Little Sleights
Let me tell you about the person beside the throne.
Here we talk about the women (and sometimes the men) who have been lost to the shadows of history, and try to cast a little light on their lives. They may not have mattered in the grand scheme, but everybody's got their Little Sleights.
- Update frequency
- every 16 days
- Average duration
- 19 minutes
- Episodes
- 22
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2022
The Canadian Titanic - RMS Empress of Ireland
In 1914 a Canadian ocean liner sunk to the bed of the St Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, taking over 1000 souls with her. It became the worst maritime disaster during peacetime in Canadian history.…
The Nation's Darling - Lotta Crabtree
One of the original child stars and, eventually, the highest paid actress of her day, she took the Wild West by storm in the late 1800s and forever left her mark on San Francisco and the American sta…
A Virginian Double Agent - James Armistead Lafayette
Slave turned spy, Virginian James Armistead help change the tide of the summer of 1781 and the Battle of Yorktown as he snuck secrets out of Charles Cornwallis' camp and into the hands of the Marquis…
The Three and A Half Wives of Julius Caesar, Part II | Pompeia and Calpurnia
Last time on the Three and a Half Wives..., we talked about Cossutia and Cornelia, Caesar's first two wives. This week, we examine Pompeia and Calpurnia, the scandal and the dream, and the end of an …
The Three and a Half Wives of Julius Caesar, Part I | Cossutia and Cornelia
They say behind every great man is a great woman, but who were these women who stood behind one of the most famous figures in history - Julius Caesar. Join me in Little Sleights as we do a deep dive …
The Queen of Lies - Marina Mniszech
Wife and mother of usurpers, two time Tsaritsa, destruction of a dynasty - she was a Polish-born noblewoman whose life became embroiled in the Russian Time of Troubles. Her actions sent ripples acros…
The Displaced, Part 2 - Hiroo Onoda
In Part 2 of this series, we look at Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who kept fighting World War II - 29 years after Japan's surrender. His beginning, his fight, and what came after - who he was in…
The Displaced, Part 1 - Cynthia Ann Parker
There are some people that might have enjoyed their little obscurities, to quietly continue on with their lives and their duties unnoticed, never to be reminded of the larger scope of humanity. In th…
The African Princess - Anna Kingsley
Born an African princess, she lived the majority of her life as slave, then slaveowner after she was sold as a child. As she grew to hold the confidence and admiration of the man she would call both …
The Woman in The Wax - Marie Tussaud
Madame Tussaud’s is a household name, the famed wax museum that boasts a wide collection of celebrities and famous figures from history both recent and far-flung. But not many know the story of one …
The Great Imposter Part 2 - Giorgio Perlasca
Part 2 of Giorgio Perlasca's story.
In 1987, a group of Holocaust survivors wrote to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to notify them of an heroic savior that had gone unnoticed in Padua, Italy for many…
The Great Imposter Part I - Giorgio Perlasca
In 1987, a group of Holocaust survivors wrote to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to notify them of an heroic savior that had gone unnoticed in Padua, Italy for many years - one who had saved over 500…
The Byzantine Phoenix - Theodora
A saint no stranger to sinning, devout to some, diabolical to others and driven above all else, she was a force of nature made flesh that saw her will imposed on the most powerful men in her empire, …
The Sawbones Suffragette - Mary Edwards Walker
Eighty-six years. Multiple careers Wars of swords and speech. She was a prisoner. A prohibitionist. Spy, surgeon, suffragist. Writer and abolitionist. She was also the only woman to ever receive the …
The Devils in the Details
Did you know the story of Napoleon’s most humiliating defeat? Or see the signs of future follies in Richard’s Nixon’s past? Have you heard of the greatest story Robert Louis Stevenson never told? If …
The Last Empress - Xochitl
In 916 AD, a woman drew her sword against her enemies and led her kingdom into battle. She would lose that fight, and her life, that same day. Her empire would not long survive her absence, and soon …
The Lost Fourths - Berenice/Arsinoe
They were the daughters of Ptolemy. Sisters of Cleopatra. Usurpers. Victors. Victims. Queens. But before all that, they were Berenice and Arsinoe.
The Shadow on the Wall - Branwell Bronte
He would go down as everything from the failure of the family to the romantic anti-hero his sisters would become famous for creating, while history would see his sisters raised to the highest echelon…
The Restoration Cinderella - Nell Gwyn
She was the mistress of Charles II, mother to a duke, and one of the first English actresses to (legally) grace the stage. But before all that, she was Nell Gwyn.
The Living Muse - Aspasia of Miletus
She was the mistress and perhaps wife of Pericles, preeminent Athenian leader. The target of playwrights, the muse of philosophers, and the source of debate and myth for years to come. But before all…