You may have heard of Greta Thunberg and her climate school strike, but did you know she walks in the footsteps of a long history of child activists? In this episode we explore the stories of the 1899 news boy strike in the US, the 1911 school strikes in Britain and much more.

Welcome to You Haven’t Heard the Half of It, where we uncover the hidden half of history. Each episode, Esther Freeman and Simon Cole tell stories, which disrupt accepted versions of the past. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast to you don’t miss and episode.

To discover more about the news boy strike, listen to the two-part episode on You’re Wrong About

This episode also references the Dublin lockout, which you can learn more about on Esther’s other podcast, Rebel Women (it’s the episode about suffragettes)

You can hear more about the Youth Training Scheme school strikes on the Women Activists of East London website (see Nancy Taaffe’s story)

Discover more about Esther and her work at Women Activists of East London.

Discover more about Simon and his work at Hackney Tours

Music from Purple Planet

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reminiscent of the 1990s conflict in former Yugoslavia, our tv news has been filled with pictures of suffering civilians in the Ukrainian war. As pundits debated the possibility of WW3, we look at what was going on in Europe in the aftermath of the last global conflict. The mainstream British narrative of WW2 ends neatly in May 1945 with the official end of hostilities in Europe, but for years afterwards the continent was convulsed with conflicts - some of which predated what we in Britain call WW2 – as well as famine, revenge attacks and ethnic cleansing.

Welcome to You Haven’t Heard the Half of It, where we uncover the hidden half of history. Each episode, Esther Freeman and Simon Cole tell stories, which disrupt accepted versions of the past. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast to you don’t miss and episode.

The aftermath of WW2 is a huge field. The main source for this podcast was Keith Lowe's Savage Continent but also Harry Leslie Smith's Hamburg 1947: a Place for the Heart to Kip and Normal Lewis' Naples '44

We also discuss The Third Man which is set in post war Vienna. You can watch that for free on the IMDB streaming service.

Discover more about Esther and her work at Women Activists of East London.

Discover more about Simon and his work at Hackney Tours

Music from Purple Planet

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

History often casts Jews as a passive victim, whether it is the pogroms or the Holocaust. A brilliant new book called the Light of Days by Judy Batalion reframes this narrative. But It’s a complex situation that gets tangled up in different Jewish factions, survivors’ guilt and the positioning of women’s narratives more generally.

Welcome to You Haven’t Heard the Half of It, where we uncover the hidden half of history. Each episode, Esther Freeman and Simon Cole tell stories, which disrupt accepted versions of the past. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast to you don’t miss and episode.

Discover more about Judy Batalion and her book on her website

Discover more about Esther and her work at Women Activists of East London.

Discover more about Simon and his work at Hackney Tours

Music from Purple Planet

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since Black Lives Matters hit the headlines and Black History Month has become more established, people are starting to hear more about the Haitian Revolution.

Does our awareness of 'the only successful slave revolt in history' change our view of why Britain eventually outlawed slavery? How might we deal with the moral complexity of those times and figures like Toussaint L'Ouverture?

Welcome to You Haven’t Heard the Half of It, where we uncover the hidden half of history. Each episode, Esther Freeman and Simon Cole tell stories, which disrupt accepted versions of the past. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast to you don’t miss and episode.

To hear more yourself, check out the excellent Underground Railroad podcast.

To read about the revolution, see the CLR James book The Black Jacobins.

Discover more about Esther and her work at Women Activists of East London.

Discover more about Simon and his work at Hackney Tours

Music from Purple Planet

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2007, Britney Spears had a very public mental breakdown. This led to a conservatorship being imposed, which she claimed took control of everything from her ability to have children to her multi million dollar estate. While the case has received huge global media attention, this kind of control of women “for the sake of their sanity” is anything but new. In this episode we go right back to the Victorian era to show how women’s mental health has been used as a way to control them for centuries.

Welcome to You Haven’t Heard the Half of It, where we uncover the hidden half of history. Each episode, Esther Freeman and Simon Cole tell stories, which disrupt accepted versions of the past. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast to you don’t miss and episode.

For further reading on women and mental health, check out The Female Malady by Elaine Showalter

To learn more about Britney Spears and her conservatorship, listen to Pieces of Britney from BBC Sounds.

Discover more about Esther and her work at Women Activists of East London.

Discover more about Simon and his work at Hackney Tours

Music from Purple Planet

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to You Haven't Heard the Half of It , where we uncover the hidden half of history. Telling you stories you haven't heard before - and some you have but from a new perspective - we disrupt accepted versions of the past.

With Esther Freeman, a social historian from East London, and Simon Cole, an alternative tour guide from East London, each episode, one of us will take you on a journey to show that, you haven't heard the half of it.

SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss an episode, and if you like the show give us a rating and a review.

Discover more about Esther and her work at Women Activists of East London.

Discover more about Simon and his work at Hackney Tours

Music from Purple Planet

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.