Mystery on the Rocks

Federico Garcia Lorca was one of Spain's most promising and famous poets and playwrights of the 1920s. The fall of the Restoration era in 1931 saw the monarchy abolished, the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera fall and the installation of a left-leaning democratic government. Under this, Lorca thrived creatively except trouble was brewing in Spain...

This new democracy wasn't to last and in 1936 increasing tensions saw another coup - this time against the government. It failed but still led to the Spanish Civil War which ultimately saw General Franco assume command of Spain and rule as a fascist dictator.

It also saw Lorca summarily executed. The true nature of his death, and even the whereabouts of his body, remain one of Spain's enduring mysteries...

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Famine hit the Soviet Union in 1932-1933, killing millions upon millions. It was covered up with creative language in the press but certain crusading journalists began uncovering the truth and reporting anonymously for their own safety.

Until one Welsh journalist by the name of Gareth Jones returned from what is now the Ukraine and decided it was time to not only expose what was going on, but to be the first reporter to do so under his real name.

Barely two years later, Gareth is murdered. Was it a conspiracy masterminded by the Soviet Union in revenge for exposing its hand in covering up and even potentially deliberately causing the famine? Or was it just circumstance?

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This week we learn about the founder of the controversial religious and political group Nation of Islam - Wallace Fard Muhammad. No fixed date of birth exists for the man and many have tried, including the FBI, to ascertain exactly from where and when he came. But to no avail...

What's more, the elusive Wallace Fard Muhammad vanished completely from public record in 1934. Where did he come from? Where did he go?

Along the way we uncover tales of adultery, an alliance between white supremacists and black activists and even an instance of human sacrifice....

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In 1934 to consolidate his iron grip on Germany, Hitler did away with dozens of political foes, and even allies he considered might be foes. This was Operation: Hummingbird. Also known as The Night of the Long Knives...

This is the story of how Hitler turned on one of his closest allies, the story of the first openly gay politican in history and the story of Germany's further descent into tyranny.

Along the way we speculate wildly about Hitler's sex life and try to get the bottom of the ultimate mystery - did he jizz while soft?

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The Nazis are in power and barely one month after the enabling act effectively makes Hitler dictator of Germany steps are made to eradicate literature and research deemed to go against the Nazi ideology.

One particular place of scientific learning which falls foul is an institute set up by a Dr Magnus Hirschfeld, a progressive man who dedicated his life to helping the LGBTQIA+ community. No mean feat for a century ago. Hirschfeld's institute helped many but one in particular was Dora Richter - the first known transwoman to ever undergo complete gender confirmation surgery.

But she vanished, her fate unknown... So what happened to Dora?

And along the way we touch on Hirschfeld being almost unfathomably ahead of his time and a gay sex scandal which rocked Germany...

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We hit the 1930s in our Geopolitics, War & Espionage season and hotfoot it straight over to Germany in 1933 where something big was brewing. Hitler and his Nazi party are able to seize absolute power and rule Germany as a dictatorship. An arson attack on the home of Germany's parliament - the Reichstag - helps to precipitate all of this.

But who literally started the fire? And could Erik Jan Hanussen, the man who coached Hitler in public speaking, somehow predicting it ahead of time hold some clue?

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1928 New York. Prohibition has been in place for some time but some of the criminal underworld (who have been some of the few to profit from its tight grip) are sensing it is nearing its end. Casper Holstein, a black racketeer from Harlem who has considerable control over illegal gambling and has been very generous to black activism with his profits, is kidnapped at gunpoint. A ransom of $50,000 demanded. He is released three days later and he insists no ransom has been paid. Nor will he name his kidnappers.

He also could have paid that ransom himself several times over...

To this day, nobody knows who kidnapped him or why. Could it be dodgy attorney Dixie Davis? Maybe out-of-control hoodlum Dutch Schultz? Or Casper's rival in illegal gambling, the formidable Stephanie St Clair? Each have motive and each have an incredible story of their own.

Join us for this season's stop-off in prohibition New York, where Chris chaperones Sooz and Masud to a threesome with a sexy gangster...

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This week we're taking a week off from our ongoing themed season for a chilled-out Christmas special - join us for some Christmas drinks where we go through our middle names, our Christmas plans and opinions on Christmas dinner.

Thanks for listening everyone, have a great Christmas!!

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When a Native American people gains immense wealth from oil found on their land at the beginning of the 20th Century, it sets in motion a chain of events which leads to fraud and death in a concentrated campaign of malevolence throughout the 1920s. Who is responsible for a string of murders, all carried out with the express aim of wresting control of the land and money from those to whom it rightfully belongs...?

And just what has Masud been getting up to with plums?

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