Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook8 hours
Reprehensible: Polite Histories of Bad Behaviour
Written by Mikey Robins
Narrated by Mikey Robins
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Rollicking and informative, Reprehensible: Polite Histories of Bad Behaviour is your guide through some of the most shameful behaviour indulged in by humanity’s most celebrated figures, as told by Mikey Robins, one of Australia’s most loved comedians.
It is often said that we live in an era of constant outrage, but we are definitely not the inventors of outrageousness. Let’s be honest, human beings have always been appalling. Not everyone and not all the time, but our history is littered with those whose work and deeds
have rendered them . . . reprehensible.
Sometimes it’s our most esteemed luminaries who behave the worst.
What are we to make of Catherine the Great’s extensive collection of pornographic furniture, Hans Christian Andersen’s too-much-information diary and Karl Marx’s epic pub crawls? Or hall-of-fame huckster William McCloundy, who in 1901 actually ‘sold’ the Brooklyn Bridge to an unsuspecting tourist, and the pharaoh who covered his slaves in honey to keep flies off his meal? Did you know about the royal ticklers of the House of Romanov, and the bizarre coronation rituals of early Irish kings? (Let’s just say that eating a white horse wasn’t the weirdest part of the ceremony.)
So sit back and rest your conscience: there will be a host of scoundrels, bounders and reprobates, tales of lust and power aplenty, as we indulge in that sweet spot where history meets outrage, with just a bit of old-school TMZ thrown in for good measure.
Praise for Reprehensible:
‘Finally, Mikey Robins has put his vulgar mind to good use, telling history’s lesser known grubby yarns. I love it!’ Tom Gleeson
It is often said that we live in an era of constant outrage, but we are definitely not the inventors of outrageousness. Let’s be honest, human beings have always been appalling. Not everyone and not all the time, but our history is littered with those whose work and deeds
have rendered them . . . reprehensible.
Sometimes it’s our most esteemed luminaries who behave the worst.
What are we to make of Catherine the Great’s extensive collection of pornographic furniture, Hans Christian Andersen’s too-much-information diary and Karl Marx’s epic pub crawls? Or hall-of-fame huckster William McCloundy, who in 1901 actually ‘sold’ the Brooklyn Bridge to an unsuspecting tourist, and the pharaoh who covered his slaves in honey to keep flies off his meal? Did you know about the royal ticklers of the House of Romanov, and the bizarre coronation rituals of early Irish kings? (Let’s just say that eating a white horse wasn’t the weirdest part of the ceremony.)
So sit back and rest your conscience: there will be a host of scoundrels, bounders and reprobates, tales of lust and power aplenty, as we indulge in that sweet spot where history meets outrage, with just a bit of old-school TMZ thrown in for good measure.
Praise for Reprehensible:
‘Finally, Mikey Robins has put his vulgar mind to good use, telling history’s lesser known grubby yarns. I love it!’ Tom Gleeson
Author
Mikey Robins
Mikey Robins is one of Australia’s most well-known comedians and broadcasters. He spent seven years as the host of Triple J’s National Breakfast Show before appearing as team leader on the smash hit TV series Good News Week. He has written for The Daily Telegraph, GQ and Men’s Style, and co-authored the books Three Beers and a Chinese Meal (with Helen Razor) and Big Man’s World (with Tony Squires and The Sandman).
