You know
the story.
The parts the famous story leaves out. True stories you think you already know, told from the side you don't normally see: the letters, court papers and famous photos, who was really there, and what happened after. From the Colosseum to the fall of Saigon.
*Well, you know the famous version.
Told by a real human, in their actual voice. Day job by day, almost historian by night. About six credits short of a history major, to be specific.
Six channels so far, because I couldn't help myself.
Exhibit A: the most watched so far
The flag at Japan's surrender was backwards
"Look at the old flag on the wall behind them. The stars are in the wrong corner."
A young lieutenant carried that flag nine thousand miles in five days. He said he even took it to the toilet with him. Then the Navy hung it back to front, on purpose.
USA C-2717, 2 September 1945 (National Museum of the U.S. Navy). Check which corner the stars are in.
Clause 1. The ancient world
Ancient Fine Print
The ancient world, and the parts the famous version leaves out.
12:40The day they blew up the Parthenon
They stored gunpowder in the Parthenon
In 46 BC, the year lasted 445 days
Thumbs down came from a painting
9:46Who moved New Year's Day?
10:10Scotland's saint never went to Scotland*Thumbs down? That mostly comes from a painting made in 1872, fourteen hundred years after the last gladiators.
Clause 2. The Second World War
WW2 Fine Print
Small true stories that changed the Second World War.
16:13MacArthur never planned to wade ashore
MacArthur never planned to get wet in this photo
Patton printed 250,000 copies of a prayer for good weather
He watched his conqueror surrender
14:58Patton's famous prayer scene came from a footnote
15:20The general who watched his conqueror surrender*A postmistress in Ireland moved D-Day. I'm mostly interested in people like her.
Clause 3. The Wild West
Wild West Fine Print
The Wild West, and the parts the legend leaves out.
16:59Geronimo surrendered on a promise. He died a prisoner 22 years later
Geronimo surrendered on a promise
The man who shot Jesse James was pardoned the same afternoon
He kept a diary while fifty men shot at his cabin
13:35Jesse James's killer was sentenced to hang
14:3150 hired guns invaded Wyoming. The president saved them*Wyatt Earp once refereed a heavyweight fight with a revolver in his pocket. A police captain made him hand it over.
Clause 4. Ships
High Seas Fine Print
Shipwrecks, liners, pirates and cruise ships, and the parts the famous story leaves out.
14:58The Titanic was worth $91,805: who got paid after she sank
The Titanic's band died playing. Then the bill came
The king pardoned every pirate except two
The Navy cut off Blackbeard's head to get paid
13:39The pirate hunter they hanged as a pirate*Less than six months after she sank, the Titanic's owners told a court she was worth $91,805. That's my kind of story.
Clause 5. The Vietnam War
Vietnam Fine Print
The Vietnam War, and the parts the famous story leaves out.
First one's on the way.*The happiest photo of the war was taken three days after he got the letter.
Clause 6. The American Civil War
Civil War Fine Print
The American Civil War, and the parts the textbook leaves out.
First one's on the way.*In 1861 a Union shell landed in Wilmer McLean's kitchen near Manassas, so he moved his family away from the war. In 1865 Lee surrendered in his front parlor.