726 England vs France - A Literary Battle Royale (with Mike Palindrome) - RECLAIMED

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

History, Books, Arts

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Our dear enemies,” a French writer once called the English. Englishman John Cleese called the French “our natural enemies” and joked “if we have to fight anyone, I say let’s fight the French.” With the exception of some (very important) twentieth-century alliances, the French and the English have been at each others’ throats for a thousand years. Occasionally this has meant warring over land or religion or rule. But what if the battlefield were limited to the literary? What if supremacy was determined not by the sword but by the pen? In this episode, Jacke and Mike choose their sides and get ready to wage a literary battle between two proud, rivalrous, and highly literate nations. This episode, which originally aired on September 18, 2020, has not been available for several years. We hope you enjoy it. Join us on tour! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠John Shors Travel⁠. Find out more by emailing [email protected] or [email protected], or by contacting us through our website ⁠historyofliterature.com⁠. Or visit the ⁠History of Literature Podcast Tour itinerary⁠ at ⁠John Shors Travel⁠. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at ⁠patreon.com/literature ⁠or ⁠historyofliterature.com/donate ⁠. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at ⁠thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network and Lit Hub Radio.
0:13.4	Hello, everyone. The History of Literature podcast is going on tour. Next spring, I'll be going with a small group of travelers to London, Oxford, and Bath,
0:24.4	where we will visit the land of Dickens, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and more.
0:29.7	A trip to remember.
0:32.6	If you're interested in learning more about how you can join,
0:35.8	you can check out the itinerary at
0:37.8	History of Literature.com or by visiting our partner at John Shores Travel, that's Shores
0:44.0	without an E. Or just send me an email at Jack Wilson Author at Gmail.com. That's J-A-C-E,
0:52.0	Wilson Author at Gmail-mail.com.
0:55.2	Let's give ourselves something to look forward to in 2026.
0:59.9	We would love to see you there.
1:09.9	I spent all night on this presentation, and it still looks so boring.
1:15.2	Try Adobe Express.
1:16.6	It's fast with templates and AI features for stunning presentations, flyers and socials.
1:22.4	Nice. Where do I start?
1:24.4	You can get it for free in your app store.
1:26.2	Adobe Express, the quick and easy create-anything app.
1:30.4	Free!
1:33.6	Hello, today in the podcast, we reclaim an episode that's been lost for years.
1:39.1	England versus France, a literary battle royale with Mike Pallandrome. It's coming up today on the history of literature.
2:18.6	Okay, here we go. Welcome to the podcast. It's an exciting day here at the podcast as we start our project to reclaim episodes that have fallen out of our archive. I'll tell you why this one fell out and then we'll hear the episode, which is now today falling back in.
2:19.8	How lovely.
	...

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