Yes or BS

A Lithuanian shipwreck. A 19th century ballooning hoax. And a queen of England dressed in a cockerel costume. It’s all here this week, in Episode 19 of Yes or BS!

Also in this week’s episode, did Wimbledon, England, give its name to Wimbledon, New Zealand, thanks so a sharp-shooting bullock killer? Did the Ancient Persians kickstart an Egyptian invasion by hurling live cats into a walled city? And - perhaps most puzzling of all - do you really want to know the answers to those questions?

Is this the best-titled episode of Yes or BS yet? You bet your Viagra-powered hamster it is.

Episode 18 kicks off with facts about sign language and the supposed miracles of a martyred English king, veers somewhere into classic 80s cinema, and comes to a close with the story of something unusual that happened to the King of Spain while he was on holiday in Russia in 2006. Oh, and along the way, there’s something about hamsters, pharmaceutical marital aids, and jet lag. Never let it be said you don’t get your money’s-worth with Yes or BS. Which is probably why we’re free.

We’re halfway through Season 3 of Yes or BS already, and we’re reaching the milestone with facts about palaeontology, psychology, literature, and swearing parrots.

Is déjà-vu caused by a misfired fight-or-flight impulse? Was the first automatic washing machine partly made out of parts salvaged from a naval scrapyard? Did the first draft of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory really involve Charlie being encased in solid chocolate? And which President had a pet called Fightin’ Bob Evans?

And as always, ynbelievably, some of this BS is actually completely true...

Season 3 of Yes or BS continues apace – and things are as eclectic as ever...

Is there a gigantic corpse-filled mausoleum hidden under one of Britain’s most famous buildings? Was an international rowing race really interrupted by a flock of ducks? Was ancient Byzantium home to four murderous gangs of rival sports fans? What does the blue P-for-parking sign have to do with the Amsterdam Olympics? And just how big is a velociraptor?

All of this and lots, lots more in Episode 16 of Yes or BS!

Yes, we’re back! Season 3 of Yes or BS kicks off with this bumper episode covering everything from Ancient Roman embassies to, er, Walt Disney’s Dumbo.

Did a former British Navy lieutenant-general unsuccessfully enter 28 parliamentary elections? Did a famous author invent a device for lighting a cigarette at his bedside? And did Mozart have a beloved pet starling that could repeat the theme of his 17th piano concerto?

You might not want to know the answers to those questions, but you’re about to – Yes or BS is back with a vengeance...

Surprise! Ahead of Season 3 of Yes or BS arriving this September, here’s something a bit special – our very first team episode, featuring the brilliant Aven and Mark from The Endless Knot!

For one week only, Ant and Paul are are working together as Team Yes or BS, taking on (and being utterly outclassed by)Team Endless Knot, Aven and Mark, playing live down the line from Canada.

The Endless Knot is a brilliant podcast, YouTube channel, and Instagram feed dedicated to classical and mediaeval history, literature, language and linguistics – and how these fields (as well as a great many more) are interconnected in often obscure and fascinating ways. Track it down via all the usual podcast providers, as well as online at alliterative.net:

Website: www.alliterative.net

Twitter: @AllEndlessKnot, @Alliterative, @AvenSarah

Facebook: www.facebook.com/alliterativeendlessknot

Instagram: www.instagram.com/alliterativeendlessknot

YouTube: www.youtube.com/Alliterative

Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheEndlessKnot

So who will come out victorious today? Will Ant finally run out of Ancient Rome facts? Will Paul ever learn anything about popular culture? Will Team Yes or BS manage to set aside their natural competitiveness and work together?!

You’ll have to listen in to find out the answers to all those questions – as well as what the priciest finger in mediaeval blood money reparations was, and whether or not the biggest theatre in London once played host to a ridiculously perilous revolving horse race...

Stay tuned for Season 3 of Yes or BS coming very soon!

It’s the last episode of Season 2 of Yes or BS, so we’re going out in style with a bumper episode revisiting some previous, er... glories?

So. Is there a giant Buddha statue carved into a Chinese mountainside? Did a German performance artist try to stake a claim to 1500 square kilometres of the Moon? Was the humble teabag invented entirely by mistake? And did JRR Tolkien go to the cinema with CS Lewis, and hate every single second of the Disney film they watched? Hey, it wouldn’t be a season finale without a Tolkien/Lewis fact — just count yourselves lucky his narcoleptic cat isn’t getting a mention.

And, never fear — we will be back later in the spring with Season 3...

In the penultimate episode of Season 2, the Yes or BS facts on offer cover everything from an ancient Tang Dynasty credit card to a mysterious 100-mile chain of cloven footprints and a political treaty the covers the weaponization of the moon. Not that we’re eclectic, of course.

Finishing things off this week, did a 12-year-old Scottish schoolboy once successfully pass himself off as Prime Minister HH Asquith? And, more importantly, what the hell was Ant doing answering the door to 10 Downing Street?

As always, let us know how you score over on Twitter @yes_or_BS, and we’ll see you for the season finale next week...

We’ve reached the halfway point in Season 2 of Yes or BS, and things are just as eclectic as ever... This week, Ant and Paul decide whether there was once a Nigerian terracotta army, whether Florence Nightingale’s protégé used carbolic acid to clean Crimean War wounds, whether hyperinflation addled the brains of German accountants, and if Sir Antony Eden once accidentally went on holiday with one of 20th century history’s most famous characters.

This week on Yes or BS, Ant and Paul have to decide whether a double decker bus once jumped the gap in Tower Bridge, and whether JS Bach once investigated a haunting at Weimar Cathedral. This game really does get stranger as the weeks go by...