Podcast Episodes

From War to Wardrobe: The Epic Saga of the High Heel

When you picture someone wearing high heels, what do you imagine? I'm guessing it's not horseriding archers on a Persian battlefield... 

But it turns out the high heel was indeed invented for men, as …

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Radium Girls: The Glow in the Dark Women Who Changed Everything

It was the most glamorous job girls could get during WW1... until it turned fatal. 

In an emotional episode of No One Saw It Coming, author Kate Moore tells Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole, Mast…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Workers. Wages. Revolution: The True Story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs

Today trade unions are an integral part of the political landscape, at least in countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. But this hasn’t always been the case… 

In the 19th century, dur…

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago

Creepy Guy Meets Recording Device: The True Origins of Reality TV

If you thought reality TV began in the ‘90s or early 2000s with MTV’s The Real World or Big Brother, think again… 

According to Pulitzer-Prize winning critic and New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum…

Published on 5 months ago

Richard Fidler: The Volcano That Toppled Two Empires

What does a volcano in Iceland have to do with the religious and political struggles going on across the world today? Well it turns out, a LOT… 

Back in 536AD, the skies turned dark and the world cool…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

Treadmills Were Made for Torture

What if the reason being on a treadmill feels like such a punishment is actually by design!?

Back in the 1800’s the British Empire started installing ‘tread-mills’ in prisons as a way to both punish c…

Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago

The Lingerie Makers who put Neil Armstrong on the Moon

You can probably picture that iconic moment, when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon. But what if his ‘one small step for man’ was actually thanks to a group of unlikely women? 

In the 1960’s whe…

Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago

A Gossip Writer Invented the Renaissance!?

What if Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo weren’t really the best artists of the Renaissance, they were just the subject of some really good PR? 

In this episode of No One Saw it Coming, TikToker and…

Published on 5 months, 4 weeks ago

The Nazi siege and the secret seeds

Try to stop famine, or save your own life? This was the impossible choice facing the Russian scientists behind the world's first seed bank during World War 2, when the Soviet city of Leningrad came u…

Published on 6 months ago

Where Freestyle Swimming REALLY Comes From

You probably know the names of famous freestyle swimmers - whether it’s Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Ian Thorpe or Dawn Fraser. But do you know where the ‘freestyle’ swimming stroke actually comes …

Published on 6 months, 1 week ago