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Oct 2024
41m 4s

Rasputin

BBC Sounds
About this episode

How did an illiterate peasant from Siberia find himself dining with an Emperor? Did Rasputin really have magical healing powers or was he a cunning fraud? And what exactly earned him his shocking nickname?

Producer: Sasha Bobak Evil Genius with Russell Kane is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

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