Mikey Robins takes aim at the idiots of history in new book

He remembers the day an Air Force Sabre jet crashed into his neighbourhood at The Junction (August 16, 1966).

He remembers the Newcastle earthquake (December 28, 1989), when he lived just around the corner from the Newcastle Workers Club, which was destroyed in the quake.

He has fond memories of traipsing around Fort Scratchley as a school kid, even performing in a run of Christmas plays there one year.

The place and the people still hold a special place in his life. In a short chat about his new book, Idiots, Follies & Misadventures, a comedic exploration of human stupidity, he says if he ever attended a trivia night, his perfect tablemates would be Tony Squires, a local who went on to media success and is close to a genius in sporting trivia, and Professor Catharine Lumby, a respected academic who is one of the daughters of renowned Newcastle nursing pioneer Judy Lumby.

Robins is set to visit Warners Bay on September 9, where he will be in conversation with ABC journalist Dan Cox about Robins' new book as part of the History Illuminated festival in Lake Macquarie (4pm, Saturday, September 9, Warners Bay Theatre).

Robins did the research for the book during the COVID lockdown.

"I did three months of research before I realised the idea was a book," he says. "The first three months I was trawling around books. I started with a broad net. 'Who's the dumbest pharaoh? Who is the dumbest king?'"

The saucy book is full of anecdotes, datelines and memorable moments of pure human stupidity. Among the many great quotes, in the introduction he cites French writer Alexandre Dumas, once writing, 'I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.'

He's looking forward to the Warners Bay gig. "There are some stories that are easy and fun to talk about it," he says. "And some are for private consumption.

"I I think the night will be like a dinner party conversation with less food and less wine..."