We Are History
We Are History is a less-than-serious history podcast hosted by stand-up comedian Angela Barnes and writer John O'Farrell. Each episode explores quirky and interesting historical topics, from East German nudism to spy pigeons and Vlad the Impaler. The hosts bring their in-depth knowledge of world history with a humorous twist, making history entertaining and accessible.
Episodes
The 1960s - The advent of the permissive society
How a handful of landmark events and reforms suddenly shook off the hypocrisy, censorship and repression that had plagued Great Britain since Victorian times. (Available in Northern Ireland several decades later)
We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Production by Simon Williams. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production
Lear
The Painful History of Dentistry
How travelling quacks and snobby doctors held back dentistry for centuries, while millions endured the agony of toothache and wondered why ‘smoking out the tooth worms’ didn’t seem to be working.
Reading List: An Excruciating History of Dentistry by James Wynbrand
Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory
British Shops and Shopping Centres
This week Angela drags John around the shops of Britain for about 200 years as we take a look at the history of how we shop. We look at why shopping moved out of town centres and ask the important questions like “Does Selfridges sell fridges?”
Reading: Back to the Shops: The High Street in History and the Future by Rachel Bowlby
We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’F
The Brighton Bomb – 1984
How the IRA came very close to killing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the British Cabinet and triggered a massive manhunt for that world famous crime fighting agency, the Sussex County Constabulary.
Reading List: Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll
Buy Killing Thatcher through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund [name of podcast] by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop
The History of April Fool’s Day
This week Angela tricks John into learning about the history of April Fool’s Day. Where did it originate? Why do we do practical jokes on people we are supposed to love? Fom the Swiss spaghetti harvest to the Black Cliffs of Dover, we look at some of the best April Fool’s Day pranks across the centuries. And this episode is brought to you in smellovision, so don’t forget to scratch your screen to
The Grand Tour
Centuries ahead of those “Brits Abroad” tabloid headlines that make us hang our heads in shame, the British were still managing to cause chaos on the continent. The Grand Tour was a chance for upper class boys to kick up their heels and party across Europe under the auspices of an educational expedition, before getting married off and settling down in a massive country pile. A sort of Georgian Gap
The French Revolution
In 18th Century France the Ancien Regime comes up against the Enlightenment and Age of Reason and, spoiler alert, it doesn’t end well for the monarchy. In this episode that serves as a sort of French revolution for dummies we look at what happened, from the storming of the Bastille on, well, Bastille Day to the rise of Napoleon
Reading List:
Vive La Revolution: A Stand-up History of the French Rev
The Story of Live Aid
How one scruffy Irish popstar saw a terrible famine being reported on his television and decided to do a bit more than just send a cheque to Oxfam. (John spent so long researching this podcast on Live Aid that he thought he might as well do a West End Musical about it at the same time).
Reading List:
The Eighties, One Day, One Decade by Dylan Jones;
Is That It by Bob Geldof
Buy books through our
International Women’s Day
Just in time for International Women’s Day on March 8, we dig into the surprising history of this worldwide celebration of patriarchy-pummeling. Angela Barnes and feminism “expert” John O’Farrell trace IWD’s roots from its beginnings in Communist countries in the early 20th century via a brazen American attempt to cover up its origins… and never once says “yeah, but when is it International Men’s
The Glorious Revolution of 1688
John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes return for a new season of We Are History! In this first episode they explore how the British had a very polite revolution without anyone getting hurt, and then pretended they’d actually wanted to be invaded by a big foreign army.
Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory
R
The Golden Age of Smuggling
For the final episode in this series, the ever-so-honest John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes find out how and why smuggling in Britain became a crime epidemic that benefited everyone except the tax man.
Source:
Smuggling in the British Isles by Richard Platt
Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory
Angel
The Green Belt: Contentious countryside
This week on We Are History, Angela Barnes and John O'Farrell look at the origins of the Green Belt, what is it and why do we have it? Spoiler alert, it’s not for holding up your green trousers. The Green Belt is a phrase we’ve heard politicians talking about forever, so we wanted to find out whose idea it was, how it has evolved over the last 100 or so years and how it affects the relationship be
The Gunpowder Plot: He didn’t start the fire
This time on We Are History; our bold and fearless non-historians Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell find out how and why Britain’s first major terrorist plot was conceived and ultimately thwarted.
