What led to the Second Opium War? Why wasn’t China colonised by Europeans? When did China start referring to this period as the “century of humiliation” and how did this narrative shape nationalism in the 20th century?
Anita and William are joined by Stephen R. Platt, author of Imperial Twilight, for the final instalment of this series in which they discu ... Show More
Apr 27
354. Liberator of Latin America: Simón Bolívar vs The Spanish Empire (Part 1)
Who was the man who liberated Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia from Spanish rule? How did a privileged upper-class teenage boy become South America’s leading revolutionary of the 19th century? How did tragedy in his youth set Simón Bolívar on the pathway to ... Show More
35m 54s
Aug 2025
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
Aug 2025
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
Nov 2025
97. Selling The World's Secrets: Why The Brits Won The Falklands War (Ep 2)
THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026: Buy your tickets HERE on Friday 7th November at 12pm GMT. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the CIA and its German counterpart, the BND, were listening to the encrypted messages of at least 62 countries around the world. This intellige ... Show More
51m 27s
May 2024
How the Legacy of the British Empire Still Shapes Our World, with Sathnam Sanghera
Sathnam Sanghera is a writer and author of bestselling books exploring British identity, the latest of which is Empireworld: How British Imperialism Has Shaped the Globe. It follows Empireland, which looked at how the British Empire has shaped modern Britain. Sanghera has written ... Show More
38m 11s
Sep 2025
Introducing… Season Eight of a Dynasty to Die For
When you survive an arrow shot to the face like Henry V did, you don’t waste your second chance. So when he’s finally crowned in 1413, it’s all systems go. He ruthlessly slaps down challenges to his rule, and launches a lightning military campaign that puts England back in the bi ... Show More
2m 24s