Show Notes
Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell present the not-so-serious podcast unravelling fascinating and down-right bizarre historical events.
New Episode! For much of the 20th century the Catholic establishment had a stranglehold over Ireland’s morality and used it to deny Irish women basic rights such as contraception, divorce and abortion. When a series of scandals stripped away the hypocrisy of the church, the women of the country took their chance to stand up against the patriarchy and were finally able to win basic human rights – and even win the presidency.
This is a real-life story of hope, sacrifice and the power of Irish women.
Get all episodes a week early and ad-free – when you support We Are History on Patreon: https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory
“Ireland wasn’t oppressed by the Catholic church with nuns wielding batons and water canons…the only torture was the really long sermons.” – Angela Barnes
“When the Church tells you what you have to do, it always ends well.” – John O’Farrell
“John explains feminism to me, part 723!” – Angela Barnes
“Erm, so if I could just talk over you, about this feminism…” – John O’Farrell
Reading list: We Don’t Know Ourselves by Fintan O’Toole. Ireland – the autobiography. A collection of essays and articles edited by John Bowman
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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from We Are History
How a handful of landmark events and reforms suddenly shook off the hypocrisy, censorship and repression that had plagued Great Britain since Victorian times. (Available in Northern Ireland several decades later) We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Production by Simon Williams. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How travelling quacks and snobby doctors held back dentistry for centuries, while millions endured the agony of toothache and wondered why ‘smoking out the tooth worms’ didn’t seem to be working. Reading List: An Excruciating History of Dentistry by James Wynbrand Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Production by Simon Williams. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week Angela drags John around the shops of Britain for about 200 years as we take a look at the history of how we shop. We look at why shopping moved out of town centres and ask the important questions like “Does Selfridges sell fridges?” Reading: Back to the Shops: The High Street in History and the Future by Rachel Bowlby We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Production by Simon Williams. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How the IRA came very close to killing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the British Cabinet and triggered a massive manhunt for that world famous crime fighting agency, the Sussex County Constabulary. Reading List: Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll Buy Killing Thatcher through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund [name of podcast] by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Production by Simon Williams. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production
This week Angela tricks John into learning about the history of April Fool’s Day. Where did it originate? Why do we do practical jokes on people we are supposed to love? Fom the Swiss spaghetti harvest to the Black Cliffs of Dover, we look at some of the best April Fool’s Day pranks across the centuries. And this episode is brought to you in smellovision, so don’t forget to scratch your screen to get the accompanying aromas. Gotcha! Reading List: Practically Joking by Moira Marsh https://hoaxes.org/af_database Support We Are History on Patreon and get exclusive benefits including bonus episodes, mugs and more! We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Production by Simon Williams. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices