No One Saw It Coming

About No One Saw It Coming

The bit players, the unexpected twists, the turning point you missed. Join Walkley award-winner Marc Fennell as he uncovers the incredible moments that changed the course of history. New episodes out Tuesday.

Publisher

ABC Australia

Category

history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Mar 2025

Latest episode

20 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

48 of 78 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   20 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Pig War: Hogging the border

   Historian Mike Vouri shares with host Marc Fennell the bizarre true story of the Pig War, a tense military standoff between the US and Great Britain sparked by a trespassing pig.

2. 

   13 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The mythical football war

   Fiontann O’Hara from the London School of Economics explains to Marc Fennell the political and economic roots of the brief but devastating Football War between El Salvador and Honduras.

3. 

   6 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Birds 1 - Humans 0

   Dr. Ruth Morgan shares with Marc Fennell the bizarre history of Australia's "Emu War," revealing how a nation's battle against birds exposed a larger, more formidable enemy.

Inside a recent episode

The Pig War: Hogging the border

Published 20 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] While drawing that borderline on the 49th Parallel, there was an area that sort of got forgotten about, a cluster of teeny tiny dots on a map, where Mike Vorey is right now. That's right. They forgot that the San Juan Archipelago is right in the middle. So since this cluster of islands sort of fell outside the treaties, Great Britain and the US decided to, well, both claim the islands. They figured it was on the far side of the world. You know, who's going to care? Well, the people that lived out here cared a great deal. So they had a good couple of years where that grey area seemed to almost work, right? […]

Who has been a guest on No One Saw It Coming

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Mike Vouri
• Fiontann O’Hara
• Ruth Morgan
• Tarun Nagesh
• Dr Jess Venner

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

70 ratings

Pitching No One Saw It Coming

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting pitches.

Questions about No One Saw It Coming