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The History Podcast is the home of story-driven history series from BBC Radio 4.
Each series will take you inside the most pivotal events in history, through the people who were there, to uncover new perspectives on the moments that still define us now.
Copyright: © (C) BBC 2024
Gordon Corera welcomes you to The History Podcast, the home of story-driven history series from BBC Radio 4.
We’ll take you inside some of the most pivotal events in history, to reveal new perspectives on them. And we’ll explore the reverberations of these events, to understand why they still hold so much resonance for us today.
Gordon Corera looks at the growing tensions between China and the West.
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who have been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Producer: Olivia Lace-Evans Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Producer: Olivia Lace-Evans Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Producer: Olivia Lace-Evans Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Producer: Olivia Lace-Evans Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Producer: Olivia Lace-Evans Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.
Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Producer: Olivia Lace-Evans Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy
D-Day: The Last Voices brings together a rich collection of historical audio testimonies recorded with those who fought in the invasion of Normandy, alongside extraordinary new interviews with the last surviving veterans, to tell their story of D-Day as it unfolded. Presented by Paddy O’Connell, each programme charts a distinct chapter of the complex, visceral and moving story of the invasion, from subterfuge and secret planning, to the approach of H-Hour, the landings by air and sea, and on into the battles beyond the beaches. Commissioned as a collaboration with D-Day: The Unheard Tapes for BBC Two, and drawing on the same longitudinal access and research, the series tells the story of D-Day through the last voices of those who lived it, leading us through their personal experiences of the invasion. Supported by the historical recordings of those who were there with them – this is their story, told in their own words. The series begins in June 1944, as more than two million troops from over a dozen countries assemble across Southern England for a mission so secret, they don’t yet know it will be D-Day, the start of Operation Overlord, to take France and attempt to push back the Nazi occupation of Europe. Allied soldiers train for top secret missions, by air and sea, and receive their mission objectives in sealed camps.
This episode charts the story of the reveal of D-Day to Allied troops, as they learn they will be part of what will become the largest seaborne invasion in history. An operation of such complexity and risk, nothing of this scale had ever been attempted before, the stakes are unimaginably high.
Paddy O’Connell, whose father took part in Operation Overlord as a Royal Marine Commando, interweaves the powerful and striking archive recordings of those who were there, with unique and extraordinary interviews with some of the last surviving veterans on the eve of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Meeting two former WRENS - Christina Lamb who helped draw the D-Day maps in Whitehall, and Pat Owtram who spoke German and was based on the Dover Cliffs scanning for morse code from Occupied France, we are led through the enormous scale of the landings as 156,000 troops prepared for the impending invasion.
In archive recordings of the past, we hear from those who were there too, on landing craft and on ships, driving tanks or learning they would be part of the first waves onto the beaches.
As the hour of leaving for Normandy approached, commanders trusted in their training, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers set sail or took flight for the French coast under the cover of darkness.
Featuring: Geoffrey Weaving Christian Lamb Pat Owtram Gordon Prime Warwick Nield-Siddall Ivan Lambert Ray Nance James Kelly Stanley Scott John Capon James Sink Roy Crane John Clegg William Dunn James Stagg
Written and presented by Paddy O’Connell Produced by Paul Kobrak Technical production by Richard Courtice Sound design by Roy Noy, Tom Chilcot, Alex Short, Adam Palmer, Paul Donovan Music composed by Sam Hooper
Production Executive – Anne-Marie Byrne Archive Assistant Producer – Hannah Mirsky
Archive: BBC News, Fremantle, Paddy O’Connell, made in partnership with Imperial War Museums.
Executive Producers - Morgana Pugh and Rami Tzabar
A Wall to Wall Media production for BBC Radio 4
D-Day: The Last Voices brings together a rich collection of historical audio testimonies recorded with those who fought in the invasion of Normandy, alongside extraordinary new interviews with the last surviving veterans, to tell their story of D-Day as it unfolded.
Presented by Paddy O’Connell, each programme charts a distinct chapter of the complex, visceral and moving story of the invasion, from subterfuge and secret planning, to the approach of H-Hour, the landings by air and sea, and on into the battles beyond the beaches.
Commissioned as a collaboration with D-Day: The Unheard Tapes for BBC Two, and drawing on the same longitudinal access and research, the series tells the story of D-Day through the last voices of those who lived it, leading us through their personal experiences of the invasion. Supported by the historical recordings of those who were there with them – this is their story, told in their own words.
As night falls on 5th June 1944, 18,000 men ready themselves to leave Britain and embark on their missions. They will be the first in behind enemy lines on D-Day.
In parachutes, planes and gliders, they set off, and approach the Normandy coast as night gives way to the early hours of 6th June, marking the beginning of D-Day itself. Dropping in their thousands, many find they land far from their targets, alone, wounded or dying as their parachutes become waterlogged in flooded fields.
12,000 aircraft drop them in, and pilots and soldiers within with those aircraft lead us through the story, some of whom make the jump, describing in visceral and revealing detail how dangerous and tense their mission was.
At the Bénouville Bridge on the Orne Canal, later known as “Pegasus”, a glider breaks apart as it lands and Major John Howard, Eddie Edwards and Wally Parr from the British Airborne recount their crash landing. Taking targets like this bridge is an essential part of the operation, for protecting the wider invasion zone and the beaches. In just a few short hours, the biggest amphibious landing in history will commence.
Featuring: Geoffrey Weaving Bernard Morgan Marie Scott Joe Cattini Ray Nance Terence Otway Des O’Neill Eddie Edwards John Howard Wally Parr Victor Newcomb Nat Hoskot Warwick Nield-Siddall William Dunn
Written and presented by Paddy O’Connell Produced by Paul Kobrak Technical production by Richard Courtice Sound design by Roy Noy, Tom Chilcot, Alex Short, Adam Palmer, Paul Donovan Music composed by Sam Hooper
Production Executive – Anne-Marie Byrne Archive Assistant Producer – Hannah Mirsky
Archive: The D-Day Story Portsmouth, BBC News, Paddy O’Connell, made in partnership with Imperial War Museums.
Executive Producers - Morgana Pugh and Rami Tzabar
A Wall to Wall Media production for BBC Radio 4
D-Day: The Last Voices brings together a rich collection of historical audio testimonies recorded with those who fought in the invasion of Normandy, alongside extraordinary new interviews with the last surviving veterans, to tell their story of D-Day as it unfolded.
Presented by Paddy O’Connell, each programme charts a distinct chapter of the complex, visceral and moving story of the invasion, from subterfuge and secret planning, to the approach of H-Hour, the landings by air and sea, and on into the battles beyond the beaches.
Commissioned as a collaboration with D-Day: The Unheard Tapes for BBC Two, and drawing on the same longitudinal access and research, the series tells the story of D-Day through the last voices of those who lived it, leading us through their personal experiences of the invasion. Supported by the historical recordings of those who were there with them – this is their story, told in their own words.
As the landings begin on all five beaches, the first waves of men approach the shores of Normandy in landing craft. For many of the young soldiers on both sides, this is the first time they have seen action, and the closer the shore comes, the more excitement is replaced with terror.
At Omaha, the American landing craft are carried off course by strong currents. Worse still they discover that the pre-invasion naval bombardment has largely missed the German bunkers. Men see their friends gunned down before they even step foot on the shore. British Commandos peddle bicycles from Sword beach to act as reinforcements, and tank commanders describe scenes of untold terror on the beaches as they try to cross the sand.
Finally, movement off the beaches seems possible, but as the Allied Forces move off the beaches and into the Normandy countryside, danger lurks at every turn.
Featuring: Don Duffield-Abdy Bernard Morgan Joe Cattini Jim Glennie Geoffrey Weaving Ted Batley Ray Nance William Dunn James Kelly Stanley Scott Ray Nance James Sink Warwick Nield-Siddall John Clegg Bill Millin
Written and presented by Paddy O’Connell
Produced by Paul Kobrak Technical production by Richard Courtice Sound design by Roy Noy, Tom Chilcot, Alex Short, Adam Palmer, Paul Donovan Music composed by Sam Hooper
Production Executive – Anne-Marie Byrne
Archive Assistant Producer – Hannah Mirsky
Archive: Fremantle, BBC News, Paddy O’Connell, made in partnership with Imperial War Museums.
Executive Producers - Morgana Pugh and Rami Tzabar
A Wall to Wall Media production for BBC Radio 4
D-Day: The Last Voices brings together a rich collection of historical audio testimonies recorded with those who fought in the invasion of Normandy, alongside extraordinary new interviews with the last surviving veterans, to tell their story of D-Day as it unfolded.
Presented by Paddy O’Connell, each programme charts a distinct chapter of the complex, visceral and moving story of the invasion, from subterfuge and secret planning, to the approach of H-Hour, the landings by air and sea, and on into the battles beyond the beaches.
