We Are History
116 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 months ago -The less-than-serious history podcast with stand up comedian Angela Barnes (The News Quiz, Mock The Week and Live at The Apollo) and writer John O'Farrell (An Utterly Impartial History of Britain, Things Can Only Get Better, Spitting Image). In each podcast our two history nerds discuss, explain and laugh at interesting and quirky episodes from the olden days, such as East German Nudism, Spy Pigeons or Vlad the Impaler. Angela and John’s in-depth knowledge of world history has been described as ‘laughable’ - and now they read the history books so that you don't have to. The We Are History podcast - not as world-changing as the Black Death, but slightly funnier.
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Episodes
The Rise of Fall of Robert Maxwell
November 15, 2021 11:00 - 55 minutesThe 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
November 08, 2021 11:00 - 1 hourMultiple 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/adchoices
A History of Contraception
June 07, 2021 09:50 - 1 hourThe 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
A History of Contraception
June 07, 2021 09:50 - 57 minutes - 132 MBThe 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? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Thorpe Affair
May 31, 2021 05:00 - 33 minutesHow 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
May 24, 2021 05:00 - 1 hourWhen 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
May 17, 2021 05:00 - 43 minutesMeet 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.com/adchoices
The Agapemonites - the Victorian religious love cult
May 10, 2021 05:00 - 1 hourThe 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Scopes Monkey Trial
May 03, 2021 05:00 - 41 minutesTennessee 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A History of Marriage
April 26, 2021 05:00 - 1 hourHow 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
April 19, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutesJohn 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
April 12, 2021 05:00 - 50 minutesIn 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
April 05, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutesBack 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
March 29, 2021 05:00 - 1 hourHow 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
March 21, 2021 06:00 - 45 minutes - 104 MBWhen 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Prohibition
March 21, 2021 06:00 - 49 minutesWhen 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
March 15, 2021 06:00 - 1 hourWhen 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 your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lesbian Pirates!?
March 08, 2021 06:00 - 38 minutesThe 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
March 01, 2021 06:00 - 50 minutesHow 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
February 22, 2021 06:00 - 1 hourBritain 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)
February 15, 2021 06:00 - 45 minutesThe 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
February 08, 2021 06:00 - 58 minutesHow 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)
December 28, 2020 06:00 - 59 minutesFor 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
December 21, 2020 06:00 - 59 minutesHow 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
December 14, 2020 06:00 - 1 hourHow 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
December 07, 2020 06:00 - 1 hourA 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
November 30, 2020 06:00 - 1 hourHow 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
November 23, 2020 06:00 - 42 minutesWhat 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
November 16, 2020 06:00 - 1 hourA 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. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Battle of Hastings - 1066
November 09, 2020 06:00 - 43 minutesJohn 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
November 02, 2020 06:00 - 1 hourHow 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
October 26, 2020 06:00 - 33 minutesHow 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
October 19, 2020 05:00 - 59 minutesA '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. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices....
Ireland 1916 - the Easter Rising
October 12, 2020 05:00 - 51 minutesHow a suicidal plan to try and overthrow the British Empire in the middle of a world war was always doomed to failure, and yet somehow did the job. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Watergate
October 05, 2020 05:00 - 58 minutesHow a 1970s burglary and the clumsy cover up brought the American Presidency to an all-time low. (Until now). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Origins of Homo Sapiens
September 28, 2020 05:00 - 41 minutesHow one species of hominid outlived all the others, despite an embarrassing one night stand with a Neanderthal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eurovision
July 20, 2020 05:00 - 54 minutesThat's enough plague and war - for the last show of the series we talk about the really serious stuff - the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kim Il Sung and the creation of North Korea
July 13, 2020 05:00 - 54 minutesHow the cult of the Kim family turned North Korea into a dynastic Communist dictatorship, where public displays of love for the leader are compulsory and laughing at his haircut is not recommended. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Harold Moody and the League of Coloured Peoples
July 06, 2020 05:00 - 46 minutesHow one Jamaican man living in Peckham in the 1930s set about fighting institutional racism, when only the entire British Empire depended on it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Stonehenge
June 28, 2020 05:00 - 46 minutesWhy was Stonehenge built? Who worshiped there and why did they stop? (Answer; No one knows, so this is a very short episode.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tulip Fever - Amsterdam 1637; the first financial crash?
June 22, 2020 05:00 - 57 minutesHow tulips from Amsterdam became the first get-rich-quick scheme, until it turned out that the early Dutch capitalists had invented the financial crash. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Railway Mania
June 15, 2020 05:00 - 52 minutesHow the railways meant that after thousands of years being stuck in the same village, the British could suddenly go anywhere and everywhere - until one day tragedy struck; leaves on the line at Didcot Parkway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Able Archer '83 - the Almost Nuclear Apocalypse
June 08, 2020 05:00 - 1 hourHow all out nuclear war was nearly launched in 1983 and Ronald Reagan said 'Oh well, it's not the end of the world.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Nazi Occupation of the Channel Islands
June 01, 2020 05:00 - 1 hourHow one part of the United Kingdom suddenly became part of the Third Reich, prompting extreme reactions from the local Brits such as tutting and looking skywards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Miners' Strike 1984-5
May 25, 2020 05:00 - 1 hourThe longest industrial dispute in British history, as bitter division, violence and incredible hardship divided the country, while John did his bit, by wearing a 'Coal Not Dole' sticker on his anorak. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Rise and Fall of the Council House
May 18, 2020 05:00 - 1 hourHow the British state took it upon itself to provide millions of decent, affordable homes until Mrs Thatcher flogged them all off at massive discounts, so that housing would never be a problem for the young and low-waged ever again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Spanish Civil War
May 11, 2020 05:00 - 56 minutesHow Hitler and Mussolini held a dress rehearsal for the Second World War, using troops, weapons and money to help a fellow fascist dictator seize power, while Britain and France stood back and watched hoping that might get it out of their system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ethelred the Unready
May 04, 2020 05:00 - 53 minutesHow one Saxon King ruled for 37 years, battled with the Vikings, helped create the jury system and all anyone said was 'I bet he hasn't packed yet''. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The British Invasion of Iceland 1940
April 27, 2020 05:00 - 39 minutesOn the very day that the Nazis struck west against Holland, Belgium and France, Britain launched the politest invasion in the history of the warfare, waking up the Icelandic army (and his friend). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Boudica
April 20, 2020 05:00 - 38 minutesBritain's original warrior queen, who burned down London and nearly drove the Romans out of Britain, and all because they called her a 'feisty redhead'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices