46. The Olympic Games: why did they start, stop and restart?

Today, we're looking at why the Ancient Olympic Games began and why – after many centuries – they were stopped. And why, over 1,500 years after being stopped, did they restart?

We are delighted to be joined by Mark Selleck from the hit podcast series Casting through Ancient Greece. Mark digs deep to unearth the truth behind the ancient Olympic Games, and James and Dad – who once visited the Olympics Museum in Switzerland – bring us more up-to-date.

And we have gold medal-winning jokes from Dad.

Here are some questions to see how well you understood today's episode:

When did the Ancient Greek Olympics begin? Which empire invaded Greece and ended the Olympic Games? True or false: different Greek cities competed at the ancient Olympic Games True or false: ancient Greek cities used to fight against each other Explain how the ancient Olympic Games helped bring peace Explain how the modern Olympic Games began in the late nineteenth century Read industry reviews of Dad's World War II novels, A Chance Kill and The Slightest Chance, at paulletters.com. Available on Kindle, as well as in paperback. Dad's first wartime novel, A Chance Kill, is a love-story/thriller based on real events in Poland, Paris, London and Prague. The Slightest Chance follows the remarkable true story of the only escape from Japanese imprisonment by a Western woman during World War II.

Please rate and review us wherever you get podcasts. And share our podcast on social media and recommend it to friends – that's how we'll keep going.

We'll be back on the first Monday of next month!

Podcast cover art by Molly Austin

All instrumental music is from https://filmmusic.io and composed by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Sound effects used under RemArc Licence. Copyright 2021 © BBC