HistoryFFS

Hey, I’m Sarah Dowd, your host here on History FFS! You know, I never imagined I’d end up hosting a history podcast. I grew up in Toronto in a house filled with stories and questions, and I was always the curious kid who didn’t believe there was just one right way to belong. For me, history isn’t just about dates or facts, it’s about people, emotions, culture, and the ways the past keeps echoing through our lives.I’ve spent over 15 years as an entrepreneur, working with museums, artists, and communities through my heritage consultancy, The Tricolor Collective. I also run Les Raconteurs, an immersive storytelling company, and share my thoughts on creativity, history, and meaning through my own platform, Sarah in Three Colors.And in case you’re wondering, yes, I have ADHD, and it makes me extra curious and always connecting unusual dots. I’m not here as some all-knowing expert. History FFS is all about paying attention, being curious, and believing you don’t need anyone’s permission to ask questions and make connections. If you love culture, stories, and think history should feel as alive as it really is, you’re absolutely in the right place. Let’s explore this together!About Sarah Dowd: I’m Sarah Dowd - writer, speaker, heritage and arts consultant, producer, and all-around nerd - here to share the stories of our past that make us laugh, gasp, and mutter: It’s History… For F***k’s Sake.For 25+ years I’ve created immersive, inclusive experiences that bring history alive, from rallying Second World War convoys through London to staging performances between Pearly Kings and Gen Z creatives. My work spans museums, cathedral crypts, pop-up theatres, global brands, and community projects across the UK and beyond.As a Canadian living between the UK and France (with a late ADHD diagnosis that fuels my curiosity and creativity), I zigzag through culture, history, and big ideas, but never boring ones.Every week on HistoryFFS, we explore how history echoes through today, from Drag Race to prefab tiny houses, with voices from musicians to mischief-makers.Follow @HistoryFFS on Substack or on our socials because we’re all making history, one ridiculous, wonderful moment at a time.Connect with Sarah:Website: www.historyffs.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdowd/https://www.linkedin.com/company/historyffs-pod/Substack: @historyffsYouTube: @HistoryFFSPod Instagram: @historyFFSPodTikTok: @historyffspodX: @HistoryFFSPod Bluesky: @historyffs.bsky.socialFollow the show for new episodes exploring the objects, people, and moments that shaped our world. If you want the story AND the sound of the past, this is essential listening.

Why did we start this podcast show? Because history is everywhere, but too often it’s treated like it belongs to a small group of people. It’s boxed up, polished, told in ways that feel distant, intimidating, or flat and that’s never made sense to me. History isn’t just something that happened; it’s something we live with every day. It shapes our culture, our creativity, our politics, our identities, most of the time without us even realising it.History lives in the films and music we love, the books and buildings we see, in performances, protests, fashions, failures, and even in our everyday choices. This podcast exists to pull history out of the textbook and put it back where it belongs: in conversation, in creativity, in the present. I’m not here to deliver answers, but to ask better questions. Because loving history doesn’t mean memorising facts, it means noticing patterns, making connections, and seeing how the past keeps nudging the present and how we’re shaping the future in return.History shouldn’t feel gated or polite or finished. It should feel alive, messy, and human. That’s why this show exists, this is History for F**k’s Sake.About Sarah Dowd: I’m Sarah Dowd - writer, speaker, heritage and arts consultant, producer, and all-around nerd - here to share the stories of our past that make us laugh, gasp, and mutter: It’s History… For F***k’s Sake.For 25+ years I’ve created immersive, inclusive experiences that bring history alive, from rallying Second World War convoys through London to staging performances between Pearly Kings and Gen Z creatives. My work spans museums, cathedral crypts, pop-up theatres, global brands, and community projects across the UK and beyond.As a Canadian living between the UK and France (with a late ADHD diagnosis that fuels my curiosity and creativity), I zigzag through culture, history, and big ideas, but never boring ones.Every week on HistoryFFS, we explore how history echoes through today, from Drag Race to prefab tiny houses, with voices from musicians to mischief-makers.Follow @HistoryFFS on Substack or on our socials because we’re all making history, one ridiculous, wonderful moment at a time.Connect with Sarah:Website: www.historyffs.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdowd/https://www.linkedin.com/company/historyffs-pod/Substack: @historyffsYouTube: @HistoryFFSPod Instagram: @historyFFSPodTikTok: @historyffspodX: @HistoryFFSPod Bluesky: @historyffs.bsky.socialFollow the show for new episodes exploring the objects, people, and moments that shaped our world. If you want the story AND the sound of the past, this is essential listening.

