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If you think history is old hat, try getting a seat at the Royal Albert Hall on October 18th. The soirée at London’s most famous concert venue sold out in May. Some 5,000 people will enjoy a bit of Mozart and Beethoven; the big draw, however, is a pair of chatty historians.
The donnish duo, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, have each written a stack of books. Fame enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall comes from something else, though. Since its launch in 2020, their podcast, “The Rest Is History”, has become the most subscribed-to podcast in Britain, guiding listeners from Herodotus to the fall of Saigon, by way of Lord Byron’s affair with his half-sister. A new series on the French revolution launched on July 29th, for those who cannot get enough of Paris during the Olympic games. The pair originally conceived of their podcast as an adjunct to book-writing, says Mr Holland. Now they have time for little else.
“The Rest Is History” is hardly alone. The hosts of “Empire”, a history podcast that has clocked over 30m downloads, recently sold out another big London venue, the Barbican, in just two days. “We’re the squarest rock stars you’ll ever meet,” jokes Anita Anand, one of the hosts, who says she has gained more fandom from the podcast than as a radio and TV host.
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