History Flakes - The Berlin History Podcast

Pip Roper & Jonny Whitlam
  • 5.0 (19)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Explore the history of one of the world’s most captivating cities with "History Flakes - The Berlin History Podcast." Your hosts, seasoned tour guides Pip Roper and Jonny Whitlam, take you through the highs and low-lows of Berlin's past, exploring events, lives and stories from Berlin's past. From the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall to the artistic renaissance of the Weimar Republic and the dark days of the Nazi dictatorship, each episode is a blend of history, stories from the tour guide streets, and a dash of humour. Whether you’re a history buff, a lover of Berlin, or simply curious about the forces that shaped modern Europe, join Pip and Jonny as they peel back the layers of Berlin's history. Discover the heroes, villains, revolutions, and evolutions that have defined this iconic city. Welcome to History Flakes!

  1. 12/17/2025

    Live Bonus Episode! Wilhelm II and Empress Frederick

    We went in hard on this one… you’re getting a 2 for 1. A live spectacular on Kaiser Wilhelm II and his mother Empress Frederick AND some musings from us afterwards because we couldn’t get enough of this German/British collab that ended, well… terribly. Follow Vicky, daughter of Queen Victoria and liberal reformer Prince Albert, as she dives into the absolute viper’s nest that was the 19th Century court of Prussia ruled over by the Hohenzollerns. She’s got a gorgeous, kind husband, representing the hopes of German reformers. But first born Kaiser Wilhelm will fall terribly far from the tree and ruin a lot. If you get to the end, you will be rewarded with the scandal of how Empress Frederick was possibly buried  and the traditional British cure for cancer… smiling at it.  (Sorry that some of the sound goes up and down and that you can occasionally Pip fanning herself dramatically. It was hot) ++++++    💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show  🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! You can find Pip on Instagram ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++ 📚 Sources:  An Uncommon Woman, The Empress Frederick, Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm, Hannah Pakula. George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I,  Miranda Carter Iron Kingdom, Christopher Clark Blood & Iron, Katja Hoyer

    1h 23m

  2. 11/19/2025

    Berlin Wall Escapes - LIVE from the Vault!

    Hello Dear History Flakes Listener! We miss you all most cruelly. To tide you over until Season 4 begins in 2026, here's a live show all the way from August 2024. It was over 30 degrees but Jonny rallied valliantly (and only mentioned it 7, 8, or 100 times).  We share with you some of the more ingenious and puzzling escapes from East to West Berlin. Air, land, sea, and even an inflatable mattress - you name it, it's here. So settle in for some daring escapes to freedom in the West, home of demorcracy, Hasselhoff, and Ikea: everything a growing boy or girl needs. Shout out to our wonderful friend and fellow guide Glenn in the audience for live fact checking! ++++++  💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show  🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ Follow us online! Pip is on Instagram ... and you can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++

    53 min

  3. 10/03/2025

    Season 4 - coming in 2026!

    Hello there! Just a reminder that we will return...most likely in the new year with season 4!!!  Thank you to all our listeners and supporters, it's a genuine pleasure to think about what you might enjoy hearing and getting your feedback! We have a couple of live episodes in our back pocket to keep you tied over until the new year so look out for those. Bis bald and take good care!  Jonny and Pip ++++++    💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show  🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++

    3 min

  4. 08/20/2025

    S3E10: The Double Cross: Spies in WWII - LIVE at Comedy Cafe Berlin!

    Agent ZigZag, Agent Garbo, Mutt and Jeff…who are these people? Are they or have they ever been Portuguese wine merchants? How is running a spy ring like a running a cricket club? All this and more in… The Double Cross, LIVE!!!!! A special treat we recorded back in March at the Comedy Cafe Berlin! Bringing to an end our series marking the 80 year anniversary of the end of WWII. We revisit John C Masterman, formerly playing football for the Ruhleben FC whilst a British POW in Berlin, he has a plan to exploit Germany’s lack of competency in the spy World. We've even got a little drinking game (that can also be played with snacks!) if you feel jealous hearing us gulp down our classy cocktails...play along! ++++++    💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show  🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++ 📚 Sources: The Double Cross System, John C. Masterman jamesbondlifestyle.com

    55 min

  5. 08/06/2025

    S3E9: Wernher von Braun

    This episode we dive into the ins and outs of Wernher von Braun’s wartime credentials, before the Americans would be faced with the decision of whether or not his file needed a paperclip to begin with. (It did!) Contrasting heavily from last episode’s Klaus Fuchs, we look at someone whose humanity always came second to his ambition as a scientist in Nazi Germany, and contextualise his role into the broader scope of the Nazi concentration camp system. Who were some of the more sinister characters he met along the way? What did the Summer of 1945 look like for him and his fellow engineers as the Third Reich crumbled around them? ++++++    💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show  🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++ 📚 Sources: Wernher von Braun, the SS, and Concentration Camp Labor: Questions of Moral, Political, and Criminal Responsibility. Michael J. Neufeld The Nazi Smoke and Mirrors Escape That Launched America Into the Space Age. Amy Shira Teitel Germans in Russia: Cold War, Technology Transfer, and National Identity By Asif A. Siddiqi  Podcast: Paperclip: America's Nazi Scientists, Monique Laney, Michael Ian Black.

