BOOKED IN

As another day of jury deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy trial continued, I sat down with Boston-based journalist Dave Wedge to chat about another Massachusetts case that captured international attention - the Karen Read trial. His new book, Blizzard of Lies, went straight onto The New York Times bestseller list, and provides captivating insight into the death of John O'Keefe, the explosion of o...

For much of my life I knew nothing about Belgium's King Leopold II and his brutal subjugation of millions in the DRC - what was ironically then called the 'Congo Free State'. To be clear, millions were killed, terrorised and utterly exploited by a monarch who used the country as his personal colony. Adam Hochschild's powerful book, King Leopold's Ghost, makes for a deeply uncomfortable but essenti...

How will future generations look back at the media reporting of Gaza in the years since October 7? In her new book, The Complicit Lens - US Media Coverage of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza - Professor Robin Andersen outlines a damning case against many of the most recognisable mainstream outlets. It’s a longer episode than normal, but because I believe the topic warranted the time.  Host...

I have been learning about The Troubles for as long as I can remember. Somehow, I had never come across the extraordinary story of Kevin Barry Artt, documented in Dan Lawton's book, 'Above The Ground'. Imagine being arrested for a murder you never carried out, only to escape to California and spend years looking over your shoulder, before the most unlikely witness to the crime came forward to help...

We live in a world today where millions of people are serving time for drug offences, while others are making the most the now billion dollar cannabis industry. I had a wonderful chat recently with Kojo Koram about this shift from mass criminalisation, to mass commercialisation. His new book, 'The Next Fix', explores the winners and losers in the future of drugs and raises so many interesting ques...

Over the course of eight years, a man called Stephane Breitwieser stole more than 300 objects and pieces of art. In total, they were worth an estimated $1.4 billion. He is now widely considered the most prolific art thief in history, but he was never motivated by money - just a love for art.  The fascinating true crime story was documented in the 2023 best seller, 'The Art Thief'. Author Mike...

Pope Leo is the first American Pope in history, yet remarkably he has not yet had a conversation with President Trump.  They did, however, get into a war of words in April, after Pope Leo criticised the Trump administration's mass deportation policies. Things escalated further when Pope Leo said Trump’s threat to destroy “a whole civilisation” in Iran was “truly unacceptable”.  CNN’s Vat...

Professor Omer Bartov is a leading scholar on the Holocaust, and history of genocide. He is also a man who was born and raised in Israel, served in the IDF during the Yom Kippur war in 1973, and was raised in the country just a decade after the end of World War II and the Holocaust - in the beginning years of the establishment of the state.  In July 2025, Bartov wrote a piece in The New York...

What is it like to be a female spy in the CIA? It’s a mysterious world we as members of the public have very little access to. However, Christina Hillsberg - herself a former agent - has written a fantastic book called Agents of Change. It explores the untold stories of some of the most revered and respected women to have worked for the intelligence agency despite the significant challenges a life...

They say that about a tenth of Americans proudly claim Irish ancestry,  but how do American lawmakers view Ireland these days? That’s the question journalist Richard chambers explored in his new documentary Make Ireland Great Again - a documentary that touches on White House visits, economic ties, geopolitical differences and questions around defence. It airs this Wednesday May 20 on Vir...

Robert F Kennedy Jr is undoubtedly one of the most polairisng political figures in the US right now - some say his comments on vaccines are dangerous misinformation, others applaud him for sparking a conversation about nutrition in America. From a political dynasty deeply intertwined with the Democrat party, to President Trump’s Health Secretary - RFK Jr has lived an unusual, extraordinary, colour...

Dominic McGregor is the more private of a very successful duo. He and his co-founder, Steven Bartlett, set up the Social Chain and were immensely successful in their early twenties. However, it was also a time of huge pressures for Dom, who turned to alcohol to numb his emotions. In his book, I'm Never Drinking Again, he very bravely lays out some of the lowest moments that led to a lasting change...

