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Welcome to Sleepytime History® — true stories from the pages of history for a full night's rest.
Tonight, let the restless mind wander into the deep dark forests of old England in search of Robin Hood, the bow-and-arrow outlaw of Sherwood Forest who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. For centuries the ballads sang of his merry band of thieves, and yet the true identity of Robin himself remains unsolved to this very day. In the oldest tellings he was simply a goodly bandit who made his home in the wild greenwood, though no one can say for certain where that greenwood lay. Some point to Nottingham and its infamous Sheriff, others far to the north near York, and neither can agree who holds the rightful claim. Beneath a yew tree in Derbyshire there rests a curious gravestone said to belong to Little John, Robin's faithful right-hand man, which some say gave up the bones of a giant when it was opened long ago. And then there is Friar Tuck, a man of the church who ran with a band of outlaws and was no friend to the common folk at all, pursued by the king's men for years. The harder the search presses on, the more the one true Robin slips away into the trees, and yet a shortage of proof is not the same as having none at all. These relaxing history stories are made as a gentle sleep aid for grown-ups, a bundle of bedtime stories for adults to help you fall asleep, soothe an anxious evening, and quiet the kind of insomnia that whispers I can't sleep long after the house has gone still. So let this soothing history for sleep carry you off into a world of folklore and legend, a slow audiobook journey through medieval England where the only question left to ponder is which came first, the hero or the legend.
If you're new here, share where you're tuning in from or request a story for a future bedtime episode. And if you enjoy these peaceful history stories, please like and subscribe — it helps us continue sharing calm, true tales from the past.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Robin Hood: Old England's Greatest Outlaw?
00:41:14 Japan's Three Forbidden Treasures
01:22:36 Florence Nightingale: Rebel With a Cause
02:03:40 Real History Behind the Odyssey
02:46:33 Lost 8th Wonder Of The World: The Amber Room
03:25:22 Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid: The Wild West's Most Beloved Bandits
04:06:10 Stone Age Ireland: People Without a Name
04:47:36 The Lighthouse of Alexandria: "Like a Second Sun Above the Waters"
05:28:25 Pandora's Box: What Was Actually Inside?
06:08:16 The Three Musketeers: The Strange Truth Behind the Legend
06:52:18 The Unicorn: Fabled Creature or Ancient Relic?
07:31:31 Julius Caesar: Into the Savage Realm of Druids & Sorcery
Written and produced by Pamela Erwin
Narration by Oliver Hale
Music by Pia Maya
Visuals by Ben Blight
Images used in this episode are AI-generated oil-painting adaptations and/or composites of the following public-domain sources:
Louis Rhead, Robin Hood and Little John, 1912, frontispiece illustration in Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band: Their Famous Exploits in Sherwood Forest, by Louis Rhead (New York: Harper & Brothers).
Richard Croft, Robin Hood Statue at Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre in Nottinghamshire, photographic print, September 7, 2014, Geograph Britain and Ireland.
Edmund George Warren, Robin Hood and his Merry Men in Sherwood Forest, 1859, gouache and gum arabic on paper, 61.00 cm x 82.00 cm, Private Collection.
This podcast contains AI-generated content.
Sleepytime History is a trademark owned by Pamela Erwin.
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