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I’m on a mission. To make as many people as possible love history. Our history. Your history.
History For F***’s Sake, aka HISTORYFFS, is a weekly podcast that explores the hidden threads of history, art, and culture with humour, humanity, and the occasional irreverent question.
I have ADHD. A pretty new notion after a lifetime of teaching myself how to… well, everything. I have two degrees, four businesses, two cats, I have lived in three countries and the one thing I’ve learned is that nothing is textbook. So this podcast is the antidote to history by numbers. It’s about the stories behind what we remember—and what we forget—told through the lens of creativity, legacy, and how we experience the past in the present.
Each episode is anchored in an anniversary or cultural moment and pairs rich storytelling with interviews from historians, artists, writers, and cultural leaders. It’s witty but warm, smart but never stuffy.
Previous and upcoming guests include theatre makers, cultural innovators, artists, writers, and historians who want to reach a broad, curious audience—people who love culture but don’t necessarily think of themselves as “history buffs.”
I have a mission. To get as many people as I can to love history. Our history. All our history. The little history we made yesterday. To think about our history as our culture – our arts, our literature, our film making, our performances – and to get people who love art to think more about how history isn’t boring. It is our muse.
This is because it’s… History For F***’s Sake
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Catch up with all the latest happenings in history here
Did you ever wonder how we got here, and how sometimes tiny pieces of history make up, and have shaped our lives?
Or realised how every day, all of us are making history?
Join me, Sarah Dowd, in exploring what has happened in the everyday lives of people for the better, or at least the experiences that have just make us laugh and say…
This is… History. For F***’s Sake, the podcast that explores untold stories that make a difference.
When the world seemingly shut down for almost two years, what were we doing? We were creating art, making history and crying out of human contact. We were craving our culture.
I’m your host, Sarah Dowd, and I have worked on over 200 history, heritage and arts projects in the last 20 years across the world, everywhere from the Imperial War Museum in London to exploring how we put a fleet of ships in the sky, or bringing wrecks back from Honolulu.
I was recently diagnosed with ADHD which has brought a whole new layer of thinking about creativity and how we get people – ALL PEOPLE – really engaged with our shared history and culture.
Stories. Art. Film. Books. Ships. Music. Museums. People. Joy. Experiences. Humour. Humanity.
Because it’s all History, For F***’s Sake.
Find out more at historyffs.com
What connects the myth-busting boulder chases of Indiana Jones, revolutionary political ferment, and the mud-splattered rise of modern archaeology? In this episode of History for F**k’s Sake host Sarah Dowd sits down with Professor Dominic Tweddle, British archaeologist, museum leader, and expert in material culture for an honest, engaging journey through the origins, controversies, and future of digging up history.
From the Enlightenment’s curiosity-fuelled societies to the birth of systematic fieldwork, we explore how “holes in the ground” became battlegrounds for cultural meaning, power, and academic integrity. The episode traces archaeology’s evolution from treasure hunting and grave robbing, through the foundations of research and recording, into the revolutionary impact of pop culture (hello, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and immersive museum experiences like the Jorvik Viking Centre.
Whether you’re a history buff, a museum geek, or just want to know why a Viking street in York was a game-changer, this is essential listening for anyone curious about who gets to control the narrative of the past and how.
Here are the highlights:
00:00 Introduction: Pop culture’s impact on archaeology
02:02 Professor Dominic Tweddle’s journey
04:11 British Museum, hands-on with Sutton Hoo and medieval collections
05:15 The Coppergate Viking dig opens up a new era for public engagement
07:27 The genesis of Jorvik Viking Centre
09:45 Creating Jorvik Viking Centre: Reconstructing Viking York, immersive soundscapes, early museum innovation
15:55 Jorvik legacy, longevity, refurbishment, and financial impact
16:28 Raiders of the Lost Ark, its accuracy, and influence on archaeology
21:46 Antiquarianism, treasure hunting, and early excavation methods
22:31 The evolution of archaeological practice
34:02 Contemporary archaeology: What’s going right and wrong
About Professor Dominic Tweddle, BA, PhD, FSA, FSA Scot, MCIfA:
Dominic began his career as an archaeologist and historian at the British Museum before joining the York Archaeological Trust, where he was Assistant Director. He is a noted Anglo-Saxon and Viking specialist. In York, Dominic was a key member of the team that developed the ground-breaking Jorvik Viking Centre.
From there, he developed his own successful business, which designed, built, owned, and operated visitor attractions in the cultural heritage field across the globe. In 2008, Dominic sold his shares in the business.
He was appointed the first Director General of the new National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in 2009. In that role, he merged the four existing museums into a coherent whole and, through twelve mergers or acquisitions, brought eight historic warships, including HMS Victory, into the group. He built the turnover of the business from £6.5 million to £24 million a year and attracted £180 million in investment. Dominic retired in late 2023.
He is currently Chairman of the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust, the leading UK charity working in the protection of underwater heritage, and is also writing a book on the Spanish Armada.
Dominic has written seven other books, five of them major academic works, and two children’s books. One, Growing Up in Viking Times, became a slightly unexpected bestseller.
Connect with Sarah:
Website:www.historyffs.com
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdowd/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/historyffs-pod/
Substack: @historyffs
YouTube: @HistoryFFSPod
Instagram: @historyFFSPod
TikTok: @historyffspod
Bluesky: @historyffs.bsky.social
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.
