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History"s Greatest Idiots

History"s Greatest Idiots

A weekly comedy history podcast covering the socio-political disasters, bad decisions, and failures that shaped the modern world. Every week, Lev asks the question nobody in the history books thought to ask: how did things get this bad, and who let it happen? From the housing crisis and the decline in living standards over the last decade, to the history of outrage and why politicians never know when to leave, this is history told with the bluntness it deserves. New episodes every week.

comedy comedy interviews

All Episodes

02:18:06

Real Mad Scientists From History (Season 7 Episode 23)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/10/04

Two mad scientists: one transplanted goat glands into prisoners, the other may have eaten a king's heart. These men discarded the rules of society in pursuit of their own insane goals.In this Greatest Hits episode of History's Greatest Idiots, we revisit two of the strangest careers in the history of science.Dr Leo Stanley spent nearly four decades as chief surgeon at San Quentin State Prison, where he performed more than 10,000 gland implants using material from goats, rams, boars, deer and

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00:15:07

A Brief History of the End of the World (Season 7...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/09/27

Every generation since the turn of the 20th Century has believed the world was ending due to all-out war. This one's no different.Danish intelligence says Russia could attack NATO within months. Drones keep turning up over airbases in Poland. Putin talks peace while calling Ukraine's own defense "state terrorism." It's easy to feel like we're on the brink, so this episode asks whether we actually are, or whether "the end is near" has just always been the loudest

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00:18:27

The Real AI Problem Nobody's Talking About: The Three...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/09/20

While headlines about economic collapse, environmental destruction, and the end of humanity are grabbing attention around the world, a much more immediate issue is set to stop AI in its tracks.Aspects of the development of the AI industry are so misaligned that they can't possible be put right in their current form. And the speed with which they are pulling away from each other should be one of the biggest news stories in the world right now (but, as usual, nobody seems to be paying attention to the

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00:18:11

A Brief History Of Strongman Politics (Season 7...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/09/13

Every generation gets its own strongman politician. Every generation gets to watch them fail. Here's why Strongman Politics never works.From Julius Caesar and Mussolini meeting their demise in the Roman Senate and the gates of a lakeside house respectively, to Berlusconi losing power three times and still dying a senator, Bolsonaro's 27-year prison sentence for an attempted coup, and Nigel Farage being filmed on hidden camera discussing how to funnel foreign money into Reform UK , this is

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02:12:29

Wales' Greatest Idiots (Season 7 Episode 19)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/09/07

A dancing marquess who blew through approximately £70 million in today's money in six years, and a miner's grandson who took cash from a Harrods billionaire to ask questions in Parliament. Wales has produced some characters.This Greatest Hits special revisits Henry Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey (the Dancing Marquess who converted his family chapel into a theatre, spent everything he had being magnificently, defiantly himself, and died broke and tubercular in Monte Carlo at 29), and

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00:17:22

Andy Warhol: Art, Fame, And Tragedy (Season 7 Episode...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/08/30

Andy Warhol said there was nothing behind the surface. The CIA, Valerie Solanas, and John Lennon all disagreed.Born in a two-room shack in Pittsburgh to Slovakian immigrants, Andy Warhol became the most famous and influential artist of the twentieth century. He invented Pop Art, redefined celebrity, predicted social media before the internet existed, and coined the phrase "fifteen minutes of fame" before anyone knew what to do with it. From Campbell's Soup Cans and the Factory to managing the Velvet

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00:17:58

Every Economic Bubble Ever (Almost) - Season 7...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/08/23

Every generation finds something new to bet everything on. Then they act surprised when it stops working.From Dutch tulip mania and England's South Sea Bubble to Spain's silver empire, the Amazon rubber barons, Nauru mining its entire island into a moonscape for fossilised bird poo, Iceland's banks collapsing within a week in 2008, and the $725 billion being spent on AI infrastructure against $12 billion in consumer revenue, this is the complete(ish) history of economic bubbles and the

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03:40:18

The Worst Presidents Ever? (Season 7 Episode 16)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/08/16

A man who sleep-walked America into the Civil War, a president whose administration was so corrupt his own Attorney General went to prison, and the commander-in-chief who escalated Vietnam while privately admitting it was unwinnable. History's Greatest Idiots is taking a well-earned break, and leaving you with three of the worst presidents America ever produced to keep you company.This 3.5-hour Greatest Hits special revisits James Buchanan (ranked the worst president in US history by multiple

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00:16:11

Can Social Media Be Saved? (Season 7 Episode 15)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/08/09

The platforms that were supposed to connect us have spent twenty years getting progressively worse at it. Something has to give.From X (Twitter) losing half its advertising revenue since Elon Musk's takeover, to Facebook becoming irrelevant to anyone under 35, TikTok being sold to a Trump donor, and governments across the world finally moving to regulate social media, this is the complete picture of where social media stands in 2026. We also look at what's coming next: Myspace's surprise

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05:01:15

The People Who Built Our Dystopia (Vacation Special)...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/08/02

A futurist who designed the car-dependent world we're all trapped in, an economist who deregulated Wall Street and helped cause the 2008 crash, and the CEO of Spotify who pays artists $0.003 per stream. Meet the people who built our dystopia.This five-hour vacation special revisits Norman Bel Geddes (the industrial designer whose 1939 World's Fair vision of highways and suburbs became reality), Larry Summers (Treasury Secretary, Harvard president, and architect of the financial deregulation

