History is always written by the winners and about the winners. But what about the poor souls lurking in the shadows of history, the ones who were just as remarkable but perhaps didn’t stick their chests out as they crossed the line? In Second Best, Australia’s foremost historian and comedian Ben Pobjie celebrates the nobility and altogether more fascinating stories of the silver-medal getters. What drove them on their incredible feats, why did they just miss out, and how did they cope with the oblivion of finishing second? From the Second Fleet, the second man on the moon and Australia’s second prime minister whose name we consistently forget, Second Best shines a light on those plucky men and women who, through no fault of their own – or at least only a little bit of fault of their own – didn’t quite get there before everyone else, but did get there before almost everyone else.
Ned Kelly?s tin helmet looms large over Australia?s bushranging past, but what about all the unsung outlaws of the Australian bush? What about Black Caesar, who escaped his tyrannous British overlords four times and indeed invented the great Australian tradition of bushranging? Or Mad Dog Morgan who set out to write his name in blood on history?s ledger, the dynamic Captain Thunderbolt and his loyal wife Mary Ann Bugg, bushranging?s greatest queen, and Matthew Brady, the gentleman bushranger, who showed us all the cilivised side of armed robbery? In Mad Dogs and Thunderbolts Ben Pobjie celebrates the derring-do and revolutionary passion of all the wild colonial boys and girls who raided our towns and stole our hearts, all while wearing sensible headgear.
We're engrossed with reality TV these days, yet we so often neglect the greatest reality of all: the reality of our nation and how it came to be. In Error Australis, TV columnist, comedian and history buff Ben Pobjie recaps the history of Australia from its humble beginnings as a small patch of rapidly cooling rock to its modern-day status as one of the major powers of the sub-Asian super-Antarctic next-to-Africa region. As thrilling as it is to see Delta Goodrem's chair turn around, there's an argument that World War Two was even more exciting and, like any good recapper, Pobjie provides an immediate, visceral sense of what it was like to be there in the moment at our nation's defining events. It is only by looking at where we have been that we can understand who we are, what we stand for and why nothing seems to work. Error Australis is a scholarly and hilarious account of a young nation that has spent many years seeking its place in the world, and almost as many years not liking what it has found.
What is a Bloke? What is a Bloke? This is the question that has occupied the greatest minds of the anthropological and sociological worlds for many years. Not in a literal sense, of course, at the base level, the definition of a Bloke is perfectly clear: a Bloke is a human male native to Australia, typically between 150 and 200 centimetres tall, frequently partial to beer and ventilated footwear, who has built a mighty nation from the scraps of colonialism and inappropriate farming practices. That much is obvious. Writer and comedian Ben Pobjie examines the different types of Bloke in Australia today, giving the reader a unique and expert insight into Blokedom. What makes a Bloke tick? What do Blokes like to do? Where do they go? These questions and more are answered in this hilarious and irreverent book.
When our politicians are too busy playing musical chairs to run the country, our cricketers are doing suspicious things with sandpaper, and a murderous starfish with twenty-one arms roams freely around the Great Barrier Reef it seems about time that we, as a nation, ask a tough question: how the heck did it come to this? In Australia – What Happened? TV columnist, comedian and history buff Ben Pobjie turns an incredulous eye on the history of Australia to bust open the national mythology, reveal the truth about what it means to be an Australian and work out what happened to all our best-laid plans. What’s the real story of the Aussie larrikin? How exactly did sheep ruin everything? What impact did the Gold Rush have on Australian culture? And what do you mean ‘murderous starfish’? All these questions and more will be answered in this hilarious and historically accurate account of our wayward nation.
If you think you know all about Australia's heroes (and villains), think again. In Aussie Aussie Aussie, Ben Pobjie burrows beneath the mythology to provide an intimate look at the Australians who helped make our nation great - as well as the ones who stopped us from being as great as we could have been but who have ended up with their own Wikipedia pages anyway. Meet pioneers such as Charles Kingsford Smith, whose groundbreaking efforts moved the country forward; artists and entertainers such as Joan Sutherland, who shaped our national cultural identity; captains of industry such as Rupert Murdoch, who inspired Australia's love affair with people who amass phenomenal quantities of personal wealth; and humanitarians such as Mary MacKillop, who found fame by dedicating their lives to others and guilt-tripping the rest of us. Aussie Aussie Aussie is the book for any proud Australian seeking to learn more about the national heroes that make our own pathetic lives seem so insignificant.
