logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2025
47m 1s

16.⁠ ⁠Crossing the Iron Curtain: Escape ...

Goalhanger
About this episode
How would you disguise a cyanide pill for a CIA spy in Moscow during the Cold War? What risks could Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles pose to Adolf Tolkachev’s mission against the Soviet state? And will the CIA’s mole in Moscow be discovered by the KGB? It’s 1985, and for the past five years, Tolkachev has been providing the CIA with top secret docu ... Show More
Up next
Jun 14
166. The Covid Origin Story: Lab Leak or Animal Outbreak? (Ep 1)
Where does the CIA think the Covid-19 virus came from? And could it have been intentionally leaked as an act of biological warfare? Listen as David and Gordon step inside the investigation as to where Covid came from. ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026 at The Re ... Show More
39m 4s
Jun 10
165. Why England Didn't Win the 1970 World Cup (Ep 2)
Could England have won the 1970 World Cup if their star goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, hadn't contracted food poisoning the day before the quarter-final? And could the CIA have had anything to do with England's 60 years of hurt? David and Gordon are joined by journalist Gabriel Gateho ... Show More
55m 35s
Jun 7
164. Did the CIA Poison England's World Cup Goalkeeper? (Ep 1)
Why did Gordon Banks pull out of the 1970 World Cup quarter-final against West Germany? And was the CIA to blame? Listen as David and Gordon are joined by journalist Gabriel Gatehouse who has spent the past three years investigating whether the CIA poisoned England's star goalkee ... Show More
45m 46s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2025
The Cold War
For decades after the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States of America were locked in a conflict of ideology that took the planet to the brink of catastrophe. Known as the Cold War, it was an era of paranoia, fear and mutual suspicion, where the contest for sup ... Show More
57m 50s
Nov 2022
Secrets of a Spy: Alan Nunn May
Alan Nunn May, a British physicist, died aged 91 in 2003. But before he passed away, he gave a dramatic deathbed confession. Nunn had been jailed and sentenced to ten years’ hard labour in 1946 for passing information from the Western allies’ atomic bomb project, to the Soviet Un ... Show More
40m 27s
Jul 2023
Dancing With Jackals, Part One: The Idealist | CIA
In June 1970, a young man is arrested at the Israeli port of Haifa. On his person, police officers discover pro-Palestine propaganda, a Super-8 video camera, and 2 kilograms of high explosive. His name is Bruno Breguet - and his story only gets stranger from here. In this 2-part ... Show More
38m 20s
Apr 2025
NEW SERIES: The Redefector
<p>It was 1985, the so-called “Year of the Spy”. The CIA had been losing Soviet assets left and right; the first loss seemed like bad luck, but four in a row? That wasn't a coincidence— it was a deadly leak. And just as the Agency was scrambling to find answers, across the world, ... Show More
2m 58s
Apr 2025
NEW SERIES: The Redefector
<p>It was 1985, the so-called “Year of the Spy”. The CIA had been losing Soviet assets left and right; the first loss seemed like bad luck, but four in a row? That wasn't a coincidence— it was a deadly leak. And just as the Agency was scrambling to find answers, across the world, ... Show More
2m 58s
Mar 2024
Fatal Neutrality: Lumumba, the CIA, and the Cold War
In 1960, the Congo gained independence from Belgium. Patrice Lumumba was elected prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu president. Within a year, Lumumba was deposed and assassinated. This week on Deconstructed, executive editor of Foreign Affairs and author Stuart Reid joins Ryan Gr ... Show More
46m 10s
Nov 2025
304. Orwell: Animal Farm, 1984 & Totalitarian Dystopia (Part 3)
What was the inspiration behind George Orwell’s most famous works? Why did he move to the remote Scottish island of Jura to finish writing 1984? What was Orwell’s “Snitch List” which he handed over to the government after World War 2? In Part 3 of this miniseries, Anita and Willi ... Show More
48m 2s
Jan 2025
The Truth about Lenin, Stalin and the Soviet Union - Michael Malice
Michael Malice is the author of Dear Reader, The New Right, The Anarchist Handbook & The White Pill. He's the host of the "YOUR WELCOME" podcast on YouTube @MichaelMaliceofficial | SPONSOR: Aura. Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to our sponsor https://aura. ... Show More
1h 12m
Mar 2025
1. The Attack That Shook America: German Spies in New York (Ep 1)
New York, 1916. America is supposedly neutral in the war but they are shipping huge quantities of supplies to the allies. However, it being a nation of immigrants means loyalties across the United States are divided and members of the German-American community are causing trouble ... Show More
47m 37s