Did you ever notice how the biggest changes don’t always announce themselves? Sometimes they sneak in sideways through art, through ideas, through stories that keep being told and retold.I’m Sarah Dowd, and this is History for F**k’s Sake. Last season, we traced a hidden thread through our episodes. Some of you spotted it, some didn’t but you can uncover it on our Substack @HistoryFFS.This season, we’re doing it again. But we’re not just chasing the expected moments, the ones neatly boxed in headlines and dates. We’re diving into the artists, musicians, and writers who rewrote the rules; the ideas that keep sparking debate, reinterpretation, and fascination; and the new ways of digging up the past. Each episode revisits a moment that still matters, a reminder that history doesn’t stay put.Every week, I’ll be joined by historians, curators, writers, and other creative voices to explore where the past still echoes in the present. Because history isn’t finished, it’s not distant, and it’s definitely not boring.Make sure you follow the show so you don’t miss an episodeAbout Sarah Dowd: I’m Sarah Dowd - writer, speaker, heritage and arts consultant, producer, and all-around nerd - here to share the stories of our past that make us laugh, gasp, and mutter: It’s History… For F***k’s Sake.For 25+ years I’ve created immersive, inclusive experiences that bring history alive, from rallying Second World War convoys through London to staging performances between Pearly Kings and Gen Z creatives. My work spans museums, cathedral crypts, pop-up theatres, global brands, and community projects across the UK and beyond.As a Canadian living between the UK and France (with a late ADHD diagnosis that fuels my curiosity and creativity), I zigzag through culture, history, and big ideas, but never boring ones.Every week on HistoryFFS, we explore how history echoes through today, from Drag Race to prefab tiny houses, with voices from musicians to mischief-makers.Follow @HistoryFFS on Substack or on our socials because we’re all making history, one ridiculous, wonderful moment at a time.Connect with Sarah:Connect with Sarah:Website: www.historyffs.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdowd/https://www.linkedin.com/company/historyffs-pod/ Substack: @historyffsYouTube: @HistoryFFSPod Instagram: @historyFFSPodTikTok: @historyffspodX: @HistoryFFSPod Bluesky: @historyffs.bsky.socialFollow the show for new episodes exploring the objects, people, and moments that shaped our world. If you want the story AND the sound of the past, this is essential listening.

What do a moth in a Harvard computer, Irish family folklore, and Oscar Wilde’s salon have in common? In this episode of History for F***k's Sake, host Sarah Dowd is joined by Henry O’Keeffe, a retired Doctor of Mathematics, lifelong IT boffin, amateur archaeologist, raconteur, and self-proclaimed debugger of life’s glitches for an inquisitive journey into how we remember, misremember, and ultimately try to correct the “bugs” in our histories.Kicking off with the tale of the world’s first literal computer bug, Henry and Sarah explore the intersections of rigorous scientific thinking and the wonderfully messy business of family stories, oral traditions, and the changing standards of “evidence”.History as science, history as art, and history as accidental fiction: this is an episode for the curious, the sceptical, and anyone who suspects their family tree might have a few broken branches.Here are the highlights:The story of the world’s first “computer bug” and its role as metaphor for history’s glitches Henry’s journey from mathematical rigour to the ambiguities of the humanities Why proving things in family history is (almost) impossible and why that’s okay The evolution of Irish oral tradition, the seanchai, and the art of “truth as entertainment” Census chaos, misreported ages, and how economic incentives shaped historical records Navigating Irish name changes, anglicisation, and the identity puzzles hidden in every family line How archaeology and DNA both challenge and enrich our understanding of the past Oscar Wilde as myth and the legacy of Jane Wilde’s feminist genius William Rowan Hamilton, the magic of quaternions, finds their use on Broome BridgeHow the science and art of history can sometimes create real beauty Rigour and record-keeping in the age of misinformation (and what we can all do about it)About Henry O’Keeffe: Henry O’Keeffe is a retired Doctor of Mathematics and technologist based in Cork, Ireland. After a distinguished academic and professional career working in error correction and IT, he has spent his retirement chasing family legends, investigating archaeological sites, and interrogating the fine line between fact and folklore. An enthusiastic storyteller and investigative family historian, Henry brings the methodical curiosity of a scientist to every story especially his own.Connect with Henry:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/henry-o-keeffe-phd-ab290587About Sarah Dowd: I’m Sarah Dowd - writer, speaker, heritage and arts consultant, producer, and all-around nerd - here to share the stories of our past that make us laugh, gasp, and mutter: It’s History… For F***k’s Sake.For 25+ years I’ve created immersive, inclusive experiences that bring history alive, from rallying Second World War convoys through London to staging performances between Pearly Kings and Gen Z creatives. My work spans museums, cathedral crypts, pop-up theatres, global brands, and community projects across the UK and beyond.As a Canadian living between the UK and France (with a late ADHD diagnosis that fuels my curiosity and creativity), I zigzag through culture, history, and big ideas, but never boring ones.Every week on HistoryFFS, we explore how history echoes through today, from Drag Race to prefab tiny houses, with voices from musicians to mischief-makers.Follow @HistoryFFS - because we’re all making history, one ridiculous, wonderful moment at a time.Connect with Sarah:Website: www.historyffs.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdowd/Patreon: HistoryFFSYouTube: @HistoryFFSPod Instagram: @historyFFSPodTikTok: @historyffspodX: @HistoryFFSPod Follow the show for new episodes exploring the objects, people, and moments that shaped our world. If you want the story AND the sound of the past, this is essential listening.

