Episodes

  • Husbands of the Scottish Queen
    Nov 25 2025

    Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, was murdered under mysterious circumstances. How Mary reacted, and what happened next, would lead to her undoing.

    Support Noble Blood:

    — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
    — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    46 mins
  • Sing Me a Song of a Lad That Is Gone
    Nov 18 2025

    After the Battle of Culloden, the Bonnie Prince Charlie needed to escape to safety. His salvation would come in the form of a young woman named Flora MacDonald, who would become an indelible piece of romantic Scottish history.

    Support Noble Blood:

    — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
    — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    30 mins
  • How a Texas Grocery Store Ended the Cold War [Very Special Episodes]
    Nov 15 2025

    In 1989, Boris Yeltsin walked into a Houston supermarket — and walked out ready to end an empire. What he saw in Texas that day would shake the foundations of the Soviet Union. Decades later, it also made a pretty great musical.

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    On the Very Special Episodes podcast, we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

    Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English
    Written by Dave Roos
    Senior Producer is Josh Fisher
    Editing and Sound Design by Jonathan Washington
    Additional Editing by Mary Dooe
    Mixing and Mastering by Josh Fisher
    Research and Fact-Checking by Dave Roos and Austin Thompson
    Voice Actor is Tom Antonellis
    Original Music by Elise McCoy
    Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
    Social Clips by Yarberry Media
    Executive Producer is Jason English

    Special thanks to composer Evan Mack for letting us play a clip of “Make Your Move,” from his original opera Yeltsin in Texas. Learn more at evanmack.com. And thanks to Yelena Biberman for sharing her story. Check out her excellent podcast How to Kill a Superpower.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    44 mins
  • The Example of an Honest Courtesan
    Nov 11 2025

    As a courtesan, Veronica Franco would entertain Henry III of Valois in her Venetian home. But her greatest accomplishments would be a literary career that defied public expectation and defended her honor from men who would mock and diminish her.

    Support Noble Blood:

    — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
    — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    49 mins
  • Revolutionaries on Cato Street
    Nov 4 2025

    In 1820, a group of desperate radicals came up with a violent plan for complete social and political reform in England: murdering the entire cabinet at a nearby dinner party. But their scheme—known as the Cato Street Conspiracy—was over before it even began.

    Support Noble Blood:

    — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
    — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    29 mins
  • King James VI's Stolen Crown (with Tracy Borman)
    Oct 28 2025

    On her deathbed, the unmarried "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I declared that her successor would be King James VI of Scotland. Or at least, that's the story that we've been told. In her new book THE STOLEN CROWN, historian Tracy Borman, Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, discusses the bombshell new discoveries that reveal that the Stuart Dynasty was built on a lie. (For more, here's Tracy for History Extra's Life Lessons from History)

    Support Noble Blood:

    — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
    — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    36 mins
  • Lady of the Mercians
    Oct 21 2025

    Æthelflæd's father was Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons, and he married her to the leader of Mercia to seal an alliance. But Æthelflæd's husband would become sickly, and she would become a formidable leader in her own right.

    Support Noble Blood:

    — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
    — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    27 mins
  • Æthelstan and a United England (with David Woodman)
    Oct 14 2025

    Why does William the Conqueror get all of the credit when Æthelstan was king of a united England in 927? David Woodman (Professor of History at Cambridge University) joins us to talk about his new book The First King of England.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    25 mins