Oh What A Time...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! This week we’re looking at what happened to the First Ladies of assassinated US Presidents. The tale of Mary Todd Lincoln, Jackie Kennedy and the loser-known story of Lucretia Garfield. Elsewhere, Elis thinks it’s okay to eat the presentational gravel at a birthday party. Feel free to email about this or anything else: hello@ohwhatatime.com Part 1 is rel...

This week we’re looking at what happened to the First Ladies of assassinated US Presidents. The tale of Mary Todd Lincoln, Jackie Kennedy and the loser-known story of Lucretia Garfield. Elsewhere, Elis thinks it’s okay to eat the presentational gravel at a birthday party. Feel free to email about this or anything else: hello@ohwhatatime.com Part 1 is released on Monday and Part 2 on Tuesday - but...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! This week we’re taking a look at buildings which have had an interesting second life in Germany’s capital; East Germany’s Palast der Republik, what became of Albert Speer’s New Reich Chancellery and lastly the Museumsinsel or Museum Island. Elsewhere, there’s lots of chat about chapped lips and final poses (Oh What A Pose?) for archaeologists this week....

This week we’re taking a look at buildings which have had an interesting second life in Germany’s capital; East Germany’s Palast der Republik, what became of Albert Speer’s New Reich Chancellery and lastly the Museumsinsel or Museum Island. Elsewhere, there’s lots of chat about chapped lips and final poses (Oh What A Pose?) for archaeologists this week. If you want to add to the conversation: hell...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! This week we’re looking at theme parks which simply no longer exist! We’ve got London’s glamorous and failed Segaworld, the slightly less glamorous Mr Blobby inspired Blobbyland and Wales’ own Penscynor Wild Life Park. Elsewhere, who was the last person to have read every book? How good was Kim Il Sung at golf? And can Jimmy Carter read 2,000 words a min...

This week we’re looking at theme parks which simply no longer exist! We’ve got London’s glamorous and failed Segaworld, the slightly less glamorous Mr Blobby inspired Blobbyland and Wales’ own Penscynor Wild Life Park. Elsewhere, who was the last person to have read every book? How good was Kim Il Sung at golf? And can Jimmy Carter read 2,000 words a minute?! If you have anything on this, please e...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! We’ve got a brilliant episode this week: we’ve turned to history to find the worst jobs we can. We’ve got tanning (leather, not the sun beds), bridge painting, and the Victorian workhouse.. and take our word for it, they are all absolutely awful. Elsewhere, Elis’ grandad had tools for a career down the mine whilst Elis has 3x microphones for his career d...

We’ve got a brilliant episode this week: we’ve turned to history to find the worst jobs we can. We’ve got tanning (leather, not the sun beds), bridge painting, and the Victorian workhouse.. and take our word for it, they are all absolutely awful. Elsewhere, Elis’ grandad had tools for a career down the mine whilst Elis has 3x microphones for his career down the audio mine. If you’ve got anything t...

** We're 'off' this week due to half term, so please enjoy these old subscriber episodes in the mean time! And for more bonus episodes (and next week's episode) head to: patreon.com/ohwhatatime ** Once again, you’ve been hitting up our inbox with all your fantastic correspondence; so here we are, another special to clear up and correct as much as we can. If you want to send us a letter you can do...

** We're 'off' this week due to half term, so please enjoy these old subscriber episodes in the mean time! And for more bonus episodes (and next week's episode) head to: patreon.com/ohwhatatime ** For one of this month’s subscriber specials, we’re looking at Ian Kershaw’s biography of Adolf Hitler; a man Ian describes as “the embodiment of modern political evil”. We’ll trace the book through Adolf...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! This week we’re looking at commercial entities that went bigger than their wildest dreams. We’ve got for you: Japanese consumer electronics firm Casio, how did Cadbury make that chocolate money and lastly, how Andrew Carnegie acquired insane wealth and then, incredibly, went about giving it away! And isn’t the world a better place for mass sporting event...

