Half-Arsed History

In this week's episode, conclude the tour of World Cup history with the details of the tournaments from 1990 onwards - all the highlights and lowlights, including persistent issues surrounding bribery and corruption.

This week in history we’ve decisive battles for the East India Company and for friend of the show Napoleon, we’ve got a river of burning whiskey flowing through Dublin, and we’ve got the infamous Hand of God, from the 1986 World Cup.

In this week's episode, continue to discover the story of the FIFA Men's World Cup, from the postwar return of the tournament in 1950, across years of development and controversy, to the end of the 1980s, as the modern event took shape.

This week in history we’ve got the reason the Taj Mahal was built, we’ve got the debut of the world’s first bike, we’ve got the delivery of the Statue of Liberty - and we’ve got the story of the most infamously deadly motorsports disaster in history.

In this week's episode, get across the early history of the FIFA Men's World Cup, from its forerunners and precursors to its early emergence and development. 

This week in history we’ve got an unlucky French astronomer, an absurd religious festival, and a riotous baseball game where beer was ten cents a cup - and we’ve got the history of a treaty that divided the world up between two European imperial powers.

In this week's episode, learn all about the Hindenburg Disaster, when a German rigid airship went up in flames in Lakehurst, USA - and the very significant long-term impact of this catastrophe.

This week in history we’ve got French heroes burning and Byzantine cities falling, we’ve got the birthdays of singers and spies and activists - that’s all actually just one person - and we’ve got the tale of the man who decided to reach the top of Mount Everest… by flying there in a plane.

In this week's episode, meet J.R.R. Tolkien, the immensely influential fantasy author whose works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, revolutionised the fantasy genre and made it what it is today.