Heroes and Howlers

Oh!" said Pooh again. "What is the North Pole?" 

"It's just a thing you discover," said Christopher Robin, not being quite sure himself. 

“Every human longs for peace and love.” Hiawatha

Separating ‘Fact’ from ‘Fiction’ is the constant challenge of an historian. None more so than the early history of North America’s First Nations peoples. Research relies heavily on oral traditions handed down from generation to generation but that hasn’t stopped Paul and Mikey digging for nuggets of truth. 

"If every fool wore a crown, we should all be Kings." Welsh Proverb

Everybody’s favourite day of the year - well, certainly Paul and Mikey’s. But some of the stories behind the  pranks and foolishness might surprise you. Just what is a Scottish gowk? And why should we hunt it?

“The world is a drama, staged in a dream.” Guru Nanak 

Mata Khivi and the tradition of serving free communal meals (Langar) changed the face of Sikhism for ever. It has grown to become one of the most cherished institutions all over the world. 

“I would travel down to hell and wrestle a film away from the devil if it was necessary.” Werner Herzog

But if that film was Birth of a Nation, Werner, you can just leave it there. In this episode Paul and Mikey look at how one film single-handedly resurrected the KKK. Then take a sideways glance at a few other early 20th-century repugnant (and sometimes costumed!) misfits/Howlers.