Show Notes
We’re often taught that history’s written by the winners. But we’d like to argue that, in fact, it’s the losers who end up making history.
In this brand new miniseries from Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day, History’s Greatest Fails aims to answer the simple, but complex, question: Why do losers make history?
From Richard III, to Vincent Van Gough, to the purposefully forgotten female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, this series is going to help you better understand how the idea of failure changes over time, and what lessons failure has for all of us.
Dan and Elizabeth are old friends, fellow history graduates, and fellow authors and podcasters.
Dan Jones is host of This Is History — A Dynasty to Die For, a narrative podcast that charts the bloody and complex drama of England’s Plantagenet dynasty, now up to its 10th season.
Elizabeth is host of How To Fail, a podcast that has brought together hundreds of luminaries and thinkers including Kate Winslet, Yuval Noah Hariri, and Malala Yousafzai, to reflect on failure in the present.
Over six episodes, History’s Greatest Fails will dissect failure of all kinds, from troubled historical rulers, to the failures of remembrance, to the failures that have created the happy accidents that last for generations.
As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And for the bonus episodes of this miniseries, Dan and Producer Al are hearing from the favourites directly — join us as they discuss the royal favourites’ special fail mentions.
So, join us for the debut episode of History’s Greatest Fails, premiering on Tuesday April 7.
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A Sony Music Entertainment production.
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Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day
Producer - Alan Weedon
Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman
Executive Producer - Simon Poole
Executive Producer - Dan Jones
Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day
Production Manager - Jen Mistri
Production coordinator - Eric Ryan
Head of content - Chris Skinner
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More from History’s Greatest Fails
Elizabeth Day grew up in Belfast and would as a child walk past the most bombed hotel in Europe. Dan Jones recalls a Croatian widow whose husband went out for bread and never returned.
If you’re an artist, when would you like recognition to strike? Do you want it to be in your lifetime, only to be forgotten decades after your death? Or do you want to remain undiscovered, with your story potentially echoing for centuries after you’ve been discovered posthumously?
If you judge him by his own elaborate metrics, Leonardo da Vinci was a failure.
What would you do if your life was omitted, reduced to an overlooked footnote, or filed away as an anomaly?
To love is to risk heartbreak.