Oh What A Time...

Throw on your gladrags and pop on your dancing shoes because this week we're discussing: nightlife! What was a night out like in a Roman pub? How did DJing become a thing? A once insanely popular Turkish drink which definitely isn't custard. And our bonus part for the full timers; the circus! Thank you for all your wonderful correspondence, do keep it coming in along with any episode ideas you mig...

This is Part 2, for Part 1 check the feed yesterday! This week we're discussing BEAUTY via acne, Viking teeth, hair and wigs; plus this week's bonus bit is all about the man who brought bodybuilding to the UK. Was that man Tom Craine? I'm afraid you'll have to listen to find out! Yes we've added ONE DAY SNOG MACHINE to the incredible set of features we have: THE ONE DAY TIME MACHINE, HOW WOULD YOU...

This week we're discussing BEAUTY via acne, Viking teeth, hair and wigs; plus this week's bonus bit is all about the man who brought bodybuilding to the UK. Was that man Tom Craine? I'm afraid you'll have to listen to find out! Yes we've added ONE DAY SNOG MACHINE to the incredible set of features we have: THE ONE DAY TIME MACHINE, HOW WOULD YOU IMPRESS SOMEONE IN 500AD and of course DO YOU HAVE A...

This is Part 2, for Part 1 check the feed yesterday! This week on the show we're chatting: BLUNDERS! From the worst sponsorship deal ever to darken German ice hockey, an author's worst nightmare come true, the demise of Frederick Barbarossa; and this week's bonus bit is big balls ups in the Roman Army. A Police detective emailed this week to say he'd like to go back and solve a great mystery with...

This week on the show we're chatting: BLUNDERS! From the worst sponsorship deal ever to darken German ice hockey, an author's worst nightmare come true, the demise of Frederick Barbarossa; and this week's bonus bit is big balls ups in the Roman Army. A Police detective emailed this week to say he'd like to go back and solve a great mystery with his One Day Time Machine. And we have a host of GREAT...

(This is Part Two! Check yesterday for Part One)AND WE ARE BACK! And this week/month/year we're looking at: Calendars. How we ended up with the names for our months and days, how the Mayan calendar caused such a kerfuffle, the failed French attempt to decimalise time and our bonus part this week: why the UK government stole 11 daysNew Year, same incredible features: THE ONE DAY TIME MACHINE, HOW W...

AND WE ARE BACK! And this week/month/year we're looking at: Calendars. How we ended up with the names for our months and days, how the Mayan calendar caused such a kerfuffle, the failed French attempt to decimalise time and our bonus part this week: why the UK government stole 11 daysNew Year, same incredible features: THE ONE DAY TIME MACHINE, HOW WOULD YOU IMPRESS SOMEONE IN 500AD and of course...

Oh What A Time returns next week on the main feed but between now and then, we thought we'd drop a little excerpt from December's bonus episode onto the feed and this one is: GIFTS!Presidential gifts, Tudor gifts and gifts in the form of massive impractical cannons. We'll also be debating whether Tom making a handcrafted present for his wife is killing the high street. If you want this episode in...

While we recover from Christmas and New Year, please enjoy our first 'best of' episode featuring some brand new correspondence and a few of our favourite bits from the first 6 months of the show. We'll be back very soon, but in the meantime; want to contribute to any of our INCREDIBLE format points? Do let us know at: hello@ohwhatatime.comAnd why not treat yourself and become an Oh What A Time: FU...

It’s time again for us to mine the OWaT mailbag and have another correspondence special (although we inevitably get sidetracked into Christmas chat).Now if this podcast is famous for one thing it’s: inventing many of the world's greatest podcasting features. ONE DAY TIME MACHINE, HOW WOULD YOU IMPRESS SOMEONE IN 500AD and of course DO YOU HAVE A RELATIVE OF NOTE?Want to contribute to any of our IN...

Get the decorations down from the loft and pop the tree up, because this week we're talking about: Christmas. We'll be covering the interesting history of Christmas traditions; from Carols to Decorations and did Coca-Cola invent Santa? Plus subscribers will get the famous 4th part which this week looks at the Christmas truce in World War 1 and which team triumphed in the game of football in no man...

This week we're looking into some huge undertakings through history in a category we're calling: BIG PROJECTS. How did ancient Rome manage to feed a population of 1 million people? How did Alexander the Great feed his army as it marched some 3,000 miles? How were the pyramids constructed? And in a 4th part for OWAT: FULL TIMERS, how did electricity make its way to the rural areas of the UK? Big qu...

