No One Saw It Coming

Episodes

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  Fake names and forbidden love at sea 19.10.2026 25m

  In 1766, a "man" named Jean boarded a French naval ship as a botanist's valet. But Jean was hiding a secret. For years, that secret sailed around the world with them, until one day it was revealed that Jean was actually a woman and was sailing illegally. Dr Glynis Ridley (English Professor, University of Louisville, and Author, The Discovery of Jeanne Baret) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of Jeanne Baret; the first woman to circumnavigate the globe and her huge botanical legacy that history almost forgot.    Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  Jon Ronson, the Manosphere and a Castle 12.10.2026 25m

  A castle sits in the streets of American suburbia and from the outside it looks bizarre. But what’s on the inside is even weirder...  A dog named Cerberus, a basement nightclub with poles and cages, and a room full of princess costumes.  Jon Ronson (Author, The Castle) speaks to Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about what he found when he went looking for the man inside the castle, and what unravelled from there: a peep inside the manosphere and the men who are either lashing out, shutting down or building fantasy kingdoms of their own.  So how did we get here, and did anyone see it coming?      Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] 
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  Australia's secret slave trade 05.10.2026

  From the mid-1800s, more than 62,000 Pacific Islanders were kidnapped, tricked or coerced into labour on Queensland's sugar and cotton plantations. Ryan Butta (Author, Blackbirding) and Emelda Davis, whose grandfather was taken from Vanuatu as a boy, tell Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) how Australia avoided the word "slavery" by disguising the trade in euphemism.  It was called 'blackbirding' and it came to an end thanks to what is arguably the most racist piece of Australian legislation.   Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]  
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  The Pastry War: Half-baked diplomacy 28.09.2026 25m

  A ransacked bakery. A wildly inflated bill. A demand so absurd it should have been laughed out of the room. Instead it triggered warships.  In 1838, France used a pastry chef's grievance to justify a blockade, a siege, and an assault on Mexico. But was the baker's claim ever really the reason? Or just the excuse the French government had been waiting for?  Food historian and author Seren Charrington-Hollins tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about how a bakery grievance and unpaid debts led to a war that history barely remembers by its real name.    This is the fourth and final episode in the special series This Stupid War. Listen to the full series in the No One Saw It Coming podcast feed on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] 
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  The Pig War: Hogging the border 21.09.2026 25m

  A pig trots over an invisible border, wandering into a potato farmer's garden. It's not the first time it's trespassed but it is the last.  The farmer takes his gun off the wall and shoots it dead. But what he doesn't realise was that by pulling that trigger, he set off one of the tensest military stand-offs in history.  Mike Vouri (former Historian for San Juan Island National Historic Park) takes Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) to San Juan Island where the US and Great Britain came dangerously close to war... all over a pig.   This is the third episode in the special series This Stupid War. Listen to the full series in the No One Saw It Coming podcast feed on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]  
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  The mythical football war 14.09.2026 25m

  It’s called The Football War and raged for just 100 hours. It’s a catchy name for a conflict supposedly sparked by a World Cup qualifier game.  But behind the catchy title, and away from the football pitch lies a deeper, darker history about politics, poverty, power and a war that claimed thousands of lives. Fionntan O’Hara from the London School of Economics tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of how the battle on the pitch became a real war between El Salvador and Honduras and what led up to that football game.     This is the second episode in the special series This Stupid War. Listen to the full series in the No One Saw It Coming podcast feed on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.   Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  Birds 1 - Humans 0 07.09.2026 25m

  In 1932 Australia sent soldiers with machine guns to stop 20,000 emus rampaging through wheat fields.  What followed was a national embarrassment and earned the emus a reputation as the victors of one of history's strangest wars. Associate Professor Ruth Morgan (Environmental historian, Australian National University) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the wild story of the Emu War: what happens when a country goes to war with a flightless bird but realises the true enemy is something much larger and more formidable...    This is the first episode in the special series This Stupid War. Listen to the full series in the No One Saw It Coming podcast feed on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.   Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  The man who gave the gods new faces 31.08.2026 25m

  Their faces are everywhere: on calendars, incense packets, and soap packaging. But how did the Hindu deities' faces go beyond temples and shrines?  In nineteenth-century India, Ravi Varma dared to paint the gods in a way no one had before. What followed was a cultural revolution that carried his vision into homes across India and around the world. Tarun Nagesh, Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery, tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of how one man gave Hindu gods their modern faces.    Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  What really happened at Pompeii? 24.08.2026 25m

  You think you know Pompeii. A city wiped out. People frozen in time. A disaster that stopped time. But how much of that story is actually true? Ancient historian and writer Dr Jess Venner (The Lost Voices of Pompeii) sits down with Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) to blow away centuries of misconceptions, bust myths surrounding one of history's most famous disasters, and bring to life the everyday people lost in the story of Pompeii and its final moments.    Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  Titanic mistakes sunk a black empire 17.08.2026 25m

  Marcus Garvey is known as a civil rights activist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement. But there’s a part of his story you may not know about.  Social historian Darrel Blake tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the lesser known chapter in Marcus Garvey’s life - about how he established a shipping company but ended up creating a symbol of black liberation and empowerment, but not before condemning his reputation, being called a fraud and sabotaging a black empire.  Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  The prince, the liar, and the race to save cars 10.08.2026 25m

