Consistently Eccentric History

By Joe Heathcote

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Category: History

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Episodes: 258

Description

The British Isles have thousands of years of history, so it's weird that all most people were taught at school was World War Two, how many wives Henry VIII had and that the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066 (always worth a try if you are trying to guess someones pin number).


If you've always wanted to learn about all the bits between these events, but only if it can be done in a random and eclectic manner why not try Consistently Eccentric History? A podcast where each week you can listen in while I tell one of my friends a story about a lesser known person or event in British history, the weirder and less believable the better. With an archive of over 150 episodes you will never again be short a weird historical fact when trying to impress others.


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Episode Date
The Assassination of Thomas Thynne - Marriage negotiations can be murder
May 31, 2026
Maurice Wilson - It is plane to see that climbing Everest is hard
May 17, 2026
James Barry - It women can't be doctors, then why not stop being a woman?
May 05, 2026
The Hammersmith Ghost - (or) A ghostly Georgian Blunder(buss)
May 03, 2026
Jeanne de Clisson - (or) Middle aged female piracy is the best kind of piracy
Apr 12, 2026
The British Union of Fascists (Oswald Mosley Part 3) - (or) How to get London to hate you
Mar 29, 2026
James Graham and his Celestial Bed - You don't need a degree to be a doctor of love (though you may need to be insane)
Mar 08, 2026
The Halifax Slasher - (or) should we be concerned about Yorkshire?
Feb 22, 2026
Charlotte Temple - (or) a cautionary tale for Valentine's day
Feb 08, 2026
Mosley in Parliament (Oswald Mosley Part 2) - The life and soul of multiple (political) parties
Feb 01, 2026
Mul-Sac John - Royalist Highwayman with sooty giblets
Jan 18, 2026
1726, a year of Crime! - (or) a merry tale of snick and snee.
Jan 11, 2026
John Elwes - A misrepresented Ebenezer Scrooge?
Dec 24, 2025
Oswald Mosley pre-politics (Oswald Mosley Part 1) - (or) how to ruin a right leg in four easy instalments
Dec 14, 2025
The History of British Theme Park Deaths (UNEDITED) - Proof that those of us who were teenagers in the 2000s were the most hardcore
Dec 07, 2025
Mary Kingsley - A victorian woman travelling alone? You better believe I AfriCAN!
Nov 30, 2025
The HMS Birkenhead disaster - Women and children (and horses) first!
Nov 23, 2025
The End of Port Royal (Port Royal Part 3) - An earth-shattering conclusion
Nov 16, 2025
Pirating with Royal Consent in Jamaica (Port Royal Part 2) - If you do it well enough we may even name a brand of Rum after you
Nov 09, 2025
How the English ended up in Jamaica (Port Royal Part 1) - (or) Puritans don't do well in the sun
Nov 02, 2025
Cleopatra's Needles - (or) the difficulties in managing rock-hard shafts
Oct 13, 2025
William Hacket - A cheap(side) version of a messiah
Oct 12, 2025
Big Daddy and the Fall of British Wrestling - (or) repetition to the MAX!
Oct 05, 2025
The Rise of British Wrestling - (or) you can't perform a cross buttock on TV
Sep 21, 2025
Robert Maudsley - More than a spoonful of punishment
Sep 14, 2025
The Night of the Big Wind - A significant blow to the housing stock of Ireland
Aug 31, 2025
The Freckleton Air Disaster - (or) Never underestimate the British weather
Aug 24, 2025
Elstow Abbey - (or) Nuns Gone Wild!
Aug 13, 2025
Wojtek the Bear - Do bears transport artillery shells in the woods?
Aug 10, 2025
Dr Robert Clements - (or) why marriage can be hazardous to your health
Jul 27, 2025
The Bargarran Witches - (or) you need to be Shaw before you start throwing accusations of witchcraft around
Jul 20, 2025
John St. John Long - (or) sketching out a medical career
Jul 16, 2025
Joseph Pocklington - Building a reputation (and a fort) in the Lake District
Jul 13, 2025
The consequences of Robert Clive - An abused membrum (Robert Clive Part Three)
Jul 06, 2025
Anna Atkins - Being a pioneer of photography can be fatiguing
Jun 29, 2025
Lottie Dod - (or) what does one do after their tennis career?