    57 min

  6. 07/23/2025

    S3E8: Klaus Fuchs: WW2 Nuclear Weapons Physicist and Spy

    Excellent at mathematics, physics, and possibly even better at being an all round nice guy. Jonny tells us about the life of Klaus Fuchs and his roll in the melodrama of THE BOMB in 1945. Fleeing the Nazi regime, his relationship with Max Born, life as a German in WW2 Britain, his traumatic journey to Canada and his triumphant journey to the US and... spying! Also we talk a bit about Werner von Braun as if we've already done an episode...Pip got a little turned around on the release dates...von Braun is coming up next, you didn't miss one!  ++++++    💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show  🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++ 📚 Sources: Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs, Nancy Thorndike Greenspan

    58 min

  7. 07/09/2025

    S3E7: Emil Jannings and Marlene Dietrich

    Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings were two of the biggest stars in both Weimar Germany and Hollywood in the early 20th century…they’re not that bothered about each other, but they would star together in The Blue Angel, filmed precisely as Wall Street crashed, catapulting them off into wildly different directions, personally, professionally and politically.  This episode began as an attempt to check in with these two people in 1945, and whilst we do that, they're too interesting to confine to that one time!  We kick off with Jannings, because you have to eat your slightly rotten cabbage before you get to a delicious cream-topped strudel like Marlene…we don’t make the rules. Who had better legs? Who literally tried hiding behind their Oscar? How many tangents can we get into one episode?! Find out and please enjoy this romp through movie history, the 20th century, and don't worry, some WAR! ++++++    💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show.   🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++ 📚 Sources: Jannings: The Portrait of an Actor. Liam Ó Laoghaire Berlin Year Zero: The Making of "The Blue Angel" John Baxter MINISTRY OF ILLUSION: German Film 1933-1945 Eric Rentschler For Posterity’s Sake: Emil Jannings’ Autobiographical (Self-)Denazification By Wesley Kirkpatrick Hadley Meares, Hollywood Reporter: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/which-best-actor-winner-allegedly-once-shouted-dont-shoot-i-have-won-an-oscar-4146311/ You Must Remember This Podcast, Karina Longworth: https://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/episodes/youmustrememberthispodcastblog/2015/2/10/star-wars-episode-vi-marlene-dietrich-at-war-ymrt-32 Marlene Dietrich, A Personal Biography, Charlotte Chandler

    1h 4m

  8. 06/24/2025

    S3E6: The Potsdam Conference

    The Potsdam Conference... The Pozi Confs for those in the know, as you are soon to be. It’s like summer camp for if you’ve been a good boy and defeated Nazi Germany in Europe. You all get together and decide what the hell do we do now? Stalin and Molotov are there, having a BLAST. The newly elected Labour Party of the UK forgot their swimming trunks and no-one knows who this Truman guy is. Seriously though…who’s in charge? Who’s not in charge? Who’s dead? Who’s been voted out? Who’s playing good cop bad cop with Joe Stalin? Who’s got stomach ulcers and what’s wrong with German milk?! ++++++    💸 Donations keep us running. Click below to support the show.   🤩 Donate €50 😆 Donate €20 😄 Donate €10  🙂 Donate €5 ++++++ 🎟️ You can get in touch and book Jonny or Pip for a tour of Berlin via www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com. Don't forget to subscribe for more Berlin history every two weeks! ++++++ You can find Jonny online on YouTube, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok! ++++++ Mixed and Produced by Alex Griffiths https://www.instagram.com/alexgriffiths_music/ https://alexgriffiths.bandcamp.com/   ++++++ 📚 Sources: Potsdam, Michael Neiberg Cecilienhof Palace Museum

    54 min
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5
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

Explore the history of one of the world’s most captivating cities with "History Flakes - The Berlin History Podcast." Your hosts, seasoned tour guides Pip Roper and Jonny Whitlam, take you through the highs and low-lows of Berlin's past, exploring events, lives and stories from Berlin's past. From the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall to the artistic renaissance of the Weimar Republic and the dark days of the Nazi dictatorship, each episode is a blend of history, stories from the tour guide streets, and a dash of humour. Whether you’re a history buff, a lover of Berlin, or simply curious about the forces that shaped modern Europe, join Pip and Jonny as they peel back the layers of Berlin's history. Discover the heroes, villains, revolutions, and evolutions that have defined this iconic city. Welcome to History Flakes!

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