Friday Night Shots – History is Sexy – Podcast Recommendation

Just doing a quick post for Friday night because I am once again at a convention!

Yes, the second convention in three weeks! But after that, it’s a dry 3 months before the next one.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you fans of history an idea, something I discovered literally the weekend of Bottoscon Winter when I was looking for a new podcast to add to my feed for the 30 minute drives.

My major in college was History and I have always loved studying it, as you probably know.

But I haven’t found too many History podcasts that really appealed to me.

However, this one is a lot of fun and also very informative.

History is Sexy is a general history podcast hosted by Dr. Emma Southon and Janina Matthewson.

Every 2 weeks (roughly), you’ll get a fascinating podcast about some historical subject, everything from the Medici family in Italy (3 episodes of which the 3rd one isn’t out yet) to Imhotep (Ancient Egypt) to Carthage to “Why is Shakespeare called ‘The Bard’?”

And much more!

Dr. Southon has a PhD in Ancient History from the University of Birmingham and is definitely a fun person to listen to talk about all of these various subjects. She’s written 5 books and co-written another, and after listening to the podcast, I’ll have to check them out.

Janina, according to the web site, “is not a Dr and you cannot make her become one. She has a bachelor’s degree in farting around on stage, and is the author of Of Things Gone Astray, and the co-creator of Within the Wires.”

This is just an example of how fun and irreverent the podcast is.

This is also on their web site, and just made me laugh.

“The Radio Times described us as a sixth form history class where the kids have got the teacher wildly off topic and you know what? Yes.”

That was always my favourite part of my history classes!

If you have a question or topic you want to hear them talk about, you can submit it through their web site, and it seems like all of their episodes (or at least the ones I’ve listened to) have come from listener questions like that.

Obviously you’re not going to get a truly in-depth analysis of a subject in a 1-hour podcast like you would in a 600-page book, but they give you a good overview of the subject and what happened, and it’s definitely enough to spark interest if you want to read further on the topic.

It’s all told in an informative, yet hilarious manner that will keep you listening even to the driest subject that you may not have that much interest in otherwise.

However, if you don’t like salty language, I have to say 1) what the fuck is wrong with you? and 2) you probably shouldn’t listen to this podcast, because there are definitely a fair number of “fucks” in evidence.

Not an excessive amount, but a fair amount.

All that being said, I have never laughed as much at a history podcast I have listening to this one, and yet I also feel well-informed by it.

That’s a tricky balance, and I think they have nailed it.

I’ve even gone back and downloaded some of the older podcasts with subjects that I am truly interested in, but from this point forward, I will be listening to every one of them regardless of the subject.

If you like history but don’t like it dry, give History is Sexy a try.

And now, back to gaming!