History Go Time!

In which we celebrate the fabulous holiday tradition of Krampus - the terrifying German hell-monster who comes on December 5th to drag naughty children to a twisted hell dimension of infinite pain in a festive Lament Configuration. Happy Holidays!

A brief history of the worst smell ever in the history of mankind (unless you count my dog). Also a dive into why "Dickensian" is "Dickensian", I run out of metaphors for bodily expulsion, and I subvert expectations by never once using the Ruben Rabasa "stinky!" soundbite.

He ruled the Russian land and never mind the CzarBut the kazachok he danced really wunderbarIn all affairs of state he was the man to pleaseBut he was real great when he had a girl to squeezeFor the queen he was no wheeler dealerThough she'd heard the things he'd doneShe believed he was a holy healerWho would heal her son

The people who support this show on Patreon, the real heroes, they get some really cool stuff. Like bonus shows full of ideas that might be considered too niche, like a brief history of paint. Which is a tale that contains way more proto-German mad scientists than you're probably expecting.  The people of Patreon were generous enough and thought this show was interesting enough, to share with the...

That's great it starts with an earthquake, spears shake, a hydroplane, and Mycenae is not okay. It's the end of the Bronze Age as we know it (and I feel fine)

The rule of threes applies here - this is the third of the Khan trilogy, and it is fittingly three hours of Mongol intrigue and interest, from Ogedai to Kublai. Plus we delve into some weird side tangents like the 1979 Eurovision song contest, Christian sectarianism, and why the Great Wall wasn't built to keep the rabbits out.

Genghis Khan declares "Mission Accomplished" in the Middle East and sends two of his greatest generals, Subutai and Jebe, off to Europe to introduce themselves. They accidentally almost conquer it, before they remember they're not supposed to. It's a cracking yarn, stay a while and listen.

You wanted it, you got it. This one's all about Genghis Khan. You'll go where he goes, defile what he defiles, eat who he eats.

Kick the tyres and light the fires, this one is all about the space race! Yuri Gagarin's adolescent Nazi hunt, plenty of accent work, and what Neil Armstrong didn't want you to know!

“The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.” - Karl Marx. Damo, in his role as public prosecutor, outlines his arguments as to why such a sentence is necessary in a detailed analysis of the (Dodd) frankly terrifying number of times Wall Street has broken the entire world. Cash Rules Everything Around Me, get the money, dolla dolla bill y'all.

In the epic conclusion to the chess saga, there's neuroscience, plenty of KGB crazy shenanigans, a robot duck, and an international chess champion on the run from Johnny Law - plus a surprise cameo from Nature Boy Ric Flair. Woooo!

Due to the popularity of the Queen's Gambit and one of the rare times Damo actually enjoyed a popular television show, this is everything you didn't know you wanted to know about chess.

In which we explore some historical misconceptions and come to the sad realisation that not only does the truth not matter, perhaps it never did.

In this exhaustive episode, we look at Ultra, Enigma, Garbo, Mincemeat and other seemingly random words that had a big effect on the second world war.

A little exploration into why we have leap years. And a lot about Julius Caesar's rebellion, the civil war, and the butterfly effect of one person not knowing the date.

19th-century actors were hardcore. In this episode, we explore how John Wilkes Booth may not have been the craziest person in his family, how a dispute over who was the better Macbeth ended with dozens of deaths, and how this one event was the Kevin Bacon of its time - almost everyone makes an appearance, from Davy Crockett to Charles Dickens

According to China he's regarded as second only to Sun Tzu, who literally wrote the book on war. According to historians, most of the stories about him never actually happened. According to HGT these stories are way too cool to ignore. We explore the man, the myth, the legend - Zhuge Liang: absolutely a statesman, definitely a general, possibly a wizard, and maybe the incarnate avatar of the God o...

Marcus Licinius Crassus - one of the first Triumvirate. Richest man in Rome. Conquerer of Spartacus. And also, upon his death, the first person in recorded history ever to be turned into a muppet. This is the story of how one of the most powerful people in Roman history became a prop in touring Greek theatre troupe.