Honourable Mentions: Hilarious History
Join two brothers for a hilarious dive into the untold stories of history's most obscure figures. Honourable Mentions: Hilarious History unearths the hidden tales your teachers forgot to mention—If you love a good laugh with a bit of sibling rivalry, and learning about remarkable everyday people who did extraordinary things, subscribe for your weekly dose of banter and historical deep dives. It’s the history podcast where the underdogs finally get their due.
Episodes
31 episodes
Who was Roland Garros? (and no - he wasn't a tennis player)
Wait... What? Roland Garros wasn’t a tennis player?! 🤯 If you think the French Open is named after a legendary clay-court champion, prepare to have your mind blown. In this episode, we dive into the wild, hilarious, and true histor...
Attacked by a Shark, then Mauled by Lions: The Unreal Story of John Doyle.
Imagine surviving a Great White Shark attack, dragging your bleeding body to shore, and thinking the worst is over—only to be intercepted and mauled by a pride of lions on your way to safety. In this episode, we unpack the jaw-drop...
Douglas Hegdahl: The Incredibly Stupid Hero of the Vietnam War
How did a young sailor from South Dakota become the ultimate "secret weapon" in the Hanoi Hilton? In this episode, we dive into the legendary story of Douglas Hegdahl, the U.S. Navy apprentice seaman who fell overboard and ended up a prisoner...
Eating The Zoo: William Buckland and the Birth of Dinosaurs
Did you know the man who named the very first dinosaur also tried to eat every animal in the world?Welcome to the utterly chaotic world of William Buckland—the 19th-century theologian, pioneering geologist, and the official father of paleon...
Seconds From Nuclear War: How Vasily Arkhipov Saved the World
In October 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the world edged closer to the brink of total annihilation than ever before or since. In this episode, we explore the heroism of Vasily Arkhipov, the Soviet naval officer who stood alo...
A Wing and a Prayer: The Flight of Elmer of Malmesbury
In 1010 AD, a Benedictine monk strapped wings to his hands and feet and leaped from the tower of Malmesbury Abbey. He didn’t just make history; he broke both his legs and became a legend.Join us as we peel back the historical layers...
Admiral Yi Sun-sin: From the Miracle at Myeongnyang to His Final Stand
After being stripped of his rank and tortured, Admiral Yi Sun-sin returned to a decimated navy with only 13 ships remaining.We break down:The Miracle at Myeongnyang: How Yi used the treacherous currents of the Myeongnyang Strai...
Admiral Yi Sun-sin: His Early Career and the Making of a Legend
Before he was the 'God of the Sea' who never lost a battle, Yi Sun-sin was a man of unwavering principle facing a corrupt bureaucracy.In this first part of a two episode tale, we go beyond the famous ironclad Turtle Ships and the Battle ...
First Blood: Jure Grando and the birth of the Vampire (an Honourable Mentions and Boo Foons Mystery Investigators special episode)
In 1672, deep in the village of Kringa, Istria, a man died... and then things got weird. For 16 years, Jure Grando terrorized his widow and the townspeople, leading to the first official "vampire" record in European history.In this speci...
Eben Byers: The Millionaire Dissolved in Liquid Sunshine
In 1932, a headline in the Wall Street Journal shocked the world: "The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off." This is the gruesome and tragic true story of Eben Byers, a wealthy industrialist, socialite, and golf champion who became ...
Stagecoach Mary: The Badass Black Postal Worker Who Ruled the Wild West
Meet Mary Fields—better known as Stagecoach Mary—the first African American woman to work for the U.S. Postal Service, and arguably the toughest person in 1890s Montana.Standing 6 feet tall, packing a revolver under her apron, and never tu...
The History of Hawaiian Pizza: How Sam Panopoulos Created the World's Most Polarizing Dish
In 1962, a Greek immigrant named Sam Panopoulos decided to crack open a can of pineapple at the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ontario. He wasn't trying to start a global food war; he was just bored.In this episode, we dive into t...
The Deadly History of the Rugby Ball: How Richard Lindon Changed Sports
Why was inflating a rugby ball once a death sentence? In this episode of Honourable Mentions, we dive into the gritty history of 19th Century sports and the true and tragic story of Richard Lindon, the man who revolutionised Rugby Union, Ameri...
The Man Who Was Both a Dwarf and a Giant: The Mind-Bending Life of Adam Rainer
Imagine spending your early twenties rejected from the army for being too short, only to end your life as a literal giant. This is the unbelievable, tragic, and medically baffling true story of Adam Rainer—the only person in recorded history to...
Jam Sahib Digvijaysinhji: The Maharaja Who Rescued a Thousand Children.
We present the extraordinary true story of Maharaja Jam Sahib Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji of Nawanagar—a royal leader whose compassion reshaped the lives of more than 1,000 Polish refugee children during the Second World War. At ...
From Nazi Occupied Poland to the American Dream
WWII survival, the immigrant experience, and the power of adoption. In this deeply moving episode of Honourable Mentions, we welcome our first-ever guest, Rafal, to share the extraordinary life story of his stepfather, Walter....
How An Australian Machine Gunner Ended The Red Baron’s Reign
Manfred von Richthofen’s red triplane skimmed the Somme, and a living legend closed in for another kill. But, down below, Sergeant Cedric Bassett Popkin on a Vickers machine gun is waiting for his moment. Once friendly aircraft had cleare...
The First Shot: How Edward Thomas Started World War 1
On August 22, 1914, just outside Mons, Belgium, a 20-year-old British cavalryman took a deep breath, steadied his aim and pulled his trigger, changing history forever. Meet Edward Thomas, the Drummer of the 4th Dragoon Guards who fir...
Lightning Rod Man: The Unbelievable True Story of Roy Sullivan
7 Lightning Strikes. 1 Human Being. Is it a statistical impossibility, a cosmic curse, or just the worst luck in human history?For our 13th episode, we dive into the mind-blowing true survival story of Roy Sullivan, a Virginia park ranger...
Sweet Caroline: The Last Kennedy
Caroline Kennedy is the last surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Often described as the most famous woman you know the least about, Caroline's life is a story of resilience, diplomacy, and the...
Henrietta Lacks: The Unwitting Mother of Modern Medicine
Henrietta Lacks was a young mother whose premature death by cancer changed the world forever. We explore the complex legacy of the woman who left behind immortal cells that fueled decades of scientific break...
The Day a London Bus Jumped Tower Bridge: The Story of Albert Gunter
What would you do if the bridge beneath your wheels suddenly started opening?In December 1952, London bus driver Albert Gunter faced that exact nightmare. Driving the iconic Number 78 double-decker across Tower Bridge, a watchman's error c...
Silent Night: The True Story of Gruber and Mohr
Merry Christmas and welcome to a special episode of Honourable Mentions where, to celebrate the season, we are looking into the lives of Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr, whose 1818 collaboration in the parish church of Oberndorf, Austria, gave the...
Fred Kroll: The Man Who Ate Up The 1970's Toy Market
Discover the incredible true story of Fred Kroll, the visionary behind some of the most iconic board games in history. In this episode of Honourable Mentions, we dive deep into the 1970s toy market to explore how Kroll an...
Duško Popov: The Man Who Would Be James Bond.
As codename Ivan, Duško Popov was the top spy for the German Military Intelligence (Abwehr) in the Second World War, but, under the codename Tricycle, he was also leading dangerous espionage missions for MI6 and the British.