Jun 29, 2025
The Second Coming of Robert Clive - Trying to get out of a black hole (Robert Clive Part Two)
Jun 22, 2025
The Origins of Robert Clive - A love of fighting out of all measure (Robert Clive Part One)
Jun 15, 2025
Thomas Morton - Trying to get merry with the Puritans (and failing)
Jun 08, 2025
Margery Kempe - (or) a full and honest account of every time I wept
Jun 01, 2025
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester - I would do anything for love, but I won't fight a duel with a Bergundian Duke.
May 18, 2025
Margaret Damer Dawson - Recognising the police force could use a woman's touch
May 11, 2025
The Daphne Disaster - (or) a serious Scottish shipping snafu
May 04, 2025
Sir Thomas Sopwith - (or) flying through 100 years of aviation
Apr 20, 2025
Gerrard Winstanley - Digging the idea of communism
Apr 13, 2025
The many fires of the Theatre Royal - Bringing the house down (multiple times)
Apr 06, 2025
Robert Liston - He knows the quickest way to get you legless
Mar 30, 2025
Lilly Maxwell - It is always a Bright idea to use a vote when you are (accidentally) given one
Mar 23, 2025
Baron Spolasco - (or) proof you should always check your doctor's credentials
Mar 16, 2025
The Gentleman's Magazine 1756 - Why not have a butchers?
Mar 09, 2025
Robert Fortune - Was practically never home for tea
Mar 02, 2025
Dr John Donne - (or) I have Donne a lot more than just write a poem
Feb 26, 2025
Richard the Lionheart - Going on Crusades can be taxing
Feb 23, 2025
Jasper Maskelyne - Having a magical time in war (perhaps)
Feb 16, 2025
The Cadbury Brothers - Keeping it fancy since 1870
Feb 09, 2025
Sir Julius Caesar - (or) what do you mean the king needs to stick to a budget?
Feb 05, 2025
Barry Williams - Having neighbours isn't up everyone's street
Feb 02, 2025
Mother Shipton - How to make profit from a prophet
Jan 26, 2025
Dr Roderigo Lopez - Sex, spies and enemas in Elizabethan England
Jan 19, 2025
The Dublin and Gorbels Whiskey/Whisky floods - Another reason to consider a dry January
Jan 05, 2025
Hannah Snell - A life too fantastical to be true?
Dec 29, 2024
The Penlee Lifeboat Disaster - A coastal Christmas calamity in Cornwall
Dec 15, 2024
The Hong Kong Plague of 1894 - trading lives for profit in the Empire
Dec 08, 2024
Sabrina Sidney - (or) The story of a Georgian incel
Dec 01, 2024
Lady Marjory Allen of Hurtwood - The architect of many childhoods
Nov 24, 2024
The Rum Rebellion - Trying to say bye Bligh to authority in Australia
Nov 17, 2024
Adrian Carton de Wiart - (or) Eye would give my left hand for the British Army
Nov 10, 2024
BONUS EPISODE - Sir Richard Owen and the Walrus Enquiry
Nov 06, 2024
King Athelstan - (or) a series of convenient deaths
Nov 03, 2024
Dick Kerr Ladies - Kicking off during WWI
Oct 27, 2024
Black Sam Bellamy - Can a pirate also be a Goodie?
Oct 20, 2024
BONUS EPISODE - Was Jack the Ripper a Scouser?
Oct 06, 2024
James and Florence Maybrick - Arsenic makes the heart grow fonder?
Oct 06, 2024
Howard Carter and Tutankhamun - Do you dig 19 year old Egyptians?
Sep 29, 2024
The Croydon Poltergeist - (or) Weird things happen in the suburbs
Sep 22, 2024
More maybe-battles in England (Last Battle Part 2) - Everybody hates the Stuarts
Sep 15, 2024
BONUS EPISODE - The Marmite incident - (or) What we get up to before hitting the record button
Sep 15, 2024
The last battle on English soil (Last Battle Part 1) - (or) if a plane falls in the marsh, does it make a sound?
