Half-Arsed History

Half-Arsed History

This is the OLD, defunct Half-Arsed History feed - if you're reading this message, please get in touch with me through the contact form at halfarsedhistory.net and let me know which platform you're using, so I can fix the problem for you! For Podcast Addict listeners: unfortunately, the new feed is inaccessible on Podcast Addict ):

Episodes

October 19, 2025
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 British noble family's fortune.
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In this week's episode, get to know Matthew Flinders, the explorer and navigator who was the first person to circumnavigate Australia - and later popularised the name we all use to refer to it today.
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In this week's episode, uncover the truth behind five more historical misconceptions: what Roman vomitoriums were used for, mediaeval life expectancies, Dom Perignon inventing champagne, Mussolini making the trains run on time, and chloroform knocking you out instantly.
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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 Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire at the outset of the Investiture Controversy.
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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.
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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, drinking from the skulls of his enemies.
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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 couple of chapters from the book at the end of the episode as well, don't worry).
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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 Deaths, and listen to a sneaky chapter or two at the end.
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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 about one of the mistakes that slipped through the cracks.
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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 as a few preview chapters from the book itself.
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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 historical.
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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, the collapse of which represented the end of the revolution itself.
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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 of people killed by political violence.
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In this week's episode, understand some of the most important legacies of the French Revolution as it worked to establish a constitutional monarchy, before the ultimate abolition of the monarchy and establishment of a republic in 1792.
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In this week's episode, get across the story of the opening days of the French Revolution - the public protests and disorder which culminated in the legendarily famous Storming of the Bastille.
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In this week's episode, learn about the leadup to and origins of the French Revolution, culminating in the breakdown of the Estates-General and the Tennis Court Oath in 1789.
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History's Strangest Deaths, the first Half-Arsed History book, releases on the 5th of August across the Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand region. Pre-order your copy at Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/history-s-strangest-deaths-riley-knight/book/9781761472589.html
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In this week's episode, unravel the long and complicated geopolitical history that turned Iran from one of the West's staunchest regional allies in the Middle East into one of its bitterest foes.
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In this week's episode, finish off the story of the famed Sir Francis Drake, and hear about his later campaigns agains the Spanish - both successful and unsuccessful.
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In this week's episode, meet Sir Francis Drake, whose lifelong vendetta against the Spanish led to a life of high adventure - including the circumnavigation of the globe.
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