Related to Reprehensible
Related audiobooks
The Truth About Tall Tales: American Folklore from Johnny Appleseed to Paul Bunyan Meet the Georgians: Epic Tales from Britain’s Wildest Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Mudlark's Treasures: London in Fragments Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Idiots, Follies and Misadventures Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5We Did That? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sawbones Book: The Horrifying, Hilarious Road to Modern Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scotland Yard's First Cases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angel Meadow: Victorian Britain's Most Savage Slum Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of American Cemeteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Plague: A People's History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bowery: The Strange History of New York's Oldest Street Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5London Labour and the London Poor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humbugs of the World: An Account of Humbugs, Delusions, Impositions, Quackeries, Deceits, and Deceivers Generally, in All Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Victorian Life: Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Cooking, Fashion, and Technology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Amazing Unusual Deaths Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Corsets and Codpieces: A History of Outrageous Fashion, from Roman Times to the Modern Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Hangman's Diary: The Journal of Master Franz Schmidt, Public Executioner of Nuremberg, 1573-1617 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Humor & Satire For You
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tidy the F*ck Up: The American Art of Organizing Your Sh*t Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Big Swiss: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spoiler Alert: You're Gonna Die: Unveiling Death One Question at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and Other Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sh*t My Dad Says Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NPR Funniest Driveway Moments: Radio Stories That Won't Let You Go Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Soulmate Equation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Librarianist: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really Good, Actually: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Stay Married Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary: Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel by Bonnie Garmus: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Jane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Happy People Are Annoying Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Wishes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related podcast episodes
4. Tutankhamun: Inside the Tomb: Why did the boy pharaoh capture the world's imagination? 0% found this document usefulInside the prehistoric mind: Francis Pryor explores the sensory world of prehistoric Britain. 0% found this document usefulThe Picts 100% found this document usefulYeats and Mysticism: Melvyn Bragg explores the strange and mystical world of the Irish poet W B Yeats. 100% found this document usefulSex & Death with Caitlin Doughty!: NECROPHILIA EXPLAINED! Mortician, author and founder of The Order of the Good Death, Caitlin Doughty joins Sandra to explore the surprising ways death and sex intersect. TOPICS: Sex Party Etiquette, Ask a Mortician, Smoke Gets in Your... 100% found this document usefulThe Hillcrest Mining Disaster 0% found this document usefulThe Hanging of Jekyll and Hyde 0% found this document usefulThe Bone Wars 0% found this document usefulRhynwick Williams & The London Monster 100% found this document usefulNiblings and Nieflings (Rebroadcast) - 23 November 2020: The uncertain etymology of kazoo. 0% found this document usefulTeaser: This is What If, discussed. 0% found this document useful
Related articles
Two Hotels, One Inn and the Ghost of Widow Hartley SA Country LifeArticle
Two Hotels, One Inn and the Ghost of Widow Hartley
Aug 12, 2019
6 min readYour Letters BritainArticle
Your Letters
Feb 10, 2023
The lyrical descriptions in your article on the Cotswolds [Vol 91 Issue 1] of “honeycombed hamlets, cobblestone streets and tinkling streams” is a perfect inspiration for my favourite medieval English village: Castle Combe in the Cotswolds. Painting
2 min readYour Letters BritainArticle
Your Letters
Feb 10, 2023
The lyrical descriptions in your article on the Cotswolds [Vol 91 Issue 1] of “honeycombed hamlets, cobblestone streets and tinkling streams” is a perfect inspiration for my favourite medieval English village: Castle Combe in the Cotswolds. Painting
2 min readBooks The OldieArticle
Books
Sep 20, 2023
18 min readLetters History RevealedArticle
Letters
Feb 20, 2020
2 min readLetters History RevealedArticle
Letters
Sep 3, 2020
2 min readLetters Fortean TimesArticle
Letters
Feb 23, 2023
What a glorious start to 2023, with a long-awaited essay on a tome, beloved of so many children of the 1970s [FT427:28-35]. Billy Rough’s feature captured precisely the love we all have for Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain – arguably the finest
10 min readReaders’ Letters The OldieArticle
Readers’ Letters
Nov 17, 2021
SIR: I must applaud William Cook (Who was Blackie the donkey?, October issue) in maintaining the tradition of never allowing the facts to mar a good story. Don Mackay arrived at Jarandilla de la Vera first, not in the wake of Hugh Whittow of the Sun.
