Ooh er matron, it's nurses week!
Sam kicks us off with the tale of WW1 best mates, motorbike daredevils and fearless first-aiders Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm, whose bravery in setting up an independent nursing station just metres from the trenches near Ypres earned them fame, medals and more.
Next, after a light-hearted start, Tom takes us on a rare serious trip to the Bangka Island massacre of 1942, and Australian nurse Vivian Bullwinkel. Vivian was one of just a few survivors of a Japanese massacre after she, several dozen other nurses and civilians, and a few soldiers were shipwrecked. She went on to spend the war helping troops in a POW camp, and lived a completely normal life after WW2, never talking about at least some of the other horrors she endured. An amazing story, but not one for the faint-hearted!
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Welcome to That Was Genius: Two blokes. 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 and used to live in New Zealand but is now in the UK as well), 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.
We upload new episodes every Wednesday night/Thursday morning (UK time).
Become a Member of the Order of the Bathroom and join our Patreon for access to all episodes, special songs, medals and more amazing perks! https://www.patreon.com/thatwasgenius
Check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and via our website, and please do subscribe to us and leave us a review if you like what you hear!
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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