No One Saw It Coming

It’s arguably the most famous painting in the world. But back in 1911, the Mona Lisa wasn’t an international icon. So what made the painting so famous it would attract millions of visitors to The Louvre every year? 
This is the unbelievable true story of an art heist - one of the 20th century's most audacious art thefts that would turn a masterpiece into a legend.
Art historian Mary McGillivray tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about one of art history’s most sensational crimes and its patriotic perpetrator.
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Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] This episode was first published in April 2025.

It was meant to be Scotland’s saving grace - a bold plan to build a colony and dominate global trade. 
But disease, starvation, and frankly just bad planning was their undoing... and the failed outpost paved the way for a union with their biggest rival.
Archaeologist Mark Horton tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about the story of the Darien Scheme and how the failed venture bankrupted Scotland, deepened economic despair, and indirectly paved the way for the 1707 Act of Union with England, arguably changing the course of British history.
Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
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She was called the most beautiful woman in the world and was seen as an exotic Hollywood star in the 1930s. But Hedy Lamarr was more than that. She was also an inventor. 
During WWII she patented a technology to sink German U-boats. It was ignored and shelved, only to be picked up decades later to and be used every day on our phones and computers.
Ruth Barton, Emeritus Professor of Film from Trinity College Dublin, tells Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole) about how Hedy Lamarr invented the foundations of wi-fi and why it took decades for it to be a part of her legacy.
Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

When you combine Russian ballet, French aristocracy, and a little bit of Walt Disney you get a recipe for a riot and one of the most important musical moments in history.
Host of Radio National’s The Music Show, Andrew Ford, sits down at the piano and tells Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole) about why Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was so confronting that it caused a riot in 1913 and how it went on to change music forever.
Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

As the Second World War raged in the Pacific, there was a team of codebreakers in Australia working around the clock intercepting and deciphering Japanese messages. 
It was Australia’s own Bletchley Park, but the team were young, female and worked in a shed. And they called themselves The Garage Girls.
Author Alli Sinclair tells Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole) the story of these codebreakers and how they secured the Allies’ victory in the Pacific, only to be lost in history... until now. 
Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]