This week we’re looking at commercial entities that went bigger than their wildest dreams. We’ve got for you: Japanese consumer electronics firm Casio, how did Cadbury make that chocolate money and lastly, how Andrew Carnegie acquired insane wealth and then, incredibly, went about giving it away! And isn’t the world a better place for mass sporting events? AND IS THE WORLD TALKING ENOUGH ABOUT ELI...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! For the eighteenth-century gentleman few things marked a rite of passage more than the grand tour - so this week we’re seeing what exploring Europe, the UK and North America was like in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Elsewhere, Elis has been dreaming about Chris’ fictional children being good at football. If you’ve got any dreams to share, you know what to...

For the eighteenth-century gentleman few things marked a rite of passage more than the grand tour - so this week we’re seeing what exploring Europe, the UK and North America was like in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Elsewhere, Elis has been dreaming about Chris’ fictional children being good at football. If you’ve got any dreams to share, you know what to do: hello@ohwhatatime.com And from now on P...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! **THIS EPISODE CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND THEMES OF AN ADULT NATURE** Our guest this week is British historian and author Dr Kate Lister who is here to discuss her new book ‘Flick’ which explores female pleasure throughout history; from Ancient Mesopotamian sex goddesses to the contraceptive pill. The book itself is fascinating and you can get it here:...

**THIS EPISODE CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND THEMES OF AN ADULT NATURE** Our guest this week is British historian and author Dr Kate Lister who is here to discuss her new book ‘Flick’ which explores female pleasure throughout history; from Ancient Mesopotamian sex goddesses to the contraceptive pill. The book itself is fascinating and you can get it here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463104/flic...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! This week we’re chatting education: what did schooling look like in Ancient Greece and Rome? What has corporal punishment looked like in schools through history? And how has the concept of the ‘school meal’ evolved over time? Elsewhere, why did pirates pick hooks for hands above all other options?! We think we have the answer, but if you’ve got anything...

This week we’re chatting education: what did schooling look like in Ancient Greece and Rome? What has corporal punishment looked like in schools through history? And how has the concept of the ‘school meal’ evolved over time? Elsewhere, why did pirates pick hooks for hands above all other options?! We think we have the answer, but if you’ve got anything to add, you know what to do: hello@ohwhatati...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! We are truly honoured this week to be joined by one of our favourite historians in the world; it’s German-British author, who penned of one of Elis’ favourite ever books (Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949–1990), it’s Katja Hoyer! Katja is here to discuss her brand new book ‘ Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe ’ which details the collapse of German...

We are truly honoured this week to be joined by one of our favourite historians in the world; it’s German-British author, who penned of one of Elis’ favourite ever books (Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949–1990), it’s Katja Hoyer! Katja is here to discuss her brand new book ‘ Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe ’ which details the collapse of German democracy as the Nazi’s tighten their grip...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! This week on the show we’re talking about the sporting prowess of history’s most well-known revolutionaries; we have baseball-loving Fidel Castro, Chairman Mao’s love of ping pong and we’ve got Vladimir Lenin and his love of the bicycle. Elsewhere, Tom Craine got stuck up a rollercoaster. Has this ever happened to you? Why does this sort of thing keep ha...

It's a special bonus episode! This one from June 2025, never heard before on the main feed! If you want more Oh What A Time and both parts at once, you should sign up for our Patreon! On there you’ll now find: •The full archive of bonus episodes •Brand new bonus episodes each month •OWAT subscriber group chats •Loads of extra perks for supporters of the show •PLUS ad-free episodes earlier than eve...

This week on the show we’re talking about the sporting prowess of history’s most well-known revolutionaries; we have baseball-loving Fidel Castro, Chairman Mao’s love of ping pong and we’ve got Vladimir Lenin and his love of the bicycle. Elsewhere, Tom Craine got stuck up a rollercoaster. Has this ever happened to you? Why does this sort of thing keep happening to Tom? If you know, please do infor...

This is Part 2! For Part 1, check the feed! This week we’re looking at attempts through history at mass observation; we have Britain in the late 1930s, American culture after the Great Depression and the Soviet diaspora in Europe in the 1950s. Elsewhere, is looking at a picture of a coffee every bit as good as actually drinking one? If you’ve got anything to add on this or anything else please sen...

This week we’re looking at attempts through history at mass observation; we have Britain in the late 1930s, American culture after the Great Depression and the Soviet diaspora in Europe in the 1950s. Elsewhere, is looking at a picture of a coffee every bit as good as actually drinking one? If you’ve got anything to add on this or anything else please send us an email: hello@ohwhatatime.com And fro...