logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2024
42m 36s

The Illuminati – Top of the Plots

PODMASTERS
About this episode
• Join Ian and Dorian for Origin Story Live in London on Tue 7 May. They’ll be looking at how the Conservative Party got addicted to conspiracy theory, and more. This time: The Illuminati were a group of Enlightenment idealists who existed for just a few years in 1780s Bavaria. Or were they? The Illuminati have since been blamed for everything from the Frenc ... Show More
Up next
Today
Rivers of Blood – How Enoch Powell poisoned Britain
Welcome back to Origin Story. In this bonus episode Dorian tells the unnervingly relevant story of Enoch Powell’s so-called “Rivers of Blood” speech. On 20 April 1968, the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West delivered probably the most explosive political speech in Briti ... Show More
1h 25m
Aug 6
Shostakovich and Stalin – The Composer and the Dictator
Welcome back to Origin Story. This bonus episode is something a bit different: a story about the power of music and the music of power. Tortured genius? Stalinist stooge? Undercover dissident? Perhaps no musician better represents the competing demands of art and politics than Dm ... Show More
55m 28s
Jul 23
ICE – How Trump built an American Gestapo
What is ICE? Who are these men we see gathered around students and politicians in the US, with their faces covered, wearing unmarked clothing, often throwing people into unmarked cars? Where did this organisation originate? How did it turn into what looks like a militia? And wher ... Show More
54m 46s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
George Orwell: life of the week
From doublethink and thoughtcrime to coming face-to-face with our worst nightmares inside Room 101, few writers have had as much impact on the popular imagination as George Orwell. But what compelled the author of 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' to conjure up such dark, ... Show More
43m 38s
Dec 2020
1984 by George Orwell | Episode 5 |
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Please support our Podcast by clicking the link below. Thank you!</span></p> <p><a href="https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support"><strong>https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support</strong></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">B ... Show More
1h 10m
Dec 2020
1984 by George Orwell | Episode 4 |
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Please support our Podcast by clicking the link below. Thank you!</span></p> <p><a href="https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support"><strong>https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support</strong></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">B ... Show More
1h 1m
Dec 2020
1984 by George Orwell | Episode 3 |
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Please support our Podcast by clicking the link below. Thank you!</span></p> <p><a href="https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support"><strong>https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support</strong></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">B ... Show More
1h 6m
Dec 2020
1984 by George Orwell | Episode 2 |
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Please support our Podcast by clicking the link below. Thank you!</span></p> <p><a href="https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support"><strong>https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support</strong></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">B ... Show More
46m 21s
Dec 2020
1984 by George Orwell | Episode 6 |
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Please support our Podcast by clicking the link below. Thank you!</span></p> <p><a href="https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support"><strong>https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support</strong></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">B ... Show More
1h 23m
Dec 2020
1984 by George Orwell | Episode 1 |
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Please support our Podcast by clicking the link below. Thank you!</span></p> <p><a href="https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support"><strong>https://anchor.fm/theaudiobookspodcast/support</strong></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">B ... Show More
1h 15m
Aug 2024
Why Orwell matters
In an Orwellian twist, the word “Orwellian” has been misused so much over the decades that it’s essentially lost its meaning. But George Orwell, author of the classics Animal Farm and 1984, was very clear in his beliefs. While he was progressive and prescient in many ways, he was ... Show More
56m 24s
Jan 2025
Robert Harris
Having worked as a BBC television journalist, and as political editor for the Observer newspaper, Robert Harris published his debut novel Fatherland in 1992. A counterfactual story set in the 1960s that imagines Nazi Germany had won the Second World War, the book was a global bes ... Show More
43m 31s