Episodes
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The Cheese Caves
Why do Americans feel the need to put cheese on everything? Short answer? The Sykes-Picot Agreement. Long answer? This show.
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Ludicrous Words Go!
History, etymology, fun times. A bit of a palate cleanser after 4 hours of yelling at a sequel that never should have happened.
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That Time The SS Warrimoo Made History Or Didn't
One hundred and twenty-five years ago the crew of the unassuming cargo ship, the SS Warrimoo, made history. Or did they? But the real question is: does it really matter? Let's close out 2024 with some mild philosophy. "But seas between us braid hae roar'd sin' auld lang syne".
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The Book Of Damo-cles
Did you know that Martin Luther documented every bowel movement of his life? Or that the Catholics have a magic bucket of Jesus shampoo that you used to be able to buy with real money? And that these things are linked? If only there were some sort of podcast one could listen to about such things?
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FAFO - The Cautionary Tale of Astyages
We explore why sometimes it's bad to make a guy eat his own son.
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Lookin' Good Dutch
I felt kinda bad about how much I poked fun at the Dutch, who don't really deserve it. So here's the story about how the Dutch accidentally discovered Australia multiple times.
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Baby Got Backgammon
In a companion to the history of playing cards, here's a history of board games. It starts out on message and turns into Das Kapital about halfway through.
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Tease & The Nile
Enough people have asked for me to do it, so here it is. The actual, real myth from Ancient Egypt in which the mighty Horus and the evil Set do battle with their...manly emissions. The show is beyond X-rated, parental discretion is advised.
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Hernan Cortes' Troublechet
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is obviously tragic for the large-scale loss of life involved. But when you get granular it's actually a comedy of errors culminating in what is objectively one of the funniest things to ever happen. Find out what a 'troublechet' is. In other news, AI…
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King Butt - Egypt's Most Overrated Pharaoh
Most people, when they're asked to think of the best pharaoh in history, will probably come up with Tutankhamun. Here's why that's a terrible answer.
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The Beast With Two Hunchbacks
Victor Hugo, one of the most famous authors of all time, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Les Miserables, that guy. Did you know that he was one of the most insatiable sex addicts of all time? Well, you're about to.
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Elisha and the Two Bears
In the midst of a flu delirium and Easter-based rage at the papacy, we have a look at some useful bible verses to use in debates before we tackle the best story in Christianity - the time God murdered 42 children with bears
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Musashi, No Not That Musashi
This is a meandering journey through history that ultimately explores the triumph and failure of the Yamato series battleship. Plus a lot more stuff that you didn't know was related. Tapestry = rich.
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Epic Sax Guy
The invention of the saxophone was never a sure thing. God himself tried to personally murder Adolphe Sax a number of times. Find out how close we came to the 1980's never happening.
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Why You Might Call A Feather "Macaroni"
I've had this brainworm for a while, it's time to get it out. We're doing another thing you might not know, this time it's why someone named Yankee Doodle might have weird ideas about feathers.
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That Time The SS Grandcamp Went Boom
Because I need to take a brief sabbatical from Hannibal, here's a quick interstitial episode about the Texas City Disaster, or: just how wrong can you load a ship?
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Ghoul Interrupted: The Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory
Halloween means a lot of different things for a lot of different people, but for me it means I can dig into the sordid terror box that is the Halloween file. We're finally getting around to The Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory with a special bonus appearance by Ferenc "The Black Knight" Nadasdy,...
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Oppenheimer (No, Not That One)
It's a discussion about conspiracy theories, Hollywood, and mostly about how there's a secret, third Nolan brother who is totally* Agent 47 from Hitman *allegedly
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Things You Might Not Know: Why Is It The Third Reich?
So we throw the term 'Third Reich' around a lot, because history, but what exactly were the first two? Would you like to know more?
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The Butterfly Effect - Space Covfefe
In 1993, Paramount Pictures decided to green light a new series of Star Trek. As a direct consequence of this, in 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. Yes, you can draw a direct line between them.
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The Founding of Rome
Another companion piece to the Punic series, this is a look at how Rome was founded and why all Romans were batshit insane.
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The Founding of Carthage
A crucial companion to the epic Punic series, here's why Carthage be like it do. And the main show will cover why Carthage now be like it don't.
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ROYGBIV
A really, really, really in-depth exploration of the history of paint. This is way more interesting than it sounds, trust me.
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Artemesia of Halicarnassus - Next Level Boss Bitch
One of my favourite historical figures of all time gets her due, the unstoppable force of nature that was one of the greatest admirals of all time - Artemesia.
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The Venusian Tragedy of Guillerme le Gentil
A wistful look at how life often doesn't turn out as planned, through the lens (great joke, listen and find out) of the astronomer Guillerme le Gentil
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...it's what you do with it
Face it, Imperial measurements are just objectively wrong and anyone who uses them is bad and should feel bad. But that's not just opinion, have some fun facts. Also some bonus facts about how many English kings have died from eating too many eels.
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He Attacc - Springheel Jack
In this Halloween show we take a look at the first-ever urban legend and the guy who inspired Batman, Springheel Jack
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Stuxnet - H4CK TEH PL4N3T!!!
The wild story of the greatest computer virus ever written. I honestly think this is my personal favourite show, but I'm biased.
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French Cuisine - The Freaky Tale of Tarrare
You know how all the fairy tales we know were originally way darker than we ever imagined? Well, this one is real. It actually happened. It's the creepy story of Tarrare, the boy who ate everything.
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The Vasa - The Big Warship That Couldn't
The Vasa was designed to be the biggest and grandest ship in the world. It sank in less than 20 minutes. It's a wild ride in more ways than one.
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Krampus - The Terrifying Christmas Goblin
Germany does things differently. For instance, instead of Jolly Saint Nick, Santa Claus, the friendly figure who brings toys to good boys and girls the world over, they have a horrifying nightmare troll creature who carries naughty children off to hell. Schlaf gut, liebschien!
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Monkey Hangers
The demonym for people from Hartlepool, England, is "Monkeyhanger." Come on, you totally want to know why.
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The Curse of the Colonel
Why would the grim spectre of Colonel Harlan Sanders, the Chicken God, haunt the Hanshin Tigers Japanese baseball team? Also there's a lof of references to Moneyball, so you should probably read/watch that as homework.
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It's Still About Time
More stuff on time and dates, because it's actually really interesting
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It's About Time
Why things time related are called what they are, which, admit it, you've all wondered
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16 Minutes of Stuff You Didn't Know About Shipping Containers (More Interesting Than It Sounds)
I kind of shot my wad in the title, there's nothing more to add here. It's an addendum to the Time Travel show.
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Ukraine, War, Twitter, Rick Astley - The Usual
More Ukraine stuff, such as why Russia is getting Rick-Rolled, the logistics of actually fighting a war, and why the Virgin Mary is carrying a Javelin Missile