The Real Network Blind History

Blind History

Blind History is a crash course in getting to know history’s greatest men and women - and by great we don’t always mean good.

Hosted by Gareth Cliff and Anthony Mederer, this series will tell you what the history books sometimes leave out - the sordid stories, the less well-known details, some of the stuff they didn’t teach you at school.

Each person will help you put a piece of the puzzle in place, and bring history to life.
Weekly English South Africa History · Education
98 Episodes
44 – 64

Grigori Rasputin

The dirty, smelly Siberian peasant was a bizarre fixture at the richest, most extravagant court in the world, and for a time, he might have been the most powerful man in the Empire. Grigori Rasputin was a celebrity, a priest, a seducer of women and a healer. He was also…
24 Nov 2020 20 min

Wu Zetian

There was once a great emperor, who ruled over the most cosmopolitan and rich empire. This emperor built skyscrapers, palaces, giant statues and ruled for half a century. This isn’t the start of a fairytale, and it isn’t the story you might expect. This emperor was a woman... and she…
17 Nov 2020 19 min

Lawrence of Arabia

The modern Englishman can only dream of a life of adventure, exploration, excitement and provenance. Sadly, those days may be gone. For the enduring spirit of T.E. Lawrence, his influence on the Middle East is still being felt. Lawrence of Arabia may only be familiar to you because of the movie, but his real life was perhaps even more epic.
10 Nov 2020 21 min

Lawrence of Arabia

The modern Englishman can only dream of a life of adventure, exploration, excitement and provenance. Sadly, those days may be gone. For the enduring spirit of T.E. Lawrence, his influence on the Middle East is still being felt. Lawrence of Arabia may only be familiar to you because of the…
10 Nov 2020 21 min

The Borgias

The name Lucrezia Borgia is synonymous with poison, the name Cesare Borgia with murder, and the name Rodrigo Borgia with orgies, incest and nepotism. Maybe that’s why he changed his name to Pope Alexander VI when he was elected by the college of cardinals. Were the Borgias really the worst…
3 Nov 2020 18 min

Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar was the Napoleon of South America - although if you called him that, he might have cut your head off. He could have had the easy life of a rich landowner in Venezuela, but chose instead to create a new Europe in South America. Bolívar made a mark on…
27 Oct 2020 15 min

Pol Pot

Pol Pot sounds like the kind of dish you’d order at a Cambodian restaurant - but it’s actually the name of one of the most horrific people ever to walk the Earth. For some reason he never makes it to the first division of truly maniacal, genocidal monsters of history…
20 Oct 2020 21 min

Paul Kruger

Although he was born Stefanus, nobody ever called him that. Paul Kruger went from pioneer, hunter and farmer to being the loneliest old man in Switzerland, dying on the banks of Lake Geneva. The part in between was remarkable. 
13 Oct 2020 21 min

Che Guevara

Che Guevara is a pop icon and an inspiration to the rebels of the world. But many don’t know that he was a medical student, an adventurer, and a husband. This episode of Blind History takes us from Argentina to Guatemala, then from Mexico to Cuba. We even stop in…
6 Oct 2020 23 min

George Washington

George Washington - father of the United States of America, with terrible teeth. He may have led the Continental Army, but poor George never smiled. Find out whether he and Martha had a happy marriage, or children... and if he really was a brilliant military mind.
29 Sep 2020 20 min

Ancient Israel

Ancient Israel, place of mystery and cradle of religion. King David and King Solomon are referred to in the great tapestry of Middle Eastern history as being paragons of kingship. All through the Middle Ages, kings tried to live up to their example. But who were the ancient kings, how…
22 Sep 2020 25 min

The Composers

Mozart, Beethoven and Bach - possibly the three most famous composers of all time. Which one of them had 20 children? Which one died a pauper and was buried in a mass grave? And which one wore the same clothes for up to three weeks at a time, stinking to…
23 Jun 2020 28 min

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin is in the big three of the truly evil people of the 20th century, along with Mao and Hitler. Their combined body count is well over 100 million souls, and most of those weren’t soldiers. Stalin did however raise Russia to power, might and glory - and his…
2 Jun 2020 29 min

Charlemagne

Charlemagne’s reign marks the end of the dark ages and the start of the medieval era. In this episode we explore the origins of France and Germany, the genealogies of all the kings and queens of Europe, and the first emergence of Northwestern Europe from savagery and barbarism, since the…
26 May 2020 23 min

Genghis Khan

During his short but expansive reign, he brought millions of souls under the banner of the Mongol Empire. Riding and fighting on horseback, he and his horde advanced into Persia, eastern Europe and China with such ferocity that even long after his reign had ended, the mere mention of his…
19 May 2020 23 min

Eva Perón

Eva Perón was born poor, unimportant and ordinary, but she was ambitious. Her ambition was so great that it propelled her into power, influence, glamour and wealth. By the time she died at only 33, she received one of the most ostentatious funerals ever held - and ever since, Argentina…
12 May 2020 21 min

King Louis XIV

From his silver throne in the glittering palace of Versailles, Louis XIV watched over his kingdom, resplendent in majesty. Everything about being a king was designed, considered, exalted. He taught the world what kings should look like, sound like, how they should walk and eat. He made himself the centre…
5 May 2020 19 min

The Persian Empire

In central Iran, at the foot of a low hill overlooking a seemingly endless plain, stand a few broken columns reaching impossibly high for ruins. Atop one or two are the stern, proud faces of bulls and eagles, battered by the sands of 2300 years of history. In the great…
27 Apr 2020 22 min

Catherine the Great

In a time of men - of the enlightenment and of extraordinary change, a young German princess found herself at the reins of the great Russian Empire. She was never anyone’s wife or lover - she made the rules. Catherine the Great was precisely that... great.
20 Apr 2020 17 min

The Kennedys

Perhaps no other American family was ever so photographed, written about, talked about, admired, hated and controversial. Were they brilliant, heroic, extraordinary people or arrogant, competitive, self-absorbed children of a wilful, overambitious patriarch? Most people think they know the Kennedys. We’ll tell you what you don’t know.
14 Apr 2020 23 min
44 – 64