This week we're looking at the aftermath of the 1929 Wall St Crash, which signalled the beginning of an era known as: The Great Depression (Merry Christmas!). We'll be looking at the origins of the crash, the US President at the time Herbert Hoover (not Henry, to be clear), plus how Yip Harburg turned to songwriting to pull himself out of debt. And we've launched a subscription! If you sign up, yo...

Here's a preview - about 15 mins of a 70 minute episode - of November's subscriber special on.. Heroes! Obviously, the Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles are here, we're also looking at the heroes to have appeared in poster form down the years, plus we're taking a look at Ancient Greek heroes while dealing with the fact Pandora opened a jar and not a box. As we mentioned in the show on Monday, we'v...

This week we're heading for the coast to discover the story behind the birth of modern weather forecasting. We're also off to learn about the world's first lighthouse: the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria. Elis will be bringing some coals to Newcastle. And there's also a 4th part to this one (explain that in a second!) which is the real 4th emergency service: THE COASTGUARD.As we mention in the show...

This week we're scanning the historic horizon to look at wondrous landmarks from down the ages. We'll be travelling to Peru to discuss Machu Picchu, you can expect a visit to the east coast of America to study the Brooklyn Bridge and finally, we're off to north-west London to hear about the creation of the British Empire Exhibition Stadium aka Wembley Stadium. And why not drop us an email on any o...

This week we're taking a look through history at the BIG THREE emergency services: Police, Fire Brigade and the Ambulance service (with all due respect to the Coastguard and to a lesser extent The AA). We'll talk through the origins of the police and fire brigade in Ancient Rome, plus how the ambulance developed across Europe's battlefields. All the usual features are back and ONE DAY TIME MACHINE...

To mark the 418th anniversary of the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot we thought we'd bring you a Plots episode! We've got Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators of course and joining them Catherine The Great and Washington Irving. And there's so many features for you to email us about: Interesting relatives? Prove an interesting fact to someone in 500AD? Historic jobs that are easy? ONE DAY TIME MACHI...

This week we're taking a look at great (and not so great) inventions through the ages. We've got the Player Piano (that piano that looks like it's being played by a ghost), Tamagotchi (the virtual pet that was huge in the 90s) and the Paternoster Lift (that constantly revolving lift that looks absolutely terrifying). Plus there's naturally a mention for Sir Clive Sinclair. And there's so many feat...

As the 20th century poet Des'ree once said: "Money don't make my world go round, I'm reaching out for a higher ground". Sadly, for the rest of us, the acquisition of money is a necessity. So this week we're back into the history books to analyse a series of money making ventures; from the Dutch Tulip craze of the 1600s to the 'Black Gold' of the Rhondda Valley and we wind the clock back to the 200...

As regular listeners will note, over the past few weeks we have invented many of the world's greatest podcasting features: ONE DAY TIME MACHINE, HOW WOULD YOU IMPRESS SOMEONE IN 500AD and of course DO YOU HAVE A RELATIVE OF NOTE?And given the fact our inbox has been so full of good stuff, we decided that this week we'd dedicate a whole episode to these HOT NEW PODCASTING FORMATS. And guess what, w...

This week we're dipping back through time to spend some time with the Victorians; those in the working class eating jellied eels from dirty cups, the middle classes and all their lovely spare time and the upper classes who, frankly, are having a whale of a time. Elsewhere, there's more ONE DAY TIME MACHINE with one listener choosing to go back in time to witness possibly the greatest guitar duel e...

Pop some chicken soup on the hob and check out this week’s episode which is: Healthcare. From how the common cold has been cured down the years, to how our ancestors diagnosed diabetes via a good old look at urine, right through to the worst headache cure you have ever heard in your life. And ONE DAY TIME MACHINE is back once again and would you believe it? Someone has finally taken up Elis’ once...

This week we're discussing Adventurers; each with varying levels of success, to put it mildly. From the race to the South Pole, to Maurice Wilson's somewhat bizarre plan to scale Everest, right through to that know-it-all William Morris and his trip to Iceland. There's more ONE DAY TIME MACHINE once again and if you've got anything else you'd like to share, you know what to do! (Email: hello@ohwha...

Up this week we're looking a collection of absolutely random jobs from history. From the folk who sang the news, to professional knocker uppers plus we take a look at the people paid to clap the arts in 19th century France. And ONE DAY TIME MACHINE is back; is there somewhere in history you'd like to go for a day? You can let us know here: hello@ohwhatatime.comThis first series will contain 12 epi...