Did That Really Happen?

Did That Really Happen?
  • 4.2 (18)
  • History
  • Updated Biweekly

The movie podcast for history nerds. In every episode, historians Jamie and Sofia talk about a different historical film and take a deep dive into the parts that did and didn't really happen. In each episode, we try to answer the big questions: Is this good history? Is this a good movie? And are those the same thing? To get in touch, send us an email at DidThatReallyHappenPod@gmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ReallyHappenPod. You can also support the show by visiting Patreon.com/DidThatReallyHappen Our theme music is "Allon Gay Gay", performed by Jon Sayles.

  1. 2d ago

    Benedetta

    In this definitely NSFW episode, we're traveling back to 17th century Italy with Benedetta! Join us as we learn about the trial of Benedetta Carlini, comets, convent theater, and more! Sources: https://daily.jstor.org/lesbianism-at-the-convent/ Judith C. Brown, Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (1986, Archive.org) Rudolph M. Bell, "Renaissance Sexuality and the Florentine Archives: An Exchange," Renaissance Quarterly 40, no.3 (1987): 485-511. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2862521  Image of the comet over Heidelberg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1618_W1#/media/File:Comet_1618_Heidelberg.jpg Nicholas Kollerstrom, "Galileo vs. 1618's Great Comet: Fly Like an Eagle," DIO 21, 2018 Elisa Neckar, "Sept. 6, 1618: The First Comet Seen Through a Telescope," Astronomy, available at https://www.astronomy.com/today-in-the-history-of-astronomy/sept-6-1618-the-first-comet-seen-through-a-telescope/ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedetta_(film) Rotten Tomatoes Reviews: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/benedetta Blank Check Podcast (Paul Verhoeven Series) Elissa B. Weaver, Convent Theatre in Early Modern Italy: Spiritual Fun and Learning for Women. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

  2. Jun 29

    Kind Hearts and Coronets

    This week we're traveling back to Edwardian England with Kind Hearts and Coronets! Join us as we learn about man traps, municipal baths, executing nobility, suffragettes doing awesome stuff like smashing windows and flying hot air balloons, and more! Sources: National Trust Collections: Humane Mantrap with No Teeth: https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/832217 Henry Yau, "Student Spotlight #2: Man Traps," The Museum of English Rural LIfe: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/news-and-views/student-spotlight-2-man-traps/ Keith Fitzpatrick-Mathews, Man Traps and Spring Guns and Burymead, North Hertfordshire Museum, available at https://northhertsmuseum.org/man-traps-and-spring-guns-at-burymead/ https://www.criterion.com/films/357-kind-hearts-and-coronets?srsltid=AfmBOoqI6mqHSaktbVr3VfmjtvrX_EoEHYVpCazVLklhDJtp_Vz21UaE  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_Hearts_and_Coronets Philip Kemp, https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/414-kind-hearts-and-coronets-ealing-s-shadow-side  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kind-Hearts-and-Coronets  David A. Ellis, Conversations with Cinematographers, 15.  https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=kind-hearts-and-coronets   https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/PLA01/03/0063  https://www.victorianturkishbath.org/F0GLOSSARY/SFglossPages/Slipper_w.htm  Dave Day and Margaret Roberts, "Working at the Baths," Swimming Communities in Victorian England (2019), 157-201.  https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/londons-public-executions/ https://capitalpunishmentuk.org/english-hangmen-1850-to-1964/  Colin Rhys Lovell, "The Trial of Peers in Great Britain," The American Historical Review 55, no.1 (1949): 69-81. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1841088  Execution of Lord Lovat (1747), https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-96988/a-representation-of-the-execution-of-lord-lovat/  https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/the-beheading-of-clan-fraser-chief-watched-by-thousands-859749  Robin Eagles, "The Last Peer Hanged for Murder," https://historyofparliament.com/2022/05/10/the-last-peer-hanged-for-murder/  Andrew Thrush, "The execution of Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk," https://historyofparliament.com/2022/04/28/the-execution-of-thomas-howard-4th-duke-of-norfolk/  https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-547960/glass-smashing-for-votes-suffragettes-as-window-breakers/ https://bowstreetmuseum.org.uk/shattering-suffrage/ https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/suffragettes-on-file/window-smashing-campaign/ https://balloonteam.net/montgolfier/on-this-day-the-suffragette-airship/ https://blogs.loc.gov/families/2022/09/venturesome-ladies-trailblazing-female-fliers/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Matters#/media/File:The_London_Illustrated_News_(7th_November_1908.webp

  3. Jun 15

    A League of Their Own (2022)