Commissioned as a collaboration with D-Day: The Unheard Tapes for BBC Two, and drawing on the same longitudinal access and research, the series tells the story of D-Day through the last voices of those who lived it, leading us through their personal experiences of the invasion. Supported by the historical recordings of those who were there with them – this is their story, told in their own words.
As Allied soldiers begin their missions inland from the beaches, their missions become focused on taking strategic targets in the villages and towns, on the way to Caen and Cherbourg.
The battle becomes one of hedgerow fighting, in what will become known as ‘the bocage’. Back-up comes from the air for the Allies as the most widespread frontline carpet bomb drop in history takes place. French villages are reduced to rubble. With mounting civilian casualties, dreams of liberation are turning sour for the French.
The men of British Airborne who took Pegasus Bridge under the command of Major John Howard are met by the Commandos of the First Special Service Brigade. Work begins on the beaches to build temporary ports. Paddy O’Connell discovers, through the interviews of the last surviving veterans of D-Day and those who fought with them, in historical recordings, that the men who had successfully landed on D-Day could still fail. All still faced the possibility of perishing, despite the historic scale of the invasion.
Featuring: Gordon Prime Mark Packer Geoffrey Weaving Bill Gladden Michel Deserable John Clegg Nat Hoskot Ivan Lambert Bill Millin Wally Parr John Howard Stanley Scott Warwick Nield-Siddall James Kelly Eddie Edwards Roy Crane
Written and presented by Paddy O’Connell
Produced by Paul Kobrak Technical production by Richard Courtice Sound design by Roy Noy, Tom Chilcot, Alex Short, Adam Palmer, Paul Donovan Music composed by Sam Hooper
Production Executive – Anne-Marie Byrne Archive Assistant Producer – Hannah Mirsky Archive: BBC News, The D-Day Story Portsmouth, Paddy O’Connell, made in partnership with Imperial War Museums. Executive Producers - Morgana Pugh and Rami Tzabar
A Wall to Wall Media production for BBC Radio 4
D-Day: The Last Voices brings together a rich collection of historical audio testimonies recorded with those who fought in the invasion of Normandy, alongside extraordinary new interviews with the last surviving veterans, to tell their story of D-Day as it unfolded.
Presented by Paddy O’Connell, each programme charts a distinct chapter of the complex, visceral and moving story of the invasion, from subterfuge and secret planning, to the approach of H-Hour, the landings by air and sea, and on into the battles beyond the beaches.
Commissioned as a collaboration with D-Day: The Unheard Tapes for BBC Two, and drawing on the same longitudinal access and research, the series tells the story of D-Day through the last voices of those who lived it, leading us through their personal experiences of the invasion. Supported by the historical recordings of those who were there with them – this is their story, told in their own words.
As the series draws to a close, Paddy spends time with and hears from the last surviving veterans of D-Day, both those who were part of the Allied invasion force, and others who grew up in the shadow of the operation in a decimated Normandy. In the aftermath of 6th June 1944, veterans recall their sense of loss, of legacy and contribution, and above all, their responsibility to remember friends and comrades who lost their lives in the conflict.
This final part of the story explores what came next, in the aftermath of the invasion. The ferocious and bloody battle that followed, in which over 100,000 people lost their lives, and the weeks of brutality that paved the road to liberation, and made it possible. Hearing about the impact, in both nightmares and memories, that it had on those who were there is deeply moving, and commemorates this 80th anniversary with power, humility, pathos and emotion, remembering those who were left behind on the battlefields, in the marshes, fields forests and on the beaches of Normandy.
Featuring: Joe Cattini Geoffrey Weaving Alec Penstone John Dennett Mark Packer Michel Deserable John Forfar Christian Lamb Pat Owtram Eddie Edwards James Kelly Nat Hoskot Roy Crane
Written and presented by Paddy O’Connell
Produced by Paul Kobrak Technical production by Richard Courtice Sound design by Roy Noy, Tom Chilcot, Alex Short, Adam Palmer, Paul Donovan Music composed by Sam Hooper
Production Executive – Anne-Marie Byrne Archive Assistant Producer – Hannah Mirsky Archive: BBC News, The D-Day Story Portsmouth, Paddy O’Connell, made in partnership with Imperial War Museums. Executive Producers - Morgana Pugh and Rami Tzabar
A Wall to Wall Media production for BBC Radio 4
Carlo Gébler attempts to decipher the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history.
