Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the most recognizable characters of all time, Sherlock Holmes. But the author felt he had much more to offer, and grew so frustrated with the detective that he ultimately threw him off a waterfall. This week, we give Sir Arthur his due. It’s the doctor, would-be statesman and soldier, devoted husband and seeker of the spiritual realm — in his own voice — on the Angry History Show.
February 25, 1942. Los Angeles gets itself on a war footing. Days after FDR’s Executive Order 9066 okays the round-up of American citizens, war jitters explode over the City of Angels. This epic Angry History episode explores The Battle of Los Angeles and the passionate Fort MacArthur reenactment that takes modern L.A. back to a time of fear and resilience.
On February 27, 2015, the world lost Leonard Simon Nimoy. Actor, photographer, poet, soldier, singer, role model, friend to hundreds of millions he never met — and millions as yet unborn. He was much more than Star Trek’s Spock, and Spock was named one of TV Guide’s 50 greatest characters. We say goodbye to one of our childhood heroes, and Owen describes his brush with greatness, on this Angry History Extra.
They call it, the Second War of Independence. In 1814, a British Army routed American defenders at Bladensburg, Maryland, and marched south on the still-unfinished capital, putting President James Madison to flight and crowning their achievement by setting fire to his house – the White House. It’s the story of an incompetent Secretary of War, a heroic slave, and a rather chivalrous occupation, this week on the Angry History Show.
As war clouds gathered in May 1938, the U.S. Army Air Corps staged four days of war games on Long Island, and “bombed” a war factory in Farmingdale. Their goals: Prepare the civilian population to comply with blackout orders in the event of an attack, test anti-air defenses still in their infancy, and demonstrate that American fly-boys could meet any threat. It’s America’s first air raid drill, this week on Angry History…
On June 9, 1909, before paved highways or power steering, gas stations or GPS, a 22-year-old Hackensack, N.J., housewife set off from Broadway to boldly go where no woman had gone before: A drive across the U.S. After two months, a dozen flat tires, and 3,600 miles (only 152 paved), she arrived in San Francisco. This is the story of Alice Huyler Ramsey, AAA’s “Woman Motorist of the Century.”
In 1621, the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people celebrated the first Thanksgiving. Owen and Dean look at how the tribe feels about the holiday today, plus ’70s memories of Charlie Brown’s depressing special, WOR Channel 9’s Thanksgiving Day monster marathons, WKRP’s legendary turkey drop, and the myth of presidential turkey pardons. All this plus Crazy Eddie as a cautionary tale about retailers opening for Thanksgiving, on the Angry History Show.
NASA just published dozens of audio clips from space, letting us hear galactic events like the lightning storms of Jupiter for the first time. Episode #30 looks back at humanity’s baby steps into that final frontier, from the first Soviet flight and the Eagle landing, to Owen’s uncle piloting the Curiosity rover to the red Martian sands. From JFK to James T. Kirk, on the Angry History Show.
In the early 20th Century, a gentleman was naked without his hat, and tradition held that he switched from straw hats to felt ones on September 15th. If he wore “the taboo headgear” after that date, hooligans were free to smash it to bits. This was all in good fun until 1922, when some kids from Five Points sparked a bizarre riot that shook New York City from the Battery to the Bronx.
Robin Williams entered our consciousness about as alive as a person can be; reflecting his great energy onto us and back into him, it seemed. Which may be part of why his death pulls so roughly at so many of us. Angry History mourns his loss and celebrates his awesomeness. But mostly mourns. Goodbye, Robin Williams. We just expected to have you a while longer.
