Just So Stories

Simon & Schuster Australia

July 2023

• ISBN13: 9781761107115
• RRP: $34.99

As someone who has adored Horrible Histories – especially Stupid Deaths – and also Mikey Robins, since the days of Good News Week (I miss that show SO MUCH!), this was just comedy gold for me. Of course, I’m fascinated by history of all kinds, but it really is reassuring, I think, to know that there have been complete dumbclucks all throughout the annals of time.

Mikey ambles through the ages treating the reader to wonderful snapshots of some of history’s well-known figures, as well as those who have remained obscure. Take, for example, that infamous gangster, Al Capone, who was ruthless, vicious and completely unscrupulous. Who knew he was also very keen on his golf? Further, who would have guessed that the wily criminal, who could not be caught out on any misdeed (until that clever bit of accounting by the Federal Tax Bureau), was dumb enough to drunkenly shoot himself in the foot, with the gun he always carried concealed in his golfbag?? Pretty sure that would have been a penalty shot in anyone’s rule book ;-).

Or there’s the story about one Katherine FitzGerald, who certainly lived to be over 100 (and some wild rumours suggested anything up to 140!), but died after falling from a tree she was climbing for either cherries or chestnuts. Where was WHS when she needed it?

There is an extremely funny chapter on supposed cures for hangovers since ancient to modern times – look, I’m here to say that you can forget all that other rubbish. A bowl of icecream – it’s a certainty I tell you.

While many would know of Karl Marx as the father of socialism, and that rather stern-faced bearded dude in photographs, how many of us knew that he was a wild boy in his youth, always drunk and creating chaos in the wake of himself upon his donkey – what the????

The incident in the 1990s when Norway was sending up a research rocket, intent on learning more about the fabulous Northern Lights, and Russia assuming said rocket to be a military device was definitely a bit fraught – particularly with drunken buffoon Yeltsin entrusted with ‘THE’ [nuclear launch] briefcase.

Some of the anecdotes run to a mere page and a half, while others meander for longer but, all in all, this is almost 400 pages of completely riotous snort-laughing material, which has been such a pleasure to read.

Do yourself a favour and rush out to buy a copy. Even better, buy a copy for a friend’s gift, but read it yourself first ;-). Highly recommended for those who relish a good guffaw. And now, just because I can – sit back and enjoy, all over again, the final of Good News Week (yep, I cried that night).