Sep 08, 2024
Elizabeth Branch - (or) you can't beat a good quality orphan
Sep 01, 2024
John Harington - Don't be too saucy , or Elizabeth I may decide to poop on you
Aug 25, 2024
The Flagstaff War - "It gets chopped down, they put it up again but the Maori gonna chop it down!"
Aug 11, 2024
Old Tom Morris - enjoying sollybodkins on the coast of Scotland
Jul 28, 2024
James Oglethorpe - Making the United States colonies a baker's dozen
Jul 14, 2024
The Manchester Mummy - It is a mistake to believe your doctor is whiter than white
Jul 07, 2024
The Belfast Blitz - (or) A Neighbour's neutrality does not neutralise Nazis
Jun 30, 2024
The 1908 Olympics - (or) let's make the marathon longer for the royals
Jun 23, 2024
More would-be assassins of Queen Victoria (part 2 of 2) - Blunt force and ignorance
Jun 16, 2024
Attempts to kill Queen Victoria (part 1 of 2) - Shooting for notoriety
Jun 02, 2024
Catherine Hayes - A red hot affair in Georgian England
May 17, 2024
The Queen Mum - From Victorian to Millennium and everything in between
May 10, 2024
Princess Caraboo - A Georgian tale of 'fake it 'til you make it'
Apr 26, 2024
John Evans - Claiming the wild west for the Welsh
Apr 19, 2024
Arthur English - Retiring in Canada involves a lot of hanging around
Apr 05, 2024
Hertha Ayrton - Breaking into a male dominated industry is a gas
Mar 29, 2024
Henry Cavendish - Who needs a social life when you have access to acid?
Mar 15, 2024
Sir George Somers - (or) You don't have to let a shipwreck get you down.
Mar 08, 2024
John Lethbridge - Barrels of laughs (and profit) under the seas
Mar 01, 2024
Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office - The only real Great Office of State in the UK
Feb 23, 2024
The Calendar Act of 1750 - Do you want to be accurate, or do you want to be English?
Feb 16, 2024
Elizabeth of York - It is hard to become a Queen when your uncle is a Dick
Feb 09, 2024
Edward 'Ned' Low - I fancy taking my grief out on sailors
Feb 02, 2024
Jonathan Martin - Absolutely mad about worshipping God in the right way
Jan 26, 2024
Isabella and Catherine of Valois - because every childhood should include marrying the King of England
Jan 20, 2024
Arthur Owens - I'm a narcissist and I'll spy if I want to
Jan 12, 2024
Robert Curthose - On a crusade to prove his claim to the English crown wasn't shit
Jan 05, 2024
The first official attempt to swim the Atlantic Ocean - a bonus conversation with Jack
Dec 29, 2023
A quick history of Christmas in England - of course it doesn't begin with the birth of Jesus, that would be too obvious
Dec 22, 2023
Cedric Allingham - (or) a hundred miles north of Dundee, I once stumbled upon ET
Dec 08, 2023
Kowloon Walled City - For tea? We will create anarchy!
Dec 01, 2023
Catherine of Braganza - If I give you tea will you stop accusing me of treason?
Nov 24, 2023
The London Beer Flood - (or) acts of God only apply if you are poor
Nov 17, 2023
The Patron Saints of the British Isles - (or) How Wales did it right
Nov 10, 2023
The Loch Line - Sailing against the winds of change (and all reason)
Nov 03, 2023
The Halifax Gibbet - Cutting your losses in Yorkshire in a very literal sense
Oct 27, 2023
Sir Patrick Moore - (or) Lie me to the moon
Oct 20, 2023
Sir Gilbert Heathcote - Tangential family history from London, New York and Derbyshire
Oct 13, 2023
Claude Grahame-White - Why build one plane when you can build dozens?
May 26, 2023
The colony of New Caladonia (Darien Part 2) - Wherein things start badly and it gets worse from there
May 05, 2023
William Paterson (Darien Part 1) - A man with a scheme
Apr 29, 2023
Edward Wightman - Burning with a passion for the Lord
Apr 14, 2023
The Invasion of Fishguard - Excusez-moi, où est Cardiff ?
Mar 31, 2023
John O Gaunt - With family like this, who needs enemies?
