Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history, told to help you drift into rest. Here, we believe the best stories from history are about quiet endurance, silent triumphs, and timeless moments. Each episode is crafted to bring you peace and calm, so whether you’re kept awake by stress, anxiety, restlessness, overthinking, or simply the weight of a busy day—or you just long for a moment of calm reflection before drifting off—you’ll find it here, on Sleepytime History.
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Moonlight Productions Podcasts
Welcome to Literature by Moonlight. Join me on late-night readings of iconic books, independent stories and various poems. Curl up with a cup of tea or just relax in bed and drift to sleep with adventures between the pages. Come along for a journey between worlds and adventures across stories. Who knows? Maybe you will discover a story you have yet to experience.
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Science fiction podcast. Featuring the best new writers in the science, speculative, horror, and fantasy fiction.
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Queer Film for the Straight Gal is a monthly podcast about every thing Queer and Film related. As Lana a queer human and Eloise, a straight who hates films, watch a monthly queer film and discuss what they like, didn't like and how gay it made them both feel. It's dumb! Check it out!
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Discover your next favourite book, or take a deep dive into the mind of an author you love, with The Shakespeare and Company Interview podcast. Long-form interviews with internationally acclaimed authors, recorded from our bookshop in the heart of Paris. Hosted by S&Co Literary Director, Adam Biles. Discover all our upcoming events here. If you enjoy these conversations, you can order The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews here. Past guests include: Ottessa Moshfegh, Ian McEwan, Ali ...
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Origins of Merlin the Wizard: The Truth Behind the Legend
8:32:49
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight, we explore the Origins of Merlin the Wizard, the mysterious tale of Britain’s most enduring legend. Before he became the wise wizard of Arthurian legend, Merlin may have walked the misty forests of post-Roman Britain as Myrddin Wyllt, the “wild …
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536 AD: Was This the Worst Year in History?
8:36:40
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight, we journey through the mists of time to uncover moments of resilience, mystery, and defiance — from the ash-darkened skies of 536 AD, when the sun seemed to vanish and famine swept across empires, to the chilling origins of Count Dracula, where …
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Count Dracula: Origins of a Gothic Legend (Halloween Special)
8:33:16
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we travel back to the mist-shrouded valleys of Transylvania and Wallachia to explore the origins of Count Dracula, a gothic legend shrouded in mystery. This bedtime audiobook takes us beyond the vampire legend to the history for serenity and harm…
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Alcatraz: Only Three Men Ever Escaped. Did They Survive?
8:37:08
8:37:08
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we journey to the barren rock in the centre of San Francisco Bay—Alcatraz. Built to be escape-proof and reserved for America’s most defiant inmates, it stood as a monument to finality. But in the summer of 1962, three men vanished from their cell…
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How France Lost Its Way, with Andrew Hussey
1:08:23
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In this episode recorded live at Shakespeare and Company, historian and cultural critic Andrew Hussey joins Adam Biles to discuss his powerful new book, Fractured France: A Journey Through a Divided Nation. With wit, erudition, and decades of on-the-ground insight, Hussey examines how France—once the model of revolutionary ideals and republican uni…
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Legendary African Samurai of Feudal Japan - Yasuke
8:39:35
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we journey to sixteenth-century Japan for the remarkable true story of Yasuke: Legendary African Samurai of Feudal Japan. Once enslaved, Yasuke travelled across continents in the service of Jesuit missionaries, from Africa through India and beyon…
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Defiance Incarnate: Boudica, Celtic Warrior Queen
8:00:49
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we turn to Defiance Incarnate: Boudica, Celtic Warrior Queen, a tale of resistance, courage, and the unbreakable will of a people. In first-century Roman Britain, the Iceni tribe lived under the uneasy shadow of empire. Their queen — tall, comman…
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Philippe Sands: Pinochet, Walter Rauff, and the Shadows of History
1:06:38
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This week Adam Biles speaks with international lawyer and acclaimed author Philippe Sands about his latest book, 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia. Building on East West Street and The Ratline, Sands traces the remarkable and disturbing links between Nazi officer Walter Rauff—architect of the mobile gas van…
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Infamous Skyjacker, D.B. Cooper: How Did He Get Away with It?
