Stuff You Missed in History Class
Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.
Episodes
This 2018 episode covers the Battle of Amiens, near the end of World War I. It was the start of what came to be known as the 100 Days Offensive, which was the Allies’ final push to win the war.
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Tracy and Holly talk about experiences in intensely hot weather. Holly shares how moved she was by Samuel Plimsoll’s obituaries.
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Samuel Plimsoll was an advocate for better working conditions for sailors, and for a lot of other things. A lot of contemporary accounts refer to him as an agitator.
Research:
- Bibby, Miriam. “Samuel Plimsoll and the Plimsoll Line.” Historic UK. June 14, 2024. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Samuel-Plimsoll-Line/
- Britannica Editors. "Samuel Plimsoll". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 May. 2026...
Heat waves don’t get as much attention as blizzards, floods, and hurricanes, but extreme heat is one of the deadliest weather events on average.
Research:
- National Weather Service. “Weather Related Fatality and Injury Statistics.” https://www.weather.gov/hazstat
- Last, John. “This Summer’s Drought Is Europe’s Worst in 500 Years. What Happened Last Time?” Smithsonian Magazine. 9/8/2022. ...
This 2018 episode covers Libertalia, which, in truth, may be completely fictional. It's called a pirate settlement, though the man who spearheaded it claimed he wasn't actually a pirate.
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Tracy shares the topics she considered for the recording in the Bahamas but decided against. Holly talks about her admiration for Thomas Huxley.
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Huxley is an example of having a good attitude about publicly acknowledging errors and learning from them. He earned the nickname “Darwin’s bulldog” for his very vocal support of Darwin’s work, and he wanted to promote science and education, particularly to people that didn’t normally have access to those things.
Research:
- Bernoulli, D., Jenkyns, H.C. “Thomas Henry Huxley, a stone tabl...
For part of its history, Nassau was a notorious hotbed of pirate activity. And it was home to a maritime criminal network known as the Flying Gang.
Research:
- "Bahamas, the." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™, The Columbia UP, 2025. Gale OneFile: High School Edition, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A69385873/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=7f7affa4. Accessed 8 July 2026.
- Ahrens, Wolfgang P. “Naming the Bahamas...
This 2023 episode covers scarlet fever, which is treatable with antibiotics. But in the middle of the 19th century, it was the leading cause of death in children in parts of the world, and today, there are several ongoing mysteries about the disease.
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Tracy shares her irritation with word use in a recent government report. There is also discussion of strangers visiting manor houses.
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The wrap up of things unearthed in the second quarter of 2026 includes the potpourri category, lots of books and letters, shipwrecks, and neanderthals.
Research:
- Addley, Esther. “Solstice-aligned 5,000-year-old monument ‘once in a lifetime find’, say archaeologists.” The Guardian. 6/17/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/solstice-aligned-monument-archaeology-wiltshire-stonehenge-...
Part one of the mid-year coverage of things literally and figuratively unearthed in the last quarter includes updates, more updates, animals, edibles and potables, and accidental finds.
Research:
- Addley, Esther. “Solstice-aligned 5,000-year-old monument ‘once in a lifetime find’, say archaeologists.” The Guardian. 6/17/2026. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/solstice-aligned-monument-archa...
This 2023 episode covers how humans have worked on ways to make garments water resistant almost since they started to wear them. But figuring out how to manufacture a raincoat using rubber was a big breakthrough that took centuries.
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Holly and Tracy discuss how frustrating Charles Goodyear could be. Then Holly talks a lot about shoes and how much she loves them.
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The evolution from leather-soled shoes of the 19th century to the sneakers people wear today started slowly, then built momentum. Many of the big names in sneakers today got their start surprisingly early in the process.
Research:
- “A Column for the Girls.” Brooklyn Eagle. July 28, 1895. https://www.newspapers.com/image/50411759/?match=1&terms=%22sand%20shoes%22
- Barrett, Jennifer. “The History of Adidas a...
Charles Goodyear's work is important to so many things we have in the 21st century. But his life and his work to create a stable rubber was full of problems -- many of them caused by Goodyear himself.
Research:
- Britannica Editors. "Charles Goodyear". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Dec. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Goodyear
- “Charles Goodyear.” Who Made America? PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/t...
This 2022 episode covers the development of penicillin, which started – but definitely did not end – with the chance discovery of some mold in a petri dish.
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Tracy shares stories of her time in London. There is also a discussion of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s marriage.
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After earning her first-class degree in chemistry from Oxford, Dorothy embarked on an impressive career in the new field of X-ray crystallography. She would ultimately earn many, many accolades for her work.
Research:
- "Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
- Biophysical Society. “Profiles in Biophysics: Dorothy Hodgkin.” 2016. https://www....
Dorothy Hodgkin's career in X-ray crystallography impacted a lot of science in the 20th century. Part one of her story covers her early life and formative experiences that led her to her field of research.
Research:
- "Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
- Biophysical Society. “Profiles in Biophysics: Dorothy Hodgkin.” 2016. https://www.bi...
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