  Imagine driving from Beijing, through the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, and across Russia into Europe. The roads are terrible, you don't have petrol stations and you have pack animals carrying supplies. Oh, and it's a race so step on it. In 1907 this was the challenge set by a French newspaper. A race around the world to prove the automobile was not some fad technology.  Kassia St Clair, cultural historian and author (The Race To The Future) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the wild story about a race around the world that put lives and technology on the line and got mostly forgotten about since.      Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  The suit that sparked a riot 03.08.2026 26m

  What do you get when you combine fashion, race and a world war?  From the jazz clubs and dance halls of the 1940s to an infamous city riot in Los Angeles, the zoot suit was made to draw attention. But sometimes, that wasn't such a good thing. Monica L. Miller (Chair and Professor of Africana Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of the zoot suit; how it put a target on its wearer's back and how it's evolved to this day.    Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]  
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  Richard Fidler: The lie that toppled a regime 27.07.2026 25m

  A well-placed lie can bring down a whole government. Hard to believe, but in Prague in 1989 that’s exactly what happened. In amongst a heaving student protest, a body was carried away. That body became a flashpoint for Czechoslovakians to say enough is enough, and call for the end of the communist regime. But who was that dead person, really?  Richard Fidler (Host, Conversations, Author, The Golden Maze) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) an epic tale set in a magical city full of twists and turns where you'll have to sort truth from lies.      Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]  
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  Escaped the Nazis and lost by Australia 20.07.2026 25m

  She stands tall with her head tilted towards you. She’s wearing an incredible gown made of the most beautiful fabric. This is a society woman living in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century.  But she will see things that will shock and disturb her. Her world will be turned upside down, and she’ll travel to the other side of the world to keep her family safe, only to be rejected by one of Australia's most important institutions. Cultural historian and curator Professor Tim Bonyhady (Author, Good Living Street) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the epic family tale behind this artwork that was smuggled out amid war and destruction, and came to reside in Sydney in an apartment full of treasures.   Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  The queen behind the witch hunts 13.07.2026 25m

  In the late 1500s a man sails across the North Sea. He’s battered by wind and wave. The sea seems angry, almost furious at him. He thinks it must be more than just a bad storm. It must be supernatural.  This man is James VI, the King of Scotland and son of Queen Mary of Scots. The tempest instils in him a paranoia and hatred that sparks one of the earliest witch trials in British history.  Author Kate Forsyth (The Changeling) sits down with Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) and tells him how the epic tale of the Scottish witch hunts began with a coerced queen’s signature that set into motion a reign of terror that continued for over a century and still reaches into our lives today.   Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  An 11-year-old sent us on a mission... 06.07.2026 25m

  Getting a letter these days is pretty special, especially when it’s from an 11-year-old listener. Ellie wrote us a letter asking about the nursery rhyme Ring a Ring o' Roses, wondering if it really is about the plague.  Amelia Huw Morgan, Senior lecturer in illustration in Cardiff School of Art and Design, sits down with Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) to explain the deeper story behind the nursery rhyme, how it came to be connected to the plague and the woman who made the nursery rhyme popular with children and families for generations.    Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]  
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  The secret Aussie plant that saved D-Day 29.06.2026 25m

  D-Day was the biggest land and water invasion in history and would go on to be a huge turning point in WWII. And it all depended on a plant. Specifically a leaf from a tree that grows on the east coast of Australia, that would treat seasick soldiers and allow them to fight. Dr Chris Kavelin joins Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) to tell the incredible, and little known, story of how Indigenous Australian knowledge would shape WWII and make sure D-Day actually happened.    Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]  
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  Grapefruits vs Apartheid 22.06.2026 25m

  In a Dublin supermarket in 1984, a young woman makes a split-second decision.  She refuses to sell two grapefruits. Her job is on the line, and there’s a recession raging across the country. But she’s doing it for the human rights of people thousands of kilometres away, that she’s never even met.  Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) is joined by Mary Manning to hear the story of how a union strike took her on a wild and unforgettable adventure, where she ended up meeting world icons and changing the law.    Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  History’s favourite sex toys 15.06.2026 25m

  *CONTENT WARNING* This episode explores mature themes such as sex and masturbation. When the wooden object was unearthed, the archaeologists were stumped. What was this thing? It looked like a club and was found among bits of cloth so they thought it was a darning tool. But it was another kind of tool. One that would raise eyebrows and cause some people to blush. Sex historian Dr Kate Lister (Flick: The Story of Female Pleasure) charts the history of female pleasure with Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole), unearthing sex toys from archaeological digs to nunneries.   Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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  The houseplant that changed the British Empire 08.06.2026 25m

  On the face of it, it’s just a box. It has wooden slats, a peaked roof and glass panels. But inside this box is something that will breathe, grow, and impact lives around the world, for better or worse.  Dr Luke Keogh (author, The Wardian Case: How a Simple Box Moved Plants and Changed the World) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of how a box designed to grow plants became a tool for imperial horticulture and rewrote the future of the British Empire.      Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]