Expect barrels of explosive fun, gory retribution and hear why we burn the wrong person on Bonfire night.
Sources:
Remember Remember the Fifth of November by James Sharpe
https://www.museumoflondon.org.
From Bits to Bots: A History of AI
Our technologically-challenged hosts Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell trace the history of Artificial Intelligence from Greek Mythology, via Alan Turing and the Speak and Spell to the rapid developments we’re seeing today. Should we be afraid of our robot overlords? Will AI ever be able to deliver a lighthearted History podcast? Maybe it already has...
Reading List:
The Brain Makers: The History
Nudity down the centuries
John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes take a not-so-serious look at the most captivating and bizarre moments in history.
This time things get very silly as John sneaks a peek at nakedness and how our attitudes to it has changed throughout history. He insists that this is a serious sociological and historical study and not at all an excuse to giggle at bare bottoms.
Main source
A Brief History of Nakedn
The Zimmermann Telegram
John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes take a not-so-serious look at the most captivating and bizarre moments in history.
This time Angela tells John how in 1917, the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to his man in Washington. Sounds dull? It isn’t; this telegraph was probably responsible for changing the course of WW1. What could a telegram possibly say that would make peace lov
The Haitian Revolution - the slave rebellion that succeeded
This time; our eager non-historians Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell discuss the amazing story of the enslaved people of Haiti, who rose up and defeated a major world power and established the New World’s first independent black state.
Episode includes violence, voodoo and a zombie.
Recommended reading:
Avengers of the New World by Laurent Dubois
You are all free : the Haitian revolution and the
The Glamour Boys
Series 8 of the hit podcast continues to romp its way through history unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events.
This time: Angela Barnes tells John O’Farrell about The Glamour Boys – a group of courageous queer MPs in buttoned-up Britain of the 1930’s. They put the "party" into "party politics" and were some of the first people to warn the government they needed to stand up to that Hi
The Race for the Bomb
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell are back with Series 8 of the hit podcast which romps through history unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events.
This time: how the Nazis and Allies became locked in a race for the atom bomb, keeping it a total secret from everyone except all the Russian spies.
Get all episodes a week early – when you support We Are History on Patreon: https://patreon.
Bonuscast: Angela Barnes and John O'Farrell answer your questions.
We put the call out, and you came, in your droves! Thank you so much to everyone who made the first ever We Are History Live Q+A.
The video is available to watch back over on our Patreon page and here is a special audio mix. Angela and John answer your questions without fear or favour, but much frivolity! Find out how they select their subjects, whether John really does have a piece of the Berlin
The Legend of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell cavort through history and uncover the most fascinating and down-right bizarre events.
This time; the day hundreds of walkers asserted the Right To Roam across the Peak District against the wishes of the landed gentry who wanted the hills kept private so they could shoot grouse. John and Angela really struggle to take sides on this one.
The protest is seen as an
The Story of Nancy Wake: The Mouse that ran rings around the Nazis
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell romp through history, unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events.
This time we meet the New Zealand born journalist turned French society housewife Nancy Wake, who became one of Churchill’s most decorated agents and one of the Gestapo’s most wanted.
Whether she was flirting with Nazis to get out of trouble or parachuting into the heart of the French Re
The 1904 St Louis Olympics: A Marathon Event
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell romp through history, unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events.
This time; the five month-long 1904 Olympic Games which was a catalogue of failures and unbelievably poor decisions. This included restricting liquids during the marathon, one of the runners stopping to practise his english and wild dogs chasing the athletes.
It’s an incredible story so ma
St Patrick and the Patriarchy: Women’s rights in Ireland
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell present the not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events.
New Episode!
For much of the 20th century the Catholic establishment had a stranglehold over Ireland’s morality and used it to deny Irish women basic rights such as contraception, divorce and abortion. When a series of scandals stripped away the hypocrisy of the ch
Saucy Seaside Postcards - A Celebration of Great British Smut
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell present the not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events.
