#582 | Piazza Fontana & The Accidental Death of An Anarchist
A deadly bomb. A death in a police station. A secret kept from the public. In 1969, an explosion in Milan killed 17 people. The police accused a gro...
#580 | Operation Valkyrie & The Plot To Kill Hitler
On 20 July 1944, a bomb ripped through a meeting room in Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair. This episode tells how Operation Valkyrie *almost* managed to kill A...
#577 | A Short History Of Universities
In part one of a three-part mini-series on the theme of "university", we go on a whirlwind tour of the history of universities, from medieval student ...
#575 | The Science of Happiness: Can It Be Measured?
What does happiness really mean, and can it be measured? In this episode, we move from Aristotle’s eudaimonia to brain scans, surveys, big data, and...
#572 | Caligula | Psychopath, Sadist, Emperor
In part one of our three-part series on "Tyrants of the Roman Empire," we'll meet Caligula, the notorious Roman emperor known for his cruelty and exce...
#570 | DOGE | Elon Musk's Quest to Shrink the US Government
The Department of Governmental Efficiency, otherwise known as DOGE, was a radical plan to cut government waste and reduce spending. Where did the i...
#567 | Ross Ulbricht & The Silk Road | Drugs, Bitcoin & Digital Outlaws
Was Ross Ulbricht a visionary pioneer or a dangerous criminal? In part one of our series on "Young American Outlaws", we explore the rise and fall ...
#565 | How I Make Podcast Episodes
Ever wondered how the (podcast) sausage is made? In this slightly "meta" episode, I reveal the step-by-step process to make an episode of English Le...
#563 | The Curious Origins of The Nobel Prize
Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was shocked to read his own obituary branding him the "merchant of death." While the story might not be ent...
#560 | What Makes An Italian?
In part one of a three-part mini-series on the theme of citizenship and identity, we'll ask ourselves, "What makes someone Italian?" We'll explore t...