In early 1943, the Allies are planning to invade Sicily - although with each side of the war closely scrutinising the other with a ramped up focus on espionage and stealing secrets the question arises as to how to do so without the enemy knowing.

A supremely audacious plan is concocted to throw Axis powers of the scent, a plan which has to be perfectly calibrated in order for the enemy to fall for it. And so, in nominally netural territory, Operation Mincemeat is put into action thanks to a future spy novelist, a couple of meticulous intelligence men, a submarine and a homeless man.

This is the story of the man who never was...

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Slightly looser episode this week as we get far too distracted by the relationship status of the two main characters in Jurassic Park but when we get to business it's two mysteries for the price of one!

Our series hits the 1940s, which you know full well means World War 2. America's entrance into the conflict lies in the attack on Pearl Harbour so here we delve into two mysteries centered around the attack.

Firstly, could a board game contain a coded message warning of the attack ahead of time and, secondly, is there a ghost plane flying the skies following the attack?

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We might take a little longer than usual to get to the subject of this week's episode because Sooz and Chris were recording in the same room and so more time was spent on the cocktails as Masud instructed them on what to make but when we get there, we uncover something of a mystery within a topic we all thought we knew quite a great deal about.

In 1938, the Nazis targeted Jewish businesses in what has become known as the Night of Broken Glass. Except, that's a bit of a simplification over time - it obviously wasn't just businesses, it was people and this was far from the first example of anti-semitic persecution by the Nazis.

But what we didn't know before we got to this episode was the story of a 17 year old Polish Jew living in Paris at the time by the name of Herschel Grynszpan...

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Our current season hits 1937 an we head to Paris where Russian politician and economist Dimitri Navachine is stabbed to death while walking his dog. Despite the attack taking place in broad daylight, the mystery has never been solved, possibly because so many questions surround Dimitri himself...

Was he exiled in France? Had he just emigrated there? Was he advising the French government off his own left-leaning back or was he infiltrating it as a spy for the Soviet Union?

And who really wanted him dead? Mother Russia or a local fascist terror cell? And could the answer relate to the subject of one of our earliest episodes?

And who remembers the kids' TV show Woof!?

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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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