Eight prison blocks of hatred shaped like the letter 'H'...
It's supposed to be escape proof - the most secure prison in western Europe. The IRA is going to turn that on its head.
Across ten twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pull off a breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key prison officials explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
The British government wants a line to be drawn but the IRA has sensed an opportunity...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
IRA inmates gather a key piece of intelligence and a charm offensive begins on the wings...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
A forensically planned sequence of events is about to be triggered...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
The prisoner's are flying blind as they encounter the biggest obstacle to the escape...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
Knowing they have strength in numbers, the Prison Officers seize their chance...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
The IRA tells a mother they must take away her 12-year-old son...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
As more escapees are recaptured, no amount of effort can hide the state's humiliation...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
The government inquiry into the escape is about to have deadly consequences...
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
Can Northern Ireland ever Escape from the Maze...?
Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.
Presenter: Carlo Gebler Producer: Conor Garrett Editor: Philip Sellars Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke Production Co-ordinator: Gill Huggett Original Music Score: Phil Kieran Archive: Cyprus Avenue Films
Glenn Patterson investigates the IRA bomb that attempted to kill Margaret Thatcher.
When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing.
The clock that propels this story went unheard for three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes…until the bomb it was attached to went off at 2.54am on Friday 12 October, 1984. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton. Which means the Prime Minister and all her cabinet are guaranteed to be in the Grand Hotel. It's the biggest direct assault on the British parliamentary system since the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. And in the bomber's mind, it’s only the start.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4
The clock – the long-delay timer – nobody is meant to hear is counting down to 2.54am on the 12th October, 1984.
It's attached to a bomb, behind the panel of the bath of Room 629 in Brighton’s Grand Hotel, left there by a man who signed in as Roy Walsh.
Except he's not Roy Walsh.
Who is the man using his name? And how did he go from a childhood in the east of England to attempting to assassinate the Prime Minister and all her cabinet in the biggest assault on a British government since the Gunpowder Plot on 5th November 1605? The long timer to this moment was set many, many years before.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4
The bomb is set for 12 October 1984 - but the IRA have been building to this for decades
It's the night of 17 September 1984. The guest in room 629 of Brighton’s Grand Hotel has ordered a bottle of vodka and three cokes. It seems he is having a small party. A few minutes before, the guest – who signed in two days ago as Roy Walsh – put the panel back on the side of the bath in 629’s en suite. Behind that panel he has left a bomb, timed to go off in three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes, at 2.54am on Friday 12 October. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton.
And the Prime Minister and all her cabinet, as this man who calls himself Roy Walsh knows, will be staying in the Grand Hotel. It's the biggest direct assault on the British Government since the Gunpowder Plot.
The bomb will kill 5 people and injure 30. It's the latest in a line of Irish republican attacks in England that stretches back to 1867.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4
When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing. It's the night of 17 September 1984. The guest in room 629 of Brighton’s Grand Hotel has ordered a bottle of vodka and three cokes. A few minutes before, the guest – who signed in two days ago as Roy Walsh – put the panel back on the side of the bath in 629’s en suite. Behind that panel he has left a bomb, timed to go off in three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes, at 2.54am on Friday 12 October. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton. And the Prime Minister and all her cabinet, as this man who calls himself Roy Walsh knows, will be staying in the Grand Hotel. How do you feel as the timer ticks down? How do you fill your days?
And what of those who, all unknowing, are travelling towards the end date you have set?
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4
The IRA’s Patrick Magee has left a bomb, under a bath, in room 629 of the Brighton’s Grand Hotel. It’s timed to go off in three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes, at 2.54am on Friday 12 October. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton. While Party colleagues socialise, or prepare for bed on the last night of conference, the Prime Minister settles down to write her big speech until the early hours.
Or until 2:54am, when the bomb goes off. It's the biggest direct assault on a British Government since the Gunpowder Plot.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4
It's the day after one of the most shocking terror attacks in British history - a timebomb hidden in the Brighton hotel where the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her cabinet are staying during the 1984 Conservative Party conference.
The casualties have all now been recovered. Four are dead, several of the injured are fighting for life.
Now all that remains is the rubble. Somewhere in here will lie the answer to who was responsible. Not the organisation – the Provisional IRA has already said it was them – but the individual human being, or beings, who left the bomb.
All the police have to do is find them.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films
Patrick Magee plays mouse to the cat of the Southern Irish police, acting on a tip-off from their colleagues in the North.
