Meet the Podcaster: Half-Arsed History

Australia’s top history podcast, Half-Arsed History, is celebrating its seventh birthday this month. Created and hosted by Riley Knight, the show launched in 2018 as a solo passion project recorded at home. What began as a side hobby has since grown into a chart-topping podcast, beloved for its witty, irreverent yet thoroughly researched retellings of history’s most bizarre and entertaining stories.

We sat down with Riley to discuss why the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest desperately needs the big-budget film treatment, which Aussie city might have withstood a medieval siege and the greatest historically themed video games of all time.

‍Interview with Riley Knight 

Acast: For the uninitiated: what is Half-Arsed History and how did it all begin?

Riley: Half-Arsed History is a thrice-weekly history podcast that highlights silly, amusing or incredible tales from the past. It began in the wake of my work as a tour guide in Berlin – someone suggested I record some of the tour segments as a podcast and here we are, seven years later.

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Acast: You’ve covered a lot of history over the past seven years and have achieved an incredible 9.6 million total downloads since launch. What’s been the highlight of your podcasting journey so far?

Riley: It’s probably a tie between standing on stage in my hometown of Melbourne last year during Half-Arsed History’s first live tour, in front of family, friends and fans; and holding an advance copy of the first Half-Arsed History book – I never thought this podcast would ultimately mean I became a published author.

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Acast: What’s one story or topic you covered that totally blindsided you – something far more ridiculous or fascinating than you expected?

Riley: Caravaggio, the famous painter. I couldn’t believe it when I found out that one of this guy’s favourite things to do was go out, get on the turps and start fights with people in the street – then get his rich patrons to bail him out of trouble.

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Acast: Who are your top three historical figures – the ones you’d invite to a very chaotic dinner party?

Riley: For someone so monumentally famous, we don’t know much about Leonardo da Vinci – it would be fascinating to get to know him. Hypatia of Alexandria would also be very interesting to talk to, as one of the last great philosophers and scholars of antiquity. Finally, D.B. Cooper, a mystery man who hijacked a plane in 1971, successfully ransomed it for $2 million in today’s terms and parachuted away into the wilderness, never to be seen again. 

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Acast: Which period of history would you most like to visit (assuming you wouldn’t die of dysentery within the first five minutes)?

Riley: Australia in the early 1800s – I’d go straight to Port Phillip Bay, head north towards Ballarat and dig up all the gold before anyone else, then use my immense wealth to try to shift the rather unfortunate course that colonial Australian history took.

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Acast: How do you decide which topics you want to cover on the podcast? What sources do you tend to use?

Riley: I decide on topics through a combination of listener suggestions, current affairs and whatever I’m reading at the time. I use a huge variety of sources – academic journals, scholarly articles, real-world paper books, not to mention terrific history websites like World History Encyclopedia.

Acast: What’s your perfect set up for a deep research session – location, snacks, soundtrack?

Riley: I have a comfy armchair in my office and will usually put on something quiet like Mikel or the Paper Kites while I sit and read, grazing on a little bowl of M&Ms. 

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Acast: As an active host and player of video gaming, what do you think is the best historically-themed video game of all time?

Riley: Return of the Obra Dinn is easily one of my all-time favourite games – it’s a nautical-themed murder mystery game set in the 19th century, although it does have supernatural elements. Pentiment is another favourite of mine, a historical mystery game set in 16th-century Germany. I’m a huge fan of the Civilization series, too, and I have to mention Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag as the best pirate simulator ever made. 

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Acast: Is there a historical story or figure that desperately needs the big-budget film or TV treatment?

Riley: The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Here’s the elevator pitch: “In 9 CE, three Roman legions vanish in the dense Teutoburg Forest, when Arminius, a trusted ally turned traitor, masterminds an ambush that shatters Rome’s glory. Amidst long-held grudges and shifting loyalties, this gripping saga reveals the battle that defined the fate of the ancient world’s greatest empire.”

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Acast: We hear you’re going to be a published author! Tell us about your new book, History’s Strangest Deaths. What’s it about and when will it be available in bookshops?

Riley: History’s Strangest Deaths is, as you might imagine, a collection of some of the strangest deaths from across history. It’s got playwrights killed by falling tortoises, kings killed by giant cauldrons, Vikings killed by decapitated heads and lawyers killed while proving legal points. It’s out on 5 August, and you can pre-order it now at Booktopia!

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Acast: And finally, what else have you got coming up for Half-Arsed History this year? What can listeners expect over the coming months?

Riley: The next few weeks will be taken up with me tackling the show’s white whale – I’ve put off covering the French Revolution for literal years, but the time has finally come. In the coming months, the launch of the book will be accompanied with an East Coast tour of live shows – tickets are available here. As for the rest of the year – I’ve got a few ideas bubbling away behind the scenes, but they probably won’t come to fruition until 2026. 

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Quick-fire round

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A historical figure who would have been a great podcaster?

Benjamin Franklin – he knew something about everything, but also loved chatting about farting and shagging.

Which Aussie city would’ve survived a medieval siege the longest?

Perth – if any medieval attackers managed to make it across the Nullarbor, they’d be too exhausted to lay siege to anything.

Worst monarch of all time?

King John of England – so unpopular they had to invent the entire concept of constitutional monarchy just to keep him under control.

‍Battle you’d definitely run away from?

All of them – I’m a historian, not a hero. My job is to study battles, not die in them.

Wildest invention in history?

The ‘Mechanical Turk’ – an 18th-century chess-playing machine with a dark secret.

Favourite museum?

The Berlin Wall Memorial in Berlin – an open-air ‘museum’ that is more of a city park.

Melbourne culture or Sunshine Coast beaches?

If only there was a way to have both.

Go-to takeaway order?

Fried hoki and chips from Koi Fish and Chips in Buderim.

One item you’d take to a desert island?

A solar-powered eBook reader.