logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2023
9 m

When Britain tried to censor the Trouble...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Frontman of punk-rock band The Undertones, Paul McLoone, recalls the “weird, slightly funny, slightly sad, slightly surreal” time he was the voice of IRA commander-turned-politician, Martin McGuinness.

It was during the so called ‘broadcasting ban’ in the UK which came into force in 1988. It saw organisations believed to support terrorism forbidden from directly broadcasting on radio or television.

Paul tells Alys Harte how the legislation led to extra work for him.

(Photo: Paul McLoone during a performance. Credit: Getty Images)

Up next
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s
Today
The Howard Hughes literary hoax
<p>In 1971, the publishing world was rocked by one of the biggest hoaxes in literary history – a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.</p><p>Hughes was an aerospace engineer, film producer, record-breaking aviator and business tycoon, who’d built a $2 bil ... Show More
10m 4s
Yesterday
Colombia's Salt Cathedral
<p>In 1995, a cathedral was built 180m underground in the Zipaquirá Salt Mine in Colombia. </p><p>The idea came from the miners building makeshift altars in the mine in the 1930s, to pray for their safety before starting their shifts. </p><p>It’s now a major tourist attraction, a ... Show More
10m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2024
Give Ireland Back to the Irish
This episode deals with themes and events surrounding the Northern Ireland conflict. As such, this episode may be traumatic or emotional for some listeners. Paul McCartney doesn’t view himself as a writer of protest songs. But the events of Bloody Sunday sufficiently moved him to ... Show More
21m 12s
Nov 2019
Britain's secret propaganda war
<p>Subversive warfare and 'fake news' in World War Two, the scandal which exposed horrific Indian police violence in the 1980s, two sides of the Iran hostages crisis in 1979, the woman who transformed cancer treatment, and a defining Berlin Wall rock concert.</p><p>Photo The actr ... Show More
50m 26s
Apr 2008
Yeats and Irish Politics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poet W.B. Yeats and Irish politics. Yeats lived through a period of great change in Ireland from the collapse of the home rule bill through to the Easter Rising of 1916 and the partitioning of the country. In May 1916, 15 men were shot by the B ... Show More
42m 17s
Sep 2023
373. Oswald Mosley: Fascist Leader
The fascists in Britain have found a leader known across the country: the sinister yet complex Oswald Mosley. Following stints as an MP for both the Tories and Labour, Mosley, a veteran of the First World War, forms the British Union of Fascists in 1932, making a big effort to ap ... Show More
54m 31s
Nov 2019
Britain's secret propaganda war
How sex, jazz and 'fake news' were used to undermine the Nazis in World War Two. In 1941, the UK created a top secret propaganda department, the Political Warfare Executive to wage psychological warfare on the German war machine. It was responsible for spreading rumours, generati ... Show More
13m 55s
Jul 2017
The Oka Crisis
A watershed moment for Canada's indigenous people as Mohawks take on the developers, the birth of UKIP in Britain, memories of the poet Irina Ratushinskaya who died earlier this month - plus dance music with ballet star Nureyev's defection and illegal raving in England's countrys ... Show More
50m 31s
Feb 2022
Episode 70: Dennis McFadden - The MI5 Chameleon who infiltrated the New IRA
He was the New IRA 'fixer' with an unclear past, but despite some red flags, Dennis McFadden managed to infiltrate the terror group and win their trust, all the while reporting back to MI5.<br/><br/>For two decades the Scottish spy worked and lived in Belfast and moonlighted as a ... Show More
35m 48s
Apr 2021
Episode Ten: This Country
It was the biggest bank robbery in British and Irish history. Days before Christmas 2004, gangs of armed men take over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down. With family members held hostage, the officials are instructed to remove cash from the vault ... Show More
14m 44s
Oct 2023
Anti-Irish Racism in 1930s Britain
<p>In the 1920s and 30s Irish emigrants in Britain faced widespread racism and discrimination. Labelled drunks, subversives, and a threat to society, right wing politicians whipped up fear and hatred against the community.This podcast tells the forgotten stories of these emigrant ... Show More
30m 20s