NEW SERIES! The not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events. Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell celebrate the return of We Are History by plunging into the luminous but lethal history of Radium. They reveal how its discovery led to a craze for radio-active health and beauty treatments, which had the slight drawback of eventually killing you.  Angela and John share our predecessors ill-advised fascination with radium; its myriad ‘miracle’ uses include a radium jock strap and the pair wonder whether to name their next pub-rock band Liquid Sunshine or The Radium Runners… Get all episodes a week early – when you support We Are History on Patreon: https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory “I should say, we’re not scientists.” – Angela Barnes “To be fair we’re not historians either and that’s never stopped us.” – John O’Farrell “When I was a kid it was completely normal to have your feet x-rayed in the shoe shop. That’s why my hair fell out.” – John O’Farrell Reading List: Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium by Lucy Jane Santos We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Audio production by Simon Williams and artwork by James Parrett. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production. https://twitter.com/wearehistorypod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Never mind world wars or revolutions, it's time to do the really important history - how did Christmas singles become a thing in the UK, and when was the golden age of of the festive hit. Warning; includes John doing dad singing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is compulsory or a man of John's age to do one episode on the Second World War. But fascists being useless is always worth revisiting - and the farcical and disastrous leadership of Benito Mussolini between 1940-45 is that rare thing in modern history - a bit of World War 2 that hasn't been done to death. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a few hungry wolves hanging around outside the caves led to Paris Hilton's embarrassed chihuahua wearing a tiara and sitting in a chintzy handbag. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the BBC celebrating it's centenary, we explore how the corporation came into existence, out of a chaotic broadcasting free-for-all. (This podcast was originally submitted as a programme idea to the Home Service in 1927, but we gave up waiting for a response) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices