Demystified

We've arrived out our final story in the frozen saga of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration - we've talked about our subject before, many times; he participated in more expeditions than anyone else, and led three himself! An open-ocean voyage of 800 miles, across the worst seas in the world, with almost no shelter and the lives of dozens of men depending on you. Imagine that pressure! No small surprise that the saying goes "Give me Scott for science, Amundsen for speed, but when all has gone to hell you'd better get down on your knees, and pray for Shackleton".

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amundsen. Shackleton. Scott. A veritable triumvirate of famous Antarctic explorers. But for all those others in the Heroic Age who made great strides in the fields of science, and whose stories of adversity are rivalled only by legends of Greek heroes, one stands tall above them all. An Australian who was seemingly made of titanium, whose resolve was matched only by his tenacity and ingenuity, but a man who has somehow evaded the history books... why is that? And what did it cost him, as well as those around him?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's come to this - a final race to decide, once and for all, the man who'll go down in the history books. The two contenders have their own impressive resumes, but very different ways of doing things. One prefers what he knows, the other is a bold experimenter willing to try new ideas. In the end though, there can be only one... or is that too simplistic? Is that just the mindset that led to disaster?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What was almost a false-start has now begun a race, the prize being a place in the history books. Last week's look at the Belgica may have started off on a bad foot but today we look at three expeditions that would set the tone going forwards. Whilst the race to the Pole is the main event, we need to understand why it happened the way it did, and these stories will give some much needed context; we're looking at three stories of record breakers, and the trends that were set going forwards. Believe me, things will go south very quickly...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration by its very name promises a lot. Our popular conception of it seems to deliver, too - frozen heroes in big coats frozen stiff as they trudge through a blizzard, some stiff-lipped soldier making a heroic sacrifice to save his fellows, and flags planted in places that are generally hard to reach. All of that is true... but there's a whole other side to the story that never gets told, names you won't recognise from any history class. Today, we begin with one of the least prepared expeditions of all time from a place that generally doesn't produce Polar explorers...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Demystified is something a little different: together with Penguin and Carnegie-winning author Ruta Sepetys, we're taking a look into the history of the Spanish Civil War, and life under the rule of General Franco. The latter half of the episode is an interview with Ruta about her book The Fountains of Silence, the period of Francoist rule, and writing historical fiction - enjoy!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you stan the worldwide phenomenon of K-Pop, or just really like Kimchi, one might be familiar with some of the cultural exports of the country of South Korea. What one might not necessarily think of, depending on your knowledge of East-Asian political scandals, is Cults. But rest assured, Korea has some major cult scandals that put places like the United States to Shame: for the final time on this season of Demystified let's do it once more, with Seoul...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Things are easy when you're big in Japan - fans of the show will know I love my musical references, but this isn't just a trite opportunity here. When you're the leader of a cult that extorts and assassinates every opponent in your bid to start a world war and end the world, it's up to you how easy things end up being, it seems. It may seem like Deja Vu, you've just been in this place before, but now we're running in the 90's...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Home, home on the range - where 'never is heard a discouraging word'. Today's episode may make you rethink that, as whilst the history books would tell you that so-called Range Wars are a thing of the past, the events of a small town in Oregon in the 1980's would make you think otherwise. Mass-poisoning, attempted murder, and immigration fraud abound; who's ready to achieve enlightenment?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does a man go from a well-respected, well read, likable and popular civil rights activist, to a drug-addled psychotic cult leader who murdered over 900 people in the jungles of South America? An interesting question with an interesting answer that's relevant to this day - drinking the Koolaid is still the fashion, it seems...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices