A Fresh Take on Historical Storytelling
Award-winning podcaster Elizabeth Day and renowned historian Dan Jones are joining forces for an innovative new series, History’s Greatest Fails, launching April 7th on Sony Music. The six-episode limited series promises to flip traditional historical narratives on their head by focusing on failure, defeat, and miscalculation rather than triumph.
As Jones colorfully puts it: “Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are the Ross and Rachel of the late medieval world… with the exception that Ross didn’t chop Rachel’s head off.”
From Cambridge Colleagues to Podcast Partners
The collaboration reunites old friends and fellow Cambridge history graduates who share both a passion for the past and a healthy sense of humor. Day, whose chart-topping How To Fail podcast has garnered 60 million downloads, brings her expertise in exploring failure’s lessons to historical contexts.
“I’ve long believed that all History is informed by failure as much as by success,” Day explains. “Failure is where we grow, where we learn and where some of the most compelling stories about what it is to be human reside.”
Six Episodes of Historical Failures
The series will cover diverse ground across time periods, with each episode featuring one host presenting a historical failure to the other. The lineup includes:
- Richard III – How a car park discovery renewed fascination with this contested king
- Failed Romances – From Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn to Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
- Forgotten Women – Celebrating overlooked female leaders like Pharaoh Hatshepsut and Ada Lovelace
- Happy Accidents – Da Vinci’s experiments and gunpowder’s ironic origins
- Artistic Failures – Van Gogh, Artemisia Gentileschi, and novelist George Sand
- War and Memorialization – From the Hundred Years’ War to modern conflicts
Sony Music’s Latest Investment
The production represents Sony Music’s continued investment in premium podcast content. Day recently signed a major deal with Sony Music Entertainment and launched her own production company, Daylight, which focuses on elevating female and diverse storytelling in the podcast space.
The series will be available on This Is History’s feed across all major podcast platforms starting April 7th, with a preview excerpt already available.
Industry Impact
For podcast professionals, this collaboration demonstrates the growing trend of cross-genre partnerships and the premium content market’s appetite for educational entertainment. The project showcases how established podcast hosts can successfully expand their brands while maintaining their core audience appeal.
Source: Podwires Newsletter