This week; you ordered an innuendo, so we’re giving you one. Yes, it’s that stalwart of smut, the saucy seaside postcard. Join us as we enter a cartoon world of buxom ladies and henpecked men. But enough about us here’s a podcast about the history of this great Bri
Great Fire of London: Burning down the house
Angela Barnes and John O'Farrell dust off more delightful and unbelievable details from the pages of history.
This time: How most of London was destroyed after a baker ignored his wife’s advice to check if the fire had gone out, saying ‘Oh, what’s the worst that could happen?’
Get all episodes a week early – when you support We Are History on Patreon: https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory
“Does on
Navajo Code Talkers – America's secret WWII weapon
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell present the not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events.
This week; our history enthusiasts discuss how the US military used an indigenous American language to outfox the Nazis. By taking a gamble that there weren’t many natural Navajo speakers in Berlin, the Americans kept their secret messages unbreakable by the enemy.
Albania: Communism, capitalism, chaos
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell bring us more ridiculous history facts and a less-than serious romp through an event from the past.
This time: How one small country in Europe lurched suddenly from hardline Stalinism to Disaster Capitalism, and then gave everyone guns and said ‘Oh sort it out yourselves’.
Albania has suffered a stormy history of dictatorships, a king called Zog and being economica
The 1968 US Presidential Election: Rotting from the head down
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell present the not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events.
This time: They dive deep into the year American politics took a dark turn towards lies, divisiveness and criminality. As is said so often on this podcast; 'it could never happen now'.
This is the bitterly fought American Election that set the modern tone with its c
Radium: A toxic love affair
NEW SERIES! The not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events.
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell celebrate the return of We Are History by plunging into the luminous but lethal history of Radium. They reveal how its discovery led to a craze for radio-active health and beauty treatments, which had the slight drawback of eventually killing you.
Angela and
Christmas Number Ones
Never mind world wars or revolutions, it's time to do the really important history - how did Christmas singles become a thing in the UK, and when was the golden age of of the festive hit. Warning; includes John doing dad singing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mussolini - the rubbish war leader
It is compulsory or a man of John's age to do one episode on the Second World War. But fascists being useless is always worth revisiting - and the farcical and disastrous leadership of Benito Mussolini between 1940-45 is that rare thing in modern history - a bit of World War 2 that hasn't been done to death. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choi
The Domestication of Dogs
How a few hungry wolves hanging around outside the caves led to Paris Hilton's embarrassed chihuahua wearing a tiara and sitting in a chintzy handbag. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Birth of the BBC
With the BBC celebrating it's centenary, we explore how the corporation came into existence, out of a chaotic broadcasting free-for-all. (This podcast was originally submitted as a programme idea to the Home Service in 1927, but we gave up waiting for a response) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Stasi Poetry Circle - the East Germans secret police advancing socialism through verse
Angela has read yet another book about East Germany (this one by Philip Oltermann) and explains how it was believed that loyalty to the Communist regime could be secured, not just by suppressing dissent and spying on your neighbours, but also with encouraging pro-government poetry . (Includes a hastily-penned socialist limerick written by John.)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf
The Fascist Who Switched Sides and Spied on the British Far Right
The incredible story of Ray Hill who in the 1970s underwent a massive change of heart and switched from fascist rabble-rouser to secret informant undermining the British Far Right and preventing a racist terrorist attack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The 60s Satire Boom
How are group of clever young graduates working in a shed in Cambridge discovered a powerful new weapon that became known as 'satire'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The slow death of John Major’s government 1992-97
How self-inflicted economic disasters and endless sleazy scandals made a Conservative government massively unpopular. Imagine it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp
The women-only peace camp that became the focus of the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s and inspired a whole new generation of feminists. (Contains walk on parts for both of John's parents.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Agent Sonya
In a life that began in the Weimar Republic and outlived the Berlin Wall, Ursula Kuczynski spied for Communism all around the world, and not even her own children suspect anything. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Richard III and the Princes in the Tower
Who murdered the young Princes in the Tower in 1483? We apply modern analysis and scientific rigour to question whether it really was Richard III (and conclude that he's obviously guilty - just look at the hump). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Maud West, the unlikely private investigator
Maud West was a master of disguise and legendary private detective in 1930s London and many of her adventures sound unbelievable today. (Although that might be because she made a lot of them up). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Victorian Anti-vaxxers
How Victorian governments made the cow-pox vaccination compulsory, and faced a huge backlash from people who didn't trust the authorities or worried they might grow horns and udders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Great Exhibition 1851