Mar 18, 2023
Peter Wildeblood - I'm coming out (due to a police investigation), I want the world to know.
Mar 03, 2023
Jack Whicher - On the Road to catching a murderer
Feb 17, 2023
Suffragettes - Or, why you will be able to vote in 11 years
Feb 03, 2023
Black Dogs of Britain - What is it with the Devil and bridges?
Jan 20, 2023
George Wombwell - A man who saw the natural world purely in terms of profit margins
Jan 06, 2023
Colonel Thomas Blood - All I want for Christmas is an extensive range of Irish estates
Dec 23, 2022
John Snow - The smell of that poo might knock you out, or will it?
Dec 16, 2022
Isabella Bird - It is a rocky road to freedom when you are a Victorian woman
Dec 09, 2022
Emperor Norton - Who says America should be a republic?
Dec 02, 2022
The Spanish Armada - Let's settle our religious differences... with full scale Naval warfare!
Nov 25, 2022
Borley Rectory - A ghost story full of Bull
Nov 18, 2022
Ulric Cross - How to be overqualified, no matter the job
Nov 11, 2022
A quick tour of Henry VIII's wives - Quantity is never a replacement for quality
Nov 04, 2022
The original Murder on a Train - You can't escape Tanner and Clarke!
Oct 28, 2022
A second helping of alphabet themed mini-stories (M-Y)
Oct 14, 2022
Eleventy First Alphabetical extravaganza! (A-L)
Oct 07, 2022
The Peasants Revolt - Because there is never a wrong time to teach a child to fight the power
Sep 30, 2022
Mr Cratwell and Stump-leg - willing to execute even the weirdest of commands
Sep 23, 2022
Elizabeth II - A bumper takeover episode, curated by HRH Oliver Green!
Sep 16, 2022
Boudica - For your seventh birthday? A lesson in mortality with a Celtic Queen.
Sep 09, 2022
Thomas Topham - Who needs to be nice when you can be super buff?
Sep 02, 2022
Explaining 1066 to a child - All history is weird the first time you hear it.
Aug 26, 2022
The Eureka Stockade - Prospecting is no fun without prospects
Aug 19, 2022
The Harrow and Wealdstone Disaster - At some point a train is just a 250 tonne battering ram
Aug 12, 2022
Daniel Mendoza - Fighting Jewish stereotypes (literally)
Aug 05, 2022
Septimius Severus - Ruling with an iron fist from North Africa to North Lanarkshire
Jul 29, 2022
William McGonagall - Because not every Scottish Poet can be Robert Burns
Jul 22, 2022
The Ghost of Cock Lane - Scratching the Georgian itch for the macabre
Jul 15, 2022
Madame Tussaud - Truth, like wax, can be quite malleable
Jul 08, 2022
The Eastbourne Manslaughter Case - (or) A Depressing History of Corporal Punishment in Schools
Jul 01, 2022
David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre - Never send a man to do a woman's job
Jun 24, 2022
Alexander Bain - It is never a good time to trust the English
Jun 17, 2022
Harold Cole - Always unfair in love and war
Jun 03, 2022
Two Philip Herberts - A multi-generational tale of violence and privilege
May 27, 2022
Emily Wilding Davison - Whipping up trouble for politicians is a full time job
May 20, 2022
Archibald Leitch - It takes a long time to build a reputation in football
May 13, 2022
Umrao Singh - A simple love story between a man and his gun
May 06, 2022
Bess of Hardwick - Building a legacy is easy when you can afford the best architects
Apr 29, 2022
The Eddystone Lighthouse - Built with the implied consent of the Sun (King)
Apr 22, 2022
Helen Duncan - Witch offence should we charge her with?
Apr 15, 2022
1396 Perth Battle Royale - Red hot Clan on Clan action, now by Royal decree
Apr 08, 2022
John Dee - Putting the 'D' in ADHD since 1527
Apr 01, 2022
William Burkitt - It can be Hull searching for true love
Mar 25, 2022
Jessie Jordan - I spy with my little eye... Military installations in Aldershot
Mar 18, 2022
A quick British pre-history - Land bridges, ice ages, bears, oh my!
