{"podcast":{"title":"The Library of Mistakes","slug":"the-library-of-mistakes-4813866","podcast_index_feed_id":4813866,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/5366233/episodes/feed","website_url":"http://www.libraryofmistakes.com","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/fcf9fd3272c5e4fbddbe4d9b119452a1.jpg","author":"Library of Mistakes","episode_count":62,"summary":"Based in Edinburgh, the Library of Mistakes is a free public library designed to improve understanding of finance, one mistake at a time. In this podcast series the Library's Keeper, Professor Russell Napier, speaks to leading financial history authors around the world, with Fraser Allen & Leila Johnston presenting an additional thread of episodes called Shelf Life. Series produced by Fraser Allen.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-18T02:17:04.854634+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-library-of-mistakes-4813866"},"episode":{"title":"EP 51: The Business of History (with Tom Levitt)","slug":"ep-51-the-business-of-history-with-tom-levitt","published_at":"2026-02-04T13:02:22+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-library-of-mistakes-4813866/ep-51-the-business-of-history-with-tom-levitt","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-library-of-mistakes-4813866","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ep-51-the-business-of-history-with-tom-levitt--69783957","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69783957/tom_levitt_04_02_2026_12_36.mp3","summary":"Tom Levitt was exploring a course on 19th century history during the pandemic crisis when he stumbled upon WH Beable’s 'Romance of Great Businesses', a 1926 book exploring 32 iconic British companies. He was intrigued by the realisation that many of them still exist today (although mostly as brand names rather than intact corporations). It inspired the former teacher, MP and business advisor to delve into their stories and write his own book – The Business of History: Tales and Lessons from Two Centuries of British Commerce. Listen in to Tom's entertaining discussion with Russell Napier about famous names such as WH Smith, Boots and Cadbury – and, as an interesting aside, the thriving innovation of commercial lending libraries, before the advent of free public reading resources. And if you're interested in Tom's guided history walks around London, find out more by searching for The Business Of History at www.londonwalks.com Produced by Fraser Allen. www.libraryofmistakes.com","meta_description":"Tom Levitt was exploring a course on 19th century history during the pandemic crisis when he stumbled upon WH Beable’s 'Romance of Great Businesses', a 19…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2443,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-library-of-mistakes-4813866/episodes/ep-51-the-business-of-history-with-tom-levitt/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-library-of-mistakes-4813866/ep-51-the-business-of-history-with-tom-levitt.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}