Forget the textbooks! These 8 fast-paced episodes reveal the funny, disturbing, weird, but always interesting bits of history.

We look at the men and women who’ve run and, in some cases, won the Oval Office. We meet lawyers, war heroes, and crooks, and discover which POTUS shut down a nuclear plant in meltdown and which was almost eaten. What is the real cost of the top job and why so far have they all been men?

How To Be President

History is littered with criminals, con artists, frauds, and fakes. We look at the most interesting from Adam Worth, the 19th-century inspiration for Professor Moriarty, to a jewel thief named ‘Diamond’ Doris and a ‘Count’ who sold the Eiffel Tower to gullible buyers… twice.

How To Get Away With It

Empires and lives have been won and lost over secrets kept and secrets revealed. We look at espionage; meeting spies from Delilah to Roald Dahl and along the way revealing the real model for James Bond. And we ask how many people can know a secret before it isn’t secret anymore?

How To Keep a Secret

We discover you can start a war over almost anything, from an unprovoked invasion to a lost ear, a pastry, or a stolen bucket. We look at wars that lasted for centuries and others that were over in minutes and we learn that though it’s easy to start a war it’s far more difficult to end one…

How To Start a War

Throughout history, men and women have dedicated themselves to raking in as much wealth as possible; old money, new money, even blood money. But from Robber Barons to Mansa Musa of Mali; how did they get it, how did they spend it, and were they happier than the rest of us…

How To Make a Fortune

Love has always been one of the great drivers of history, a drunk driver, without a license. Yet it hurtles on, costing royalty their heads, generals their victories, and many of us our sanity. We explore why, from Liz Taylor to Attila the Hun; the pain is never enough to stop us looking for love.

How To Fall in Love

History is full of revolutions, industrial, sexual, and the big one, political. Every once in a while, holding hands and singing can be more effective than tanks and barricades. But even if your cause and motives are pure, to begin with, how can you still end up on the wrong side of history?

How To Build a Revolution

Our modern world was created through invention. But great inventors build on earlier ideas or sometimes even steal them and it’s not always clear who first had the spark…

How To Be Inventive