    We don't have a new episode this week, so we're releasing a Patreon episode from the vault: 2022's canceled-too-soon series, A League of Their Own. Join us as we learn about the AAGPBL's weird code of conduct, WWII-era mail censorship, and more! Sources: Full text available at https://www.aagpbl.org/history/rules-of-conduct https://www.aagpbl.org/teams/rockford-peaches/1944  Lisa Taylor/Justina Moloney, "Passed Censor," Folklife Today: American Folklife Center & Veterans History Project, Library of Congress (28 August 2017). https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2017/08/passed-censor/  "Victory Mail," National Postal Museum, Smithsonian. https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/victory-mail and https://youtu.be/tj_LoG7wStY  Myron Fox, "Censorship!" American Experience, PBS (2000). https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/warletters-censorship/  "Letters Home: Wartime Correspondence from the Natale Bellantoni Papers," Hoover Institution Library & Archives https://histories.hoover.org/letters-home/#:~:text=Throughout%20World%20War%20II%2C%20the,hands%20should%20mail%20be%20intercepted. Devan Coggan, "Abbi Jacobson responds to angry reactions to A League of Their Own: 'Representation matters so much'" Entertainment Weekly (15 August 2022). https://ew.com/tv/a-league-of-their-own-reactions-abbi-jacobson-responds/  Rebecca Nicholson, "A League of Their Own review-- this gorgeous baseball drama is about something far bigger than sport," The Guardian (12 August 2022). https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/aug/12/a-league-of-their-own-review-baseball-drama-abbi-jacobson-madonna-movie-remake  Jenna Scherer, "A League Of Their Own serves up a whole new crop of Peaches," AV Club (10 August 2022). https://www.avclub.com/a-league-of-their-own-season-1-review-1849391265  Linda Holmes, "New Peaches, new problems: 'A League of Their Own' makes a successful move to TV," NPR (11 August 2022). https://www.npr.org/2022/08/11/1116855780/a-league-of-their-own-2022-amazon-prime-review  Riese, "32 Excerpts From Really Special "League Of Their Own" Reviews Written By Homophobes Who've Had Quite Enough," Autostraddle, (15 August 2022). https://www.autostraddle.com/32-homophobic-league-of-their-own-reviews/  https://youtu.be/1OvULWYcSjQ

  4. Jun 1

    Nuremberg

    This week we're traveling back to 1940s Germany (yup, this is a heavy one, folks) with Nuremberg! Join us as we learn about real-life figures like Douglas Kelley, Emmy Goering, Howie Triest, and more! Sources: James Wylie, "The Battle to Be 'First Lady of the Third Reich.'" Daily Telegraph (London), November 14, 2019, 22,23. EBSCOhost. Richard J. Evans. 2015. The Third Reich in History and Memory. Oxford University Press. EBSCOhost. George Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality. New York: Howard Fertig, 1985 "Frau Goering Gets Year, but is Freed," New York Times, 22 July 1948, available at https://www.nytimes.com/1948/07/22/archives/frau-goering-gets-year-but-is-freed-court-also-confiscates-30-of.html https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/the-err-and-the-nazi-partys-systematic-looting-of-europe-xmbqkk/8289/ https://www.errproject.org/jeudepaume/about/err.php Douglas Kelley, 22 Cells in Nuremberg, https://archive.org/details/22-cells-in-nuremberg-douglas-m-kelley-z-library/page/n7/mode/2up  Jack El-Hai, "The Psychiatrist and the Nazi," World War II 28, no. 5 (2014): 38-45.  Jack El-Hai, "The Nazi and the Psychiatrist," Scientific American, (2011), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-nazi-and-the-psychiatrist/  Martin Levinson, "General Semantics and PTSD in the Military," ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 72, no.3 (2015): 258-64, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24762164 . Meilan Solly, "The True Story Behind 'Nuremberg,' a WWII Drama About Hermann Goring's Cat-and-Mouse Game With an American Psychiatrist," Smithsonian Magazine (2025) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-true-story-behind-nuremberg-a-wwii-drama-about-hermann-gorings-cat-and-mouse-game-with-an-american-psychiatrist-180987621/  José Brunner, ""Oh Those Crazy Cards Again": A History of the Debate on the Nazi Rorschachs, 1946-2001," Political Psychology 22, no.2 (2001): 233-61, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3791925  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_(2025_film) Interview with James Vanderbilt, NPR: https://www.npr.org/2025/11/11/nx-s1-5487719/nuremberg-james-vanderbilt https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/nuremberg-james-vanderbilt-interview Mario Cacciotollo, "Jewish Army Translator Who Got Close to the Nazis," BBC, available at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14706309

