Leif Erikson (Radio Edit)

You're Dead to Me

BBC

Comedy, History

4.7 • 10.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Greg Jenner is joined in the 11th century by Dr Eleanor Barraclough and actor Kiell Smith-Bynoe to learn about legendary Viking explorer Leif Erikson.

Leif was possibly the first European to reach the Americas, nearly half a millennium before Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean. According to the stories told about him, he was a lucky explorer with a murderer for a father and a fearsome warrior for a sister, who travelled in his longship across the Atlantic to the coast of North America. But we only know about him from two Norse sagas, written in the centuries after his death – so did he exist at all?

This episode explores the saga narrative before delving into the archaeological evidence for a Viking presence in Canada, to discover what we can know for sure about this legendary adventurer.

This is a radio edit of the original podcast episode. For the full-length version, please look further back in the feed.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Jon Norman Mason Written by: Jon Norman Mason, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: James Cook

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Andrew Hunter Murray, host of The Naked Week, a brand new comedy where you'll
0:06.5	probably find this kind of thing.
0:08.2	Nigel Farage, got into a punch-up with a wumble.
0:10.1	On the moon.
0:10.8	Don't be ridiculous, Duncan, there are no wumbles on the moon.
0:13.4	And this sort of thing.
0:14.6	You, Les, it's made Sadiq Khan, London's most unpopular mayor since Dick Whittington
0:18.7	charged his cat 12 quid to enter its own litter tray.
0:22.7	So join me as we go behind the headlines with unexpected guests and much satirical silliness.
0:27.9	The Naked Week. Listen on BBC Sounds. Music, radio podcasts.
0:36.6	Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
0:41.7	My name is Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian author and broadcaster.
0:45.0	And today we are braving the brisk waters of the North Atlantic and following in the wake of Leif Erexon, the medieval Norseman,
0:51.3	who might have been the first European to visit America. He probably was.
0:54.8	And to help us, we have two very special guests. In History Corner, she's a historian, writer and
0:59.5	broadcaster based at Bath Spa University, where she's senior lecturer in environmental history.
1:04.2	Her research focuses on the cultures, literatures and languages of the medieval North,
1:08.0	particularly Viking history and the Old Norse sagas. She's the author of various books, including a new one, embers of the hands north, particularly Viking history and the Old North sagas. She's the
1:11.0	author of various books, including a new one, embers of the hands, hidden histories of the
1:15.1	Viking Age. It's Dr. Eleanor Baraklough. Welcome, Eleanor. Thank you, Greg. Lovely to be here.
1:20.0	And in Comedy Corner, he's a multi-talented actor, comedian and broadcaster. As well as his
1:24.4	fab stage performances in the government inspector, you'll also recognise him from hosting
	...

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