Ridiculous History

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Latest Episodes:

The Rise and Fall of Curative Plane Flights Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

In the early 1920s, the still-new technology of powered aircraft amazed folks across the planet. People weren't quite sure what this technology could do, so when a plane flight appeared to restore Henry A. Renz, Jr's voice, experts and the public alike wondered whether plane flights might have medical benefits. In today's episode, the guys explore how this came about -- and whether any of these 'cures' were effective.

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That Time People Paid Rent With Eels Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

Nowadays, most people pay rent with the currency of their given nation — but for a time in England, your rent might have been paid with eels (yes, literal eels). In today’s episode, Ben, Max and returning guest host Matt Frederick explore the strange story of the Medieval eel economy, from the financial constraints that inspired it, to the religious beliefs that sustained it, to explain exactly how owning thousands of eels became a massive economic flex.

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The Miracle of the Gulls: A Cricket War Jun 22, 2021

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In 1848, times were dire for the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake Valley. Massive swarms of crickets laid waste to everything in their path, destroying crops and endangering the community's chances of survival. The threat of starvation loomed. According to the legend the community was saved by the miraculous arrival of gulls with a craving for crickets -- but how much of this story is fact, and how much fiction? Tune in to learn more.

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A History of Pregnancy Cravings, Part 2: Stereotypes, Superstitions and Science Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

In earlier centuries, when science and spirituality were considered one and the same, the world was full of advice and warnings surrounding pregnancy cravings. In the second part of this two-part series, Ben and Noel explore how humans perceived these cravings: as superstition, stereotype and, eventually, science.

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A History of Pregnancy Cravings, Part 1: Pickles and Ice Cream Jun 15, 2021

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Pregnancy is amazing — and scary, and beautiful, and a thousand other things. The modern world has stereotypes and tropes aplenty about pregnancy, especially including the phenomena known as pregnancy cravings. But how far back does this go? In the first part of this series, Ben and Noel explore the history of cravings, along with beliefs about how too much — or too little — of a given food was believed to affect children later in life.

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The Carrington Event, Part II: Attack of the Sun! Jun 10, 2021

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Less than 18 hours after Richard Carrington noticed something screwy on the sun’s surface, chaos erupted. Telegraph operators found their machines literally aflame. The Northern Lights were visible from Cuba. People and plants across the globe became convinced it was daytime. Centuries later, Ben and Noel explore the consequences of the Carrington event and — perhaps most importantly — what this may mean for the future.

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The Carrington Event, Part I: The Sun is Acting Strange Jun 08, 2021

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When amateur astronomer Richard Carrington gazed through his telescope on the morning of September 1st, 1859, he noticed something weird about the surface of the sun -- it seemed to have clusters of dark spots. Later historians would recognize this as the earliest observation of a solar flare -- and a little less than 18 hours later, the associated coronal mass ejection would wreak havoc on Earth, setting telegraphs aflame, lighting up the night sky and causing many to wonder whether it was the end of the world.

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Loveday: Henry VI's Well-intentioned, Terrible Attempt at Making Peace Jun 03, 2021

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In an effort to prevent further conflicts in what would become known as the Wars of the Roses, King Henry VI called the warring parties to London, with a weird pitch -- they would resolve their disputes through diplomacy, culminating in a parade where these sworn enemies would have to literally walk around town holding hands. Tune in to see how it all played out.

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Classic: Why do British lawyers wear wigs? Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

In today’s Classic episode, the guys travel back to their early days.

For centuries some lawyers and judges in the U.K. have worn distinctive wigs during court proceedings. But why? Join Ben and Noel as they explore the strange history of the peruke.

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That Time Al Capone Ran A Soup Kitchen May 27, 2021

Show notes

Al Capone is rightly remembered as of the most notorious gangsters in US history -- but for a time residents of Chicago also thought of him as a benefactor. As people struggled to survive the Great Depression, Capone, in an apparent act of benevolence, founded a free, no-questions-asked soup kitchen to feed the hungry. In today's episode, Ben and Noel explore how the kitchen came to be, how it functioned -- and what Capone's true motivations might have been.

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