Mar 11, 2022
Sweet FA - A darker joke from history than anything we have ever said on this podcast
Mar 04, 2022
Aubrey Beardsley - A Decadent who barely got two decades
Feb 25, 2022
John Tawell - Had women quaking in their boots
Feb 18, 2022
Hill 60 - Say it is mine, or I will make it mine... using mines!
Feb 11, 2022
Perce Blackborow - Stowaway to the stars
Feb 04, 2022
Whipping Tom and Pals - Historical misogynists were really fixated on bottoms
Jan 28, 2022
Countess Constance Markievicz - Troubleshooting issues in Ireland
Jan 21, 2022
The Creole Mutiny - A rare occasion when the British took on the role of 'good guys'
Jan 14, 2022
Louisa May Merrifield - Oh I do like to be beside the seaside (when committing crimes)
Jan 07, 2022
Black Agnes - I'm the Queen of the Castle, you're a dirty Earl of Salisbury
Dec 31, 2021
Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe - I'm dreaming of the whitest Christmas
Dec 24, 2021
Tom Bawcock - Let's see about getting you a lucky seven shall we?
Dec 17, 2021
Thomas Darling - How do I keep getting into these 'scapes?
Dec 10, 2021
Eadweard Muybridge - Don't listen to my lawyers, I am clearly sane.
Dec 03, 2021
The Anglo-Zanzibar War - Can we wrap this up? I have things to do this afternoon.
Nov 26, 2021
Spontaneous Human Combustion - (or) Liar, liar pants on fire.
Nov 19, 2021
Joseph Lister - Let's improve hospital care... WITH ACID
Nov 12, 2021
Gnaeus Julius Agricola - Brave (or foolish) enough to go to Scotland to pick a fight
Nov 05, 2021
Henry Every - A man who took the phrase 'riches of the sea' a bit too literally
Oct 29, 2021
Mary Toft - My wife won't stop rabbiting on!
Oct 22, 2021
The Red Barn - A story of Sussex and betrayal
Oct 15, 2021
The Career of William Calcraft - It's money for old rope really.
Oct 08, 2021
Thomas Overbury - You can stick your friendship right up your bottom
Oct 01, 2021
Sophia Dorothea - Play nice with your cousin or you will be grounded little lady.
Sep 24, 2021
William Brodie - A man who couldn't help cocking about
Sep 17, 2021
Andrew Watson - To be young, gifted and three quarters Scottish
Sep 10, 2021
Elsie Inglis - Improving Serbian-Scottish relations since 1914
Sep 03, 2021
John Cooke - Pure(itan) enough to honestly believe everyone was equal under the law
Aug 27, 2021
Brutus and Albina - Where there's a name there's a claim!
Aug 20, 2021
The assassination of Spencer Perceval - or; If only you had read the damn pamphlet!
Aug 13, 2021
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu - Variolation is the spice of life
Aug 06, 2021
James Billington - The original 'Excellence of Execution'
Jul 30, 2021
The Quakers vs York Asylum - Retreat can be the best form of attack
Jul 23, 2021
Flodden field part 2 - My cannon is bigger than your cannon
Jul 16, 2021
Flodden field part 1 - Hammering together an Auld Alliance
Jul 09, 2021
William Williams - Not willing to hang around in Cornwall but was fine to hang in the USA
Jul 02, 2021
The First Ascent of the Matterhorn - Who needs preparation when you are young, rich and English?
Jun 25, 2021
The Lewes Avalanche - A lot happens in this town so why not drop in?
Jun 18, 2021
Freya Stark - Who needs men? I have no right-ear!
Jun 11, 2021
John Punch - Surprise slavery in Virginia sadly surprises nobody
Jun 04, 2021
The Harris List - A Georgian guide that is good for chucking
May 28, 2021
Francis Galton - My intelligence is genetic but my mental breakdowns are always self-inflicted
May 21, 2021
The Great Heathen Horde - Even legless vikings can make a mark in the North East
May 14, 2021
Mary Ann Cotton - She makes me feel all weird in my tummy
May 07, 2021
The Great Sheffield flood - Don't use leather to build your dam
Apr 30, 2021
Dadabhai Nasroji - Assuming the best in politicians was a bold move
Apr 23, 2021
Necromancy with John of Nottingham and Roger Bolingbroke - Presented explicitly against the wishes of the Royal Family
Apr 16, 2021
Bartholomew Roberts - Roedd y Môr-leidr ffansi yn y byd yn Gymraeg, wyddoch chi
Apr 09, 2021
Thomas Neill Cream - A man who was definitely not Jack the Ripper
Apr 07, 2021
Unsinkable Sam - Hydrophilic Hairball Causes Havoc!
