The sun bathes the wooden decking. The family are off work and school, and Daniel Hermansson is trying to bribe his four-year-old son Gustaf with ice cream in order to be able to complete sentences without his shirt being tugged on non-stop. A few years ago, he moved back to the small town where he grew up – Ringarum, about 20 kilometres south of Söderköping.
80,000 listeners
This is where he, from an armchair in a room bursting with literature, usually records the podcast Historiepodden together with associate Robin Olovsson, who rents studio space in Stockholm. The podcast turns ten years old in 2024 and attracts over 80,000 faithful listeners every week.
Daniel Hermansson also features as a history expert in the Swedish public service television (SVT) quiz show Muren and in 2023 published his first book De kom, de såg, de segrade: vad antikens fältherrar lär oss om makten och människan [“They came, they saw, they conquered: What the generals of antiquity teach us about power and people”].
This year’s Alum of the Year at LiU has become a cherished educator – and we can surely call him Ringarum’s greatest celebrity of all time.
“Oh, I don’t know! We have Helena Snakenborg, she was an important person from here who made it all the way to the English court, was lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I in the 1500s and carried her coffin and all sorts of things. Then there are powerful newspaper men and parliamentarians from Gusum, some ten kilometres to the south, who were probably real celebrities in their time.”
The podcast Historiepodden, conceived in a kitchen in Gävle when then teacher colleagues Daniel and Robin wanted to try something new, was an instant success. The duo mixes great knowledge with curiosity and an informal presenting style as they delve into various historical events.
“When we started, there were not really any other pods like this that were based on a dialogue between two informed and nerdy guys. That probably contributed to it becoming popular. We have headings and notes to get a structure, but I think the way we talk to each other means a lot, and it’s maybe best when it’s spontaneous and jokey.”
Yes, it’s easy to take a liking for the episodes when you go off track a little!
“Yes, but we try to prepare as much as possible, are fired up and always have so much we want to say. Just like when you’re a new teacher, the problem is that there’s too much information. Then there has to be this more easy-going language and a little fooling around.”
Asterix and Lucky Luke
When Daniel Hermansson tries to remember how his interest in history came about, he goes back to his early teens. It was then that he was unwittingly lulled into it via comic books and characters such as Asterix and Lucky Luke.
“That’s where I find the interests that I still hold strongest in history. Sometimes when I’m tired, I can lie and dream that I live in a cabin on the prairie somewhere. There’s a fascination for this frontier to the unknown in some way. At the same time, the Romans and Asterix & Obelix are also exciting things. But I probably didn’t think about this being history and a subject of its own as a 13-year-old.”
In upper secondary school, a dedicated and talented history teacher planted new seeds. And when he started looking more closely into his mother’s library a few years later, things began to happen.
“There was a lot on her shelves about Swedish kings, Swedish history and Egyptian pharaohs. That’s when I started reading books seriously. I wouldn’t have done that in upper secondary school, my head was full of ice hockey.”
After a year of youth internship in a junior school class in Ringarum followed by a period of adult education at Komvux, Daniel Hermansson then applied to the upper secondary school teacher programme at LiU with a specialisation in history and social studies. During his work placement, he felt that teaching was the right choice for him.
“I remember it was great fun. Of course, you have to know things in order for the students to listen and find it interesting – but, if you’re to be a good teacher, that’s not enough. Contact with students and relationships is 80 per cent of the profession, I’d say.”
What are you like as a teacher?
“It’s hard to talk about yourself and it’s not really for me to answer that, but… I hope many people think I care very much and I’m committed. I want to create an interest in how society and history are connected. Hopefully I’ve had an influence in some direction, and sometimes when you meet or get messages from old students, they say that’s the case. That's a warm feeling!
Breakdown in schools
He worked for 13 years at upper secondary schools in Gävle and Stockholm, followed by a short spell in Norrköping, before finally quitting in 2022. As Historiepodden grew, Daniel Hermansson worked less and less hours as a teacher, and by the end he was down to 40 per cent of full-time employment.
Would he like to go back?
The answer is long and highly critical. Daniel Hermansson does not really want to talk about what the Swedish school system has become, with grade inflation, unreasonable workloads and constant adjustments.
“But there’s a breakdown in schools these days. And it can’t be fixed unless all the parties agree that ‘we have to do something about this’. I still think it’s fun to be a teacher – in the classroom. It’s the system and bureaucracy around the schools that doesn’t work.
Regardless of which forum he chooses in the future, the Alum of the Year will continue to work with history. Partly because it is important – but above all, because it is so much fun.
