ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
Ford Puts The World On Wheels - DAY BEFORE:
Let's Open The Louvre - DAY BEFORE THAT:
The Shocking Debut of the Electric Chair - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
Pepsi Owes Me a Fighter Jet
ON THIS DAY
The Fake King of Albania
German circus performer Otto Witte went to his death-bed claiming he had been crowned King of Albania on 13th August, 1913 for a five-day reign which culminated with him being chased out of the country as an imposter.
Generally believed to have been a fantasist who invented the story, Witte was humoured by the German authorities in his life-time, and his tombstone in Hamburg bears the inscription, ‘former King of Albania’.
In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion explore the phenomenon of the German ‘originale’; uncover the legend of ‘Sausage Hans’ and ‘the slag monkey’; and reveal who inspired the story of Baron Munchausen…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Man Who Was King’ (TIME, 1958): http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,868723,00.html
• ‘The legend of Otto Witte, the impostor King of Albania’ (The Balkanista, 2018): http://thebalkanista.com/2018/10/04/the-legend-of-otto-witte-the-impostor-king-of-albania/
• An enterprising man acts out the works of the Cologne ‘originales’ on German Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6lsche_Originale
ON THIS DAY
The Fake King of Albania
German circus performer Otto Witte went to his death-bed claiming he had been crowned King of Albania on 13th August, 1913 for a five-day reign which culminated with him being chased out of the country as an imposter.
Generally believed to have been a fantasist who invented the story, Witte was humoured by the German authorities in his life-time, and his tombstone in Hamburg bears the inscription, ‘former King of Albania’.
In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion explore the phenomenon of the German ‘originale’; uncover the legend of ‘Sausage Hans’ and ‘the slag monkey’; and reveal who inspired the story of Baron Munchausen…
Further Reading:
• ‘The Man Who Was King’ (TIME, 1958): http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,868723,00.html
• ‘The legend of Otto Witte, the impostor King of Albania’ (The Balkanista, 2018): http://thebalkanista.com/2018/10/04/the-legend-of-otto-witte-the-impostor-king-of-albania/
• An enterprising man acts out the works of the Cologne ‘originales’ on German Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6lsche_Originale
ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
Ford Puts The World On Wheels - DAY BEFORE:
Let's Open The Louvre - DAY BEFORE THAT:
The Shocking Debut of the Electric Chair - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
Pepsi Owes Me a Fighter Jet
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OLLY MANN
Olly Mann made his name with another trivia-wielding podcast, Answer Me This! with Helen Zaltzman – and now presents The Modern Mann, The Week Unwrapped, and Four Thought for BBC Radio Four. He also has an A-Level in History, so Dan Snow beware.
REBECCA MESSINA
Rebecca got a passion for podcasting working at The Week magazine and a passion for trivia appearing on University Challenge in 2011, making The Retrospectors her natural home.
ARION MCNICOLL
Arion started out in satirical news in Australia, then moved to the UK to work for ostensibly serious publications including The Times, CNN, and The Week… before realising that since around 2016 the news has all been satire really.
Do you have a day of note that we should cover? Or would you or your business like to support the podcast? Get in touch!
