didn't Want to be Pope

Transcript On February 10, 2013, in what began as a rather innocuous assembly, Pope Benedict the XVI stunned the world by announcing that he would be retiring.  Not only were people stunned, but to paraphrase King George in the Musical Hamilton, most people weren’t even aware that was something a pope could do.  Yet, it …

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The New York World Trade Center

The New York World Trade Center

Podcast Transcript Prior to their destruction in 2001, the World Trade Center in New York was a wonder of architecture. It was a collection of seven different buildings which served as a hub of commerce in New York’s financial district.  The planning for the complex was decades in the making and during its brief history, …

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Air Force One

Air Force One

Podcast Transcript The era of presidential aviation began on October 11, 1910, when former president Theodore Roosevelt took to the skies in a Wright Brothers Flyer at a county fair in Saint Louis. The flight only lasted a few minutes. Fast forward 110 years and the President of the United States has one of the …

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The Number of the Beast: 666

The Number of the Beast: 666

Podcast Transcript Sometime around the year 95, a man who called himself John wrote what became known as the Book of Revelations.  In that book, he said, “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666.” So, what is the …

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The Aberfan Disaster

The Aberfan Disaster

Podcast Transcript On Friday, October 21, 1966, the small village of Aberfan, Wales woke up to a typical autumn day. Many of the men in the village went to work at the local coal mine and the children went to the local school. At 9:15 am, the lives of everyone in the village had changed …

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Who Was the Greatest Olympian of All Time?

Who Was the Greatest Olympian of All Time?

Podcast Transcript The modern Olympics have been celebrated for over 100 years. Since their beginning in 1896, there have been over 100,000 athletes who have competed at the Olympics and thousands of medals have been awarded.  At every Olympics, just like clockwork, the same debate is initiated: who is the greatest Olympian of all time?  …

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The Great Emu War

The Great Emu War

Podcast Transcript After the first world war, many Australian veterans settled in the Campion district of Western Australia to become farmers on land provided by the government.  It was there they encountered an enemy far more cleaver than any which they encountered in Europe.  They fought this enemy with state-of-the-art weapons and vehicles, yet it …

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The Concorde: The Fastest Passenger Airplane Ever

The Concorde: The Fastest Passenger Airplane Ever

Podcast Transcript Almost as soon as Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, people began thinking of ways to transport passengers at supersonic speeds.  However, the challenges in creating a passenger aircraft that could travel at supersonic speeds were much greater than making a fighter aircraft that could do the same.  In 1976, a …

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How Benedict Arnold Became American for Traitor

How Benedict Arnold Became American for Traitor

Podcast Transcript At the start of the American Revolution, a young American major general was one of the brightest stars of the war. He was responsible for several major campaigns and he had a great future ahead of him in his new country. By the end of the war, he was a British General fighting …

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