On 20 July 1944, a bomb ripped through a meeting room in Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair.

This episode tells how Operation Valkyrie *almost* managed to kill Adolf Hitler, and the vicious crackdown that came afterwards.

• The Wolf’s Lair meeting on 20 July 1944
• Claus von Stauffenberg’s injuries and role in the plot
• Setting one bomb; briefcase placed near Hitler
• Explosion at Wolf’s Lair; Hitler survives due to briefcase moved
• Operation Valkyrie: reserve army plan blaming SS
• A mixed group’s reasons to remove Hitler
• Coup starts; Goebbels phones Hitler; Remer switches sides
• Bendlerblock firefight, arrests, executions of plotters
• Brutal crackdown: show trials, thousands arrested, many executed
• Haunting “what if”: ways the plot almost succeeded

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Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

In part one of a three-part mini-series on the theme of "university", we go on a whirlwind tour of the history of universities, from medieval student guilds in Bologna to the modern day.

• The University of Bologna nears its thousand-year anniversary.
• Why universities emerged: stability, trade, rediscovered texts, Church needs.
• Student guilds hired teachers; papal charters granted privileges, recognition.
• Medieval curriculum and university specialisations in law, theology, medicine.
• Renaissance humanism broadened studies beyond law and theology.
• Scientific Revolution made universities producers of new knowledge.
• Humboldt model united teaching and research in modern universities.
• Post-war expansion massified higher education around the world.
• Today: many universities, 250 million students; degrees often required.
• UK participation reaches 50%; rising costs and student debt.

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Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

What does happiness really mean, and can it be measured?

In this episode, we move from Aristotle’s eudaimonia to brain scans, surveys, big data, and what truly lifts our mood.

It asks why money only helps so much, why social ties matter, and how trust shapes national well-being.

• Pleasure versus purpose happiness: Aristotle and flourishing
• Subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions
• Surveys measure happiness; beware the memory and peak-end rule
• Experience sampling measures happiness in the moment
• Findings: happiest socialising, exercising, flow; least during commuting, illness
• Money boosts happiness, then flattens at higher incomes
• Social connections increase happiness; loneliness harms, especially during Covid
• Household size and eating alone trends in happiness
• Trust in others, institutions, and wallet return beliefs
• Caring for others versus expecting care from others

Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/science-of-happiness

Read the World Happiness Report here: https://www.worldhappiness.report/

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You might like:

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Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية