In this episode, we’re seeing Earth through the eyes of a Martian named Smith, and everything looks a little bit off. Robert A. Heinlein’s seminal science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land was released on the first of June, 1961, and to this day re

This episode takes us into the 1960s, as we return to the legacy of WWII, and look at a chilly figure who has fascinated historians for decades.Hes Adolf Eichmann, the man responsible for the transportation network that took hundreds of thousands of peo

In this episode we explore the life of iconic 20th century fiction writer Ernest Hemingway. Throughout his life Hemingway cultivated an image of hyper-masculinity: he was a heavy drinker, a big game hunter, a deep sea fisher, and a war correspondent.He

We return to the theme of colonialism as we visit the Belgian Congo. Its a tale of two countries: one a huge territory deep inside the equatorial rainforest, and the other a tiny European nation, led by a King with imperial dreams.Were joined by a speci

A cultural touchstone and masterpiece of suspense, this weeks episode features Alfred Hitchcocks seminal film, Psycho.Perhaps more than any film well discuss during this series, Psycho is a film so completely entrenched in the cultural consciousness t

In this episode were talking about the Twist. The dance that took the teenage world by storm in the 1950s and 1960s. More broadly, were talking about its various different recordings, and the artist whose cover of the song made it into a smash hit phe

Today many people know about his assassination, and his rumoured affair with Marilyn Monroe but there was a lot more to Kennedy than that.Special guest Frederik Logevall, JFKs biographer, a professor at Harvard University, joins us to tell us about Jo

Todays episode looks into the process of paying for radio time which is called Payola.A dominant trend in the 1930s onwards, Payola was a core part of the music industry and a huge influence on the dominant trends in popular music. Interestingly, while t

In this episode we go back to the origins of the split between North and South Korea, as we learn about another famous statesman: Syngman Rhee. He was a gifted scholar, a revolutionary, a prickly, authoritarian ruler – and a dangerous driver. We’re joined

In this episode were looking at the revolutionary spy plane that defined post World War 2 military surveillance, the Lockheed U-2. The U-2 is still a key device today in the gathering of military intelligence. Its intensely aerodynamic design allows it