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00:16:40

A Brief History Of Masculinity (Season 7 Episode 13)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/07/26

Alexander the Great conquered the known world. Rock Hudson was Hollywood's perfect leading man. The manosphere would have disowned both of them.From Alexander's relationship with Hephaestion and Rock Hudson's closeted double life, to the Tate brothers' arrest in Miami and the alt-right pipeline connecting the manosphere to Christian nationalism, this is the brief history of masculinity, and why the men held up as its greatest examples never actually fit into the narrow definition of

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00:17:03

A Brief History Of War As A Distraction (Season 7...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/07/19

Leaders have been starting wars to distract from scandals since ancient Rome. The only thing that's changed is the technology.From Juvenal's bread and circuses and Napoleon III's catastrophic Franco-Prussian gamble, to the USS Maine, Thatcher and the Falklands, Clinton's "Wag the Dog" moment in 1998, and Trump striking Iran four days after impeachment, this is the complete history of leaders who've used military conflict to make their domestic problems disappear. We

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00:14:52

A Brief History of Clinging to Power (Season 7...

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/07/12

Mitch McConnell has been in hospital for three weeks. His office hasn't said why. This has happened before. Many times.From ancient Rome and Churchill's secret stroke in 1953, to Biden's very public deterioration on live television in 2024, this is the complete history of politicians who refused to leave, and the systems that helped them hide it. We also look at Robert Byrd, the West Virginia senator who went from a terrible person to civil rights advocate across a fifty-year career, and whether a

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00:21:12

Why Can't Anyone Find A Job? (Season 7 Episode 10)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/07/05

The job market is broken. Here are all the things that broke it.From the post-Covid wage squeeze and AI replacing entry-level workers to the white collar recession nobody officially declared, LinkedIn's 11,000 applications per minute, and the applicant tracking systems quietly binning your CV before a human ever reads it, this is the complete history of why nobody can find a job.We cover graduate unemployment, youth unemployment hitting its highest level since 2015, ghost jobs, the Great

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00:55:29

Heatwave Compilation Special (Season 7 Episode 9)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/06/28

Due to the extreme heat the UK is currently experiencing (topping out at around 102 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, 90 degrees at night, and 95% humidity), the lack of air-conditioning, my house being built to retain heat, and my pre-existing health condition (Crohn's Disease), I have decided to create a special compilation episode this week.I will be back to my normal schedule next week with an episode focusing on why it feels like nobody can get a job (cheerful, I know).Until then, enjoy

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00:20:41

A Brief History Of FIFA Scandals (Season 7 Episode 8)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/06/21

FIFA has been corrupt since before colour television. And the World Cup is proof.From the ISL bribery scandal and Sepp Blatter's seven arrested executives to Qatar's migrant worker nightmare and Gianni Infantino's increasingly bizarre relationship with Donald Trump, this is the complete history of football's governing body and the corruption that has defined it for over a century. We cover the Havelange years, the 2015 FBI raids, the Saudi Arabia 2034 decision, and why

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00:16:50

The Slow Death Of Quality (Season 7 Episode 7)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/06/14

Your chocolate bar got smaller. Your streaming service started showing adverts. Your phone slowly turned itself into something worse. There's a word for this now.This episode traces the history of Enshittification, from medieval bakers shaving weight off loaves to Toblerone quietly widening the gaps between its peaks in 2016, and the Kraft Heinz boss who told the world to get used to paying more for food just as the cost of living crisis began to bite.We then dig into how Big Tech does the same

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00:17:33

A Brief History Of Lying (Season 7 Episode 6)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/06/08

Trust in institutions is at a historic low. Turns out there are about sixty years of very good reasons for that.From Watergate and Thatcher decimating mining communities, through the cash for questions scandals of the 1990s, Iran-Contra, the fabricated case for the Iraq War, and a British Post Office scandal that ruined the lives of hundreds of people, this is a brief history of how governments, politicians, businesses, and institutions systematically destroyed the trust of the people they were

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00:22:20

Every Housing Crisis Ever (Almost) (Season 7 Episode 5)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/05/31

Rents in Rome were unaffordable in 164 BCE. We've had 2,000 years to fix the housing crisis. Here's why we haven't.From ancient Roman insulae and the Great Fire of London to Hoovervilles, Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy scheme, the 2008 financial crash, and BlackRock, this is the complete history of the housing crisis.We cover the Welsh second homes scandal, Barcelona's tourist backlash, why the richest generation in history can't afford to buy, and the solutions that

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00:19:26

A Brief History Of Outrage (Season 7 Episode 4)

History"s Greatest Idiots ·

2026/05/24

Your outrage is worth a fortune. Just not to you.From a 3,800-year-old complaint tablet in ancient Mesopotamia to cancel culture, Tommy Robinson and Donald Trump, this is the full history of outrage: who manufactures it, who profits from it, and who is laughing all the way to the bank.We cover Roman emperors, the medieval pillory, the tabloid press, Jon Ronson's "So You've Been Publicly Shamed," the small boats panic (with the actual statistics), and why the richest 1% own more

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179 results

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