Yesterday

310. The Origin of The Ashes & The Killer Cricket Scandal (Part 1)

How is the history of cricket completely intertwined with the history of the British Empire? What was the Bodyline Controversy of the 1930s and how did it nearly kill a player? Who was Don Bradman and why is he believed to be the greatest sportsperson of all time? Anita and Will ... Show More

49m 22s

Nov 20

309. Tintin, Nazis, & Soviets

What was the origin story of Hergé, the Belgian illustrator who created The Adventures of Tintin? How did an unlikely friendship transform Hergé’s life and lead him to draw Tintin crying in a comic strip for the first and only time? Anita and William navigate the turbulent hot w ... Show More

45m 37s

Nov 18

308. Asterix and Obelix, Babar The Elephant, & Colonial Cartoons

How did a story made up by a mother for her sick children turn into Babar The Elephant? Why did two immigrants to France create such a patriotically French cartoon in Asterix and Obelix? How should we feel about racist depictions of people of colour in beloved children’s cartoons ... Show More

47m 27s

Sep 9

81. The Man Who Saved The World: Abandoning Communism (Ep 2)

How did Oleg Gordievsky get recruited to work for MI6? What effect did living in Copenhagen have on his political views? And how did Britain nearly blow the recruitment of one of the most consequential spies in history? Listen as David and Gordon continue their series on Oleg Gor ... Show More

47m 37s

Sep 10

599. The First World War: Downfall of the Habsburgs (Part 6)

After endeavouring to wreak their revenge on Serbia, what would be the greatest hammer blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War? With Leviv having fallen apocalyptically to the Russian hordes, what had gone so wrong? How might the war have been brought to an ... Show More

1h 1m

Sep 21

84. The Man Who Saved The World: A Friendship Shattered (Ep 5)

Just as Oleg Gordievsky was moments away from being the KGB’s most senior man in Britain, he is recalled to Moscow. Has his spying been revealed? What can MI6 do? And will he return to his homeland knowing he may never leave again? Listen as David and Gordon continue their series ... Show More

53m 23s

Oct 5

88. China vs Google: When Beijing Took on Silicon Valley (Ep 1)

"Like many other well-known organisations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis." This was the striking public statement from Google's chief legal officer in January 2010. What began as a major security incident - a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack ... Show More

41m 52s

Aug 27

595. The First World War: The Battle of the Frontiers (Part 2)

What was Britain's first military move following the outbreak of the First World War? Where did the French launch their initial attack on the Germans? Whose army was the biggest and best of all the participants in the war? And, what unfolded at the pivotal Battle of the Ardennes ... Show More

1 h

Aug 24

76. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: From Narco to Global Terrorist (Ep 3)

By the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar’s grip on the cocaine trade was unmatched. But a new threat loomed: extradition to the United States. To Escobar, it was a fate worse than death. His answer was brutal - declare open war on the Colombian state. In this episode, Gordon and David tr ... Show More

56m 47s

Aug 17

74. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: Rise of a Drug Lord (Ep 1)

Colombia in the mid-20th century was a place of beauty and bloodshed - where jungle mountains sheltered rebels, the cities were ruled by oligarchs, and outlaw legends became folk heroes. Into this world stepped Pablo Escobar. Charming, calm, and calculating, he would become one o ... Show More

58m 56s

Sep 16

83. The Man Who Saved The World: Countdown to Armageddon (Ep 4)

It’s 1983 and the world is on the brink of nuclear war. Operation Able Archer has ratcheted tensions right up, how is Oleg Gordievski going to prevent a nuclear apocalypse? Is this the greatest contribution of any spy to humanity? And what does it say about the enduring value of ... Show More

50m 34s

Aug 26

77. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: The Medellin Cartel vs Colombia (Ep 4)

By the autumn of 1989, the hunt for Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel was intensifying. With the US military and intelligence agencies now directly involved, a new, more aggressive phase of the War on Drugs had begun. Join Gordon and David as they explore how Escobar, facing ... Show More

50m 52s

Aug 20

593. The Fight of the Century

Why did two men - John Heenan and and Tom Sayers - illegally meet in a field in Hampshire, in 1860, to brutally fight one another, captivating Britain in the process? What can the fight tell us about the nature of Britishness in the 19th century? Was this the birth of boxing? Who ... Show More

57m 19s

249. Victorian Narcos: Doomed Envoy to C...