We Are History
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We Are History
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...
Neueste Episoden
113 EpisodenThe 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 Victoria...
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 ou...
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 m...
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...
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 ar...
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...
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...
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. (J...
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. Angel...
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 revol...
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 epi...
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,...
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 terroris...
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 Turi...
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 si...
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...
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 defeat...
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 B...
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...
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 a...
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 da...
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...
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 190...
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...
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.
Thi...
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...
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;...
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:...
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:...
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...
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...
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 far...
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....
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...
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 regi...
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 unde...
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...
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...
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...
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...