When you come at the king, you best not miss. Over the past decade it seems the US Justice Department has generated as many headlines as the White House. To understand the political landscape in America, it is vital to understand the law, and how it works. Elie Honig, CNN’s senior legal analyst, provides captivating insight to it all with a book that looks at each administration from Nixon to...

Over the course of more than 350 years, an estimated 12 to 15 million people were forced on transatlantic slave ships from West Africa to the Americas. In a recent symbolic vote, the UN passed a landmark resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity”. I spoke to Dr Brooke Newman about her recently published book, The Crown’s Silence, a deeply researche...

How did an Al Qaeda bomb maker who spent time with the mastermind of 9/11 end up as one of the most important agents for British intelligence? Tim Lister co-authored the fascinating book, Nine Lives, about Aimen Dean’s extraordinary life. In it, he documents everything from Dean’s respect for Osama bin Laden to the moral conflict he grappled with, while also delving into his own fascinat...

Jane Ferguson is without a doubt one of the most accomplished and respected war correspondents of our generation. In her memoir, No Ordinary Assignment, she documents with extraordinary candour how a difficult upbringing in Northern Ireland during The Troubles led her to some of the most dangerous front lines around the world. As The New York Times review noted, it is "a brutally honest exploratio...

James Longman, as ABC's Chief International Correspondent, is used to telling the deeply personal stories of people from around the world. But last year he published his book, The Inherited Mind, and it hit much closer to home. In it, James explores the history and impact of mental illness in his family, including - and I must warn you - depression, schizophrenia, and suicide. It is an incredibly...

Andrew Lownie is the author of 'Entitled', a damning look at the former Prince Andrew. After four years of research, Lownie was one of the first to say the King's brother could be arrested for misconduct in public office - a point he was making about the disgraced royal months before the recent release of the Epstein files. During our conversation, he also made the explosive claim that Andrew coul...

Donald Trump is on his way back to the White House, and I thought it warranted a special overview. Normally I chat to an author on this podcast about the book they've written - but I felt there is so much content, and so much information out there since Donald Trump was announced the winner of the election - that I felt the best use of an episode today would be to almost filter through the most he...

Rashid Khalidi is the author of a bestselling book called 'The Hundred Years' War on Palestine' - looking at the tumultuous century from the Balfour declaration in 1917 up until 2017. This book is not just a historical overview - it is also a deeply personal look at the author's family roots in the region. We spoke about his perspectives - as a Palestinian, an American, and a historian - on everyt...

Lord Mountbatten was a great grandson of Queen Victoria and an uncle of Prince Philip. During his marriage to Countess Edwina, he famously said they spent all their married lives "getting into other people's beds". In 1979, he was murdered by the IRA off the coast of Sligo in one of the most significant moments of The Troubles. Yet, decades after his death, he made headlines once again in 2022, wh...

Last weekend marked 40 years since an IRA bomb very nearly killed the British Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher. The bombing of a hotel in Brighton during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference was one of the most significant moments during the Troubles. In a chilling line while taking responsibility for the attack, the IRA said "today we were unlucky, but remember we have only to be l...

For eight seasons, Mary Bonnet has been one of the most popular members cast on the hit show, Selling Sunset.  Always the one to stay out of the drama, it came as no surprise to me that she decided to name her newly published memoir, 'Selling Sunshine'.  However, what I had not appreciated nor understood from the show, was just how many challenges Mary has faced throughout her life. She...

Donald Trump is arguably the most famous person - and most polarising political figure - on the planet. Few people know him more personally, or understand his upbringing better than his nephew, Fred Trump III. Fred was kind enough to chat with me about his bestselling book, All In The Family, an intimate look at the Trump clan, and his own evolution of opinions towards his uncle. While having a pr...

We've all heard the famous saying, that at one point in time the sun never set on the British Empire. But, what is its lasting impact and complex legacy? How much does reflecting back on the past assist in understanding the present? Author Sathnam Sanghera has explored the impact of Britain's colonial past - both within the UK through his book 'Empireland', and further afield assessing its global...