From the precipitous slopes of a dormant volcano in Central Victoria, intrepid and anally retentive know-nothings Clive Hartley and Andrew Wisdom search out forgotten, unlikely, occasionally ridiculous but always interesting people, events and, well, other stuff. They end up heading down rabbit holes, blaming each other, but how do they get there? By pulling on unlikely threads and seeing where they lead…
A seventeen-year-old Jewish refugee walks into the GermanEmbassy in Paris carrying a pistol and a grievance. Minutes later, five shots ring out, a German diplomat lies mortally wounded, and one of the most consequential events before the Second World War is set in motion.
In this episode of Unlikely Threads, Clive and Andrewunravel the extraordinary true story of Herschel Grynszpan, a desperate teenager whose act of protest against Nazi persecution of his family shocked Europe and provided Hitler with the excuse for the November Pogrom (also knownas Kristallnacht, the infamous Night of Broken Glass)
Was Herschel a lone avenger, a political activist, or simplya frightened young man pushed beyond endurance? How did the expulsion of his family from Germany drive him towards violence? Who was the mysterious diplomat Ernst vom Rath, and was he really the loyal Nazi martyr history remembers?
The podcasts traces a young man’s journey through pre-warEurope which ends in one of the war's greatest unsolved mysteries, this is the remarkable story of a boy whose actions reverberated far beyond the streets of Paris.
Join us as we follow an unlikely thread through one ofhistory's darkest chapters. If you enjoy uncovering the extraordinary stories hidden in overlooked places, follow Unlikely Threads and join us as we keep chasing the footnotes that lead somewhere unexpected. Search for Unlikely Threads on Apple or Spotify.
29 Sept 2026
The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic – The Laughter That Wasn’t Funny
In January 1962 — one month after Tanzanian independence —three girls at a mission boarding school started laughing uncontrollably. Then screaming. Then crying. Then running. The epidemic spread to fourteen schools and a thousand people over eighteen months. The doctors found nothing. Thegovernment said it was children being dramatic. The Western scientists called it fascinating and went home. Nobody asked the girls what they thought. This is that story.
If you enjoy this episode please support us and encourage usto do more episodes! Like it, leave us a comment and follow us. Thanks Andrew and Clive
14 Sept 2026
What Were They Thinking?: The Society That Tried to Turn Australia Into England
13. What do 800 million rabbits, 19 million feral cats, and 200million cane toads have in common? They were all solutions. This is the story of the Europeans who arrived in Australia, looked at an ancient and extraordinary continent, and decided — with the best intentions, and the full backing of science and government — that it needed to be fixed.
If you enjoy this episode please support us and encourage usto do more episodes! Like it, leave us a comment and follow us. Thanks Andrew and Clive
31 Aug 2026
From Idealism to Gunfire – International Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (Part 2)
They came for a cause. They stayed for a war. In this secondpart of Unlikely Threads, the story moves from belief to battlefield as the International Brigades are thrown into the brutal reality of the Spanish Civil War. What began as a fight against fascism soon becomes something far more chaotic, dangerous—and complicated. From the Jarama valley to the streets of Barcelona, Clive and Andrew follow the volunteers into combat, where confusion, courage, and sheer chance shape the outcome. They uncover the stories of Australians who travelled halfway across the world to fight—including one who stood before a firing squad—and even the loneAustralian who chose to fight for the opposing side.
Along the way, the war is captured—and reshaped—through the eyes of photographers like Gerda Taro and Robert Capa, while writers such as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway grapple with what the conflict really means. Orwell, in particular, leaves Spain with more than a bullet wound—he carries with him a deep distrust of propaganda and power that would shape some of the most important political writing of the 20th century.
This is the moment idealism meets reality. And not all ofthem would survive it.
If you enjoy this episode please support us and encourage usto do more episodes! Like it, leave us a comment and follow us. Thanks Andrewand Clive
17 Aug 2026
The War before the War – International Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (Part 1)
What if the Second World War didn’t begin in 1939—but threeyears earlier, in Spain? In this episode of Unlikely Threads, we follow the extraordinary stories of the men and women who travelled from more than sixty countries to fight fascism in its infancy. Some came for politics, others for adventure, sport, or romance —but all found themselves in a brutal conflict that would foretell the horrors to come. From artists and poets to rebels and idealists, this is the story of how ordinary people stepped into history—and what it cost them. Join Clive Hartley and Andrew Wisdom as they unstitch the threads and look a how the war started and some of the people that volunteered.
If you enjoy this episode please support us and encourage usto do more episodes! Like it, leave us a comment and follow us. Thanks Andrew and Clive
4 Aug 2026
How Football Split Into Different Sports. Part 2
In the second part of the story Andrew and Clive look at how six different sports were born from a single argument. We look at the origins of Australian football, and why a Harvard campus that was slightly too small changed the rules of American football forever. Join Andrew and Clive as they explore the origins of the World Game and of other Codes, that would find that title provocative!
If you enjoy this episode please support us and encourage usto do more episodes! Like it, leave us a comment and follow us. Thanks Andrew and Clive
21 Jul 2026
How Football Split Into Different Sports. Part 1
One pub. One meeting. One vote about whether it should be legal to kick your opponent in the shins. The men who won that vote in 1863 invented soccer. The men who lost it and walked out invented rugby. Join Andrew and Clive as they explore the origins of the World Game and of other Codes, that would find that remark as provocative!
