Best Ashleigh Stiles Podcasts (2024)

1
White Winds Blowing 49:53

3+ y ago49:53

49:53

We've arrived out our final story in the frozen saga of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration - we've talked about our subject before, many times; he participated in more expeditions than anyone else, and led three himself! An open-ocean voyage of 800 miles, across the worst seas in the world, with almost no shelter and the lives of dozens of men…

1
The Silent Ranges 53:46

3+ y ago53:46

53:46

Amundsen. Shackleton. Scott. A veritable triumvirate of famous Antarctic explorers. But for all those others in the Heroic Age who made great strides in the fields of science, and whose stories of adversity are rivalled only by legends of Greek heroes, one stands tall above them all. An Australian who was seemingly made of titanium, whose resolve w…

1
There Can Be Only One 55:35

3+ y ago55:35

55:35

It's come to this - a final race to decide, once and for all, the man who'll go down in the history books. The two contenders have their own impressive resumes, but very different ways of doing things. One prefers what he knows, the other is a bold experimenter willing to try new ideas. In the end though, there can be only one... or is that too sim…

1
Going South 53:09

3+ y ago53:09

53:09

What was almost a false-start has now begun a race, the prize being a place in the history books. Last week's look at the Belgica may have started off on a bad foot but today we look at three expeditions that would set the tone going forwards. Whilst the race to the Pole is the main event, we need to understand why it happened the way it did, and t…

1
Disposable Heroes 44:49

3+ y ago44:49

44:49

The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration by its very name promises a lot. Our popular conception of it seems to deliver, too - frozen heroes in big coats frozen stiff as they trudge through a blizzard, some stiff-lipped soldier making a heroic sacrifice to save his fellows, and flags planted in places that are generally hard to reach. All of that is…

1
De la Mancha: An Interview with Ruta Sepetys 34:26

3+ y ago34:26

34:26

This episode of Demystified is something a little different: together with Penguin and Carnegie-winning author Ruta Sepetys, we're taking a look into the history of the Spanish Civil War, and life under the rule of General Franco. The latter half of the episode is an interview with Ruta about her book The Fountains of Silence, the period of Francoi…

1
Once More, With Seoul 53:51

4y ago53:51

53:51

Whether you stan the worldwide phenomenon of K-Pop, or just really like Kimchi, one might be familiar with some of the cultural exports of the country of South Korea. What one might not necessarily think of, depending on your knowledge of East-Asian political scandals, is Cults. But rest assured, Korea has some major cult scandals that put places l…

1
Big In Japan 43:55

4y ago43:55

43:55

Things are easy when you're big in Japan - fans of the show will know I love my musical references, but this isn't just a trite opportunity here. When you're the leader of a cult that extorts and assassinates every opponent in your bid to start a world war and end the world, it's up to you how easy things end up being, it seems. It may seem like De…

1
Grand and Golden 59:35

4y ago59:35

59:35

Home, home on the range - where 'never is heard a discouraging word'. Today's episode may make you rethink that, as whilst the history books would tell you that so-called Range Wars are a thing of the past, the events of a small town in Oregon in the 1980's would make you think otherwise. Mass-poisoning, attempted murder, and immigration fraud abou…

1
Down The Hatch 53:08

4y ago53:08

53:08

How does a man go from a well-respected, well read, likable and popular civil rights activist, to a drug-addled psychotic cult leader who murdered over 900 people in the jungles of South America? An interesting question with an interesting answer that's relevant to this day - drinking the Koolaid is still the fashion, it seems... Learn more about y…

1
Helter Skelter 38:39

4y ago38:39

38:39

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide. For those who don't know what it is, a Helter Skelter is a theme-park ride, a massive tower where you go up, and then slide down, then climb back up again ad infinitum. It also has a far darker connotation, though the repeating nature of things has a way of creeping up on you; time is, as …

1
Ahead By A Century 44:45

4y ago44:45

44:45

Gord Downie really did say it best, didn’t he? "No dress rehearsal - this is our life". Apt words from an inspiring man, but that’s been the proverbial rub for most humans throughout all of time - we don’t get a dress rehearsal, and opening night starts before we’re even aware that the curtain has come up. But what if we could peek at the script, s…

