This time we’re doing something a little unconventional for us. The Watergate Scandal, even all these years on, is still a controversial issue; in the historical community, potentially more controversial than ever. So, we’re making two separate episodes hearing from guests with two different perspectives on the issue. We are joined by very special guest Geoff Shepard who was the youngest lawyer for Nixons White house staff . He has written three books on the topic of Watergate and gives a different perspective to how the history remembers the scandal.

In this episode, we’re heading to the world’s most famous music festival, Woodstock. This pivotal moment in cultural history was held in the summer of 1969, and more than 50 years later it still has a mesmeric hold over our imaginations. At the time though, it was an unlikely success. With the help of special guest Joel Makower, we go behind the scenes. Joel is a journalist by training and the author of Woodstock: The Oral History, which is available in paper form and on audiobook, through Audible.

In this episode we look into the epic story of how man got to the moon. Our guest is historian David Whitehouse, author of “Apollo 11: The Inside Story.” David is a former BBC science editor and Asteroid ‘4036 Whitehouse’ is named after him.

This episode, we’re telling the story of one of the most tumultuous events in contemporary American political history - the 1968 presidential election. Our guest for this episode it Dr Luke Nichter, Professor of History at Chapman University, California. His area of specialty is the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, from John F. Kennedy through Watergate. Dr Nichter’s latest book, The Year that Broke Politics, has just been released and is all about the 1968 presidential election.R

We’re returning to South East Asia and the theme of colonialism, as we explore the story of Ho Chi Minh – the Communist leader who passed away before he could see the end of the Vietnam War. It’s difficult to cover Ho Chi Minh’s history in one episode, but to help us we’re joined by special guest Professor Tuong Vu, who gives us a snapshot of Ho Chi Minh’s life and activities. Tuong is a professor of political science at the University of Oregon and he has written extensively about political movements in Vietnam, including the Communist revolution.

In this episode we explore one of the most significant medical advances of the mid-20th century: hormonal birth control. The Pill is commonly associated with better family planning, and a rise in women going out to work, as well as the more relaxed attitude towards sexuality that became more prevalent in the swinging 1960s, and the hippy movement of the 70s. But which came first: the Pill itself, or the drive for social change? Our special guest, Lara [Fray] Friedenfelds, is a historian of reproduction, health and parenting in America, and she joins us to discuss the development and the impact of The Pill.

This episode, we’re examining one of the most hotly debated events in American history.  Over the past fifty plus years, the assassination of President John F Kennedy, has become increasingly defined by the litany of conspiracy theories that have sprung up around it. The sheer and wide reaching tragedy of the event itself, has, for many, faded with age.  And so we’ll attempt to turn the clock back to the 1960s, and try to recapture how this was felt at the time, by the Kennedys, by America and by the world at large.Our guest on this episode is Phillip Shenon, author of “A Cruel and Shocking Act: The True History of the Kennedy Assassination.”  Phillip was also a reporter at the New York Times for more than twenty years, where he provided extensive political coverage of affairs in the heart of Washington.

In this episode we take a look at one of the juiciest scandals of the mid-20th century: the Profumo affair. It’s the media circus that ushered in the swinging 60s: and it’s got everything – English politicians, Cold War spies, wild parties, young showgirls and even a high society osteopath.We’re joined by special guest Stephen Dorrill, who talks us through the colorful characters and events of the time. Stephen is the co-author of Honeytrap: The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward, and a recently retired lecturer and honorary research fellow at the University of Leicester.

This episode we’re looking at the life and work of one of America’s most polarising political and religious figures, Malcolm X. Also known as Malcolm Little, and el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, Malcolm X was a prominent voice in Black empowerment and served as a more provocative and anti-establishment counterpart to Civil Rights Leaders such as Martin Luther King.

In this episode, we’re telling the story of one of Catholicism's least remembered, yet most relevant, figures of the 20th century. Pope Paul VI, who was born Giovanni Montini, arguably changed the relationship Lay-Catholics have with Church Leadership forever, with his determination to uphold traditional Church teachings on Birth Control. Yet Pope Paul’s career and legacy cannot be boiled down to just this one decision, however impactful. A multifaceted and complex figure, Pope Paul made a variety of socially progressive changes and thoroughly helped bring the Catholic Church into the 20th century.  Our special guest for this episode is Michele Dillon a professor of Sociology and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire.