8:35:17
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight, we tell the remarkable tale of D.B. Cooper, the infamous skyjacker who vanished into the clouds from a jetliner over the Pacific Northwest with more than $200,000 in ransom money. In this audiobook-style retelling, you’ll hear the true history o…
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Part Two: The Bermuda Triangle: Myths, Theories, and Countless Disappearances
8:24:42
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we return to the Bermuda Triangle: Myths, Theories, and Countless Disappearances — Part II. This bedtime journey carries us through one of the most enduring legends in maritime and aviation history, told in a way designed to help you unwind with …
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Moonlight Express: Monisha Rajesh on the Magic of Night Trains
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In this conversation recorded live at Shakespeare and Company, travel writer Monisha Rajesh talks about her new book Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train. From Paris to Istanbul, Scotland to India, the United States to Lapland, Rajesh explores the romance and realities of sleeper trains—where the carriages, the landscapes, and above a…
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Part One: The Bermuda Triangle: Myths, Theories, and Countless Disappearances
8:23:48
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we journey into The Bermuda Triangle: Myths, Theories, and Countless Disappearances – Part 1. This enigmatic expanse of the Atlantic, stretching between Miami, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda, has for centuries captured the imagination of sailors, pilot…
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Billy the Kid: Folk Hero or Lawless Gunslinger?
8:33:11
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we travel to the fading twilight of the Old West to meet Billy the Kid: folk hero, outlaw, and one of the most enduring legends in American frontier history. He was barely out of boyhood when his name began drifting through dusty saloons from El …
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Blackbeard: Dreaded Phantom Pirate of the Atlantic
8:06:47
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we drift back into the Golden Age of Piracy with Blackbeard the Pirate: Flamboyant, Lawless, Legendary. More than just Edward Teach, he became the very image of piracy itself — the archetype of the swashbuckling rogue of the high seas. From the c…
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Twenty Writers, One Bookshop: The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews, now in paperback
1:18:21
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In this special episode of the Shakespeare and Company Interview Podcast, we celebrate the paperback release of The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews (Canongate), a compelling collection of literary conversations recorded live at our bookshop in Paris. Capturing a decade of rich, revealing discussions, the episode revisits unforgettable mo…
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Bonnie & Clyde: Lovers on the Lam or Murderous Thieves?
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we revisit Depression-era America to follow the remarkable true story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow — two young lovers whose names would be etched into history as both daring fugitives and ruthless killers. Dust rose on empty highways as bank…
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The Lost City of Z and the Tragic Fate of Percy Fawcett
8:09:48
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we journey into the remarkable true story of Percy Fawcett and his fateful search for the Lost City of Z, an advanced ancient city said to be hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. A decorated British officer and explorer, Fawcett was convinced that t…
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Small Girl, Big Ideas: Getting to know Mafalda, with Samanta Schweblin and Frank Wynne
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In this episode Adam speaks with translator Frank Wynne and Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin about the first-ever English edition of Mafalda, the beloved Argentine comic strip by Quino (Archipelago Books). Together, they explore how this precocious, principled six-year-old girl—who challenged everything from soup to capitalism—shaped generation…
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Sleepytime History | Ötzi the Iceman: A 5,000-Year-Old True Crime Murder Mystery | 8 Hours
8:06:59
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight we follow the remarkable true story of Ötzi the Iceman — a 5,000-year-old figure preserved in the high Alpine ice, whose final hours read like an unsolved true crime mystery. In this immersive audiobook-style journey, we’ll step into the world of…
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Sleepytime History | Lawrence of Arabia - Visionary or Villain? | 8 Hours
8:06:50
