{"podcast":{"title":"You're Dead to Me","slug":"you-re-dead-to-me-646788","podcast_index_feed_id":646788,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p07mdbhg.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07mdbhg","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0nr577g.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":282,"summary":"The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. In each episode of You’re Dead to Me from BBC Radio 4, Greg Jenner is joined by a comedian and an expert historian to learn and laugh about the past. History isn’t just about dates and textbooks – it’s about extraordinary characters, amazing stories, and some very questionable fashion choices. How long did it take to build an Egyptian pyramid? What does the Bayeux Tapestry reveal about medieval life? Why did it take nearly half a millennium for Joan of Arc to become a saint? And was Catherine the Great really all that great? Whether you want to explore ancient landmarks like Stonehenge and Machu Picchu, dance through the history of Broadway and Bollywood, or find out how the Tudors rose to power, Greg and his guests promise to teach you something new that you won’t have heard in history lessons. Previous episodes of You’re Dead To Me have covered everything from royals to revolutionaries, actors to activists and divas to dictators. Take a stroll through the history of high-heeled shoes or get the scoop on the history of ice cream. Maybe you’d like to paint like the cave artists of the Palaeolithic era, work out like a Victorian body…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-31T14:21:46.443481+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-re-dead-to-me-646788"},"episode":{"title":"Francis Galton: Victorian scientist and pioneer of eugenics","slug":"francis-galton-victorian-scientist-and-pioneer-of-eugenics","published_at":"2026-07-31T05:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-re-dead-to-me-646788/francis-galton-victorian-scientist-and-pioneer-of-eugenics","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-re-dead-to-me-646788","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ykfb","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nvz5qt.mp3","summary":"Greg Jenner is joined in Victorian England by historian and curator Subhadra Das and comedian Desiree Burch to learn all about the life of scientist and eugenics pioneer Francis Galton. He was many things: a Victorian gentleman scientist, an inventor of whacky devices, a pioneer of fingerprinting technology, the less famous cousin of superstar naturalist Charles Darwin, and an important figure in the development of statistics. But more importantly – and more troublingly – Francis Galton originated the now discredited science of eugenics. His theories about how to apply principles of good breeding to humans, and his advocacy of ways to improve Britain’s so-called ‘racial health’, led directly and indirectly to many horrors in the decades after his death, from the forced sterilisation of certain groups to the Holocaust. This episode traces his life from child prodigy to prolific scientist, exploring his obsession with understanding the world through measurement and statistics, and how this mindset eventually led him to pioneer eugenic theories. Along the way it takes in his African travels, unwise self-experimentation during his medical degree, and his troubling views on women. If you’re a fan of debunked scientific theories, whacky historical inventions and the unsavoury origins of modern beliefs, you’ll love our episode on Francis Galton. If you want more biographies with Desiree Burch, listen to our episodes on Pythagoras, Paul Robeson or Lena Horne. And for more on the history of eugenics, check out our episodes on the Kellogg Brothers and Victorian Bodybuilding. You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past. Hosted by: Greg Jenner…","meta_description":"Greg Jenner is joined in Victorian England by historian and curator Subhadra Das and comedian Desiree Burch to learn all about the life of scientist and e…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3543,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/you-re-dead-to-me-646788/episodes/francis-galton-victorian-scientist-and-pioneer-of-eugenics/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-re-dead-to-me-646788/francis-galton-victorian-scientist-and-pioneer-of-eugenics.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}