What links a trumpet in Kenya, a Fringe tent in Edinburgh, and a military parade in New York? In this episode of History for F***’s Sake' host Sarah Dowd is joined by Graham (Gaz) , musician, music director, vocal coach, and one-time army bandsman for a wide-ranging chat about the unexpected path that took him from the outskirts of Glasgow to stages and stadiums around the world.From his earliest memories of family singalongs to playing his first paid gigs in uniform abroad, Gaz talks through the twists and turns of a life shaped by both discipline and creativity. There’s laughter, big opinions (especially about Queen), and a fair bit of swearing, as they compare notes on the best musicals ever written, the worst biopics ever made, and why music doesn’t just reflect history... it sometimes drives it.Here are the highlights:How a teenage trumpet player from Glasgow found his calling in the armySurviving the Gulf War and the night he wore a gas mask for 11 hoursHow Gaz wrote an album called “Time” in a desert church with a borrowed keyboardThe decision to leave the military and forge a life in music, sales, and self-employmentWhy Bohemian Rhapsody is a masterpiece and how it became the soundtrack to a theatre friendshipHow songs anchor us to history, emotions, and the most human parts of ourselvesThe surreal joy of playing trumpet in the New York Gulf War Victory ParadeWhat Gaz would erase from history, the past he’d relive, and why he never confessed his love for ABBA (until now).About Graham BrownGraham joined the Army in 1987 as a musician, completing a one-year course at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall and serving as a medic in the first Gulf War. He left the Army in 1993 to pursue a career in sales and spent eight years in media sales working initially for the education specialist, Hobsons Publishing selling on print and electronic graduate and undergraduate titles. From there, he was headhunted to be Sales Manager of The Officer and RAF In-Flight magazines and was responsible for the concept and development of Quest magazine. Following the completion of an MA in Film Composition, he left Quest as Publishing Development Director to set up Forces Recruitment Services, the first commercial consultancy to assist ex-military candidates across all ranks and services in 2001.Connect with Graham:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/exmilitaryrecruitment/About Sarah Dowd: I’m Sarah Dowd - writer, speaker, heritage and arts consultant, producer, and all-around nerd - here to share the stories of our past that make us laugh, gasp, and mutter: It’s History… For F***k’s Sake.For 25+ years I’ve created immersive, inclusive experiences that bring history alive, from rallying Second World War convoys through London to staging performances between Pearly Kings and Gen Z creatives. My work spans museums, cathedral crypts, pop-up theatres, global brands, and community projects across the UK and beyond.As a Canadian living between the UK and France (with a late ADHD diagnosis that fuels my curiosity and creativity), I zigzag through culture, history, and big ideas, but never boring ones.Every week on HistoryFFS, we explore how history echoes through today, from Drag Race to prefab tiny houses, with voices from musicians to mischief-makers.Follow @HistoryFFS - because we’re all making history, one ridiculous, wonderful moment at a time.Connect with Sarah:Website: www.historyffs.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdowd/Patreon: HistoryFFSYouTube: @HistoryFFSPod Instagram: @historyFFSPodTikTok: @historyffspodX: @HistoryFFSPod Follow the show for new episodes exploring the objects, people, and moments that shaped our world. If you want the story AND the sound of the past, this is essential listening.