Deep Cover Cold War Spies: How Russia’s Illegal Agents Penetrated the West (397)
In 2010, two decades after the Cold War had ended, ten Russian spies were arrested in America, having hidden their true identities from their friends, neighbours and even their children. They were p...
11 Apr 20251h 9min
A Black US Basketball Virtuoso in Cold War Poland (396)
The Communist Polish press called it "Kentomania!"—the excitement surrounding a 23 year old, called Kent Washington who made history as the first American—and the first Black American—to sign a profes...
4 Apr 20251h 23min
Agent Zo - From War Hero to Enemy: When Cold War Poland Turned on Its Own (395)
In a world where history often overlooks the contributions of women, the story of Agent Zo stands out as a beacon of bravery and resilience. I spoke with Claire Mulley about her book Agent Zo:...
29 Mar 20251h
In Conversation with Margot Honecker (394)
I speak with Jon Benjamin who recounts his meetings with Margot Honecker, the unrepentant architect of East Germany’s education system and widow of GDR leader Erich Honecker then living in exile in Ch...
26 Mar 202530min
The Cuban Missile Crisis Suicide Missions (393)
Richard F Kaufman is the author of A One-Way Trip to Death A Survivor’s View of Cruise Missiles in the Cuban Missile Crisis In the 1950s he served in the Korean War, where he was shot down and provid...
22 Mar 202555min
Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Chess Grandmaster (392)
Susan Polgar is the author of Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster. Born to a poor Jewish family in Cold War Budapest, Susan Polgar had the odds stacked against her g...
15 Mar 202553min
The Keys to Armageddon: A Cold War Nuclear Missile Officer's Story (391)
Jim is a former Minuteman nuclear missile officer who served in the US Air Force. Throughout the episode, Jim shares first-hand accounts of life in the launch control centre. From evaluations to the...
8 Mar 20251h 6min
The Secret History of Britain's Cold War Nuclear Experiments (390)
The race to build a British nuclear bomb sucked thousands into its vortex, who are still dealing with the effects of radiation today: veterans, widows, children, scientists and indigenous people, all ...
1 Mar 20251h 8min
