Legacy

Original Legacy Productions

Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan tell the wild stories of some of the most extraordinary men and women ever to have lived – and ask whether they have the rep they deserve. Should Nina Simone’s role in the civil rights movement be more celebrated than it is? When you find out what Picasso got up to in his studio, can you still admire his art? Was Napoleon a hero or a tyrant - or both? (And, while we’re at it, was he even short?) Legacy is the show that looks at big lives from the perspective of now – and doesn’t always like what it sees. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Diets | One Stomach Flu Away From My Goal Weight | 2

    14 HRS AGO

    Diets | One Stomach Flu Away From My Goal Weight | 2

    What did it take for human beings to start controlling what they ate — and why did "health" so quickly become a cover story for something else? How did a Venetian nobleman's wine-heavy calorie restriction become a blueprint for the modern diet industry? And, when tobacco companies, Hollywood, and the beauty industry all decided women's body anxiety was a market opportunity — who, exactly, was the diet really for? Peter and Afua trace the history of the human body as a commercial battleground: from the first diet books in 1558, through the birth of the calorie and the explosion of Weight Watchers, to the heroin chic 90s and the disordered eating it left behind. 0:00 The Venetian nobleman who invented calorie restriction — and still drank 14oz of wine a day 7:30 George Cheyne: 32 stone, no meat, no alcohol, and a bestselling book in 1740 14:00 Empire, refrigeration, and why cheap food created the first diet industry 21:30 The discovery of the calorie — the invention Afua still resents 25:30 Freud's nephew, cigarettes, and the moment thinness became a product to sell 31:00 Weight Watchers, zero-fat yoghurt, and the 80s: cottage cheese as cultural trauma 36:30 The 90s: heroin chic, cellulite alerts, and the era that hospitalised a generation 40:00 Keto, Atkins, and the diet that keeps reinventing itself Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A;'s, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    42 min
  2. Diets | Three Eggs and a Bottle of Wine | 1

    5 DAYS AGO

    Diets | Three Eggs and a Bottle of Wine | 1

    What did Vogue actually recommend women eat in 1977 — and why did it make one food writer cry in the bathroom? How did the Greeks turn a six-pack into a moral argument? And, has the human obsession with controlling what we eat ever really been about health at all? Peter and Afua trace the long, strange history of dieting — from ancient Greek athletics and Roman feast-and-purge excess, to medieval starvation saints who turned self-denial into a radical act of female agency. 0:00 Vogue’s 1977 Wine and Egg Diet — and what happened when someone actually tried it 6:30 The diet industry’s dirty secret: it was never about nutrition 9:00 Peter on fasting, cranky emails, and what not eating teaches you about your relationship with food 14:30 Ancient Greece: when abs were a moral statement, not just an aesthetic one 19:30 The manosphere’s Spartan fantasy — and what the Greeks would actually make of it 23:00 Rome: the inventors of binge and purge culture 24:30 When Christianity enters the chat — and fasting becomes holy 26:00 Catherine of Siena: the medieval starvation saint who used hunger as protest 30:00 Anorexia mirabilis — holy anorexia, and why Peter is wary of projecting modern diagnoses onto the past 32:00 Why medieval peasants weren’t dieting — they were just trying to stay alive Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A’s, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min
  3. Mystics | Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man In The World | 3

    5 MAY

    Mystics | Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man In The World | 3

    What happens when you raise a child telling him he's the Beast — and he decides to prove you right? Could a man who genuinely repelled everyone around him have quietly shaped the culture we live in today? And, is the world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll actually the legacy of a repressed Victorian occultist with a god complex? Peter and Afua descend into the dark, theatrical, and genuinely troubling life of Aleister Crowley: English occultist, self-declared Great Beast 666, and the man who may have done more than anyone to wire transgression, desire, and spiritual hunger into the DNA of modern culture. 0:00 The wickedest man in the world — and why he owned it 6:00 The Exclusive Brethren: the suffocating sect that made Crowley inevitable 10:00 Cambridge, cigars, and erotic poetry: the beast is unleashed 15:00 Golden Dawn and the occult underground of Victorian London 20:00 Mountaineering, meditation, and the spiritual pick-and-mix 24:00 Cairo, 666, and the Book of the Law 26:00 Rose Kelly: the woman without whom none of it happens 33:00 The Abbey of Thelema and a scandal that shocks even the tabloids 38:00 How Crowley became the Beatles' and Led Zeppelin's spirit animal 42:00 Jack Parsons: the rocket scientist who performed Crowley rituals by night 44:00 Was Crowley a feminist? (Afua has thoughts) 48:00 The stain that runs through modern culture straight back to him Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Watch Legacy on YouTube and Spotify video. Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    51 min
  4. Mystics | Helena Blavatsky's Karma | 2

