The Mirror catches up with the comedian Paul Coulter as he continues with his hit 5 Mistakes That Changed History tour, a wild blend of history, comedy and storytelling which delves into the sort of blunders that may well make you feel a little better about your own
From the moon landings to the invention of penicillin, humankind’s story has been written through moments of great triumph and accomplishment. But are there lessons to be learned from history’s less distinguished moments?
Comedian Paul Coulter certainly thinks so. The former legal professional, who studied history at University College London (UCL), has taken his latest show, ‘5 Mistakes That Changed History’, on a tour of the UK following a stellar run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And he couldn’t be more excited to share his enthusiasm for some of the biggest historical clangers of all time.
A blend of storytelling, history and comedy, Coulter’s passion shines through as he shares some of his favourite gaffes with the Mirror. Recalling one little-known fact that popped up over the course of his research, Coulter grinned: “Humans made the mistake for 300 years in Europe of thinking the tomato was poisonous. I just thought it was so funny and so ridiculous that, actually, the tomato didn’t end up in world cooking until 1870, which is when it got added to pizza and pasta.
“Before then, it wasn’t in any of our food. It was in Central and South American food, but in Europe, we thought it was poisonous!”
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A “history obsessive” since childhood, 5 Mistakes That Made History marked the moment Coulter managed to combine his two lifelong hobbies of comedy and history into a sparkling career. Starting off in a small shipping container, the show catapulted to acclaim, having sold out at both the Edinburgh and Adelaide fringes three years in a row.
Explaining the premise of the rib-tickling yet informative show, Coulter, who is based in Australia, told us, “I’ll tell five stories. So some of these stories will be quite emotional. Some of them, maybe there aren’t so many jokes, you’re really going into the moment. Like the Titanic would be a good one. You’re not really going to be making gags about the Titanic, and then some of them might have a lot more jokes in them.”
The Titanic error, one of Coulter’s personal favourites to tell, always elicits a horrified reaction from the audience, making for a poignant moment amid the usual laughs. As explained by Coulter: “When the Titanic sank, there was another ship eight miles from that ship, called The Californian. Despite everything the Titanic did, they radioed, they Morse-lighted, they sent a rowboat out to the mystery ship – it was eight miles away – that ship did nothing to save the Titanic because the captain was asleep.
“And he got woken up twice in the night, being told about rockets, and he doesn’t go on deck, he doesn’t investigate, he stays in his cabin, and he never checked it out.”
Every year, Coulter writes a new show centred around another five mistakes, and this summer even released a book, similarly titled 10 Mistakes That Made History. Keeping it varied with a mix of modern and ancient history, Coulter himself has regularly been surprised by the topics that have piqued his interest the most, with his work proving to be an ongoing learning process.
For example, although he initially wasn’t particularly interested in ancient history, Coulter now always kicks off his show with a story from the ancient world, and iconic Egyptian queen Cleopatra is now one of his favourite historical figures to discuss.
Humourously delving into Cleo’s second big love story, with Mark Antony, Coulter joked: “He’s a bit of a dropkick. He prefers drinking, partying, and boozing. Even as he’s about to die, he creates a drinking club that Cleopatra didn’t want to join. He reminds me of every single deadbeat ex that my friends have had.”
Coulter’s show feels particularly important at a time when humanities subjects, including history, are being devalued and cut back, to the dismay of historians who know all too well the dangers of ignoring or misunderstanding the lessons of the past.
Coulter reflected: “I think a lot of people get bored by history. The reason I wrote this show really was that I had so many friends who just went to me, ‘Oh, history’s boring. History’s dull. It’s not important. We don’t need to know about it’.
“The more and more you understand about history, the more you realise that these characters from history, they might be a statue in the British Museum, or you might think it’s some boring plaque on a wall, but these are humans like us, and you might not know people, as I’ve said in the introduction [of the book], who’ve led an army, but you know people with these human characteristics. People who are jealous, or people who are greedy.”
Whether performing his show or writing his book, Coulter focuses on the “human characteristics” of these seemingly far-off figures, knowing that it’s this slice of everyday humanity that brings history to life, not the clinical dates and figures. One amusing example of this is his bro-ish portrayal of Alexander the Great, depicted in Coulter’s book as the leader of a group of laddish, gym-buffed mates, embroiled in antics not all that dissimilar to the testosterone-fuelled arguments you might witness on a “stag night”.
Known as an unstoppable military leader and builder of empires, under Coulter’s witty pen, the revered King of Macedon becomes an “arrogant 32-year-old gym bro”, and all the more interesting with it. Alexander the Great is just one of the extremely successful individuals whose failures Coulter gleefully highlights, with audience members often left surprised that such storied leaders ever so much as set a foot wrong.
In one anecdote, Coulter tells the story of a mistake made by Winston Churchill when he was just 18 years old and had yet to set foot in the world of politics. It was this error, Coulter argues, that ended up changing the course of the future Prime Minister’s life, and there’s plenty of wisdom to take from this.
For Coulter, confronting history’s failures is just as important as celebrating its successes, even if we’re not all that comfortable with this topic. As he noted, “We’re allergic to failure.”
Sometimes, the stories are so wild that audience members point-blank refuse to believe them. One example is the tale of the battle between Alexander the Great’s “two best mates,” Ptolemy and Perdiccas, which involved Perdiccas invading Egypt to snatch back Alexander’s body.
In a series of catastrophically unfortunate events, Perdiccas had his men cross back over the river, believing Ptolemy was coming towards them. During this ultimately pointless retreat, the water levels rose, and some 2,000 troops either drowned or were devoured by hungry crocodiles. As it turned out, Ptolemy hadn’t even been coming for them anyway, and, in Coulter’s words, “Ptolemy just made his goats run in circles in the desert”.
This is one of the factual stories that prompt disbelieving audience members to approach Coulter after the show to insist that it couldn’t possibly be true. However, a true student of history at heart, Coulter does the diligent research required to ensure accuracy through every jaw-dropping twist and turn, knowing full well that “fact can be crazier than fiction.”
In an age of social media, AI, and widespread misinformation, many experts argue that a sound knowledge of history has never been so important. Coulter agrees that this subject, above all, encourages critical thinking. He reflected, “It teaches you to look at lots of different sources, and to look around, and to second-guess, and to understand human nature and how we got here.”
For Coulter, comedy is a great medium for telling the stories of history in a relatable way that actually connects people with the past in a meaningful, memorable way. He’s even managed to convert plenty of non-history lovers along the way.
The combination of jokes and storytelling means that returning audience members rarely need to brush up on their revision notes. Often, loyal fans will be able to recount stories from previous shows, with the vivid details staying with them long after they’ve left their seats. As noted by Coulter, “We’ve been telling stories for 40,000 years. Before Netflix, we were telling stories!”
Coulter said: “My whole goal is to make people realise that history is not boring, that history can come alive. And also, the fact that very little things, that come from human traits, can dramatically change the course of history. It’s not planned out. It’s not some regal king sitting in some beautiful chamber, and it all goes perfectly. These people are humans, too. They stuff up, and so do we. We all make mistakes, they just don’t change history.”
Tickets are on sale for Paul Coulter’s UK tour and are available now from www.historymistakes.com.
Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com
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Source: Mirror
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