Germany’s most famous fighter pilot, Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (aka ‘The Red Baron’) was shot down near the Somme River on the Western Front, on 21st April 1918. He had been credited with an incredible 80 air combat victories during World War I.
Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen transferred to the Imperial Air Service and downed 15 enemy p ... Show More
Apr 16
I Name This Ship Brittania
Queen Elizabeth II stood before 30,000 spectators at Clydebank to launch HMY Britannia on 16th April, 1953. The yacht’s name had been kept secret, and when the Queen finally declared it “Britannia”, the crowd responded with a surge of cheering applause. Commissioned shortly befor ... Show More
12 m
Oct 2025
Episode 638: Heinrich Himmler Part II - The Reich Stuff
<p>This week, the boys pick back up with Heinrich Himmler just after Hitler’s failed Beer Hall Putsch, as the Nazi's most pathetic nerd stumbles through his failed-loser era. From chicken farming and occult rabbit holes to his first taste of Nazi bureaucracy, we trace how a sulki ... Show More
2h 5m
Nov 2022
Making a historical epic with actor Sophie Lowe & writer/director Petr Jákl - Medieval
For this week’s Friday special, we’ve invited actor Sophie Lowe and director Petr Jákl to the show. Together, they made the historical epic feature film Medieval, also starring the great Michael Caine, Ben Foster, Til Schweiger, only to name a few.
You might know Sophie from the ... Show More
53m 13s
Mar 2025
Douglas Stuart on Shuggie Bain, Storytelling, and the Human Condition (Part Two)
This event is part of Conversations at the Kiln, a new event series at Kiln Theatre programmed by Intelligence Squared. For more events with speakers from the worlds of literature, art, poetry and politics, click here.
Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain ... Show More
33m 8s
Oct 2025
740 Mel Brooks and Other Eminent Jews (with David Denby) | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (#13 GBOAT)
In this episode, Jacke talks to author David Denby about his new book, Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer, a group biography (loosely inspired by Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians) that describes how four larger-than-life figures upended the restrained culture of ... Show More
1h 3m
Oct 2025
Episode 639: Heinrich Himmler Part III - The Dachau Spirit
<p>The boys pick back up with the story of Heinrich Himmler, as the Nazis lock down Germany following the Reichstag Fire. Himmler helps build the Nazi police state, with Dachau becoming the prototype for the Nazi concentration camps.</p>
<p><p><strong>For Live Shows, Merch, and M ... Show More
1h 59m
Oct 2025
743 Fairy Tales (with Jack Zipes) [RECLAIMED] | Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (#11 GBOAT) | Chaucer News
An early encounter with one of the most famous people in the world initiated Jack Zipes into the world of fairy tales - and he never looked back. In this episode, Jacke talks to the fairy tale expert about his book Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales, which profi ... Show More
1h 2m
Oct 2025
Episode 637: Heinrich Himmler Part I - Nazi Number Two
<p>This week, the boys turn the page and dive into a brand new overarching series, The Mt. Rushmore of Evil! Beginning with Adolf Hitler's right-hand man, head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, the pasty, double-chinned agriculture student turned bureaucratic ghoul who clawed his way ... Show More
2h 4m
Oct 2025
The Thick of It: 20 Years On, with Armando Iannucci, Peter Capaldi, Chris Addison and Rebecca Front (Part One)
Malcolm Tucker. Pet ASBOs. A law requiring everyone in Britain to carry around a plastic bag. It’s been twenty years since Armando Iannucci‘s The Thick of It first brought the chaos and drama of the fictitious ‘Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship’ into our lives. First a ... Show More
37m 26s