Half-Arsed History

In this week's episode, learn about the global 16th century trading conditions that ultimately led to the formation of the East India Company, an institution that would eventually grow to effectively rule as a nation in its own right.

This week in history we’ve got the first Europeans in Australia, we’ve got the first Sherlock Holmes stories, we’ve got famous composers and an even famouser crook, and we’ve got the time the city that would go on to become Tokyo burnt to the ground.

In this week's episode, get a taste of what this show might have sounded like if it had begun as a podcast of a different genre.

This week in history we’ve got monuments, calendars, and the disastrous premiere of a popular opera, we’ve got the birthdays of astronomers and diarists and presidents, and we’ve got that time that Mexico got through three presidents in a single hour.

In this week's episode, get to know Nicolaus Copernicus, the 15th-century astronomer who brought about a historical paradigm shift with his radical proposal that the Sun, not the Earth, is at the centre of the solar system.

This week in history we’ve got famous martyrdoms, global car races, and the discovery of former planets, we’ve got the birthdays of scientists and leaders and activists, and we’ve also got the story of an infamous Chicago bloodbath.

This week in history we’ve got riots and treaties, we’ve got the discovery of the world’s biggest gold nugget, we’ve got the birthday of a famous Victorian author, and of course, the end of the Islamic Golden Age with the Sack of Baghdad.

In this week's episode, meet Catherine the Great, the empress who successfully ruled Russia for almost 35 years despite usurping a throne she had no claim to.