Show Notes
Rhys and Jesse dive into the surreal and surprisingly inspiring story of Count Binface, the intergalactic space warrior with a bin for a head who keeps showing up on UK ballot papers. Starting from the obscure 1984 sci‑fi film Hyperspace and the original character Lord Buckethead, they trace how a low‑budget movie villain evolved into a viral political figure who has stood against multiple UK prime ministers and, most recently, Nigel Farage.
Along the way, they unpack the darker side of UK politics—anti‑immigrant sentiment, media manipulation, and shady political donations—contrasted with the joyful absurdity of a “joke candidate” who ends up uniting voters, humiliating extremists, and actually outperforming some serious far‑right parties at the polls. For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail or message us go to canadaisboring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Canada is Boring
For Halloween, we head to Huron County, Ontario, to tell the story of Margaret “Maggie” Pollock, a local woman who said she could communicate with spirits and help people find lost things. In 1919, after a man asked her to locate missing oats, Pollock was charged under a Canadian law against fortune-telling and pretending to use occult powers—a law that remained on the books until 2018.Along the way, we discuss whether we believe in ghosts, what makes a horror movie scary, and why audiences connect with characters’ reactions as much as the monsters on screen. Plus: spooky-season banter, a Halloween movie chat, and a teaser for next episode’s poltergeist story. For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail or message us go to canadaisboring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys Waters and Jesse uncover the strange true story of John Mark Tillman, an affluent Fall River, Nova Scotia man who stole historical artifacts from universities, museums, libraries, and private collections across Atlantic Canada.
A mysterious Toronto murder, a disputed confession, and a trial that captivated the city, welcome back to Canada Is Boring for part two of the Parkdale murder mystery.
On October 6, 1894, 18-year-old Frank Westwood answered the door of his family's Toronto mansion, Lakeside Hall in Parkdale. Someone standing outside shot him through the gap left by the door chain. In part one of this two-part Victorian true crime story on Canada Is Boring, Rhys Waters takes Jesse Harley through the Parkdale Mystery, the Toronto murder that caused a newspaper frenzy in 1890s Canada. Before Frank died of his stomach wound, he described the gunman as a man in dark clothes with a thin mustache. The only name he gave police was Gus Clark, a "stone hooker" his family had chased off their shoreline for digging out shale. We cover the crowded funeral and the chaotic inquest. We meet amateur sleuth W. H. Hornberry, whom the papers mocked as "Parkdale's Sherlock Holmes." We also look at how newspapers begged Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to solve the case. Then there's the Listowel Horror, the murder of 13-year-old Jessie Keith, which set off rumours that Jack the Ripper had moved to Canada. Part one ends on a cliffhanger: police arrest a surprising new suspect, a 32-year-old woman.