The Backstory with Patty Steele

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Latest Episodes:

The Backstory: From 30 Pounds of Wool to the Thong . . In One Century May 23, 2025

Show notes

If women in the 1800s wanted to take a swim . . they were pulled into the surf in a cabana on wheels, wearing 30 pounds of wet wool. So how did we get to the bikini, much less the thong?

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The Backstory: Party Like a Pope! May 20, 2025

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While watching the Catholic Church choose a new pope earlier this month, it seemed completely immersed in tradition. But Pope Leo the 14th is a very different leader than an earlier namesake . . Pope Leo the Tenth, from the powerful Medici family. His reign in the early 1500s and his love of partying and living like a king . . brought about one of the biggest religious upheavals in European history.

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The Backstory: Did a Missing Heiress Vanish Into a New Life? May 16, 2025

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What happens when you’re born into tremendous wealth and social standing, but all you want is a bohemian life filled with creativity and freedom? In 1910 the life of a socialite was pre determined before birth. One young woman felt trapped and simply disappeared. But what really happened to Dorothy Arnold?

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The Backstory: Dead Pope’s Body . . On Trial May 13, 2025

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We’ve been intrigued in the past few weeks with the ancient traditions surrounding the choice for a new pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church. But that transition hasn’t always been smooth. This is another look at one of the darkest moments in Church history. It was the Cadaver Trial of a dead pope, which took place 1100 years ago.

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The Backstory: The Tragedy That Inspired Will Ferrell’s Anchorman Flicks May 09, 2025

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Jessica Savitch had a dramatic rise... and an even more dramatic fall in the network news business of the 1970s and ’80s. It’s a shocker! But her tragic story oddly inspired Will Ferrell to do the movie Anchorman: The Rise and Fall of Ron Burgundy. Here’s the backstory!

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The Backstory: Jack Kerouac: On the Road With a Brilliant Disaster May 06, 2025

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Few authors have impacted literature and our culture like On the Road author Jack Kerouac. But his short life was filled with pain, depression, addiction, and murder... as well as brilliance. This is a peek at his rise and fall.

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The Backstory: How Do You Kidnap a Race Horse? May 02, 2025

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Nothing like the Kentucky Derby... even if you’re not a dedicated thoroughbred race fan. Those animals are exquisite bundles of pure muscle. So... imagine trying to kidnap one! How would you do it... and what happens after you get him? It happened over 40 years ago in Ireland to one of the most remarkable European Derby winners of all time and his billionaire owner. This is his story.

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The Backstory: The Great Gatsby Was a Total Failure! Apr 29, 2025

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How does a book start out as a complete failure only to suddenly be celebrated as one of the great American novels, decades later? And what was its heartbreaking inspiration? This is the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby, published 100 years ago this month.

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The Backstory: Why Do We Love Dog Movie Stars? Apr 25, 2025

Show notes

Nothing makes us melt like a great story about a kid and a dog. Lassie was a megastar in the 1950s, watching over her 7-year-old boy Timmy...but was her act lifted from the first canine movie star back in 1905?

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The Backstory: Blueprint For a Serial Killer Apr 22, 2025

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One of America’s most prolific female serial killers was Aileen Wuornos. She admitted to killing at least seven men before she was executed in 2002. Her life was depicted in the 2003 movie Monster. But how did the little girl, tormented by schoolmates as "the cigarette pig," become a monster?

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