If you enjoy this episode please support us and encourage us to do more episodes! Like it, leave us a comment and follow us. Thanks Andrew and Clive
6 Jul 2026
A Tale of Two Women - Part 2 Katherine Routledge – The Mana Expedition to Easter Island and the Cost of Discovery
In the second part of A Tale of Two Women we ask a different question: what happens when privilege, ambition, and curiosity carry you to the edge of the known world? Katherine Routledge’s journey begins in comfort and security, but it quickly transforms into something far more uncertain as she sets sail aboard her custom-built schooner—the Mana—towards the remote and mysterious Easter Island. What follows is a story of exploration and obsession, of difficult personalities, rebellion, and isolation, as she attempts to uncover the meaning behind the island’s enigmatic statues while navigating a volatile colonial landscape. Yet as her achievements mount, so too does the personal cost. Join Clive and Andrew as they try to unpick the threads of Katherine’s life and discover the true cost of sailing against the tide ofEdwardian misogyny.
22 Jun 2026
A Tale of Two Women – Part 1 Maria Czaplicka: Oxford, Siberia, and the hidden heroine of anthropology
This episode of Unlikely Threads – A Tale of Two Womenbegins with a question: how does a young woman from a modest background in Russian‑occupied Poland end up at Oxford in 1911—and then push beyond it, into one of the harshest environments on Earth? Maria Czaplicka’s story unfolds as a journey of determination, intellect, and extraordinary resilience, as she breaks through the rigid barriers of Edwardian society to become a pioneeringanthropologist. From underground classrooms to Arctic expeditions, her work opens a window onto worlds few in Britain had ever seen, yet her path is anything but secure. As her achievements grow, so too does the uncertaintysurrounding her place within an academic system that was never built to accommodate her. So here’s the thread we’ll follow: when opportunity appears, but the structures remain unchanged, how far can talent take you—and whathappens when those fragile gains begin to slip away?
If you enjoy this episode please support us and encourage us to do more episodes! Like it, leave us a comment and follow us.
17 May 2026
The Curious Lives of Composers
What if the greatest composers in history weren’t refined geniuses in candlelit rooms—but obsessive, scandal‑ridden, unpredictable, tragic figures living on the edge of brilliance and collapse? This episode of Unlikely Threads Andrew and Clive pulls back the velvet curtain and plunges you into a world where genius and madness are never far apart. What begins as a harmless search for a single “interesting fact” for HepFM’s Classic Hour radio show quickly spirals into a labyrinth of wild ambition, personal tragedy, dark rumours and behaviour that borders on the absurd. Follow Clive and Andrew and step inside the lives they never put in the programme notes…
17 May 2026
Weaponised Bats
Inspired by the story of David Stirling and the origins ofthe SAS (listen to episode 3), Andrew tumbles into the strange world of Second World War invention, a time where serious people proposed armed bats, pigeon-guided missiles, fakearmies, exploding dogs and aircraft carriers made of ice. Somehow, many of these ideas received funding, testing and official approval. As Clive Hartley and Andrew Wisdom discover, wartime pressure created a brief moment in historywhen the line between genius and madness became surprisingly difficult to see. Welcome to another episode of Unlikely Threads.
17 May 2026
The Annals of Colne - Small Town, Big Stories
This episode of Unlikely Threads begins with a simplechildhood memory: a boy passing a statue in the Lancashire town of Colne. Without realising its significance it sparks a journey into the hidden history of a seemingly ordinary place. Through the lens of the 1878 book The Annals of Colne, the podcast uncovers a rich, often surprising story that mirrorsthe wider sweep of English history. Blending humour with insight, the episode shows how one town can reflect the forces that shaped a nation.
If you enjoy uncovering the extraordinary stories hidden in overlooked places, follow Unlikely Threads and join Clive Hartley and Andrew Wisdom as they keep chasing the footnotes that lead somewhere unexpected.
17 May 2026
David Stirling and the origins of the SAS
This episode of Unlikely Threads asks a key question:was David Stirling—the man credited with founding the SAS—a brilliant visionary or simply a master of his own myth? Sparked by a modern TV series and two sharply conflicting biographies, the story unravels the gap between legend andreality, inviting you to decide for yourself. The episode traces the fragile beginnings of the SAS, where risky experiments, failed missions and improvisation eventually gave way to daring and highly effective desert raids that changed the nature of modern warfare. But as the story deepens, so doesthe uncertainty. Figures like Paddy Mayne emerge as formidable leaders whose actions on the ground may have mattered more than Stirling’s leadership, raising uncomfortable questions about credit, storytelling and how history chooses its heroes. So here’s the question: when legend and evidence collide, who do you believe—the myth, or the man? Follow Unlikely Threads to explore the stories behind the reputations, and join us as we chase down another rabbit hole to wherever it leads.
17 May 2026
Victor Lustig - The man who sold the Eiffel Tower
How would you go about selling the Eiffel Tower? More importantly, who on earth would believe you? In this episode of Unlikely Threads, Andrew Wisdom and Clive Hartley descend into the gilded world of Victor Lustig: elegant con man, psychological magician, and possibly the only person in history audacious enough to attempt selling the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal… twice. Along the way: corrupt officials, nervous scrap dealers, luxury Paris hotels, industrial-age ambition, and a masterclass in the dark arts of confidence trickery.
16 May 2026
Murder in Happy Valley
Murder in colonial Kenya during WW2 is our setting for this episode of Unlikely Threads. It is story of British colonial society behaving badly and lifestyle influenced by Altitude, Alcohol and Adultery.
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