The History Podcast

Lord Lucan raced powerboats through the English Channel, drove an Aston Martin around the Grand Canyon and completed the Cresta Run at Saint-Moritz. Throwing himself into gambling, he was nicknamed Lucky. With slicked back hair, charm, style and humour, he was remarkably striking. But underneath this image there was a very different man. Alex hears from friends, biographers and someone who lived i...

What really happened on the night of 7th November 1974 when Sandra Rivett was murdered? Young reporter Bob Strange sneaked into the hallway at the Lucan’s house in Belgravia. The police burst in trampling through the crime scene. The evidence of the Lucan case is murky. There are many versions that contradict themselves. Lord Lucan says something entirely different happened. Who should we believe?...

One winter's night, 50 years ago, a crime took place that obsessed the nation. Lord Lucan is said to have killed the family nanny, attacked his wife and vanished. Newspapers ran wild with lurid detail and it became a story hardwired into British culture. Why did this case capture the British imagination, and spark one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century? Historian Alex von Tunze...

One winter's night, 50 years ago, a crime took place that obsessed the nation. Lord Lucan is said to have killed the family nanny, attacked his wife and vanished. Why did this case capture the British imagination, and spark one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century? Alex von Tunzelmann unpacks the story of our obsession, taking us into a dizzying world of high stakes gambling and...

Remember remember the 5th of November. The Gunpowder Plot has been seared into centuries of British popular history. Why have the events of October 1984 and the attempt to wipe out a Prime Minister and her cabinet not been committed to our public consciousness in the same way? For the principal contributors in our series, the events of 40 years ago had a seismic impact on their lives. What, if any...

When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing. Any other evening, a knock at the door would put Patrick Magee on alert. As chance would have it, though, it being a Saturday, rent day, Magee, and the four other people in the flat with him on Glasgow’s Langside Road, are expecting the landlord. Instead Magee opens the door to dozens of police and Special Branch officers who...

Spring 1985, six months on from the bomb at Brighton’s Grand Hotel that killed five men and women in town for the Conservative Party conference and came within feet of killing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Police are now satisfied that they have identified the man responsible for planting the bomb - Patrick Magee, aka the Chancer. They just don’t know where he is. Magee is back in Britain, pla...

Patrick Magee plays mouse to the cat of the Southern Irish police, acting on a tip-off from their colleagues in the North. He escapes back to Great Britain from Dublin and joins a new IRA unit planning a summer-long campaign targeting seaside resorts: more bombs in hotels and a new tactic - burying bombs on beaches. It will be the most concentrated wave of IRA attacks since the 1930s. Written and...

It's the day after one of the most shocking terror attacks in British history - a timebomb hidden in the Brighton hotel where the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her cabinet are staying during the 1984 Conservative Party conference. The casualties have all now been recovered. Four are dead, several of the injured are fighting for life. Now all that remains is the rubble. Somewhere in here w...

The IRA’s Patrick Magee has left a bomb, under a bath, in room 629 of the Brighton’s Grand Hotel. It’s timed to go off in three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes, at 2.54am on Friday 12 October. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton. While Party colleagues socialise, or prepare for bed on the last night of conference...

When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing. It's the night of 17 September 1984. The guest in room 629 of Brighton’s Grand Hotel has ordered a bottle of vodka and three cokes. A few minutes before, the guest – who signed in two days ago as Roy Walsh – put the panel back on the side of the bath in 629’s en suite. Behind that panel he has left a bomb, timed to go off in...

The bomb is set for 12 October 1984 - but the IRA have been building to this for decades It's the night of 17 September 1984. The guest in room 629 of Brighton’s Grand Hotel has ordered a bottle of vodka and three cokes. It seems he is having a small party. A few minutes before, the guest – who signed in two days ago as Roy Walsh – put the panel back on the side of the bath in 629’s en suite. Behi...

The clock – the long-delay timer – nobody is meant to hear is counting down to 2.54am on the 12th October, 1984. It's attached to a bomb, behind the panel of the bath of Room 629 in Brighton’s Grand Hotel, left there by a man who signed in as Roy Walsh. Except he's not Roy Walsh. Who is the man using his name? And how did he go from a childhood in the east of England to attempting to assassinate t...

When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing. The clock that propels this story went unheard for three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes…until the bomb it was attached to went off at 2.54am on Friday 12 October, 1984. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton. Which means the Prime Minister and...

Glenn Patterson investigates the IRA bomb that attempted to kill Margaret Thatcher.

Can Northern Ireland ever Escape from the Maze...? Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government -...

The government inquiry into the escape is about to have deadly consequences... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves a...

As more escapees are recaptured, no amount of effort can hide the state's humiliation... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates sh...

The IRA tells a mother they must take away her 12-year-old son... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart o...

Knowing they have strength in numbers, the Prison Officers seize their chance... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves...

The prisoner's are flying blind as they encounter the biggest obstacle to the escape... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates sho...

A forensically planned sequence of events is about to be triggered... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the hea...

IRA inmates gather a key piece of intelligence and a charm offensive begins on the wings... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates...

The British government wants a line to be drawn but the IRA has sensed an opportunity... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates sh...

Eight prison blocks of hatred shaped like the letter 'H'... It's supposed to be escape proof - the most secure prison in western Europe. The IRA is going to turn that on its head. Across ten twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or...