How the confident Victorians organised massive showcase of their greatest achievements, tactfully leaving out all the rampant exploitation, the new urban poverty and the brutal wars of conquest.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Scottish Witch Panic
Why was the persecution of witches in the 17th century so much more severe than in other parts of the British Isles? How did the accusations and trials play out? How was it used to suppress so-called 'difficult' or 'argumentative' women. And would Angela have been burned as a witch? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoice
Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky
How an American President was impeached for perjury but remained in office, while his young intern was publicly shamed for telling the truth. A complex political and moral narrative (with blow jobs). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz, 1969-71
How a group of American Indian activists occupied the former prison island in San Francisco Bay, and then sarcastically offered to buy it from the American government for a handful of beads. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MI9 - the secret agency helping British POWs
In the Second World War, one branch of the security services was established to help British Prisoners escape from German camps and make their way back home. Inventing secret hidden gadgets, they were the inspiration for 'Q' in the James Bond stories. (This podcast comes with a hidden map and compass.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. V
Christopher Columbus, the man who didn't discover America
The world-changing voyage of Columbus that opened up a whole new continent, even though he could never accept that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Rise of Fall of Robert Maxwell
The incredible life story of Robert Maxwell - megalomaniac bully, fraudster and sociopath (but apart from that he was a lovely chap). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Winter of Discontent 1978-9
Multiple strikes, power-cuts and a sense of growing social crisis destroyed the reputation of a minority Labour government, which would be cast out of power for the following 18 years. (Not to be confused with the January sale at Millets or 'the winter of discount tents') Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoi
A History of Contraception
The last episode of the series looks at the embarrassing business of contraception down the ages. Can you avoid pregnancy by eating a bee? Would you use a sheep’s intestine as a condom? And what is the Latin for coitus interruptus? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Thorpe Affair
How the 1970s Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe attempted to hide his longstanding gay affair by having his lover shot. But the British public felt he'd gone too far when a dog got shot instead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Bay of Pigs - Cuba 1961
When America was shocked to see their neighbour Cuba going socialist, they trained and armed a group of Cuban exiles to invade, confident in the knowledge that this would spark a popular uprising against all that free healthcare and universal education. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Campaign Against Women's Suffrage
Meet the men and women who worked hard to try and stop women having the vote. Learn all about their fascinating arguments and deep concerns. And when the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League merged with the Men's League, find out which gender put themselves in charge of it all... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.co
The Agapemonites - the Victorian religious love cult
The Victorian English gentleman who announced he was the Son of God, and proceeded to have carnal relations with various attractive young ladies in his secretive religious cult. The 'Abode of Love' is an important chapter in British history, and not at all an excuse for John and Angela to giggle at a load of saucy Victorian hypocrites. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
L
The Scopes Monkey Trial
Tennessee in 1925, and a young school teacher is put on trial for teaching his students about evolution. The dramatic trial grips the whole of America and beyond; pitting science against religion and freedom of speech against the rule of law - while the locals are deeply offended at the suggestion that they are descended from monkeys. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Le
A History of Marriage
How did the institution of marriage evolve down the centuries in Britain? With Angela getting married this year, she thought she would make her fella feel really secure by reading lots of books about divorce law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The fall of Thatcher - 1990
John and Angela examine the rapid chain of events that led to the shock resignation of Margaret Thatcher, in their most balanced and even-handed podcast to date. (Includes John playing The Red Flag on a kazoo). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elizabethan child actors
In a time when women were not allowed to perform on the stage, children were sometimes kidnapped and forced to become actors against their will. (Warning; episode contains John re-enacting some of his worst childhood performances.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Abdication Crisis - 1936
Back in 1936 the newspapers were utterly scandalised by a British royal abandoning his stately duties to run off with a controversial divorced American. Hard to imagine today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Operation Mincemeat - 1943
How a homeless Welsh alcoholic helped transform the fortunes of the British Army in the Second World War, despite already being dead. (Warning, podcast contains bad Churchill impressions.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Prohibition
When the United States banned alcohol in the 1920s, they unleashed a huge wave of illegal alcohol production and smuggling that turned honest drinkers into criminals, and small time crooks into millionaire gangsters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Zoo Wars
When post-war Berlin became divided between East and West, both sides resolved that their political system would be able to boast having the the very best zoo. Pandas, hippos and bears became the unlikely players in this escalating propaganda battle of the Cold War. (No pandas were harmed in the making of this podcast.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about
Lesbian Pirates!?