  5. May 18

    The Testament of Ann Lee

    This week we're traveling back to 18th century Manchester (and America!) with The Testament of Ann Lee! Join us as we learn about Ann Lee's life with her awful husband Abraham and fellow spiritual leader Jane Wardley, shaker spirituals, pacifism, and more! Sources: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pacifism/ Ngram for Pacifism: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=pacifism&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3 George Fox on peace: https://quaker.org/legacy/minnfm/peace/fox_1651.htm Tolstoy, "The Law of Violence and the Law of Love", 1908, available at https://www.marxists.org/archive/tolstoy/1908/the-law-of-violence-and-the-law-of-love/chapter-8.html https://divinity.uchicago.edu/news/pop-religion-hunger-and-thirst-embodied-religion-testament-ann-lee https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_testament_of_ann_lee Guy Lodge, https://variety.com/2025/film/news/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-amanda-seyfried-1236503769/ Peter Bradshaw, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/01/the-testament-of-ann-lee-review-shaker-venice-film-festival-amanda-seyfried-mona-fastvold  Peyton Robinson, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-testament-of-ann-lee-amanda-seyfried-film-review-2025  https://shakermuseum.org/learn/school-programs/shaker-music/ Nardi Reeder Campion, Mother Ann Lee: Morning Star of the Shakers (Brandeis University Press, 2026). https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.37730392  Linda Fujie, ""Draw the Chords of Union Stronger": The Musical Life of the American Shakers," The World of Music 35: 3 (1993): 51-79.  Daniel Patterson, The Shaker Spiritual (Dover, 1979, 2000) https://archive.org/details/shakerspiritual0000patt/page/2/mode/2up . https://www.shakermuseum.us/tis-gift-simple-things-arent-simple-seem/?nocache=1  https://home.shakerheritage.org/let-us-labor-the-evolution-of-shaker-dance/ https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-shaker-dance-and-worship-18th-century-photo-researchers.html   https://daily.jstor.org/the-rhythms-of-shaker-dance-marked-the-shakers-as-other/  EP Thompson, Making of the English Working Class BS Youngs, "The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing," 1823, Full text available on Google Books Nardi Reeder Campion, Mother Ann Lee (2026) https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.37730392.11  A summary view of the Millennial Church, or United Society of Believers (commonly called Shakers) : comprising the rise, progress, and practical order of the society, together with the general principles of their faith and testimony (1823), https://archive.org/details/asummaryviewmil02wellgoog/page/n4/mode/2up

  6. May 4

    The Terror (Season 1)

    This week we're cracking open the Patreon vault to deliver unto you a bonus episode on Season 1 of The Terror! Join us as we learn about the horrors of the Franklin expedition, including lead poisoning, proof of death, and creepy old diving gear.  Sources: https://www.divingheritage.com/deanekern.htm https://www.whitstablemuseum.org/exhibit/diving/ https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/~cmi/dive/diveHist.html https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeologists-get-eerie-first-look-inside-arctic-shipwreck-franklin-hms-terror-180973011/ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(TV_series) Indiewire: https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-terror-location-cgi-not-shot-outside-1201945793/ Keith Millar, Adrian W. Bowman, and William Battersby, "A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845-1848," Polar Record 51, no. 258 (2015): 224-38.  Anne Keenleyside, Margaret Bertuli, and Henry C. Fricke, "The Final Days of the Franklin Expedition: New Skeletal Evidence," Arctic 50, no.1 (1997): 36-46. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40512040  Douglas R. Stenton, "Finding the dead: bodies, bones and burials from the 1845 Franklin northwest passage Expedition," Polar Record (2018): 197-212.  Brian D. Powell, "The memorials on Beechey Island, Nunavut, Canada: an historical and pictorial survey," Polar Record 2, no.223 (2006): 325-33. https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/nu/epaveswrecks  Soup tin: https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-2033  Peglar Papers: https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-2113  https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/did-lead-poisoning-finish-off-a-doomed-arctic-expedition/

