We Are History

How a handful of landmark events and reforms suddenly shook off the hypocrisy, censorship and repression that had plagued Great Britain since Victorian times. (Available in Northern Ireland several decades later) We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Production by Simon Williams. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production Lear...

How travelling quacks and snobby doctors held back dentistry for centuries, while millions endured the agony of toothache and wondered why ‘smoking out the tooth worms’ didn’t seem to be working. Reading List: An Excruciating History of Dentistry by James Wynbrand Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory...

This week Angela drags John around the shops of Britain for about 200 years as we take a look at the history of how we shop. We look at why shopping moved out of town centres and ask the important questions like “Does Selfridges sell fridges?” Reading: Back to the Shops: The High Street in History and the Future by Rachel Bowlby We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’F...

How the IRA came very close to killing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the British Cabinet and triggered a massive manhunt for that world famous crime fighting agency, the Sussex County Constabulary. Reading List: Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll Buy Killing Thatcher through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund [name of podcast] by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop...

This week Angela tricks John into learning about the history of April Fool’s Day. Where did it originate? Why do we do practical jokes on people we are supposed to love? Fom the Swiss spaghetti harvest to the Black Cliffs of Dover, we look at some of the best April Fool’s Day pranks across the centuries. And this episode is brought to you in smellovision, so don’t forget to scratch your screen to...

Centuries ahead of those “Brits Abroad” tabloid headlines that make us hang our heads in shame, the British were still managing to cause chaos on the continent. The Grand Tour was a chance for upper class boys to kick up their heels and party across Europe under the auspices of an educational expedition, before getting married off and settling down in a massive country pile. A sort of Georgian Gap...

In 18th Century France the Ancien Regime comes up against the Enlightenment and Age of Reason and, spoiler alert, it doesn’t end well for the monarchy. In this episode that serves as a sort of French revolution for dummies we look at what happened, from the storming of the Bastille on, well, Bastille Day to the rise of Napoleon Reading List: Vive La Revolution: A Stand-up History of the French Rev...

How one scruffy Irish popstar saw a terrible famine being reported on his television and decided to do a bit more than just send a cheque to Oxfam. (John spent so long researching this podcast on Live Aid that he thought he might as well do a West End Musical about it at the same time).  Reading List: The Eighties, One Day, One Decade by Dylan Jones;  Is That It by Bob Geldof Buy books through our...

Just in time for International Women’s Day on March 8, we dig into the surprising history of this worldwide celebration of patriarchy-pummeling. Angela Barnes and feminism “expert” John O’Farrell trace IWD’s roots from its beginnings in Communist countries in the early 20th century via a brazen American attempt to cover up its origins… and never once says “yeah, but when is it International Men’s...

John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes return for a new season of We Are History! In this first episode they explore how the British had a very polite revolution without anyone getting hurt, and then pretended they’d actually wanted to be invaded by a big foreign army. Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory R...

For the final episode in this series, the ever-so-honest John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes find out how and why smuggling in Britain became a crime epidemic that benefited everyone except the tax man. Source: Smuggling in the British Isles by Richard Platt  Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory Angela B...

This week on We Are History, Angela Barnes and John O'Farrell look at the origins of the Green Belt, what is it and why do we have it? Spoiler alert, it’s not for holding up your green trousers. The Green Belt is a phrase we’ve heard politicians talking about forever, so we wanted to find out whose idea it was, how it has evolved over the last 100 or so years and how it affects the relationship be...

This time on We Are History; our bold and fearless non-historians Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell find out how and why Britain’s first major terrorist plot was conceived and ultimately thwarted.  Expect barrels of explosive fun, gory retribution and hear why we burn the wrong person on Bonfire night. Sources: Remember Remember the Fifth of November by James Sharpe https://www.museumoflondon.org.u...

Our technologically-challenged hosts Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell trace the history of Artificial Intelligence from Greek Mythology, via Alan Turing and the Speak and Spell to the rapid developments we’re seeing today. Should we be afraid of our robot overlords? Will AI ever be able to deliver a lighthearted History podcast? Maybe it already has... Reading List: The Brain Makers: The History o...

John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes take a not-so-serious look at the most captivating and bizarre moments in history. This time things get very silly as John sneaks a peek at nakedness and how our attitudes to it has changed throughout history. He insists that this is a serious sociological and historical study and not at all an excuse to giggle at bare bottoms. Main source A Brief History of Nakedn...

John O’Farrell and Angela Barnes take a not-so-serious look at the most captivating and bizarre moments in history. This time Angela tells John how in 1917, the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to his man in Washington. Sounds dull? It isn’t; this telegraph was probably responsible for changing the course of WW1. What could a telegram possibly say that would make peace lov...

This time; our eager non-historians Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell discuss the amazing story of the enslaved people of Haiti, who rose up and defeated a major world power and established the New World’s first independent black state.  Episode includes violence, voodoo and a zombie. Recommended reading: Avengers of the New World by Laurent Dubois You are all free : the Haitian revolution and the...

Series 8 of the hit podcast continues to romp its way through history unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events. This time: Angela Barnes tells John O’Farrell about The Glamour Boys – a group of courageous queer MPs in buttoned-up Britain of the 1930’s. They put the "party" into "party politics" and were some of the first people to warn the government they needed to stand up to that Hi...

Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell are back with Series 8 of the hit podcast which romps through history unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events. This time: how the Nazis and Allies became locked in a race for the atom bomb, keeping it a total secret from everyone except all the Russian spies. Get all episodes a week early – when you support We Are History on Patreon: https://patreon.c...

We put the call out, and you came, in your droves! Thank you so much to everyone who made the first ever We Are History Live Q+A. The video is available to watch back over on our Patreon page and here is a special audio mix. Angela and John answer your questions without fear or favour, but much frivolity! Find out how they select their subjects, whether John really does have a piece of the Berlin...

Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell cavort through history and uncover the most fascinating and down-right bizarre events. This time; the day hundreds of walkers asserted the Right To Roam across the Peak District against the wishes of the landed gentry who wanted the hills kept private so they could shoot grouse. John and Angela really struggle to take sides on this one.  The protest is seen as an i...

Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell romp through history, unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events. This time we meet the New Zealand born journalist turned French society housewife Nancy Wake, who became one of Churchill’s most decorated agents and one of the Gestapo’s most wanted.   Whether she was flirting with Nazis to get out of trouble or parachuting into the heart of the French Re...

Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell romp through history, unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre events. This time; the five month-long 1904 Olympic Games which was a catalogue of failures and unbelievably poor decisions. This included restricting liquids during the marathon, one of the runners stopping to practise his english and wild dogs chasing the athletes. It’s an incredible story so ma...

Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell present the not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events. New Episode! For much of the 20th century the Catholic establishment had a stranglehold over Ireland’s morality and used it to deny Irish women basic rights such as contraception, divorce and abortion. When a series of scandals stripped away the hypocrisy of the chu...

Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell present the not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events. This week; you ordered an innuendo, so we’re giving you one. Yes, it’s that stalwart of smut, the saucy seaside postcard. Join us as we enter a cartoon world of buxom ladies and henpecked men. But enough about us here’s a podcast about the history of this great Brit...