The incredible story of Ann Bonny and Mary Read, both illegitimate and raised as boys in the early 18th century, they brought terror to the Caribbean after meeting on a lesbian pirate website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Aids Crisis
How the historical prejudice against homosexuals was given fresh impetus in the 1980s by a mysterious illness which seemed to target gay men. And John struggles to admit that the Tory minister did "a good thing". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When Britain was a Republic 1649-60
Britain under Oliver Cromwell's Puritan dictatorship; no theatres, no Christmas and no music - so a tough old decade for Catholic panto stars. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Celtic Britain v Roman Empire (away win)
The Roman Empire decides to take on the lads from Kent, and it all kicks off down by the Isle of Thanet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Big Stink - 1858
How the River Thames became one massive open sewer, forcing Parliament to close the windows and do something about it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2020 (Thank God it's history)
For our last podcast of the year we attempt our own first draft of history; looking back at the year that has just been, when Covid-19 meant a complete change of behaviour for us all (except the people telling us to completely change our behaviour). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The History of Christmas
How the ancient midwinter festival evolved into our modern day Christmas, despite the Puritans banning it because Cromwell forgot to get his missus a present. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1989 - Revolutions across Eastern Europe
How the Cold War ended in an incredible few months across Eastern Europe in 1989. (And Angela remembers Kylie's duet with Jason) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
An Explicit History of Swearing
A potty-mouthed history of swearing, in which John blushes and stammers and Angela just talks like she always does. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A Thoroughly Researched History of Beer
How beer became the every drink of ordinary Britons, and the healthy option to give to your kids to stop them dying from cholera. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Murder at Road Hill House - 1860
What the original English country house murder-mystery teaches us about Victorian hypocrisy, the class system and the subjugation of women. (Plus it led to John spending a week in a hotel with Ann Widdecombe.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
German Resistance to the Nazis
A lot is heard about the French Resistance or the Warsaw Uprising, but what about the Germans who resisted Hitler? Was it historically insignificant, or have we chosen to ignore them? Between them, John and Angela have A' Levels in History AND German, so who could be more qualified to explain it all... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. V
The Battle of Hastings - 1066
John attempts to persuade Angela that the most famous date in English history still matters, but they end up talking for ages about beer versus wine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sealand - the Essex family that declared independence from Britain
How one eccentric Englishman seized an abandoned offshore gun platform, launched a 1960s pirate radio station and then decided to create his own country instead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Bristol Bus Boycott - 1963
How a handful of young Black campaigners challenged racist employment practises in Bristol and against all odds won their case and changed the law. (Not to be confused with the 1969 sit-com 'On The Buses' where Reg Varney made lots of jokes about 'lovely Bristols'.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The cult of Jack the Ripper
A 'We Are History' first, as we welcome a PROPER historian on the show. Hallie Rubenhold, award winning author of 'The Five' joins us to discuss why one particular serial killer has been fashioned into a dastardly pantomime villain, while his victims 'Polly' Nicholls, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly were misrepresented or simply forgotten. Hosted on Acast. Se
Recommended
Africa Legal Podcast
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Aftershock: The War on Terror
Age Better with Liz Earle
A Good Read
A History of Europe Key Battles
Ailsa Burns Yoga Nidra
Akhi Ayman
Alan Carr's 'Life's a Beach'
Alan Hartley's Slave To The Vibe Podcast
Alex Andreou's Podyssey
Alhan FM
