Worst Foot Forward

We are boldly setting out to civilise you this week, as we talk about the World's Worst Empire. Our guest this week is regular contributor to satirical podcast The Bugle, comedian and writer Anuvab Pal. As a native of India, and with Barry as his sidekick, Anuvab gives the British Empire a bemused and loving revision. Barry takes us all the way from Haiti to a galaxy far, far away, and Ben has a nosey around the micronations of the world, in all their tax-evading glory.

Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @AnuvabPal

Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: https://www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward

Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

Inspired by the mot batshit crazy Patreon suggestions we've had so far, we plunged head first into the surprisingly fertile and unsurprisingly weird world of terrible vending machines.

Thankfully we had a responsible adult with us as our guide in the shape of Lucy Johnston - author, curator, futures consultant and, as it turns out, a fairly impressive authority on vending machines.

This week we discover a Roman inventor to rival Da Vinci, the folly of Piggly Wiggly, a lobster nightmare and, of course absolutely loads of bizarre stuff from Japan.

Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @destructo9000

Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: https://www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward

Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

Our listeners, who art in the internet, hallowed be this episode of Worst Foot Forward. We are getting blasphemous this week in every possible religion by denouncing the World's Worst God with comic, musician and practicer of magic, Andrew O'Neill. We look at obscure ancient deities, eternal bacon, Dutch eel-vendors and Andrew tells us about the ultimate case of 'cutting your nose of to spite your face'.

Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @destructo9000

Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: https://www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward

Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

We're joined this week by the eminently qualified Dr Anna Ploszajski - Young Engineer of the Year, Channel Swimmer, science explainer and graphene-hater to talk about the worst material on earth. As eclectic as ever, we uncover a World War 2 plan by the British military to create aircraft carriers out of icebergs made of ice and sawdust, the blackest substance on earth, an astonishingly petty art spat featuring Anish Kapoor and how to make a prison that Ant Man could never escape from. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @AnnaPloszajski

Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward

Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

Testing, one two one two, is this thing on…? We're met by a mix of cricket sounds, flying bottles and scathing reviews this week as we perform the World's Worst Gig. We have the company of South African comic Schalk Bezuidenhout who shares a first-person tale of steakhouses, strippers and stand-up. Ben takes us to the worst Beatles gig ever (those of you playing the Ben/Beatles drinking game, down it) and Barry goes to the not-so-genteel theatres of Covent Garden. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @shalkiebez Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: https://www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

This week we're donning our sterilised plastic gloves, three face masks and a full hazmat suit as we prepare to deal with the world's most peculiar, disturbing and deadly epidemics. We're joined by outstanding historian and curator of one of the most informative and sinister Twitter feeds around, Mike Stuchbery. Together we talk about renaissance nuns pretending to be cats, Singaporean men who think their wangers have disappeared and why it's never a good idea to throw a smallpox party. We also discover the unusual genesis of cooties (hi America listeners!), dabble in some medieval witchcraft and discover why Portuguese schoolchildren have taken the biscuit with excuses for taking days off school. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @mikestuchbery_ Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

This week we are jazz-handing, kicklining and tumbling sideways off a swirling staircase into a pile of soggy Busby Berkeley girls. It's time for us to explore the World's Worst Musical Films with a show-stopping guest in the form of acclaimed comedy writer Joel Morris. If you think you've seen bad musicals well, you ain't heard nothing yet folks. Barry plots his way through a plotless film starring The Beegees but using the music of The Beatles, Joel teaches us to be sexy with octogenarian Mae West and Ben…oh Ben…Ben gives us the gift of Franz Liszt. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @gralefrit @ruleofthreepod Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: https://www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

Bite down hard and prepare to feel some unusual pain as we inflict the world's worst tattoos on you. Joined by the charming stand-up comic Aidan Goatley we return to the terrifying world of Russian prisons, uncover some creepy Cold War secret, Japanese pelts, the mysterious Edith and why early 20th century royalty were absolutely covered in ink. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @MrAidanGoatley Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com

This week we enter one of the creepiest world's imaginable: the nightmarish dimension of terrible toys. With award-winning children's radio host Bex Lindsay as our guide we uncover the dark truth about the Beanie Babies, a darker truth about how certain people like to make babies and quite a lot of toys that you absolutely must keep away from babies. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde @BexLindsay Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you'd like to support Ben's new baby and Barry's crippling trivia addiction: www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com