1
Hard To Swallow 35:40

4y ago35:40

35:40

You are what you eat - or so they say. And everyone has their own preferences... some might even give an odd look to those who actually *enjoy* Marmite or Vodka (heaven forfend both at once)! But how should we look upon those whose tastes are a little less... conventional? Those who literally can’t stop eating... When an Old Fashioned isn’t your cu…

1
Seeing Double 33:21

4y ago33:21

33:21

People love to share things - and most things are better shared! You go out for a meal and get the sharing platter, a round of drinks, and the bread - to share. You watch a film, read a book, or see a tv show you love and say to your friends “You’ve *got* to try it”! We share things because we want other people to see what we’re seeing. But what if…

1
Up In Flames 34:09

4y ago34:09

34:09

Fire - to destroy all you’ve done. Fire - to end all you’ve become. Morbid words in a rather jaunty tune, but it’s true; fire has that capacity. It’s been with us from the dawn of time, and has been so central to basically all of human existence since that time that how we came to possess it has been the subject of myths and legends from all over t…

1
A Demystified Announcement 14:26

4y ago14:26

14:26

Things are changing at Demystified, and Ashleigh Stiles gives you a sense of what's to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy W!ZARD Studios

1
We Built This City (Part 2) 24:34

4+ y ago24:34

24:34

Way down deep in the jungle, there lies a city of such unimaginable splendour that to even conceive of it is to dream one’s wildest dreams. There also lies a wealth of danger, tropical diseases, wild animals, and an endless sea of rainforest. Would you brave the latter to find the former? Or, dream and speculate about what treasures might be hiding…

1
We Built This City (Part 1) 33:12

4+ y ago33:12

33:12

Imagine an event so devastating, so terrifying, so utterly world shaking that not only does it help to hasten the decline of your civilisation, but thousands of years later the association people may draw from it would be your depiction in popular culture as a people who live underwater. Perhaps it’s not all bad though; it’s better, down where it’s…

1
Snowblind 35:19

4+ y ago35:19

35:19

The great outdoors - there's nothing like it, is there? Everyone’s got a bit of that exploratory spirit in them, that drives you to the very edges of what you know and what you don’t. We’ve talked before about people that go off the edge of the map, but what happens in those strange incidents where people thought they were in control of their situa…

1
Walkers In The Wastes 32:06

4+ y ago32:06

32:06

Tall, larger than a bear or man, rising up out of the woods. The shapeless mass that walks behind the snowdrift, howling in the deep. Out in the outback, or in the deep jungles, these man-beasts walk, sparking our imaginations and launching a thousand amateur photographers into the wilds to catch a glimpse of the last great thing undiscovered. The …

1
Smoke and Mirrors 30:42

4+ y ago30:42

30:42

Deep in the jungles of Central America stand towering monuments - wide streets, tall towers, pyramids to rival those of Ancient Egpyt - and they all stand abandoned. But it wasn’t always this way. So how did these great and powerful cities go from centres of civilisation to little more than ruins? Their names might give you a clue - a little bit of…

1
Going In Circles 27:09

4+ y ago27:09

27:09

Since time immemorial, the people of the world have marvelled at it. Large chunks of earth, taken from a far away land through great effort, and assembled in such a way as to track the movements of the stars, heal the sick, and produce a sound unlike any other. Why was it built? It would have been helpful had the stone-age people who made it left a…

1
Beyond The Forest 29:28

4+ y ago29:28

29:28

Of all the classic Hollywood movie monsters - the wolfman, the mummy, the creature from the black lagoon - there’s one that stands head and shoulders above them all. From edgy teenagers to billowy symbols of romance, to icons of pure horror, they’ve infiltrated pop culture. And behind them all, in a place past the forests, rests the story of a man …

1
Up From The Wolfpit 28:43

4+ y ago28:43

28:43

There are some accounts in history that simply baffle you - the incident itself is fairly self-contained; it happens, then it stops. But the implications of these small, short-lived mysteries can go far beyond their own lifespans. Let's go back to Medieval England, a time of great upheaval and greater superstition, where the arrival of two strange …

1
Blue and Gold 32:35

4+ y ago32:35

32:35

Some secrets lie buried, hidden. Some are right under our noses, some are half a world away. When we dig and dig and dig some more, and we finally find them, it can be elating - at last, uncovering wonderful things that haven’t seen the light of day for millennia! But sometimes we get more than we bargained for, and what first seems like a blessing…

