The microwave oven came about due to a very lucky accident involving an electrical engineer and chocolate bar, and today is found in billions of homes worldwide.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quarter-Arsed History presents: the Petrov Affair, when two Soviet spies caused a major political upheaval by defecting to Australia in the 1950s.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, hear the story of the Dismissal: the 1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis, when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was turfed out by the governor-general.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ballpoint pen may not have ushered in a technological revolution as so many other inventions in this series did, but it nonetheless played a significant role in making everyday writing simple, cheap, and relatively smudge-free.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quarter-Arsed History presents: the story of Robert Curthose, who managed to cause all sorts of headaches for his two kingly brothers, despite being older than both of them.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, apropos of nothing, meet three historical younger-born princes who nothing but a royal pain in the arse for their older brothers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Penicillin was a miraculous, marvellous discovery that revolutionised modern medicine and saved millions upon millions of lives, ushering in the age of antibiotics, where a little scratch doesn't result in amputation or death.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quarter-Arsed History presents: the story of the Venus de Milo, the most famous ancient statue in the world, and perhaps second-most famous artwork in the Louvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.