Apr 02, 2021
Jack Gladstone - The British can even make a tropical paradise depressing
Mar 26, 2021
Edward C Walker - Making friends with naked ambition
Mar 19, 2021
Paddy O'Sullivan - Are you sure a woman can be ungentlemanly?
Mar 12, 2021
Hengist and Horsa - Who says History needs facts?
Mar 05, 2021
John Rann - It's my way or the highway!
Feb 26, 2021
Yarmouth Bridge Disaster - What do you expect when it was designed by clowns?
Feb 19, 2021
Joseph Mortimer Granville - "We're just waiting for the hammer to fall (on our fun zones)"
Feb 12, 2021
George Plantagenet - A primer on how to how to avoid becoming a king
Feb 05, 2021
Lucy Maria Boston (with Ollie Green) - Life begins at (checks notes) 62?
Feb 03, 2021
Mary Seacole - You're in luck, I've just put the kettle on.
Jan 29, 2021
Lampleigh vs Braithwaite - I beg your pardon, I appear to have broken your servant.
Jan 22, 2021
Death and the Thames omnibus - Mostly liquid history.
Jan 20, 2021
Royce and Rolls - A workaholic a toff and a middle manager walk into car...
Jan 15, 2021
St. Scholastica Day Riot - Lazy students! All they ever do is wine and complain.
Jan 08, 2021
Caractacus - He couldn't make the Romans Caesar and desist.
Jan 01, 2021
Thief Taker General vs Honest Jack - Carpentry all just get along?
Dec 25, 2020
Sophia Duleep Singh - It is the lioness that you need to be afraid of
Dec 18, 2020
The Mexico Disaster - Let's go down the beach and get wrecked.
Dec 11, 2020
The Chubb Brothers - Who do you call when you need to lock up a Hulk?
Dec 04, 2020
John Franklin - Throw another shoe on the barbie!
Nov 27, 2020
Rupert Bear (Mutiny Edition part 2) - Guest starring frogs and Paul McCartney
Nov 24, 2020
Mary Tourtel (Mutiny Edition part 1) - A woman not afraid to bear all.
Nov 23, 2020
John Atherton - Ghosts can be a pain in the arse
Nov 20, 2020
Violet Jessop - I'm starting to get that sinking feeling.
Nov 13, 2020
William Davidson - If you want a revolution you need to at least organise me a dinner first.
Nov 06, 2020
Bedlam Hospital (a brief history) - You don't have to embezzle to work here, but it certainly helps!
Oct 30, 2020
The North Berwick Witch Trials - Sadly, everyone expects the Scottish inquisition.
Oct 23, 2020
Edward Jenner - "My milkmaids bring all the cures to the bar"
Oct 16, 2020
The Great Exhibition - Because we have to do something more spectacular than the French
Oct 09, 2020
Matilda and the Anarchy - Putting the 'civil' into civil war
Oct 02, 2020
The Black Joke - A tale of redemption starring an inanimate object.
Sep 25, 2020
Tyburn Tree Omnibus - We're just hanging around, doing a jig.
Sep 23, 2020
William Chaloner - You got to fake it... then just keep faking it.
Sep 18, 2020
Hubert Cecil Booth - A man who proved that sometimes it's a good thing when your ideas suck
Sep 11, 2020
The First FA Cup - Just make the rules up as you go.
Sep 04, 2020
Dorothy Lawrence - Sometimes the final 30 miles are the hardest.
Aug 28, 2020
Richard Grenville - Why did people keep giving this man access to boats?
Aug 21, 2020
Edward the Confessor - Part 3
Aug 07, 2020
Edward the Confessor - Part 2
Jul 31, 2020
Edward the Confessor - Part 1
Jul 26, 2020
What is Consistently Eccentric all about?
Jul 23, 2020