Everything Is Awful Forever

The New Year is here, and everything's gone to Bedlam. Join Jess and Philippa this week as we look at the beginnings of this infamous asylum, which would be founded in the thirteenth century and, ove…

This week, Jess and Philippa encourage you to make Great Britain great again with cannibal pre-Christmas feasts, druidic sacrifices, wode paint, and generalised screaming. Also, some great hair tips.…

It's Monday and the madness continues with medieval madnessess of melancholy and mania. Also, we can't stop alliterating, please send help. 

This week, Jess and Philippa look at how medieval Christian…

Now that December is upon us, Jess and Philippa anticipate your New Year's resolutions of health, wealth, and happiness by giving you a couple of wellbeing tips. 99% of doctors agree that 90 day fast…

This week, Jess and Philippa's Ship of Fools embarks upon the sea of madness. Join us in this introductory episode to historical perspectives on insanity. What behaviours crossed the line? What cause…

This week, listen to Jess go mad with power as she and Philippa explore medieval feudalism through the lens of a Choose Your Own Adventure, dystopia style.

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This week, Jess and Philippa go back to 1845 to look at the Great Hunger and England's response to a starving nation. 

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What's that rapping on your window? That shadow on the wall? Only Jess and Philippa who can't let go of Halloween and want to look at one more monster before the Christmas wave hits us. This week we …

A violent murder. A locked house that no assailant could have left. A ghoulish presence in a house that should be empty. Who or what killed Philip Peters? And what's that looming over your shoulder r…

This week we explore the true meaning of checking oneself before wrecking oneself. The loss of the French frigate, the Medusa, was caused by gross negligence and incompetence, and resulted in the cru…

Halloween is drawing near, and it's time for a little historical horror. This week, Jess and Philippa look at the how do's and who do's of voodoo, and how it's not too bad if you're open to a zombie …

We've discussed cannibalism before (S1E4) but our stomaches are still growling. Join Jess and Philippa for a second course of culinary culture. This week, we look at ritual cannibalism and the differ…

How have we survived as a species? I don't just mean in the sense that we've been awful forever, but how we actually come into this world. Childbirth was the most dangerous and harrowing thing in wom…

Turns out the archetypal femme fatale - lying and manipulating hapless men into their black widow spun webs of duplicitousness - is absolutely true...at least for these confidence lasses. This week t…

Have you ever ended up with more national monuments than you have space in your living room and therefore need to sell on eBay? Got a magical country surprisingly in need of wealthy citizens? Neither…

Last episode, we looked at the connections between women and Satan. This week, it's time to look at what Rush Limbaugh oh so wittily refers to as witches with a "B". And how do women take control of …

Evil deceiver or Romantic individualist? A monster of shifting boundaries or a cosmic force that transcends duality? This week, Jess and Philippa look at one of history's most enigmatic figures: Sata…

In our last episode, we looked at the beauty regimes of the upper classes. But what if you don't have an infinite supply of arsenic bath bombs? Or a bath? Or easy access to water? Jess and Philippa w…

Water is dangerous - and nowhere more so than in the bath. In a world dominated by the great unwashed - the putrid proletariat - the upper classes fought to preserve a modicum of decency while fendin…

Was one atrocious failure of an expedition not enough? Want to hear about another wannabe explorer who set out into brutal conditions woefully unprepared in order to beat a more experienced explorer …