1
Top Dog 37:59

4+ y ago37:59

37:59

In every field and vocation, there exists someone whose shadow eclipses everyone else's. Someone who looms so large, you can’t envisage the world without them. They’re a kingpin, a captain of industry, a big kahuna, a true titan in every sense of the word. And then, one day, they’re not. And they never are again. Get in the car, we’re going for a l…

1
Deus Ex Machina 33:21

4+ y ago33:21

33:21

Inventors are a cornerstone of human civilisation. Our greatest gift is the ability to create, to teach, to learn, and to pass our inventions down to our descendants. Leonardo Da Vinci, Nichola Tesla, Ada Lovelace - all titans of human invention. Our subject of today’s discussion is none of them. He was an inventor, of sorts, but his ideas were so …

1
Rapa Nui 34:30

4+ y ago34:30

34:30

Far in the distant mists of the pacific ocean, miles out from any land, sits a rocky outcrop - an island. The island is bare, no trees, little vegetation, sparse animal life. But what it does have boggles the mind - constructs that are so large, and so strange, they warrant a very good explanation. It’s a shame there’s so few people left to give us…

1
Leather Apron 42:18

4+ y ago42:18

42:18

Please Note: This content includes references which may not be suitable for young listeners. Listener discretion is advised. It’s finally time for us to peel off the cover on one of the most gruesome crime sprees of all history... one that would burn the name of it’s perpetrator into popular culture for all-time, and would inspire countless copy-ca…

1
All That Glitters (Part 2) 22:44

4+ y ago22:44

22:44

Welcome to part two of the two-parter... Last week we explored what happens when a gold rush gets out of hand. But most people forget there was another place famous for it’s gold rushes, one whose cultural history was just as shaped by outlaws and mining towns. This time, we go to the other great frontier, where it rains on the rock and there’s gol…

1
All That Glitters (Part 1) 19:46

4+ y ago19:46

19:46

Welcome to the two-parter... We all love a good Western - Sergio Leone’s ‘no name’ trilogy propelled Clint Eastwood to new stardom, and Tarantino’s modern adaptations make great films. But what’s at the centre of any good Western? Old weathered prospectors panning the rivers and traversing deserts for it, desperados and gunslingers duelling over sa…

1
An Antique Land 28:11

4+ y ago28:11

28:11

Straight roads, bathhouses, sewers and plumbing, fresh-water readily available, underfloor heating, city-planning, and public works. If those all sound like the trappings of modernity, or at the very earliest the Roman Empire, you’d be right at first glance. But what if an apparently pacifist society had all these things thousands of years before R…

1
We Float 23:59

4+ y ago23:59

23:59

It’s no surprise that ships are the source of so many mysteries. As Eric Idle famously quipped: worse things happen at sea y’know! We sail off into the mists, with a song in our hearts and holds full of cargo, and our loved ones pray for our safe return. Well, sometimes you’ve got to be careful what you wish for, because you might not like the way …

1
Night Lights 28:18

5y ago28:18

28:18

Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, James Cameron - all directors whose visions of life from other worlds captivated us and inspired us to think bigger. Alien fiction goes all the way back to the turn of the 20th Century, where H.G. Wells horrified us with visions of tripods and heat-rays. Nowadays aliens are mostly consigned to theoretical science - t…

1
Hell-Hound 27:42

5y ago27:42

27:42

Dogs are a man's best friend for good reason - loyal, brave, loving, empathetic. But many young children are scared of dogs, and it's stories like this, deep in the dark forests of enlightenment-era France, that show you exactly why. They’re serving man, in more ways than one... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

1
The Crossroads 33:02

5y ago33:02

33:02

Death is a natural part of life. On a cosmic scale, it’s believed the universe will one day collapse in on itself, and be reborn in another big bang. On a smaller scale, we humans are born, live our lives, and then die. It’s a cycle so old and ubiquitous that many cultures have even enshrined it as a part of their mythology. So what happens when th…

1
A Scandal In The Court 28:19

5y ago28:19

28:19

Ah, the court of a king. Nobles in all their finery, servants waiting on hand and foot; grand castles and splendid balls. But behind that facade of civility lies a dark underbelly of backstabbing and politics - so dark in fact that some would even turn to what they would consider sacrilege to get ahead. En amour comme à la guerre, tous les coups so…

