Number Stations: Cold War Cryptography

Send us your messages or topic ideas.Think Alfred was great? Check out his grandson. Raised by his badass warrior aunt, Æthelstan was famously pious, a bit of a clever cloggs and a decent fighter. He came to the throne later than most but would have a major impact on the development of England, calling himself the "king of the whole of Britain." Was this really the case? Find out in the pod.

Send us your messages or topic ideas.On the 30th January 1972 a peaceful protest march in Derry, Northern Ireland turned into a civilian massacre. 14 people lost their lives as the British military opened fire on unarmed crowds. It was an event that started the longest and bloodiest year in the history of the Troubles. What made it even worse was the British establishments attempts to cover up what happened and paint the victims as terrorists, a slur that would last until 2010, nearly 40 years later. Join us as we unravel the gripping story behind one of the most pivotal moments of the Troubles.

Send us your messages or topic ideas.Dance, dance, dance till you're dead, literally. In 1518 the poor inhabitants of the city of Strasbourg were struck with the most unusual affliction, they began to strut their stuff and just couldn't stop, so what caused this horrifically peculiar outbreak? Slip on your blue suede shoes and listen in to find out!

Send us your messages or topic ideas.Creepy staccato voices, playful jingles, and random numbers. Welcome to the weird and haunting world of number stations, shortwave radio made especially for your friendly neighbourhood spy. Delve into these cold war mysteries with us.Special shoutout and thank you to the Conet project, a series of recordings made of the stations made with painstaking care.

Send us your messages or topic ideas. Unemployment, benefit cuts, the rise of facism, royal mishaps and lack of quality housing...No it's not present day Britain, but the era of the Great Depression, the 1930's. In a truly hodgepodge episode, we pick out some of the things around the decade that piqued our interest. So come and learn about how history truly seems to be repeat itself.

Send us your messages or topic ideas.Bienvenue les amis and welcome to an episode all about one of the greatest catastrophes in France's history. The decimation and near extinction of its wine industry. All caused by a tiny visitor from the new world wreaking havoc. Makes a change form the usual...Come and learn how this crisis was averted and European wine was left forever changed. 

Send us your messages or topic ideas.Back in the 1930's three upper class blokes got together to start the first big social history project in Britain. The fruit of their work was Mass Observation, a project that gathered the real thoughts and opinions of ordinary working people on everything from the public to the very private... Hear the exciting story.

Send us your messages or topic ideas.The first English colony in North America ended in a mystery that has entranced people for centuries. Colony leader John White left and returned three years later to find no trace of hundreds of people, including his own daughter. We trace the brief history of the colony's from it's early beginnings to its slightly mysterious end...

Send us your messages or topic ideas.One of the most controversial social psychological experiments ever, Milgram's Obedience tests shocked the real world for its results, and the psychological world for his methods. Find out what they were, their impact and also who the people were behind them.  

Send us your messages or topic ideas.Sex, politics, Russians, dodgy police. This story has it all. Tory sex scandals may not be an eyebrow raiser anymore, but here's where it all began. This is the affair that rocked the British political establishment and gave birth to the media lust for saucy stories. Find out all about this crazy cast of characters featuring a socialite osteopath, a cabaret star and a horny Tory MP among others.