    30 APR

    Mystics | Helena Blavatsky's Karma | 2

    Who invented the spiritual vocabulary of the modern world — karma, reincarnation, yoga studios, the idea that you can be "spiritual but not religious"? What if the hidden masters living in remote Tibetan mountains who inspired her weren't real — but the New Age movement they sparked absolutely was? And can you change the course of Western spirituality forever while being accused of fraud, plagiarism, and dropping fake letters through the ceiling? Peter and Afua explore the extraordinary life of Helena Blavatsky: Russian aristocrat, globe-trotting mystic, chain-smoking occultist and the most polarising spiritual figure of the 19th century — whose Theosophical Society gave us yoga mats, abstraction in art, and the modern wellness industry, all while she battled accusations of being one of history's greatest frauds. 0:00 Introduction: The Woman Who Invented New Age Spirituality 4:15 Russian Aristocrat: Growing Up Between Two Worlds 9:40 The Lost Years: Tibet, Egypt, and the Mysterious Mahatmas 16:20 Arriving in New York: Spiritualism, Grief, and the Telegraph 23:10 Meeting Henry Steel Olcott: The Partnership That Changed Everything 28:35 Isis Unveiled: 1,200 Pages That Sold Out in 10 Days 35:50 Moving to India: Strategic Genius or Cultural Appropriation? 41:20 The Mahatma Letters: Messages from the Ceiling 47:05 The Coulomb Scandal and the Hodgson Report 53:30 Vindication? The 1986 Harrison Report 58:10 The Secret Doctrine and Her Uncomfortable Nazi Legacy 1:03:45 Blavatsky's New Age Legacy: From Mondrian to Matcha Lattes 1:09:20 Final Verdict: Genius, Fraud, or Both? Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&As, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    54 min
  5. Mystics | Nostradamus: The Arophecary | 1

    28 APR

    Mystics | Nostradamus: The Arophecary | 1

    Nostradamus has predicted every major disaster in history — or so the internet would have you believe. Peter and Afua get behind the myth to meet the real man: a plague-era apothecary, rejected by the medical establishment, whose greatest invention wasn't prophecy — it was selling certainty to an anxious world. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    48 min
  6. The Age Of Cargo | The TEU | 3

    23 APR

    The Age Of Cargo | The TEU | 3

    Malcolm McLean was a frustrated truck driver who thought there had to be a better way. The metal box he invented now carries 90% of the world's traded goods — and quietly runs the global economy. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  7. The Age Of Cargo | Globalisation and the Oceans | 2

    21 APR

    The Age Of Cargo | Globalisation and the Oceans | 2

    From colliers carrying coal out of Newcastle to Marshall Plan grain crossing the Atlantic, Peter and Afua trace how the movement of goods by sea built the modern world. This is the story of bulk cargo — and why the ships that carried it changed everything. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min
  8. The Age Of Cargo | The Cargo Ship | 1

    16 APR

    The Age Of Cargo | The Cargo Ship | 1

    The cargo ship didn't just move goods — it moved civilisations. Peter and Afua trace 2,000 years of maritime trade, from Roman grain ships and spice routes to the Hanseatic League, the sugar plantations of Madeira, and the brutal economics of the triangular trade. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    44 min
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Trailer

Hosts & Guests

4.2
out of 5
179 Ratings

About

Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan tell the wild stories of some of the most extraordinary men and women ever to have lived – and ask whether they have the rep they deserve. Should Nina Simone’s role in the civil rights movement be more celebrated than it is? When you find out what Picasso got up to in his studio, can you still admire his art? Was Napoleon a hero or a tyrant - or both? (And, while we’re at it, was he even short?) Legacy is the show that looks at big lives from the perspective of now – and doesn’t always like what it sees. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Original Legacy Productions
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    147
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Original Legacy Productions
  • Show Website
    Legacy

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