Half-Arsed History

Quarter-Arsed History presents: the mysterious tale of the Mary Celeste - an abandoned, derelict ship that was discovered floating in the middle of the Atlantic, with no sign of what had happened to its crew.

In this week's episode, hear about some of the longest wars that were never actually fought - four different conflicts where war was declared before being ignored or just plain forgotten about, in some cases for several centuries.

The printing press is one of or perhaps the most important invention in human history, inspiring revolutions across science, religion, society, culture, and politics by making information more accessible than ever before. 

Quarter-Arsed History presents: the Cadaver Synod, the time a dead pope was dug up out of the ground and put on trial as a corpse.

In this week's episode, hear about five of the most ridiculous stories to emerge from the history of papal conclaves - from foul-mouthed brawling, to papier-mache crowns, to the time there were four popes in a single year.

Clocks are everywhere - we are more or less always surrounded by timekeeping devices of all different kinds, but it was the mechanical clock, specifically, that ushered in an era of accurate, reliable horology.Marshall Sutcliffe from Wristwatch Revival working on the watches I wear:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJFNcfT-7HQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5ziU2-9yOohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eQp4VAjZ00

Quarter-Arsed History presents: the Defenestrations of Prague, an account of the multiple time that angry Bohemian Protestants have hurled Catholics out of windows as acts of political protest.

In this week's episode, learn all about the papal conclave: what preceded it, its origins, its centuries of history, and all that we know about how it elects popes today, in the 21st century.

Eyeglasses, as a very important invention, have evolved from an expensive and somewhat unreliable piece of specialist equipment to something that half the world's population makes daily use of.