Eugene Victor Debs, born 1855 in Indiana USA, was a railway worker, a trade unionist and a five time candidate for the presidency. He was imprisoned during the First World War for sedition. He'd urged resistance to the draft; President Woodrow Wilson called him a traitor to the nation, but Debs still ran for the presidency in 1920. His sentence was commuted the following year.

Reginald D Hunter is an American stand up based in the UK. His many credits include Have I Got News For You and Reginald D Hunter's Songs of the South. Last year at Edinburgh his show Fluffy Fluffy Beavers briefly became headline news. In studio with Reginald and presenter Matthew Parris is Professor Clive Webb, author of Vietdamned.

The producer for BBC Studios in Bristol is Miles Warde