This week - Adrian Carton de Wiart was a lifelong soldier; acknowledged for his bravery across the 2nd Boer War, the Somaliland Campaign, Poland’s several wars for independence - and both World Wars. The man started out with a cavalry sabre, and was still writing reports back to high command in the Atomic Age - advising of the risk of a war in Vietnam. He also had the aura of invulnerability - having survived eleven life-threatening injuries, several plane crashes, and single-handedly tunnelling out of a Prisoner of War camp.

Today I just felt like telling his story.

Sources Include:

Happy Odyssey by Adrian Carton de Wiart And The Life and Times of Lieutenant General Adrian Carton de Wiart… by Alan Ogden

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Quick Admin note: sorry for the lateness all, I’ve been a bit run off of my feet of late… and the episode following this one will more likely than not be three weeks’ from now. After that we should be back on track again…. Sorry all.

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This week we travel to the Germanic Duchy of Hannover, the year 1694. Under cover of darkness, a dashing, aristocratic young soldier named Philip Christoph von Konigsmarck makes his way to an illicit meeting with his lover; the deeply unhappily married Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle. Before the night is done one of the lovers will disappear mysteriously.

Sources Include:

Great Mysteries of The Past - Readers Digest. Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman This National Geographic article by Becky Little

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Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

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Music, writing, narration, mixing yours truly.

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Trigger Warning: Death by misadventure, and an execution by guillotine. I make no concessions for calling Aotearoa… Aotearoa. I mention this as in Aotearoa (New Zealand) news sites are having to shut down comment sections on Maori language, Maori achievement and Maori culture over racist morons getting upset by this news. If the use of Te Reo names over those of colonizers upsets you, this show really isn’t for you…

This week is a bit of a departure from my regular plan. I’m still working on the episode planned for this spot, so put a triptych of shorter tales together.

First, we meet Harold Davidson - the Vicar of Stiffkey. A man well known in Britain’s newspapers in the 1930s, who, if he was remembered today would probably be known for something else entirely.

Then we briefly meet Polynesia’s great navigators.

And finally we discuss Father of modern Chemistry Antoine Lavoisier’s final experiment.

Sources Include:

Sorry all, I’m running late this week and will backfill this later. Harold Davidson’s tale came to me years ago via Mike Dash’s original blog site - and this is one of a number of pieces no longer up - but it is preserved on the Wayback Machine -so I’ll link to it.

Michael King’s The Penguin History of New Zealand, and several articles on NZ History’s site and Te Ara, the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand were used in The Navigators.

The Lavoisier piece is an old blog piece jumbled together from a bunch of sources, I don’t recall all of them, but will take a shot at finding them on the weekend.

Support the show on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial.

Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays.

Tales of History and Imagination is on

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Music, writing, narration, mixing yours truly.

Visit Simone’s

| About Me | Twitter |