Half-Arsed History
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Half-Arsed History
Half-Arsed History's first book, History's Strangest Deaths, is now available: https://www.booktopia.com.au/history-s-strangest-deaths-riley-knight/book/9781761472589.htmlWelcome along to Half-Arsed History! It's a weekly podcast highlighting absurd and entertaining stories from history. Three times...
Recent Episodes
618 episodes
Inventions Episode 43: Plastic
Plastic is everywhere - these days, it's impossible to live a completely plastic-free life; but that's not necessarily entirely a bad thing, as even w...
QAH Episode 133: The Lake Nyos Disaster
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the Lake Nyos Disaster, when over 1,700 people living around Lake Nyos mysteriously perished one night in 1986.
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Episode 382: The Tichborne Claimant
In this week's episode, get stuck into the mystery of the Tichborne Claimant, when a butcher from Wagga Wagga claimed to be the long-lost heir to a Br...
Inventions Episode 42: The Aeroplane
The aeroplane completely transformed human civilisation across the 20th century, bringing immense change to travel, transport, logistics, and military...
QAH Episode 132: Roy Sullivan, the Human Lightning Rod
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the story of Roy Sullivan, a US National Park Ranger who was hit by lightning on seven separate occasions, surviving e...
Episode 381: Matthew Flinders, the Man Who Named Australia
In this week's episode, get to know Matthew Flinders, the explorer and navigator who was the first person to circumnavigate Australia - and later popu...
Inventions Episode 41: Radio
Radio brought about a revolution in communications technology, allowing widespread wireless communication across great distances and bringing about an...
QAH Episode 131: Australia's Silliest Laws - Part 2
Quarter-Arsed History presents: more of the silliest laws still in effect in Tasmania, Western Australia, and South Australia including posing an an a...
Episode 380: History’s Biggest Misconceptions - Part 3
In this week's episode, uncover the truth behind five more historical misconceptions: what Roman vomitoriums were used for, mediaeval life expectancie...
Inventions Episode 40: Aspirin
Aspirin was one of the very first mass-produced pharmaceuticals, and its invention and development has a very interesting backstory filled with disagr...
QAH Episode 130: Australia's Silliest Laws - Part 1
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the silliest laws still on the books in Victoria, NSW, and Queensland - including prohibitions against corresponding w...
Episode 379: Matilda of Tuscany, the Great Countess
In this week's episode, meet Matilda of Tuscany, also known as the "Great Countess", a woman who played a very important role in the politics of the P...
Inventions Episode 39: The X-Ray Machine
The X-ray machine changed medicine forever, enabling an easy and (eventually) safe way to see inside the human body non-invasively for diagnosis and t...
QAH Episode 129: Britain's Silliest Laws
Quarter-Arsed History presents: a brief summary of some of the most absurd laws that are, technically speaking, still in force across the UK - includi...
Episode 378: Dick Turpin, the Infamous Highwayman
In this week's episode, meet Dick Turpin, an 18th-century highwayman who passed into English folklore for his daring predations as a violent criminal....
Inventions Episode 38: The Automobile
The automobile is one of the most transformative inventions in human history, completely changing the way transportation, society, culture, business,...
QAH Episode 128: The Death of Allan Pinkerton
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the story of the death of Allan Pinkerton, a story that is completely and totally distinct from the one cut from Histo...
Episode 377: Krum the Fearsome, Bane of Emperors
In this week's episode, get to know Khan Krum the Fearsome, a 9th-century leader of the Bulgarian Empire who is famous for, amongst other things, drin...
Inventions Episode 37: The Light Bulb
The light bulb is something found in more or less every room in our homes, today - and while its form and function hasn't changed too much, it has und...
QAH Episode 127: HAH Live Q&A from Maroochydore
Quarter-Arsed History presents: highlights from the Q&A sessions from the live show in Maroochydore, including questions on the research that went int...
Episode 376: The Book Tour 2025 - LIVE in Maroochydore
In this week's episode, get the best kind of advice - unsolicited advice - as to how to bring your creative endeavours to life (there are also a coupl...
Inventions Episode 36: The Telephone
The telephone completely changed the way we communicate with one another, making it possible to have an instant back-and-forth conversation across vas...
QAH Episode 126: HAH Live Q&A from Sydney & Brisbane
Quarter-Arsed History presents: highlights from the Q&A sessions from the live shows in Sydney and Brisbane, including questions on the book's cover,...
Episode 375: The Book Tour 2025 - LIVE in Brisbane
In this week's episode, enjoy a series of shameful confessions about the mistakes - both those that were found and missed - in History's Strangest Dea...
Inventions Episode 35: The Internal Combustion Engine
The internal combustion engine is an invention that has completely and irreversibly changed human civilisation and the way we live our lives, unlockin...
QAH Episode 125: The Death of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the story of the death of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, a glaring omission from History's Strangest deaths - the shah sent...
Episode 374: The Book Tour 2025 - LIVE in Melbourne
In this week's episode, hear all about the editing and proofreading process that History's Strangest Deaths underwent, as well as a painful confession...
Inventions Episode 34: Barbed Wire
Barbed wire has had a surprisingly large impact on human civilisation, completely changing the agricultural industry across much of the world, while a...
QAH Episode 124: Emperor Caracalla’s Wedding Massacre
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the story of the massacre carried out after Caracalla proposed wedding between himself and the daughter of the Parthia...
Episode 373: The Book Tour 2025 - LIVE in Sydney
In this week's episode, get across the behind-the-scenes details when it came to drafting and pitching process for History's Strangest Deaths, as well...
Inventions Episode 33: The Lift
The lift has played a very important role in modern building design and construction, sending skyscrapers higher and higher into the air and transform...
QAH Episode 123: The Mayerling Incident
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the tragic and gruesome story of the Mayerling Incident, a murder-suicide pact involving the heir to the Austro-Hungar...
Episode 372: The French Revolution - Part 6: The Legacy
In this week's episode, wrap up this six-part mini-series on the French Revolution with its most important legacies - political, social, cultural, and...
Inventions Episode 32: The Refrigerator
The refrigerator changed so much about how we store and eat perishable food - it opened up global food markets with refrigerated transport, improved f...
QAH Episode 122: The Festival of the Supreme Being
Quarter-Arsed History presents: the Festival of the Supreme Being, the unhinged religious festival put on by Maxilimilien Robespierre as he attempted...
History's Strangest Deaths is Out Now!
Half-Arsed History's first book, History's Strangest Deaths, is now available at all good bookstores, and probably some bad ones as well. You can buy...
Episode 371: The French Revolution - Part 5: The Directory
In this week's episode, get across the final chapter in the tale of the French Revolution: the broad political failure that was the French Directory,...
Inventions Episode 31: The Sewing Machine
The sewing machine is a piece of technology that has had an outsized historical influence - not just on the textile industry, but on society, culture,...
QAH Episode 121: A Brief History of the Guillotine
Quarter-Arsed History presents: a brief history of the guillotine, a device popularised during the French Revolution, responsible for the deaths of co...
Episode 370: The French Revolution - Part 4: The Terror
In this week's episode, get across the darkest and bloodiest chapter in French revolutionary history: the Reign of Terror, which saw tens of thousands...