About this episode

This episode covers the origin of Independence Day, a bungled assassination, a bizarre surgical practice, and a 500-year grudge held by Oxford University.

This week in history we’ve got the origin of Independence Day, we’ve got a slightly-bungled assassination, we’ve got a bloke who used to surgically attach goat’s testicles to people - and we’ve got the grudge that the University of Oxford held for over 500 years without knowing why. The Most Interesting People You've Never Heard Of, the second Half-Arsed History book, releases on the 29th of September across the Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand region. Pre-order your copy from Booktopia or Readings: AU/NZ (affiliate link): https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/bkq2G9 International: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781761472596/the-most-interesting-people-youve-never-heard-of--riley-knight--2026--9781761472596 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Riley Knight

Topics covered

• Independence Day
• assassination
• Oxford University
• grudge
• history
• comedy

Keywords

• Independence Day
• Oxford University
• assassination
• grudge
• history
• comedy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Oxford

Books & works: The Most Interesting People You've Never Heard Of

Places: Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand

More episodes of Half-Arsed History

• Episode 421: The Successful Failure of Apollo 13 · July 21, 2026 · 53 min
• Week 29: The Football War · July 15, 2026 · 23 min
• Episode 420: The History of Cannabis · July 12, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Week 28: The First Ascent of the Matterhorn · July 8, 2026 · 24 min
• Episode 419: Mata Hari, the Seductress-Turned-Spy · July 5, 2026 · 1h 3m
• Announcing: The Most Interesting People You've Never Heard Of, the second Half-Arsed History book · June 30, 2026 · 10 min

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