This episode, we go back to the ring and  explore the tumultuous and complex world of American Professional Boxing in the 1960s. Sonny Liston’s challenge of Floyd Patterson, is one of the most high profile, vicious, and tragic stories in the history of boxing. With tendrils extending out into organised crime, and even the oval office, it proves that sport can be as political as anything else, and that behind any important game, there’s a great story to be told. So enter the ring with us, as we navigate just what happened when Sonny Liston beat Floyd Patterson.

In this episode, we’re looking at the life of an American legend: a fighter pilot, astronaut, and  politician.  He’s John Glenn, the man who left an indelible impression on 20th century US history. We’re joined by special guest, American political and presidential historian Jeff Shesol. Jeff’s the author of Mercury Rising, John Glenn, John Kennedy and the Cold War.

This time, we return to the United States and the battle for Civil Rights.   This conflict would involve President Kennedy, and his Attorney General brother. It would lead to the mobilisation of several (30,000) troops, the most for a single disturbance in United States history. While racism still exists in the United States today, and is in many ways as dangerous as ever, the desegregation of Universities in the American South cannot be taken for granted. Debatably, it all dates back to this historic conflict. So stay with us, as we dive into the frightening, and sobering history of the Ole Miss riots.  Our guest for the week is special guest, William Doyle. William is the author of  James Meredith - An American Insurrection, along with the co-author of Meredith’s autobiography “A Mission from God”.

In this episode, we look at the astonishing rise of The Beatles  – the band once described as “Bigger than Jesus”. We’re joined by special guest Dr Kenneth L. Campbell, a history professor at Monmouth University in New Jersey where he teaches a course on Beatles’ history. Dr Campbell is also the author of “The Beatles and the 1960s: Reception, Revolution and Social Change”, and “American Popular Culture and the Beatles”

For the second time this series, or third if you count our episode on Doctor Zhivago, we find ourselves discussing the work of film director David Lean. Famous for his epics that pushed the limits of Hollywood technology and budgets, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ is undoubtedly his most ambitious work,  an epic amongst epics.Here to talk about the man who works out those specifics, is our guest Steven Caton (Kayton), a professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. Steve is the author of the book “Lawrence of Arabia, a film’s Anthropology.”

In this episode, we return to Cuba and to the regime of socialist leader Fidel Castro. We’re traveling to the Bay of Pigs, the site of a botched invasion carried out by Cuban exiles, and financed by the US Government. Today, it’s remembered as a minor disaster, but it’s one of the most significant early events of the Cold War.

This time we’re heading to the turbulent city of Berlin. Over its four-hundred-year lifetime, Berlin has been through unparalleled amounts of change. Finding itself at the epicentre of two world wars, and then split in half by the Cold War, history never takes a break in Berlin. Here to talk about Berlin  is our guest on this episode, retired British army officer and author Sir Barnabas (Barney) White-Spunner. Barney is the author of Berlin: The Story of a City, and a commander of the British Empire.

In this episode we take a look at an enigmatic cultural icon and a Nobel Prize-winner, who’s been well-known for six decades – he’s Bob Dylan, one of the world’s most famous singer- songwriters. We’re joined by special guest Dennis McDougal, a music journalist based in Memphis, Tennessee, and the author of Dylan: The Biography.

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 remains an influential and pivotal work in the history of science fiction and American Literature at large. Its story, of a human born on Mars coming back and discovering Earth for the first time, is a timeless one. It has rippled through history, making its imprint on everything from religion to the Oxford English Dictionary. But who was Robert Heinlein, the man behind this novel? How did this Democrat-turned-Republican, debatably-pro-war, ex-navy-officer become a legend in the 1960s counterculture?Were joined by special guest Vice President of the Heinlein Society, Ken Walters

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. He’s Adolf Eichmann, the man responsible for the transportation network that took hundreds of thousands of people to the Nazi death camps. In 1960, he’s finally captured in Argentina.  Here to help us unpack Eichmann is special guest Giacomo Lichtner, a cultural historian of modern Europe and associate professor of history at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.  Giacomo has worked extensively on the portrayals of facism in cinema, and he also lectures about the Holocaust itself.