5 min readWoman About Town The Critic MagazineArticle
Woman About Town
Feb 24, 2022
THERMAL TIGHTS, THERMAL LEGGINGS, thermal socks, two thermal jerseys, trousers, cashmere pullover, overcoat, gloves, scarf: standard working outfit for a day’s filming in central London. The BBC’s budgets are so minute that anything which can be shot
3 min readProduction Notes From A Small Island: Bill Bryson’s Bestseller Travels To The Stage The GuardianArticle
Production Notes From A Small Island: Bill Bryson’s Bestseller Travels To The Stage
Jan 11, 2023
In 2018, I received an email from the producer Simon Friend, inquiring if I was familiar with Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island. (Boy, was I.) A few coffees and a curry later, Simon had commissioned me to adapt one of his – and many other peopl
3 min readBeyond The Floppy Fringe The Critic MagazineArticle
Beyond The Floppy Fringe
Feb 24, 2022
WHO NEEDS comedians when you’ve got 650 here-today-gone-tomorrow white collar bullshitters, a greedy civil service whirling through a 1000rpm revolving door, and a force of rozzers taking gardening leave till early retirement beckons? All of them peo
3 min readGothic Whitby BBC Countryfile MagazineArticle
Gothic Whitby
Oct 21, 2021
6 min readLetter From the Founder The RakeArticle
Letter From the Founder
Oct 23, 2017
4 min readLet’s Hear It For Britain Country LifeArticle
Let’s Hear It For Britain
Jan 3, 2024
15 min readLiving With The Romans Country LifeArticle
Living With The Romans
Jul 20, 2022
5 min readA Dogged Existence The RakeArticle
A Dogged Existence
Feb 23, 2017
2 min readLucky Brummies The OldieArticle
Lucky Brummies
Mar 9, 2022
4 min readPatrick‘s Pages Choice MagazineArticle
Patrick‘s Pages
Mar 25, 2022
WHAT’S STILL good about Britain? How would you reply if a visitor from a foreign country asked: “What is special about your country today?” Interesting question… There was a time when the older ones among us might have spouted about our heritage, our
7 min readLetter From The Founder The RakeArticle
Letter From The Founder
Oct 12, 2018
4 min readYou Can Go Home Again Robb Report SingaporeArticle
You Can Go Home Again
Apr 17, 2023
9 min readGiving Lincolnshire Its Due Country LifeArticle
Giving Lincolnshire Its Due
Jun 29, 2022
MAY we play a word-association game? I say ‘Lincolnshire’ and you reply... Yes, you might struggle to find anything to say about the ancient shire of that name. Perhaps ‘cathedral’ and ‘cabbages’ will float up through the mist of memory. I doubt many
5 min readInspiring Walter Scott History ScotlandArticle
Inspiring Walter Scott
Aug 14, 2021
6 min readPart Of The Warp And Weft Of Life Family Tree UKArticle
Part Of The Warp And Weft Of Life
Jan 12, 2024
Brrr…it’s cold out there! Through trees dancing on the village green, I’m watching people muffled in hats and scarves, leaning against the wind as they walk their dogs up the church field to the hill of the ancient castle site. It’s said one of those
3 min readCrowning Glory New Zealand ListenerArticle
Crowning Glory
May 21, 2023
2 min readCrowning Glory New Zealand ListenerArticle
Crowning Glory
May 21, 2023
2 min readOur Own Prince Of Thieves Country LifeArticle
Our Own Prince Of Thieves
Feb 1, 2023
5 min readThe Land Of ‘Pub’ Australian MotorcyclistArticle
The Land Of ‘Pub’
Apr 13, 2022
8 min readTelevision Fortean TimesArticle
Television
May 18, 2023
Jonathon Ross has been such a fixture of British broadcasting for the last 30-odd years, appearing on TV and radio in such diverse projects as Film 2000 to The Masked Singer, it’s easy to forget that he’s long been into fortean interest stuff, even f
2 min readUTTERLY Monstrous Chat It's FateArticle
UTTERLY Monstrous
Aug 4, 2020
4 min readReaders’ Letters The OldieArticle
Readers’ Letters
Oct 18, 2023
4 min read
Reviews for Reprehensible
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
7 ratings0 reviews