Did King Charles III help bring down an elected government in Australia?

In November 1975 Sir John Kerr, Governor General of Australia - acting in the name of Queen Elizabeth II - dismissed the Labour government of Gough Whitlam, triggering the greatest constitutional crisis in Australian history. For decades the official story was that Kerr acted alone. But Gough Whitlam’s biographer, our guest Professor Jenny Hocking, never believed it. She has spent many years getting to the truth - unearthing documents from reluctant archivists in two continents - and proving the decisive role played by the British royal family, including that of Australia’s new King Charles III.

With Republican sentiment stirring down under, Jenny believes the time has come for King Charles to acknowledge what he did and apologise to the Australian people.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Palace-Letters-governor-general-dismiss-Whitlam/dp/1913348474

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can get in touch with the show hosts via...

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This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

For your own show please get in contact via the email address above.

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marie-Louise Plum (AKA oldfatherthames on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok) joins Andrew and Phil to share fascinating stories from her life as an amateur historian sifting through the bed of the river Thames.

‘Mudlarks’ like Marie can reveal incredible details of lives that were lived along the riverbank of one of Europe’s great cities - an illicit zone of ‘Liberties’ where normal rules did not always apply. 

Prepare for some shocking (and leg-crossing) revelations! 

https://www.instagram.com/oldfatherthames/?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/@OLDFATHERTHAMES

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can get in touch with the show hosts via...

[email protected] (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network. For your own show please get in contact via the email address above.

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the favourite era for cosy costume dramas, but the reality of life in Georgian and Regency Britain was more dramatic, colourful and downright scandalous than anything Hollywood could produce. Andrew and Phil discuss the real life events behind one of the greatest scandals of the age - the open, unmarried-with-a-child, relationship between Emma Hamilton and Britain’s greatest war hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson. Tim Clayton - with whom Phil wrote a book about this era - then joins to discuss the great caricaturist James Gillray, whose brilliant, often explicit imagery helps define this period. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trafalgar-battle-storm-Clayton-Craig/dp/B0013BT2AO

https://yalebooks.co.uk/page/detail/james-gillray/?k=9781913107321

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can get in touch with the show hosts via...

[email protected] (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network. For your own show please get in contact via the email address above.

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As LGBTG+ history month begins, Andrew and Phil are joined by Mok O’Keefe, better known as The Gay Aristo, to learn about the life and times of one of the most scandalous men in British history.

Perhaps the best well known theatrical celebrity of his time, Wilde dominated the British and Irish literary scene but ended his days almost penniless in a cheap Parisian hotel, abandoned by his family and scorned by many of his famous friends. How much was the the victim of an age which cruelly mistreated and misunderstood gay men and women, and how much was he the author of his own misfortune?

If you're interested in educated and deeply fascinating facts about mostly unknown LGBTQ+ history then follow Mok's channels below for a world of enlightenment.

www.youtube.com/c/gayaristo

www.instagram.com/gayaristo/

To find our more about the Gay Aristo himself....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7srMilqje0

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can now get in touch with the show...

[email protected] (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Available on YouTube, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music, Googleplay, Acast and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy Webb is the investigative journalist and filmmaker who revealed the truth behind the infamous BBC Panorama interview with Princess Diana, and generated the greatest scandal in the history of the BBC.

He tells Andrew and Phil (himself an ex Panorama producer) how he did it, and why… and where this extraordinary story is going next.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can now get in touch with the show...

[email protected] (Place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Available on YouTube, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music, Googleplay, Acast and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With special guest Ailsa Anderson, former Press Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II.

Everyone is talking about Prince Harry’s new book SPARE and its fierce attacks on his enemies, especially the shadowy figures in the palace who he claims have been spinning and briefing against him and Meghan.

So Andrew and Phil decided to speak to one of these mysterious people, and she paints a very different picture of what a royal press officer does than the one coming out of California.

So who’s telling the truth and who’s bending it? And why?

And would Andrew ever lend Phil his lip gloss?

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can now get in touch with the show...

