The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things!

Michael Jackson didn’t just become the King of Pop — he was built into him.

Today we follow Michael Jackson from Gary, Indiana and the Jackson 5 to Motown, Off the Wall, Thriller and the iconic moonwalk. But we will also revisit the thing that broke him, Neverland, and the first allegation that changed his life forever. This is a story of child stardom, family pressure, pop reinvention, and the cracks already forming beneath the most famous man in music.

Topics Include

Joe Jackson, childhood pressure, and the Jackson family home

The Jackson 5, Motown, and Michael’s breakout voice

Off the Wall, Thriller, MTV, and the moonwalk

The Pepsi burn, image changes, and Neverland

Jordan Chandler and the moment everything turns

Resources and Further Reading

Michael Jackson - Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Jackson 5 - Motown Museum

Michael Jackson - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Pepsi fire left Michael Jackson in pain - Los Angeles Times

Host & Show Info

Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox

Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland

Community & Calls to Action

Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast

Website: TheCompendiumPodcast.com

Support us: Sign up to Patreon

We’re Hiring: Find the perfect job at the circus

Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway.
Host & Show Info
Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland
Community & Calls to Action
Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
Website: thecompendiumpodcast.com
Support us: Sign up to Patreon
Circus Job Board: Apply to join the Circus
Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway.

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Peter the Dolphin became the centre of a radical experiment that blurred science, intimacy, and ethics in ways no one was prepared for, thats right, this is a groomer story!

In the 1960s, neuroscientist John C Lilly and researcher Margaret Lovatt set out to teach a dolphin to speak English inside a flooded house in the Caribbean. What followed was an intense, isolated experiment in dolphin communication that drew the attention of NASA and raised unsettling questions about boundaries, consent, and scientific obsession. As Dolphin House collapsed under funding cuts and ethical scrutiny, Peter’s fate would haunt everyone involved.Topics include

The Dolphin House experiment and its unconventional design

John C Lilly’s theories on dolphin communication and sensory deprivation

Margaret Lovatt’s role and the emotional reality of long-term isolation

Why NASA funded dolphin research during the space race

What happened to Peter the dolphin after the experiment ended

Resources and Further Reading

Margaret Howe Lovatt - Wikipedia

The dolphin who loved me - the Guardian

John C. Lilly - Wikipedia

The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins - BBC Documentry

Host & Show Info
Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland
Community & Calls to Action
Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
Website: thecompendiumpodcast.com
Support us: Sign up to Patreon
Circus Job Board: Apply to join the Circus
Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway.

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Julia Child celebrated household name, started as a wartime OSS desk jockey who later conquered Le Cordon Bleu and American TV - loudly, brilliantly, and without apologising.

Starting with Julie & Julia, we follow her late-in-life Paris awakening, the brutal Le Cordon Bleu learning curve, and the obsessive testing that became Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There’s OSS shark repellent, Paul Child’s steady love, and then the moment she turns a TV omelette into a second career. Suddenly it’s The French Chef - and dinner becomes comedy.

 

Topics include


Julie & Julia and what the film gets right (Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci)


Le Cordon Bleu, French cuisine, and learning late


Mastering the Art of French Cooking and why it mattered


OSS shark repellent and the strangest pre-chef CV


The French Chef, cooking show chaos, and the Dan Aykroyd SNL skit

Resources and Further Reading

Julia Child - Wikipedia

Julie & Julia - by Nora Ephron

SNL The French Chef - youtube

Shark Repellant Work - cia.gov

Julias Kitchen - Smithsonian Museum

Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Wikipedia

Host & Show Info
Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland
Community & Calls to Action
Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
Website: thecompendiumpodcast.com
Support us: Sign up to Patreon
Circus Job Board: Apply to join the Circus
Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

H.H. Holmes built the infamous Murder Castle during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This episode explores the true story behind the disappearances, the fraud, and how one of America’s first serial killers was finally caught.

Using false identities, staged scams, and a building designed to confuse and trap, Holmes turned murder into a business model. As victims vanished and his schemes began to collapse, investigators uncovered a case of fraud, deception, and calculated killing that helped turn him into one of the most notorious figures in American crime history.

Topics include

the design and purpose of the Murder Castle

Holmes’ life as Herman Mudgett

insurance fraud, false identities, and calculated killings

the role of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

how H.H. Holmes was finally caught

Resources and Further Reading

H.H. Holmes - Wikipedia

The Devil in the White City - by Erik Larson

American Horror Story: Hotel - Ryan Murphy

Host & Show Info
Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland
Community & Calls to Action
Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
Website: thecompendiumpodcast.com
Support us: Sign up to Patreon
Circus Job Board: Apply to join the Circus
Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Biosphere 2 was meant to prove we could build a world from scratch. Instead, it became a fight to keep the air breathable and the story from turning toxic.

In 1991, eight people sealed themselves inside a vast Arizona terrarium designed to test whether a closed ecosystem could sustain human life and one day help us survive on Mars. What followed was not just a biosphere experiment under glass, but a slow collision between science, survival, collapsing oxygen levels, and a press narrative determined to call it a joke. This week, we dig into what really happened inside Biosphere 2, why the project began to unravel, and whether it was ever the failure people still think it was.

Topics include


The Biosphere 2 experiment and its original Mars habitat ambitions


Why oxygen levels dropped inside the sealed ecosystem


The biospherians, food shortages, and life inside the dome


How media coverage helped distort the story of Biosphere 2


Whether Biosphere 2 failed, or was misunderstood from the start

Resources and Further Reading

Biosphere 2 - Wikipedia

Life under the bubble - Discover magazine

The Human Experiment - by Jane Poynter

Host & Show Info
Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland
Community & Calls to Action
Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
Website: thecompendiumpodcast.com
Support us: Sign up to Patreon
Circus Job Board: Apply to join the Circus
Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.