  7. Apr 20

    The Secret Agent

    This week we're traveling back to 1970s Brazil with The Secret Agent! Join us as we learn about deaths at Carnival, the legend of the Hairy Leg, indigenous servants, and more! Sources: Da-Silva, Elidiomar. (2025). A PERNA CABELUDA, DE RECIFE, PERNAMBUCO: POSSÍVEIS DIÁLOGOS COM A ZOOLOGIA CULTURAL - Barbante - Revista Literária (ISSN 2338-1414) (Da-Silva, Elidiomar. 2025). 13. 20-27. 10.5281/zenodo.17655754.  Diario de Pernambuco, Issue from 10 December 1975: https://memoria.bn.gov.br/docreader/DocReader.aspx?bib=029033_15&pagfis=78246 Diario de Pernambuco, Issue from 11 December 1975: https://memoria.bn.gov.br/docreader/DocReader.aspx?bib=029033_15&pagfis=78266 Wilson Chapman, Watch 'The Secret Agent' Director Kleber Mendonça Filho Tell Guillermo del Toro the Story Behind the Film's Hairy Leg," Indiewire: https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/the-secret-agent-hairy-leg-making-of-1235182134/ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Agent_(2025_film) Andy Crump, "How The Secret Agent Appeals to Brazilian Collective Memory," Time, available at https://time.com/7336528/the-secret-agent-brazilian-history-interview/ Erik Luers Interview with Kleber Mendonca Filho, Filmmaker, available at https://filmmakermagazine.com/132652-interview-kleber-mendonca-filho-the-secret-agent/ Christopher Dunn, "Afro-Bahian Carnival: A Stage for Protest," Afro-Hispanic Review 11, no. 1/3 (1992): 11-20. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41417220  Victoria Baena, "Favelas in the Spotlight: Transforming the Slums of Rio de Janeiro," Harvard International Review 33, no. 1 (2011): 34-37. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42763442  "AROUND THE WORLD Rio Celebrates 'Quiet' Carnival." 1979., Feb 28 The Globe and Mail. "March 3, 1976 (Page 4 of 56)." 1976., Mar 03 Detroit Free Press, General edition, 4.  "180 die in Brazil's carnival," (1971)  https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/25/archives/180-die-in-brazils-carnival.html  Tom Murphy, "92 deaths reported as Rio Carnival ends," UPI Archives (Feb. 20, 1985). https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/02/20/92-deaths-reported-as-Rio-Carnival-ends/5635477723600/  "164 Die in Rio During Carnival," Los Angeles Times (March 1, 1990), https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-01-mn-2198-story.html  US and Brazil: https://www.statista.com/statistics/187592/death-rate-from-homicide-in-the-us-since-1950/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24027422/#&gid=article-figures&pid=fig-2-uid-1  Henrique Espada Lima, "Wages of Intimacy: Domestic Workers Disputing Wages in the Higher Courts of Nineteenth-Century Brazil," International Labor and Working-Class History 88 (2015): 11-29. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43956662  Peter Wade, "Blacks and Indigenous People in Latin America," Race and Ethnicity in Latin America, 24-40 (2010). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183p73f.7  Manuela Lavinas Picq, "Indigenous International Relations," Vernacular Sovereignties: Indigenous Women Challenging World Politics (2018): 97-125. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt20krzcq.11  Merike Blofield, "Feudal Enclaves and Political Reforms: Domestic Workers in Latin America," Latin American Research Review 44, no.1 (2009): 158-90. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20488173

  8. Apr 6

    The Ghost Bride

    We don't have a new episode this week, so we're cracking open the Patreon vault and releasing one of our bonus episodes on The Ghost Bride! Join us on our journey to 1890s Malacca, and learn about the ghost bride custom, clothing, currency, and more! Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37103447 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-07/ghost-marriages-in-rural-china-continue-to-thrive/9608624 Wenzhang Zhou and Yang Feng, "When Religious Folk Practice Meets Karl Marx: Courts' Response to Ghost Marriage in Modern China," Religions, 14 (2023) Myron L. Cohen, "Souls and Salvation: Conflicting Themes in Chinese Popular Religion," in Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, ed. James L. Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski. University of California Press, 1990 Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_Bride_(TV_series)  Patrick Brzeski, "Netflix Unveils Launch Dates for First Trio of Chinese-Language Originals," The Hollywood Reporter, 26 August 2019, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/netflix-sets-launch-dates-first-chinese-language-originals-1234398/  Mathew Scott, "Netflix Launches Mobile-Only Plan for Malysia," The Hollywood Reporter, 24 October 2019, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-launches-mobile-plan-malaysia-1249730/  https://decider.com/2020/01/23/the-ghost-bride-netflix-stream-it-or-skip-it/ Chiang Hai Ding, "The Origins of the Malaysian Currency System (1867-1906)," Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 39, no.1 (1966): 1-18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41491873  The Kebaya: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230302-the-asian-blouse-that-tells-a-tale-of-many-cultures  Peranakan fashion: https://www.roots.gov.sg/stories-landing/stories/peranakan-fashion-and-its-international-sources/story  Singapore, Sarong Kebaya and Style: Peranakan Fashion (National Heritage Board), https://artsandculture.google.com/story/6AVxGAwa3F7DJA?hl=en

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About

The movie podcast for history nerds. In every episode, historians Jamie and Sofia talk about a different historical film and take a deep dive into the parts that did and didn't really happen. In each episode, we try to answer the big questions: Is this good history? Is this a good movie? And are those the same thing? To get in touch, send us an email at DidThatReallyHappenPod@gmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ReallyHappenPod. You can also support the show by visiting Patreon.com/DidThatReallyHappen Our theme music is "Allon Gay Gay", performed by Jon Sayles.

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