For this episode let us join the noble sea lord of sagas, Dr. Sam Willis, and the hero of histories, Professor James Daybell, as they eggpertly and with a great deal of eggspectation bring you the unexpected history of the egg.

Our two good eggs will take you on an eggxhilarating, eggstraordinary, and eggciting journey from the Brooklyn-based hip hop group Beastie Boys to Gloria Stubing Rist’s childhood memoirs of growing up in the Adirondack Mountains in the 1930s, from the domes of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence to the whispering galleries of the Shah Mosque in Iran, and from Indian Runner Ducks to Thomas Luton’s instructions on how to hide a message in an egg, written in 1579.

Sam and James, with no over egging whatsoever, eggplain that this unexpected history is actually all about; politics and protest, measurements and architecture, protection and strength, games and initiations, tricks and secrecy and economics and trade.

Listen out for our duo’s earliest dome memories and James’ eggcellently recited Beastie Boys lyrics!

“…poached eggs isn’t poached eggs unless it’s been stolen in the dead of the night” (Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)