Bear-Baiting and Swan Burgers: A day out in 1613 London (ft. Marc Zakian)

London, 1613. Saturday the 29th of June, to be precise. Blue Badge Guide Marc Zakian from the Extraordinary Stories of Britain podcast knows exactly why that date matters. In the ultimate battle of man versus machine, Marc takes on the AI Game Master to lead Tan and Ryan through a day in Jacobean London. His credentials: professional guide at the British Museum and the Tower of London. The AI's credentials: the entire internet. Let's see who gives a better tour. Marc's itinerary is delightfully specific — eating, drinking, gambling, blood sports, and a cultured trip to the Globe Theatre. He's chosen that date for a reason, and he's steering the adventure towards a very specific historical event that the Game Master may or may not see coming. This is London at its most chaotic: bear-baiting pits where crowds gathered to watch dogs attack chained bears, cockfighting rings, and streets so filthy the open sewers were a feature. Twenty metres away, Shakespeare's company was performing at the Globe. Jacobean London was a city of violent contradictions — high culture and extreme brutality sitting side by side on the South Bank. Marc walks these streets professionally and knows what's around every corner. The Game Master has to keep pace with someone who actually has the expertise, and for once, it's the AI scrambling to match the human's knowledge rather than the other way around. If you were sent back in time, could you survive and thrive — or would you be burnt at the stake for being a witch? PastMaster is the show that turns history into an interactive adventure game. Each episode, a comedian is dropped into the past with nothing but modern knowledge and terrible ideas. The AI Game Master is strict. The chaos is inevitable. The past will be mastered. Era: Renaissance | 1613 CE | London, England Featuring: Marc Zakian — podcaster (Extraordinary Stories of Britain, author: 111 Places in London's East End) EPISODE LINKS Follow Marc's adventure on the PastMaster Interactive Map 👉 https://map.pastmasterpod.com Marc Zakian: Instagram @marczakian | X @marzak | marczakian.com GET IN TOUCH Sign up to our newsletter 👉 www.pastmasterpod.com Instagram 👉 @pastmasterpod TikTok 👉 @pastmasterpod X 👉 @pastmasterAI Email us 👉 pastmasterpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices