Yes, the topic this week is the number 40. Yes, it's episode 41. What can we say. We're historians, not mathematicians.
Obvious stupidity and working ourselves into a corner aside (genuinely, we - specifically Sam - are absolute idiots) we've got a cracker this week. Tom's started from the beginning, that is, 40AD. Which just happens to be when Agricola, Roman Governor of Britain and subject of the book with the imaginative title 'Agriocola' was born. We take a whirlwind trip through Tacitus' history of the apparently quite nice (but still quite murderous) Roman leader.
Next, Sam given an honourable mention to ancient Egypt and the Tessarakonteres (which means 40), the largest human-powered ship ever built. Just a shade smaller than Noah's Ark, it had 4,000 rowers and a total crew of nearly 10,000. And was utterly useless as anything except a fancy garden ornament.
After that, we head to Britain in the 1840s and railway mania, with some of the ridiculous stories of madness, rioting, stealing trains and literal locotmotive tugs of war that characterised Britain's Victorian transport fever.
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Welcome to That Was Genius: Two blokes. A 12-hour time difference. An immature sense of humour. And 10,000 years of human civilisation. A weekly podcast looking at the weirder side of history.
Join Sam Datta-Paulin (he likes history and lives in Britain) and Tom Berry (he also likes history but lives in New Zealand), for a weekly reflection on the bold, the brilliant... And the downright strange.
From bizarre events and stories to equally odd inventions, barely a day goes by without something incredible (or incredibly stupid) happening around the world.
A Stephen Hawking-Shaped Adult Toy (Swearing week) - That Was Genius Episode 134
A Jacket Made of Condoms and Geese (Stock Market Week) - That Was Genius Episode 133
The Artful Todger (medical procedures and men behaving badly week) - That Was Genius Episode 131
260 Menopausal Librarians (Trains week) - That Was Genius episode 129
We‘re taking a break - but we‘ll be back!
Tom‘s Ping-Pong Canary Show (Traditions week) - That Was Genius Episode 127
Minor Lion-Based Surgery (Feats of Survival week) - That Was Genius Episode 125
The Misadventures of Florida Man (Internet week) - That Was Genius Episode 123
We‘re Bim Bam Bina Back (Italy week) - That Was Genius Episode 121
That Was Genius Episode 119 - The Many Follies of Heidi Klum (Gardening week Patron exclusive!)
The Puckered Window of a Public Toilet (Glass week) - That Was Genius Episode 118
Poop On The Desk To Get The Job (Rivalries week) - That Was Genius Episode 116
That Was Genius Episode 114 - A Rowdy Witches Hen Party (Canada week)
Yeast and Ship-Slime, PI (Medicine week) - That Was Genius Episode 112
Prick It, Twist It, Feck It (Slippery Situations week) - That Was Genius Episode 110
The Sound of Something Trapped in the Ice-Cream Truck (Farming week) - That Was Genius Episode 108
A Yurt-Juggling Sensation (Whacky Races week) - That Was Genius Episode 106
A 30-Year Genital Drawing Apprenticeship (Cartoons week) -That Was Genius Episode 104
A Little Claggy Lump of Independence (Small week) - That Was Genius Episode 102
That Was Genius EPISODE 100 - The Terrible Sperma of Terra Firma (100 week)
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