The Curiosity of!‪?‬ The Curiosity of a Child

This episode we take a peek at the devil’s picture books – a name given to playing cards. We start with Chinese accounts dating back nearly 1000 years then go via beautiful Mamluk designs to Thomas de la Rue industrialising the printing process 100 years ago.
But what are playing cards without magic? We meet one of Anton’s namesakes, Anton Zamloch AKA Zamloch the Great! He put on fantastic magic shows in the late 1800s, touring America with his blend of magic, mayhem and mischief!

It’s episode 50 and we have a very special guest - the magician and playing card historian Lee Asher! Anton has been learning magic for the last 18 months and also become an avid playing card collector so Lee was the perfect guy to have on. He’s worked with some of the big names in magic and even invented his own card tricks - his knowledge and advice is invaluable. What we really enjoyed about talking with Lee was the passion and humanity he brings, he sees magic a positive force, something to share and a path to being a better person. Lee is also president of 52 Plus Joker, the world’s largest playing card collecting club, and gave us a brilliant rundown of playing card and magic history. We really enjoyed our chat and hope you will too and a massive thank you to Lee, be sure to check out his website and 52 Plus Joker!
Check out: https://www.leeasher.com/ and https://52plusjoker.org/

We’re back! Podcasts, being an audio format, make the perfect medium for talking about sight and how eyes work.
This episode Anton and I discover how animals see. From the Cambrian Explosion and mass of new creatures that evolved to neutral implants via some unfortunate German rabbits we uncover the history and the science.

A mini bonus episode for you to let you know we are talking at Intelligent Speech 2023 this 4 November. Full details and tickets are available at https://intelligentspeechonline.com/ - use offer code curiosity at checkout for 10% off!*
As we love you, our listeners, we’re also releasing Anton’s story set in Takarajima from our bonus Patreon treasure episode, it was inspired by real events you can learn about here: https://www.morethantokyo.com/takarajima-incident/
You can get all our bonus content on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/curichildpod including a discussion about how Takarajima is reinventing it’s history, life about 1700s ships, a look at AI and a video on Roman metal casting at home!
*whilst offer lasts!

This episode we go treasure hunting, exploring three stories from around the world focussing on our obsession with greed and wealth.
We sail around the globe the wrong way telling an epic tale of survival, visit a tropical island in search of lost treasure and learn about an unusual hermit. Each story is about more than glittering gold and priceless gems, it’s a tale of the lengths man will go to in the pursuit of fame and fortune.
Anton talks about a German man desperate to discover the lost treasure of Lima on Cocos Island and I use the logs of Guernsey Great Philip Saumarez to recount the epic round world trip of the Centurion in search of Spanish gold! We also meet a hermit with a familiar name but a very unfortunate story.
 
Buy tickets for Intelligent Speech: https://intelligentspeechonline.com/ use offer code ‘curiosity’ for 10% off.
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Support and review: https://linktr.ee/curichildpod

I have uploaded the correct audio this time!
In celebration of Margaret Ann Neve’s birthday we’re re-releasing our feature about her 110 year life! It was buried at the end of episode 19 so deserves to be surfaced. Listen to how much Anton has changed in the 2 and a bit years since release then imagine what 110 years of change must have felt like for Margaret. She was the first person recorded to have lived in 3 different centuries and was born and spent most of her life here in Guernsey!