The Curiosity of a Child

In this bonus episode we present Anton’s short story Guilty Chocolate read by Anton himself! He claimed second prize in the Guernsey Literary Festival WriteStuff competition judged by leading international author Anthony Horowitz. The competition gave students the following brief: ‘Write an imaginary 300 word story inspired by Detectives or Spies’. Anton’s story was described as ‘a very dark and mature story that relates closely to world events right now. The title nails it and the whole piece is horribly believable.’ This is also the first time Anton ever edited an episode, choosing the music, cleaning up audio and more.    

Legend tells of an early pioneer of rocketry who, in 1633, blasted off over Istanbul in celebration of the birth of the Sultan’s daughter. There are stories of an eccentric French couple flying horses and bulls into the sky to entertain the masses. There were inventors who saw the future of travel in personal balloons that allowed us to bound across the landscape as if we were an astronaut on the moon. These tales my sound absurd by they are the ‘True History’ of mankind’s obsession with flight. Join us as we discover some of history’s craziest people who put entertainment and progress ahead of their mortality!

We are very excited and proud to announce that we will be talking at the 2022 Intelligent Speech conference! Our talk will be about 22 orphans packed onto a ship to America and deliberately infected with cowpox! We would love our listeners to join us. Tickets cost $20 for the early bird (and 8 hours of talks) or $30 thereafter, but if you use promo code curiosity at checkout you get an extra 10% off. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com Here’s what they say: CROSSING LINES We chose to make the topic for this year’s Intelligent Speech conference, Crossing Lines, as it seemed to not only resonate with our times but also with what we hope Intelligent Speech 2022 will represent through our range of speakers. This year’s conference will be cross-curricular, we will have speakers who have crossed over from being podcasters to being authors and vice versa, we’ll be crossing continents, we might even have stories about crossing over and crossed lines. Where lines cross are junctures and our era certainly feels like a major juncture in time; at Intelligent Speech 2022, our speakers will be exploring other times when lines have been crossed in one way or another. Intelligent Speech 2022 will take place on Saturday, June 25 at 10 am EST (New York)/3 pm GMT (London). There will be eight hours of great presentations from up to 40 different content creators from the worlds of podcasting, YouTube, and media. Each session will be 40 minutes long.

We travel downunder to meet one of Australia’s most unusual creatures: Ornithorhynchus anatinus, better know as the Platypus. Few animals have caused such debate as our duckbilled friend, for nearly a century leading scientists across Europe (maybe they should travel a bit closer to their subject) debated exactly what this paradoxical animal was – mammal, lizard, something entirely new? What are the eggs all about, and where are the nipples? And don’t get us started on the penis! The Platypus is one very strange animal indeed. We explore the folklore, tell the history, look at the science of how we came to understand Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Along the way there are epic arguments and a secret WW2 mission, finally we top it off with a rap written and performed by Anton!

This episode Anton takes the lead as he explores the development of Norman castles in the British Isles. Whilst fortifications dotted the English landscape long before the 1066 Norman invasion nothing quite like their castles existed before. Anton and I talk about early motte and bailey fortifications that offered only rudimentary protection to vast concentric circle castles like Beaumaris in Wales that dominated the surrounding landscape. What did they symbolise? How did they change? And are they the origin of IKEA?! Full show notes.

Pepper, king of the spices. Found in every kitchen and on every restaurant table pepper is a spice that’s ‘just there’. Today we take this spice for granted but this wasn’t always the case as great European powers fought over it’s control wanting to monopolise the trade and the wealth it brought. The Portuguese, Dutch and British sent countless sailors and soldiers on voyages to the mystical east. But they weren’t only there to trade and soon conflict and brutality would stain the history of pepper. We tell this story, taste some of the finest peppercorns available, test Roman and Greek medical recipes and explore how today pepper is being rediscovered as a power medicine. Full show notes: https://thecuriosityofachild.com/episodes/king-of-spices-the-potent-power-of-pepper

We are honoured to be joined by Greg Wah, science communicator from Australia and co-host of the excellent Smart Enough to Know Better podcast. We discuss the size of the universe and how the JWST is going to help us look back further than ever, iconic images from Hubble, the beauty and importance of science and more. Podcast: https://smartenough.org/ Greg on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thewah SE2KB on Twitter: https://twitter.com/se2kb Show notes: https://thecuriosityofachild.com/episodes/interview-greg-wah-science-communicator-and-podcaster

Keeping with our space theme we chat to Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy about how he captures his incredible images, space travel, aliens and more. You have to check out Andrew’s photos, they’re mind-blowing. He definitely has an eye for creating something beautiful but it’s backed up by a sound scientific knowledge and genuine love for the wonders of space. Follow Andrew: Twitter, Instagram, website store Show notes: https://thecuriosityofachild.com/episodes/interview-andrew-mccarthy-astrophotographer

History remembers many great men but it forgets far more. Warren De la Rue, born 1815, was an engineer and scientist who pioneered astral photography. From designing and operating the photoheliograph – the first instrument created specifically for photographing celestial bodies – to improving chemical processes to decrease exposure times De la Rue was a true innovator. Working alongside some of the greatest names of the age he helped advance not just astronomy but many fields of research through hard work, dedication, intelligence and generosity. Warren De la Rue should be better known today and, with the launch of the James Webb telescope, what better time than now to remember him.Oh, he also has an incredible invention - a very bight idea! 😉 Show notes: https://thecuriosityofachild.com/episodes/warren-de-la-rue-the-man-who-looked-at-the-sun-scientist-engineer-eclipse

We go ghost hunting in a Neolithic passage grave, taking with us an infrared robot, an EMF metre and recording equipment for EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon). Do we capture anything? Does anything capture us!? Belief in ghosts and spirits is a worldwide phenomenon, it crosses cultures and ages. You’d expect modern science to taper these ideas, but surveys show over half of Americans still believe. We look at some of the theories, from stone tapes to infrasound, as we try to understand what is really going on. But reading books and articles will only get us so far, we need to seek answers ourselves with a series of ghost hunts at ancient locations. Show notes: https://thecuriosityofachild.com/episodes/ghost-hunters-of-the-neolithic

Halloween is drawing near and the spirits are stirring so what better time than now to chat with Tim Brown from the Paranormal Intelligence Gathering Service (PIGS). Anton and I really enjoyed talking to Tim as he explained how PIGS conduct their research, what findings they’ve discovered and the use of EVP in some of the unique locations Guernsey offers for those seeking contact with the deceased. Far from believing every story he hears, Tim wants to find and understand exactly what people are experiencing – is it infrasound, simply being in a heightened state or a haunting spirit? Join us this episode as we learn more. Will we be ready for our ghost hunting trip next episode? For more information on the PIGS visit their website. Show notes: https://thecuriosityofachild.com/episodes/interview-with-tim-brown-from-the-paranormal-intelligence-gathering-service

We were invited to chat to our local BBC radio station and they very kindly gave us permission to reproduce the show. If you’re curious how the podcast begun and what Anton’s favourite topic has been (I can’t believe he said it live on air, on the BBC!!) then have a listen! It was great fun and we’re so pleased they invited us on, thank you BBC Guernsey. Find out more about our podcast: https://thecuriosityofachild.com/