Histories of the Unexpected

It’s our 10th episode!

So blow out the candles, cut the cake and make a wish!

You are cordially invited to join the Cultivator of Chronicles, Dr Sam Willis, and the Tim Peake of Time, Professor James Daybell as these history DJs get the unexpected history of the party started.

From garden parties to peripatetic English monarchs, from the vomiting ladies of the court of James I to the myth of the Roman Vomitorium, there’s much to celebrate as Sam and James make the links between Edvard Munch and wallflowers and bacchanalian excess and yelling at cider trees in an English orchard. And, of course, no real party could be complete without the furniture being trashed, or in the case of John Evelyn a much-prized 400ft long, 9ft high and 5ft wide, now no longer impenetrable hedge. Wow did those Russians know how to party! Keith Richards had his T.V. set, Keith Moon his exploding toilet, Aerosmith their chainsaw, and Peter the Great … a wheelbarrow.

“Here’s to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou mayst bud,
And whence thou mayst blow!
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
Hats full! Caps full!
Bushel – Bushel – sacks full,
And my pockets full too! Huzza!”

(South Hams, Devon, 1871 Wassailing song – in case you wanted to sing to the cider trees).

Dr Sam Willis - @DrSamWillis Professor James Daybell - @JamesDaybell Follow the show's new Twitter: @UnexpectedPod HistoryHit Network - Twitter Facebook Producer - Dan Morelle