Listen to Stuff The British Stole

Throughout its reign, the British Empire stole a lot of stuff. Today those objects are housed in genteel institutions across the U.K. and the world. They usually come with polite plaques. Stuff The British Stole is a series about the not-so-polite history behind those objects. 

Each episode award-winning journalist, author and multi-hyphenate Marc Fennell picks one artifact and takes you on the wild, evocative, sometimes funny, often tragic adventure of how it got to where it is now.

Ultimately this isn't really a series about the past. It's about making sense of the world we have today.

Thanks to a collaboration between ABC in Australia and CBC Podcasts, you can stream both seasons of the award-winning show below, or find it wherever you get your podcasts. 

Season 2

Ep. 1: The Abductions

A war. A ransom. And a stunning recovery mission. Five elaborately carved panels were buried in a New Zealand swamp to hide and protect them. Then 150 years later, they're acquired by a British collector before being sold to a Swiss-Bolivian collector in Geneva.

Their long journey home began when a kidnap ransom payment had to be made.

This is the remarkable story of the Motunui Epa.

Stuff The British Stole35:18S2 E1: The Abductions

Ep. 2: Losing Your Marbles

They've seen wars, the bottom of the ocean and even — bizarrely — been part of a boxing match.

The story of how the Parthenon Marbles actually ended up in London's British Museum is a wild tale featuring bribes, court cases and some extremely dodgy deals.

There's been a centuries-long campaign to get them back to their homeland. Now, a team of Greek-Australians have decided that the time for diplomacy is over and a new tactic is required.

Stuff The British Stole36:46S2 E2: Losing Your Marbles

Ep. 3: Cup Runneth

In County Cork, Ireland, there's a tree that locals call the Chalice Tree. Local lore says it's where British Redcoats disrupted a secret Catholic mass, killed two priests and stole a sacred chalice.

Now that chalice sits in London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

What happened in the intervening 200 years is now being pieced together by two Irish families: the O'Keeffes and the McAulliffe's.

Stuff The British Stole38:52S2 E3: Cup Runneth

Ep. 4: Not Your Venus

Sarah 'Saartjie' Baartman was taken to the U.K. by a British doctor. But did she know what she was signing up for?

Stage-named 'The Hottentot Venus', Sarah was paraded around freak shows in London and Paris. During her life and even after her death, she was objectified, mistreated and abused.

More than 200 years after her death, her life story reveals confronting truths about the treatment of Black female bodies and how much has, and hasn't, changed.

Stuff The British Stole35:07S2 E4: Not Your Venus

Ep. 5: Strange Fowle

It's become a symbol for extinction; the dodo is a semi-mythical creature which most of us know only through Alice in Wonderland.

But one particular dodo was the victim of a crime – murder.

Its skull now sits in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. And it holds the clues to a thrilling mystery which illustrates a little-known colonial legacy.

Stuff The British Stole34:54S2 E5: Strange Fowle

Season 1

Ep. 1: A Tiger and a Scream

How a toy tiger became the symbol of a struggle between India and its former British colonizers.

Stuff The British Stole32:05S1 E1: A Tiger and a Scream

Ep. 2: Blood Art

What if your doorstop was evidence of brutal mass murder and wholesale theft?

Stuff The British Stole30:19S1 E2: Blood Art

Ep. 3: Best.Named.Dog.Ever

Don't let their fluffy hair and judging eyes fool you, Pekingese dogs are hiding a secret. Their history encompasses torture, hubris, war, and some very long sleeves. Most importantly these dogs — well, one in particular — holds a key to understanding the sometimes vexed relationship China has with the West.

Stuff The British Stole28:33S1 E3: Best.Named.Dog.Ever

Ep. 4: The Headhunters

The arrival of Europeans in New Zealand kicked off a trade in Mokomokai — or tattooed heads — but these colonial souvenirs have their own complex history.

Stuff The British Stole28:42S1 E4: The Headhunters

Ep. 5: Shots Fired

The Gweagal shield is just one of the things James Cook and his shipmates took from the local people when they landed in Botany Bay. Why has it become among the most contentious?

Stuff The British Stole32:17S1 E5: Shots Fired