He escapes back to Great Britain from Dublin and joins a new IRA unit planning a summer-long campaign targeting seaside resorts: more bombs in hotels and a new tactic - burying bombs on beaches. It will be the most concentrated wave of IRA attacks since the 1930s.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films
Spring 1985, six months on from the bomb at Brighton’s Grand Hotel that killed five men and women in town for the Conservative Party conference and came within feet of killing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Police are now satisfied that they have identified the man responsible for planting the bomb - Patrick Magee, aka the Chancer.
They just don’t know where he is.
Magee is back in Britain, planting a bomb in a hotel across the road from Buckingham Palace with an even longer timer fuse than the Brighton bomb. A police surveillance operation on another IRA suspect, meanwhile, leads to an unexpected result.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films
When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing.
Any other evening, a knock at the door would put Patrick Magee on alert. As chance would have it, though, it being a Saturday, rent day, Magee, and the four other people in the flat with him on Glasgow’s Langside Road, are expecting the landlord.
Instead Magee opens the door to dozens of police and Special Branch officers who have over the past few hours massed around the address. They rush into the flat and overpower them before they have time to react.
After six years of trying, Special Branch finally have the man they have dubbed ‘the Chancer’, the man only a few of them as yet know bombed Brighton’s Grand Hotel.
Getting him to confess to it, or even speak, is another matter.
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films
Remember remember the 5th of November. The Gunpowder Plot has been seared into centuries of British popular history. Why have the events of October 1984 and the attempt to wipe out a Prime Minister and her cabinet not been committed to our public consciousness in the same way?
For the principal contributors in our series, the events of 40 years ago had a seismic impact on their lives. What, if anything, did the Brighton time bomb achieve?
Written and presented by Glenn Patterson
Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions
Executive Producer Rachel Hooper
A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films
One winter's night, 50 years ago, a crime took place that obsessed the nation.
Lord Lucan is said to have killed the family nanny, attacked his wife and vanished. Why did this case capture the British imagination, and spark one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century?
Alex von Tunzelmann unpacks the story of our obsession, taking us into a dizzying world of high stakes gambling and exclusive London clubs, powerboat racing and pet tigers. It's also a dark realm of bankruptcy, gaslighting and stalking, and at its heart, a story with a violent and very tragic death.
She tries to get to the bottom of this case, meeting eyewitnesses from the '70s, people caught up in the crime, and those who just can't let it go. Told and retold, the facts of the Lucan story have got lost. Alex discovers a hall of mirrors where truth and lies have distorted themselves into new myths and new mysteries.
Was the truth obscured by booze and backhanders, class deference and journalist spin? As the stories and conspiracies swirl around her, Alex herself gets caught up in the Lucan obsession. Across the series she unearths long forgotten tapes and letters, piecing together the fragments of the legend to discover why the Lucan myth still holds such power.
One winter's night, 50 years ago, a crime took place that obsessed the nation.
Lord Lucan is said to have killed the family nanny, attacked his wife and vanished.
Newspapers ran wild with lurid detail and it became a story hardwired into British culture.
Why did this case capture the British imagination, and spark one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century?
Historian Alex von Tunzelmann unpacks the story of our obsession, taking us into a dizzying world of high stakes gambling and exclusive London clubs, powerboat racing and pet tigers. It’s also a dark realm of bankruptcy, gaslighting and stalking, and at its heart, a story with a violent and very tragic death.
Across the series she investigates the two mysteries at the centre of this story: was Lord Lucan the murder, and where on earth did he go?
Told and retold, the facts of the Lucan story have got lost. Alex finds herself in a hall of mirrors where truth and lies distort themselves into new myths and new mysteries. Was the truth obscured by booze and backhanders, class deference and journalist spin?
As she tries to get to the bottom of this case, she meets eyewitnesses from the '70s, people caught up in the crime, and those who just can’t let it go. She unearths long forgotten tapes and letters, piecing together fragments of a legend to discover why the Lucan myth still holds such power.
Series contributors: Algy Cluff, Pierrette Goletto and Mandy Parks Journalists: Bob Strange and James Fox Author: Laura Thompson Crime writer: Claire McGowan Police: Geoff Lewry, Richard Swarbrick and Jackie Malton UK Missing Persons Unit: Louise Newell
Presenter: Alex von Tunzelmann Series Producer: Sarah Bowen Content Producer: Becca Bryers
What really happened on the night of 7th November 1974 when Sandra Rivett was murdered?