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Welcome to Sleepytime History — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest. Tonight, we journey into the windswept deserts of the Middle East to explore the remarkable life of T.E. Lawrence — a man who remains one of history’s most fascinating contradictions. Immortalised as Lawrence of Arabia and revered in legend, he was at on…
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Calls May Be Recorded: Lipstick, Loneliness, and Late Capitalism with Katharina Volckmer
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41:54
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Katharina Volckmer joins Adam Biles to discuss her biting, bleakly funny second novel, Calls May Be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes. Set in a London call centre, the book follows Jimmie, a disillusioned former actor trapped in a soul-crushing job, a suffocating home life with his immigrant mother, and an alienating body. Volckmer disc…
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The Shape of Survival: Eimear McBride on Love, Art, and the City
1:02:49
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In this textured conversation, author Eimear McBride joins Adam Biles at Shakespeare and Company to discuss her latest novel The City Changes Its Face. Set in Camden Town in the 1990s, the book revisits characters from The Lesser Bohemians as they navigate the complexities of love, art, aging, trauma, and parenthood. McBride explores the enduring i…
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Sleepytime History | Roanoke: How Did This Entire Colony Simply Vanish? | 8 Hours
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Tonight, we journey back to the windswept shores of 16th-century North America to explore the haunting mystery of Roanoke — the English colony that simply vanished. It was one of England’s earliest attempts to plant its flag in the New World, an ambitious outpost built on the edge of an uncharted continent. Over one hundred settlers — farmers, craf…
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Katie Kitamura on Fiction’s Shifting Realities
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Katie Kitamura joins Adam Biles to discuss her remarkable novel Audition. Centred on a middle-aged actress whose settled life is upended by a young man claiming to be her son, Audition blurs the lines between performance, identity, and narrative certainty. Kitamura reflects on the novel’s dual structure—a “rabbit-duck” ambiguity—and her fascination…
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Sleepytime History | 8 Hours | The Oregon Trail - Could You Have Survived?
8:06:43
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Tonight, we follow a quiet line of wagon ruts stretching two thousand miles into the unknown — a path that promised hope and new beginnings, yet delivered heartbreak and hardship to so many who dared it. The Oregon Trail shaped a nation, carrying pioneers, families, and dreamers westward through untamed plains, blistering deserts, and snowbound mou…
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Renton Returns, Sick Boy in Love: Irvine Welsh Reimagines His Antiheroes
1:04:03
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In this electric conversation, Irvine Welsh joins Adam Biles at Shakespeare and Company to discuss Men in Love, the long-awaited sequel to Trainspotting. Picking up moments after Renton's betrayal, Welsh dives deep into the aftermath—friendship, love, addiction, class, and the cultural hangover of 1980s Thatcherism. The pair explore writing authent…
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Sleepytime History | 8 Hours | Leonardo da Vinci - Painter. Visionary. Robot Inventor?
8:06:45
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Born in the gentle hills of Tuscany, Leonardo da Vinci was much more than a painter. He was an engineer, an anatomist, and — astonishingly — the inventor of the world’s first known robot. As you unwind with history tonight, you’ll hear how he sketched the human body with unmatched detail, designed machines of war and dreams of flight, and built a m…
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Inside the Story Machine: Natasha Brown on Media, Power, and Fiction
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In this episode novelist Natasha Brown joins Adam Biles to discuss her daring second book, Universality. The conversation explores the novel’s structural audacity—opening with a fictional long-read article—and its thematic interrogation of class, race, media narratives, and the modern British middle class. Brown dives into her creation of Leni, a p…
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Making Sense of Gertrude Stein, with Francesca Wade
1:05:38
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In this rich conversation, Francesca Wade joins Adam Biles to discuss her biography Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife. Wade explores the complexities of Stein’s life, legacy, and literary innovations, foregrounding Stein’s long-overlooked partner, Alice B. Toklas, as a powerful and persistent force behind the myth. They dive into questions of biography,…
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