Podcast Episodes
Back to Search251. Victorian Narcos: Flooding China With Indian Opium (Ep 5)
Season 17 Episode 5
Who were Jardine and Matheson? What was life like for workers growing opium in India? How does George Orwell relate to the East India Company opium t…
11 months, 4 weeks ago
250. Victorian Narcos: Banished From Beijing (Ep 4)
Season 17 Episode 4
How did the Macartney Mission fail so spectacularly? Where does the word ‘kowtow’ come from? Why were the diplomats banished from the Forbidden City?…
1 year ago
249. Victorian Narcos: Doomed Envoy to China (Ep 3)
Season 17 Episode 3
Who led the first British envoy to China? What did Europeans think of China in the 1700s? Why did the diplomats bring a huge planetarium as a gift fo…
1 year ago
248. Victorian Narcos: Sex, Drugs, & The Opium Agency (Ep 2)
Season 17 Episode 2
How did Britain create a violent monopoly on opium production in India in the 1700s? What was the Opium Agency? Why did Chinese elites use opium duri…
1 year ago
247. Victorian Narcos: Tea Starts A Drug War (Ep 1)
Season 17 Episode 1
How did the British taste for tea start a war over the right to sell drugs to China? When did tea become fashionable in Britain? How did the Dutch br…
1 year ago
246. Ireland Transformed: From Banning Condoms to Exporting Viagra
Season 16 Episode 16
How did Ireland go from a farming economy to the home of Big Tech and Big Pharma in Europe in a few decades? Why were women imprisoned in “Magdalene …
1 year ago
245. Inside The Good Friday Agreement with Alastair Campbell
Season 16 Episode 15
What ended The Troubles? Why was 1998 the right moment for a peace treaty? Which issues caused the most heated debate? What was the food like in the …
1 year ago
244. The Troubles: IRA Secrets Exposed (Ep 4)
Season 16 Episode 14
Who was responsible for the murder of Jean McConville? Which IRA secrets were revealed in the Belfast Project tapes? How did Gerry Adams move into po…
1 year ago
243. The Troubles: London Bombings, Hunger Strikes, & The Graveside Grenade (Ep 3)
Season 16 Episode 13
Who organised the bombing of The Old Bailey in Central London? Why was Jean McConville abducted in December 1972? Why did the British government choo…
1 year ago
The Troubles: Bloody Sunday & The British Army in Belfast (Ep 2)
Season 16 Episode 12
What was the British Army’s policy of “Internment” in Northern Ireland, and how did it drive membership for the Provisional IRA? Who was General Kits…
1 year ago