Young reporter Bob Strange sneaked into the hallway at the Lucan’s house in Belgravia. The police burst in trampling through the crime scene.
The evidence of the Lucan case is murky. There are many versions that contradict themselves. Lord Lucan says something entirely different happened.
Who should we believe? And how do the mysteries surrounding that night, drive our obsession with this case?
Producer: Sarah Bowen
Lord Lucan raced powerboats through the English Channel, drove an Aston Martin around the Grand Canyon and completed the Cresta Run at Saint-Moritz.
Throwing himself into gambling, he was nicknamed Lucky.
With slicked back hair, charm, style and humour, he was remarkably striking.
But underneath this image there was a very different man.
Alex hears from friends, biographers and someone who lived in the Lucan household to ask who really was Lord Lucan?
Was he the vicious, violent and dangerous murderer of Sandra Rivett or was this a myth it was seductive to believe?
Producer: Sarah Bowen
The press portrayed Lady Lucan as a perfect victim: a tiny, fragile woman, attacked by a cruel and vengeful man. Lord Lucan’s friends said she was a volatile, difficult snob.
She is certainly enigmatic and intriguing.
With access to never before broadcast tapes, Alex von Tunzlemann looks for the truth behind the stories of the Countess and explores how her image emerged. Producer: Sarah Bowen
Many relationships have tricky patches, with couples struggling for money or over the children. But there’s a spark in this story that takes us from the Lucan’s glamorous society wedding to Sandra Rivett being murdered, Lady Lucan attacked and the children swept away. And it grips us.
Alex von Tunzleman hunts for what triggers this story, delving through a box of Lucan’s possessions not seen for decades. As she discovers cheque stubs, invoices and letters from the bank, she sees the reality of what life was like behind the Lucan’s veneer of respectability: a world of debt and alcohol, gaslighting, late night calls and stalking.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
With Sandra Rivett lying dead in the basement, Lucan must decide whether to face the police or run.
And so begins the second mystery that has made this case so compelling.
Where did Lucan go that night?
Was he being sheltered by his friends who the police nicknamed The Eaton Square Mafia?
Alex von Tunzelmann pieces together what we know of the hours after the murder, asking whose version should we believe.
She meets an eyewitness who says she was the last person to see Lucan alive, and crawls underground into a bunker where the police were sure he was hiding.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
Police traipsed through 46 Lower Belgrave St on the night of Sandra Rivett’s murder, but did they contaminate the evidence?
The police files are still closed. Where there have been unanswered questions, enticing myths and conspiracies have filled the void.
Alex von Tunzelmann pieces together what we can know of the investigation, trying to separate fact from fiction.
She hears from two policemen who worked on the Lucan case and reassesses the forensics with an ex-Metropolitan Police detective.
Stories emerge about close relations between the press and police and she wonders if booze, bribes and class deference may have obscured the truth.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
The nation was spellbound by the inquest into Sandra Rivett’s death.
For the press the story was a dream. A tale of the aristocracy, gambling, debt and murder was a welcome relief in an era of shortages and strikes. They salivated over the grim details.
Alex von Tunzelmann hears how inquest became a trial, supercharging our obsession with this case.
And she wonders if we can take his guilt as fact when she hears a never before broadcast recording of an interview of Lady Lucan and an incriminating new story from a policeman.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
Our interest in Lord Lucan could have petered out after the inquest. But people start to spot him all over the world. Could he really have escaped the UK?
Alex von Tunzelmann explores what role this idea plays in our fixation with the Lucan case.
She hears how the media kept the story going, inventing sightings for copy and jollies abroad. People admit to elaborate hoaxes and blatantly fabricating stories.
But should we dismiss the idea? Alex finds one story from a closed police file that completely bowls her over.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
Alex trawls through Lord Lucan’s belongings from his speedily abandoned flat.
She finds incriminating books where he’s torn out pages on how to kill your wife, and is taken aback by photos that make her reconsider the story.
She draws together what makes this a compelling crime, and asks what would give it the perfect ending.
And in a remarkable interview with a former Met Police Detective, she discovers that we could perhaps get an answer to one of the two mysteries tomorrow.
Presenter: Alex von Tunzelmann Content Producer: Becca Bryers Series Producer: Sarah Bowen
The man tasked with finding and killing alleged IRA informers was an informer all along. Reporter Mark Horgan traces the story of the secret British Army Agent known as Stakeknife.
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