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.

Last refreshed: June 27th, 2026 at 12:39 PM

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Episodes

This Tragic Accident Changed How We Think About the Brain

In schools, universities and colleges around the world, a story gets told about a man named Phineas Gage. He was an American railroad foreman, until one day when an iron rod shot through his head and nearly killed him. After that, he was never the same. In fact, he was something of a monster, a man with limited inhibitions or impulse control, a social outcast. It’s a story that has shaped neuroscience and our understanding of the brain. But what if it’s only partially true? Sam Kean spent years ...

Apr 28, 2025•25 min

Marie Antoinette, mother of French fries?

‘Would you like fries with that?’ It’s the question you’re likely to be asked at McDonalds, Burger King, KFC or Chick-fil-A, no matter where in the world you visit. But what if the only reason French fries are so popular throughout the West today is because of a Queen who lost her head during the French Revolution? Dr Lauren Samuelsson is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Wollongong where she investigates the history of food, drink, popular culture and gender. She reveals how the histor...

Apr 21, 2025

The Secret Weapon that Changed War

Submarine warfare was considered ‘ungentlemanly’ in terms of the rules of engagement of war until relatively recently… or so we thought! Dr James Hunter hunts shipwrecks for a living, as part of his job as Curator of Naval Heritage and Archaeology at the Australian National Maritime Museum. This job has allowed him to research a question that could change how we view some historic battles. Were submarines invented and used as a secret weapon by the Confederates during the American Civil War? Pod...

Apr 14, 2025

Stealing the Mona Lisa: The Crime that Created a Legend

These days people line up for hours to see Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. But at one stage there were so few people wanting to see this Renaissance painting that she was remarkably easy to steal from the Louvre Museum in Paris. In fact, for a while following the theft, no one even noticed she was gone... Tiktoker and Art Historian Mary McGillivray tells podcast host Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole, Mastermind) the story of art history’s most sensational crime and its patriotic perpetrator....

Apr 07, 2025

INTRODUCING — No One Saw It Coming

The bit players, the unexpected twists, the turning point you missed. Join Walkley award-winner Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole, Mastermind) as he uncovers the incredible moments that changed the course of history.

Mar 27, 2025•3 min

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