Today it’s a Tupperware party and you’re all invited! Tupperware epitomises the post-war suburban dream. But pop open the lid and peep inside and not all is as it seems. There was a battle for the soul of Tupperware. A battle fought between the inventor of the Tupperware box, Earl Tupper, and the woman who made it famous through her Tupperware parties, Brownie Wise.Helping Dallas uncover the true nature of Tupperware is the wonderful Alison Clarke, professor of design history and theory at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the author of Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950's America.Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Aidan Lonergan, Senior Producer is Charlotte LongFor more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

The hieroglyphs seem to hold a lot of secrets about Ancient Egyptians. What do emojis say about us? What on earth is their story?Emojis originate in the notebooks of 1970’s Japanese schoolgirls obsessed with adding cute illustrations between words.Their story ends in boardroom meetings in California where the emojis that we are all allowed, and the ones we aren’t, are decided.What a strange journey for a form of communication to take. It must all mean something…but what? Today’s guest is Philip Seargeant a lecturer in applied linguistics at the Open University and author of The Emoji Revolution: the technology shaping the future of communication.Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Lewis Mason, senior producer Charlotte LongFor more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

Why did the chicken cross the road? What came first, the chicken or the egg? Who invented the chicken anyway?We answer at least one of these questions on today’s show.We follow the chicken from the time of the dinosaurs (the chicken is the closest living relative to T-Rex) until today’s genetically engineered bird with today’s guest Sally Coulthard, author of Fowl Play: A History of the Chicken from Dinosaur to Dinner Plate.Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Lewis Mason, senior producer Charlotte LongFor more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

Who invented LEGO, the world's favourite toy? To find out we have to head to a Danish fishing village where a family of toy makers live. A family who over the course of three generations, created the LEGO world we know today.Dallas’s guest is Daniel Konstanski, a lifelong LEGO fanatic who builds breathtaking LEGO models and has recently published a book called The Secret Life of Lego.Produced by Freddy Chick. Editing and sound design by Anish Deva. Senior producer Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

CROISSANTS WEREN’T INVENTED IN FRANCE. Mon dieu! C’est pas vrai!Today Dallas finds out about the person responsible for bringing the croissant to France.It wasn’t Marie Antoinette and it has nothing to do with the Turkish flag.The person we have to thank is an Austrian entrepreneur called August Zang who set up a wildly popular Viennese bakery in Paris in the early nineteenth century. In amongst the Viennese goodies on show was a certain crescent shaped roll….Our guest today is Jim Chevallier, author of August Zang and the French Croissant. Check out Jim’s website chezjim.com for more information on the croissant and beyond.Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Joseph Knight, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

Who invented aliens? We did. Each age invents its own. When we invented robots, aliens became robotic beings. In the Cold War, intergalactic peacemakers appear. Aliens came to abduct us in a decade when the news was full of kidnappings.In this episode Dallas discovers when we first started to think about alien life and explores how our ideas about aliens have evolved over time. And we hear three stories of people who claimed to have met aliens.His guide to alien lifeforms is Greg Eghigian, professor of history at Penn State university and author of an upcoming book about the phenomenon of UFO sightings and alien encounters.Produced by Freddy Chick, edited by Aidan Lonergan, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

The world’s first Loop-the-Loop roller coaster gave so many people whiplash that they kept a medical team on the payroll.Find out where roller coasters began; why your hands sweat when you’re on them; and how long it takes the human brain to realise that it’s fallen to its death (perhaps).Dallas’s guest today is the world’s only thrill engineer Brendan Walker, the guy roller coaster designers turn to for advice on how to make their rides as thrilling as possible.Keep your arms and legs inside the podcast at all times as we go on another roller coaster ride into the history of inventions!Produced by Freddy Chick, Edited by Anisha Deva, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

The Frozen Food industry was invented by the Birdseye company. And that company was started by a living breathing Birdseye; Clarence Birdseye.Clarence Birdseye was a small, bespectacled New Yorker who lived a life somewhere between Buffalo Bill and Thomas Edison.He came up with the idea for frozen food while starting a family in the barren wastes of North Eastern Canada, where he ate polar bears, skunks, lynx stewed in sherry, and horned owls.He became a self made millionaire who invented not only the frozen food industry but also new kinds of lightbulbs, automatic whaling harpoons, and a whole new paper making process while living in the Colombian jungle. He died with more than two hundred patents in his name.Our guest to tell the story of this remarkable inventor is Mark Kurlansky, author of Birdseye a biography of Clarence Birdseye.Produced and Edited by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.

***Real life inventor alert*** We speak to Rick Priestley the co-creator of the weird world of Warhammer where valiant humans, noble elves, savage orcs and a variety of monstrous creatures battle eternally. How on earth do you invent something like this?If you have no idea what Warhammer is then don't worry; neither did Dallas before this! In his chat with Rick, Dallas tries to work out where Warhammer came from and how you invent a fantasy world that people will actually believe in. Whether that's Warhammer or Narnia or Hogwarts or [insert favourite fantasy world here]. Any of the fantasy worlds that millions of us love to lose ourselves in.Buckle on your shields and swords at the ready as we embark on one of our stranger adventures in the history of invention.Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Anisha Deva. Executive Producer is Charlotte Long.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Hold onto your fishing rods guys. We’re tracking down the origins of batteries and it turns out it has a lot to do with a fish with a nasty sting in its tail. Zzzaaap!!Human’s have known that an electrical force existed for thousands of years. But it wasn’t until the turn of the nineteenth century that we were able to harness it for the first time in a battery. It opened the doors for a whole new way of life.Get ready for stories of reanimated corpses, bitter scientific rivalries, shocking ancient medicine and electric fish.Our guest today is Tim Jorgensen, author of Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life.Produced and edited by Freddy Chick. Executive Producer is Charlotte Long.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.