A cast of a skeleton made from a boat shelter near the seashore of Heraculaneum, where 32 people sought shelter during the eruption (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

On Monday’s podcast, Sarah and I talked Pompeii, lost for so long under layers of volcanic ash.

It wasn’t just Pompeii that was buried by Mount Vesuvius’s eruption — Herculaneum, Stabiae, Torre, Annunziata and others were also destroyed. But it’s Pompeii that we first learn about in school, our ghoulish child eyes poring over photos of preserved, twisted bodies while we wonder what it’s like to be covered in lava.

Luckily for us, Pliny the Younger wrote to his friend Tacitus about the eruption, so historians and scientists have been able to piece together what happened and how.

Also, on this podcast, I managed to say that the people were suffocated because they couldn’t breathe anymore. I realize this makes no sense, but it brings me to a podcast FAQ — We don’t use scripts. Sarah and I, when we’re done editing our articles for the week, research the podcasts in our “free time.” We write up a bunch of notes and a basic outline and then walk into the studio and have a conversation. It’s more fun to listen to, but we (naturally) make mistakes sometimes.

But back to Pompeii. If you’d like to listen to the free podcast about the eruption, you can learn all about life in this cosmopolitan city before Vesuvius gave off an ominous column of gas and ash — and what a person does when he or she encounters a shower of ash, pumice and volcanic debris.

St. Paul's, standing proud, December 1940 (Keystone/Getty Images)

Wednesday’s podcast took us back to the London Blitz, when Hitler turned his eye toward Great Britain. Sarah and I, determined as always to avoid angry listener e-mails questioning our intelligence when we mispronounce words, looked up “Luftwaffe” and greatly enjoyed the seriousness and accent with which it was pronounced. (Another podcast FAQ — when we come across words we don’t know how to say in our research, we check the dictionary, the venerable Google-God and YouTube for hints. Sometimes, there simply isn’t an answer to be found in time.)

During the Blitz, the city of London was under attack, and much of it was destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of kids were sent to the countryside (think Narnia!) to remove them from danger, while many adults fled to the London Underground.

Churchill proclaimed that “At all costs, St. Paul’s must be saved,” and this was the rallying cry for the volunteers and firefighters who stayed up all night watching the cathedral and putting out fires. St. Paul’s Cathedral became a symbol of national resistance, and a photo of it wreathed in smoke by Herbert Mason was named “the war’s greatest picture.” Listen to the podcast on iTunes to learn more about bravery of St. Paul’s Watch.

5 Lost Cities
What would happen if Mount Vesuvius erupted today?
World War II Quiz