1
Night Fever 27:11

5y ago27:11

27:11

There are many occurrences in history that may make you take a second look. Some things are worth a double take, they seem so strange that it makes it almost impossible to believe. Sometimes you've just got to put on your red shoes and dance the blues - but what about when a whole city of people spontaneously decides to do just that, for no discern…

1
Cold and Hungry 27:55

5y ago27:55

27:55

The winds whip down from the north, biting at the edge of the small cabin. An emaciated man sits at a table, the lone candle flickering. In the darkness, his stomach starts to growl. And in his mind, a demon starts to take hold. Or so they say - to some, it’s madness; to others however, the hunger isn’t just a metaphorical monster, it’s a literal o…

1
Salt and Spray 26:29

5y ago26:29

26:29

There are many places in the world that stand apart - literally. They’re isolated, completely cut off from the rest of the world. To some, that seems like heaven; no noisy neighbours, just peace and quiet. To others though, it’s a nightmare - you’ve heard hell is other people, but it’s often the other way around. And because of how far they are fro…

1
The Ninety Nine 38:55

5y ago38:55

38:55

Everyone has a hero, whether we admit it or not. Someone we look up to, someone who we aspire to be like and emulate. Oftentimes they’re people who’ve indelably made their mark on human history - pioneers, the first of their kind. Sadly though, we don’t always get closure on their extraordinary tales - sometimes they fly straight off the page of th…

1
The Big Bang 23:12

5y ago23:12

23:12

Humans, in general, like explosions - they’re cool! Fireworks are a pivotal part of celebrations across many cultures. Sometimes, however, that event is out of our control; sometimes it flattens thousands of kilometers of forest without warning, an explosion over 1,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb, right out of nowhere then gone in a flash…

1
Northwest Orient, Flight 305 40:11

5y ago40:11

40:11

Audacity is a word that gets tossed around a lot. We call people who wear something unusual ‘gutsy’ and someone who haggles in shops has ‘bravado’. So what do you call a man who uses what might have been a fake bomb to hijack a plane, then parachutes out, at night, in the rain, with the equivalent of a million dollars in ransom money, never to be s…

1
Ciphers 32:42

5y ago32:42

32:42

Humans like to think we can solve every mystery - that’s partly why I do this show! We have an obsession with patterns, codes, and strange symbols. Evolutionarily it meant seeing the tiger in the long grass, now it mostly means magic-eye books. But what happens when a mystery we think is solved, turns out not to be? When we go back on our original …

1
The Hidden City 25:48

5y ago25:48

25:48

Writers will often borrow a concept from mythology for their work - there’s no copyright on a culture, even if it isn’t yours. But sometimes people take these things a little too far. Some people become so obsessed with these mysterious foreign ideas that they spend millions organising genuine expeditions to prove their veracity. After all, who doe…

1
Bird's Eye View 24:20

5y ago24:20

24:20

Art is interesting - it tells us about the person who made it. Where they came from; what they’re interested in; how they see the world. Some art is grand in scale, so grand that you can’t help but stand back and marvel. Some art however is so grand that you need to stand *really* far back. At the top of a mountain, say. It’s all about perspective.…

1
Nothing Beside Remains 27:31

5y ago27:31

27:31

The greatest legends of ancient civilisations are steeped in the trappings that come with a story told and retold. Larger than life characters, brave heroes and evil villains, great battles and wars that never end, with the gods themselves personally invested. But in all these great stories, there’s always a kernel of truth - something that actuall…

1
Run Through the Jungle 30:53

5y ago30:53

30:53

Some people are driven by a singular purpose - creating, building, discovering, and much more. Those who are driven by the singular desire to explore are often those who we remember the most, but this legacy comes with a certain amount of danger. Because sometimes that drive to go out means you don’t come back. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis…

1
Croatoan 32:14

5y ago32:14

32:14

Keeping in contact is important - as someone who’s lived overseas from my family before, I can attest to that. It helps us keep track of those who mean the most to us, our friends and families. When we lose contact it can make us anxious; when we lose *all* contact, we’re simply left in bewilderment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon…

1
The Great White Nothing 35:07

5y ago35:07

35:07

Civilisation is an interesting concept-we often see it as a bulwark against the wild. And with the advent of things like *glamping*, we like to think we can take it with us, to civilise those wilds. But nearly 180 years ago, when the greatest equipped and most advanced expedition in the history of an empire set out to do just that, we were proven w…

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