History Go Time!

One of my favourite shows from years ago disappeared off the internet, probably due to wizards. Instead of simply uploading it again, I decided to redo the whole thing from the ground up. Which is possibly why it's two shows now. This is all about the Achaemenid Persian Empire. We look at how advanced they were, how awesome Cyrus was, and somehow once again manage to find a way to disrespect Spart...

In honour of International Talk Like A Pirate Day we explore why pirates didn't actually sound like that, and also how, technically, every day is Talk Like A Pirate Day

I didn't know why jacks in a deck of cards were jacks. Join me for a tumble down the rabbit hole. The other hour is a bunch of random history stuff you'll probably enjoy, loosely bound by this flimsy conceit.

Random trivia from the modern Olympics. Bizarre sports (poodle grooming, pretending to be a corpse), event disruptions (four person pileup, evil leprechaun), and numerous unfortunate things happening to pigeons. Why is it only every four years?

The Second Intermediate Period of Egypt. Or that time when people who weren't Egyptian took over and they don't really like talking about it.

A Musashi show As requested by many Show notes in haiku

Here's a Valentine's gift for everyone. One of the bonus shows is now available for all. This is all about Stuxnet, the most amazing computer virus you may not have heard about. You need to be wearing fingerless gloves to get the most out of this show.

I've been going through some stuff lately, and as part of the healing process I thought I'd do an interstitial bonus show. This is going to be a little bit different, but it should be plenty fun. Here's the unbelievably true story of Fine Cotton.

We finish up the Hannibal series in one go because Damo went mad. Everything from the fallout of Trebia to Cannae to Hannibal inventing snake bombs to Carthage being wiped out. You may have to hit the pause button a couple of times.

Hannibal marches on Rome, it turns out that story takes a while to tell. Due to ADHD there are side stories about ancient sieges and why Roman names are so weird. This is going to be more than one sitting, so be warned.

This one is eventually about Hamilcar Barca, the Carthaginian John Wick. He comes in at around the 2-hour mark. I've taken your feedback that the Tik Tok generation wants shorter episodes and I have determined that it is the children who are wrong.

You asked, I delivered. We're going to be heading back into the dreaded continuity with a multi-part series detailing the Punic Wars. This first episode has very little Punic Wars, but it's necessary homework, so I tried to add more spice. This is the Way.

Thomas Midgley Jr came close to destroying the world with his invention of CFCs, but we managed to survive. This time he's back to finish the job. Because why have one planet-ending invention when you can have two? Here's the story about how the same guy also invented leaded gasoline and somehow managed to be even deadlier the second time around.

In which we finally learn why 'fridge' has a 'D' in it but 'refrigerator' doesn't. Oh, and quite a bit about the end of the world too, with history's biggest killer - Thomas Midgley Jr.

This was a Patreon exclusive for a while, but it's Christmas! (Or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate. Me, I'm more of a Saturnalia guy, but you do you.) Paranormal curses from the void between stars are surprisingly common in the sport of baseball. This show will explore the spectrum from the relatively benign "Curse of the Bambino" to the downright freaky "Curse of the Colonel". Yes, that C...

The 1904 St Louis Olympic Marathon: 32 people started the race, only 14 finished. And the guy in the thumbnail is running in a chopped-down business suit and a beret. You'd like to know more, wouldn't you?

Has the hysteria calmed down yet? I hope so. Here's 90 minutes of why Queen Elizabeth II was not a good person. Not in the slightest. I can't wait for the comment section on this one.

It's well past time we took a torch to this throne of lies. Why (almost) everything you ever knew about diamonds is a lie told as a part of the greatest con ever perpetrated.

In which I make a very extended case for why imperial measurements are stupid, why metric is objectively better, we go into the surprisingly fascinating history of paper sizes, and I explain why every eagle you've ever listened to has lied to you.

Featuring 6-10, in no particular order, on the arbitrary top-ten list of women who don't get as much attention as they deserve. We've got the greatest pirate you've never heard of, Civil War James Bond, a horny monarch, an overrated general, and one person who - if not for gender stereotypes - would have made Mars colonies possible by now.

This is a rebroadcast of a show from 2020 (with some additional commentary) explaining the origins of the phrase Vae Victis - woe to the vanquished. Coincidentally, Damo is also doing a live show at the Sydney Comedy Festival also called Vae Victis, so if you're wondering why it might behove you to give this a listen.  (If you're looking for tickets to the live show head to Ticketek or sydneycomed...

This show is all about the 51% of history that deserves a bit more attention. We're going to be looking at some of the perhaps lesser-known women in history who were utterly awesome. And let's all pretend that it actually came out during Women In History Month. “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” ~Douglas Adams

In a new segment for HGT we explore current events and try and get to the bottom of the Russo-Ukraine conflict. If you've asked why, where, what, or huh this is the show for you.

We've all done it. You try to fix a broken toaster with a radioactive isotope next thing you know you're hurtling backwards through time. Well, this doesn't have to ruin your day. In fact, there are a number of ways you can leverage your unique situation for fun and profit. Let Damo provide you with a friendly guide to becoming the most important person in history.

It's the classic question, isn't it? If you had a time machine, would you go back and kill Hitler? In this show we explore why that hypothetical isn't as clear cut as it might sound, we learn just how crazy Hitler was and why whatever you thought was way shy of the mark, and we take a sidebar to introduce people to the bizarre lunatic that was bestselling author Karl May.