Episodes

  • The Spy Who Tried to Kill the KGB with Gordon Corera

    The Spy Who Tried to Kill the KGB with Gordon Corera
    Jun 6 2025
    In March 1992 in Vilnius, Lithuania, an old man walked into the recently established British Embassy, holding a bag containing sausages. But those sausages were concealing documents liberated from the KGB archives in Moscow, and the old man was Vasili Mitrokhin, chief archivist of Russia’s secret police. His defection provided the West with vast amounts of material that provided information on the Cambridge Spy ring, but also ongoing operations including the Illegals – Soviet moles burrowed deep inside American society. Gordon Corera joins to discuss his new book The Spy in the Archive. Gordon is speaking to me as part of the Chalke History Festival, which runs from 23rd to 29th June. Aspects of History is sponsoring Gordon’s talk with the novelist Charles Cumming. Gordon Corera Links The Spy in the Archive Chalke History Festival Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • Film Club: The Report (2019)

    Film Club: The Report (2019)
    Jun 3 2025
    Part two of May’s Film club double bill is The Report, Scott Z. Burn’s movie on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the CIA’s torture program, so sit back and enjoy Roger Tim and I discussing The Report. Links Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    34 mins
  • The SAS & Paddy Mayne with Damien Lewis

    The SAS & Paddy Mayne with Damien Lewis
    May 30 2025
    In April 1945, during Operation Howard in enemy occupied territory, troops of the SAS were ambushed by German Panzerfausts. Several were pinned down and they suffered heavy losses. Along came Paddy Mayne who, in an act of suicidal bravery, drove along an open road to reach his men, all the while giving and taking fire. HE collected wounded, returned to safety before again heading out to retrieve more of his men. For this action, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery recommended Mayne for the Victoria Cross, however the award never came. Now, many years later, Damien Lewis and others are at the forefront of a campaign to have the decision reviewed. Damien is a historian and author of SAS Great Escapes Four and he joins me to discuss the non award, and SAS stories and ethos. Damien Lewis Links SAS Great Escapes Four Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    41 mins
  • Film Club: Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

    Film Club: Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
    May 27 2025
    Film Club for May is Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s controversial film of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Next week it’s The Report, on the CIA’s torture program but sit back and enjoy Roger Tim and me on discussing Zero Dark Thirty. Links Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • The Korean War with Robert Lyman

    The Korean War with Robert Lyman
    May 23 2025
    Early in the morning of 25th June 1950 the Korean People’s Army – the North Koreans – crossed the 38th parallel and the Korean War had begun. It was a particularly brutal conflict, with up to 3 million civilian deaths, a million South Koreans and 1.5million North Koreans left dead. But why did it begin, and why, after the near cataclysmic invasion had been repulsed, did the Americans overreach thus bringing China into the war? Historian Rob Lyman joins to discuss this forgotten confrontation, one that began less than five years after the end of the Second World War. Rob is the author, along with the former head of the British Army Richard Dannatt, of Korea: War without end. General Lord Dannatt & Robert Lyman Links Korea: War Without End Robert Lyman on X/Twitter Ollie Links Ollie on X/Twitter Contact Ollie: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    54 mins
  • Test Cricket with Tim Wigmore

    Test Cricket with Tim Wigmore
    May 20 2025
    On 15 March 1877 play began between England and Australia in Melbourne. So began an extraordinary tradition of the finest form of sport: the Test Match. An incredible innovation that involved two teams playing cricket for up to nine days in one case, it is unique in sporting contests. However Test Cricket is bound up by Empire, class and race. Great teams have been barred from competing, and there have been moments of high controversy including Bodyline and the D ’Oliveira Affair. One thing remains constant: the England batting collapse. Joining today is cricket writer Tim Wigmore, journalist at the Telegraph and author of a wonderful new book, Test Cricket: A History. He joins to discuss all the above and more. Tim Wigmore Links Test Cricket: A History Aspects of History Links Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • D-Day: Sword Beach with Max Hastings

    D-Day: Sword Beach with Max Hastings
    May 16 2025
    On 6th June 1944 the British 3rd Division landed on Sword Beach, Normandy, as they joined Canadian, American and other allied troops in the liberation of Europe. Progress was not easy for the British troops as they suffered heavy losses, and the objective of the vital city of Caen on day 1 was not achieved. But what of the experience of the soldiers on that day? Max Hastings joins to discuss his new book Sword, which features many accounts of men on the ground to create a wonderfully realistic picture of the allied invasion. Max Hastings Links Sword: D-Day – Trial by Battle Aspects of History Links Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • The Big Little War with James Dunford Wood

    The Big Little War with James Dunford Wood
    May 13 2025
    In early May of 1941, in the deserts of Iraq that had seen the armies of Alexander battle Darius, a force of 9000 Arabs and Iraqis descended on the small British airfield of Habbinayah. Only 39 pilots and a small collection of antiquated and obsolete aircraft stood between British maintenance of crucial oilfields, and their loss and consequent disaster for fuel supplies to the British Army and the Royal Navy in Egypt and throughout the Mediterranean. Joining today is James Dunford Wood who describes the extraordinary story of defiance and heroism that he has described as a Second World War Rorke’s Drift. James Dunford Wood Links The Big Little War: A World War II Epic The War Diaries of Colin Dunford Wood Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    45 mins
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