From the ghostly black horse of Sutton Forest to the butcher of Adelaide Street, a haunted Brisbane lift to the chilling experiments carried out by Doctor Blood of the North Kapunda Hotel, Australia abounds in spooky stories that are all unnervingly based in fact and tied to real places you can visit or avoid. In 100 Tales from Australia's Most Haunted Places, comedy writer and general scaredy-cat Ben Pobjie communes with the spirit world to send a shiver down your spine. A book best read with the light left on.
If you think you know all about Australia's heroes (and villains), think again. In Aussie Aussie Aussie, Ben Pobjie burrows beneath the mythology to provide an intimate look at the Australians who helped make our nation great - as well as the ones who stopped us from being as great as we could have been but who have ended up with their own Wikipedia pages anyway. Meet pioneers such as Charles Kingsford Smith, whose groundbreaking efforts moved the country forward; artists and entertainers such as Joan Sutherland, who shaped our national cultural identity; captains of industry such as Rupert Murdoch, who inspired Australia's love affair with people who amass phenomenal quantities of personal wealth; and humanitarians such as Mary MacKillop, who found fame by dedicating their lives to others and guilt-tripping the rest of us. Aussie Aussie Aussie is the book for any proud Australian seeking to learn more about the national heroes that make our own pathetic lives seem so insignificant.
Tales of the strange, unnerving and downright bizarre from one of the weirdest places on Earth Fish falling out of the sky, joggers relieving themselves on your doorstep, mysterious monsters constantly springing from the shadows, spooky lights and ill-conceived toast spreads: these are just some of the things you can expect on any given day in our surreal southern land. In 100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia, comedy writer and accredited weirdness expert Ben Pobjie delves deep into Australia's past and present to serve up the weirdest stories of all, which will leave you smacking your gob with one hand while scratching your head with the other.
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE celebrates the influential Australians who made our nation great, as well as the ones who stopped us from being as great as we could have been but who have ended up with their own Wikipedia pages anyway. TV columnist, comedian and history buff Ben Pobjie recaps the history of Australia from its humble beginnings as a stinking hot colonial outpost to its modern-daystatus as a stinking hot culturally diverse Commonwealth realm. Like any good historian, Pobjie provides an intimate sense of what it was like to be there in the moment at some of our nation'sdefining events, and with the people who made them happen.
We're obsessed with reality television these days yet we so often neglect the greatest reality of all: the reality of our nation, and how it came to be. In Error Australis, TV columnist, comedian and history buff Ben Pobjie recaps the history of Australia from its humble beginnings as a small patch of rapidly cooling rock, to its modern-day status as one of the major powers of the sub-Asian super-Antarctic next-to-Africa region. Pobjie recognises that history can be as gripping as any reality show - as thrilling as it is to see Delta Goodrem's chair turn around, there is an argument that the Second World War was even more exciting - and like any good recapper, he provides an immediate, visceral sense of what it was like to be there in the moment at our nation's defining events. All historians know that it is only by looking at where we have been that we can understand who we are, what we stand for, and why nothing seems to work. Error Australis is a scholastic and side-splittingly funny account of a young nation that has spent many years seeking its place in the world, and almost as many years not liking what it has found.
From the ghostly black horse of Sutton Forest to the butcher of Adelaide Street, a haunted Brisbane lift to the chilling experiments carried out by Doctor Blood of the North Kapunda Hotel, Australia abounds in spooky stories that are all unnervingly based in fact and tied to real places you can visit or avoid. In 100 Tales from Australia's Most Haunted Places, comedy writer and general scaredy-cat Ben Pobjie communes with the spirit world to send a shiver down your spine. A book best read with the light left on.
Tales of the strange, unnerving and downright bizarre from one of the weirdest places on Earth Fish falling out of the sky, joggers relieving themselves on your doorstep, mysterious monsters constantly springing from the shadows, spooky lights and ill-conceived toast spreads: these are just some of the things you can expect on any given day in our surreal southern land. In 100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia, comedy writer and accredited weirdness expert Ben Pobjie delves deep into Australia's past and present to serve up the weirdest stories of all, which will leave you smacking your gob with one hand while scratching your head with the other.
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