[email protected] (Place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

Recorded in Kentish Town, London.

Production by

Theo X

David Kurzer

Kerem Isik

Available on YouTube, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music, Googleplay, Acast and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode of 2022 Andrew and Phil update some of the highlights of the podcast so far, especially the continuing debate between The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and last week’s guest, Valentine Low.

Some viewers and listeners who enjoyed the earlier episodes - with their spiky criticisms of royal spin and establishment power - have said that our scandal mongers have been too much swayed by the Palace when it comes to Meghan and Harry. Surely not….

And talking of the establishment, spin and cover ups... the boys then interview writer Dan Smith about his groundbreaking book The Peer and the Gangster, an extraordinary account of a 1960s scandal involving the notorious Krays twins that could and should have rocked the British conservative government of the time AND the opposition Labour party…but was brushed firmly under the carpet. It’ s a jaw dropping tale of duplicity and deceit in the highest of places.

Finally, with their Christmas stocking out, our two Scandal Mongers look forward to the gifts they’re expecting to share with you next year.

Dan's book...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peer-Gangster-Very-British-Cover-up/dp/0750993294

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can now get in touch with the show...

[email protected] (Place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

Recorded in Kentish Town, London.

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Available on YouTube, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music, Googleplay, Acast and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today Andrew and Phil are joined by the Times royal correspondent Valentine Low to discuss all things Harry, Meghan, Wills, Kate… and Netflix! 

Valentine’s recent book COURTIERS includes details of what the self-styled 'Sussex Survivors Squad' say they experienced working for the Duke and Duchess. What does he think of their recent allegations about their treatment by the family and the wider British nation?  

And how much of their problems are due to racial prejudice in Britain’s papers, palaces and public life?

Andrew is on hand to compare their story to that of a previous generation of royal exiles: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Courtiers-Valentine-Low/dp/1472290909

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Traitor-King-Scandalous-FEATURED-DOCUMENTARY/dp/1788704878/ref=sr_1_1?crid=K64WYE7WI62J&keywords=andrew+lownie&qid=1670829998&s=books&sprefix=andrew+lownie%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can now get in touch with the show...

[email protected] (Place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

Recorded in Kentish Town, London.

Production by

Theo X

David Kurzer

Kerem Isik 

Available on YouTube, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Googleplay, Acast and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of us think of the fabled summer of 1940 in terms of spitfires, the London Blitz and Churchill promising to fight on the beaches. 

But Andrew and Phil take a different view. And they want to bust a few long-cherished myths and reveal some scandals. 

In this episode they explore two scandals that occur BEFORE the Battle of Britain even began, and yet may have had just as great an impact on the course of the second world war.

Set amid a fevered few fevered weeks of intrigue, defeatism, treason and fear, this is the story of two momentous but little understood events. Firstly the British attack on the French fleet. Some say this was was an act of brutal necessity, but others regard it as a betrayal, even a war crime. And secondly the fate of the Duke of Windsor, a former British King who is uncomfortably close to Hitler’s Germany. 

Together these linked stories make for a fresh and fascinating re-examination of ‘The Finest Hour’. Andrew’s book on the Duke of Windsor, and Phil's book and documentary on 1940, are in the links below.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Finest-Hour-bestselling-Battle-Britain-ebook/dp/B008K5TFLW

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Traitor-King-Scandalous-FEATURED-DOCUMENTARY/dp/1788704878

Churchills Darkest Decision

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyku1lSRiFU

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can now get in touch with the show...

[email protected] (Place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

Recorded in Kentish Town, London.

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

David Kurzer

Available on YouTube, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music, Googleplay and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The revelation that spies working for the Soviet Union, recruited at Cambridge University in the 1930s, had deeply penetrated the British intelligence and diplomatic systems causes shockwaves throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s as more and more either defected or were exposed.

The fascinating figure of Guy Burgess was at the heart of the scandal, and his secret flight to Moscow in 1951 stunned the world, shaking confidence in Britain in its Cold War ally, the USA.

Andrew wrote a much acclaimed biography of Burgess and this week he talks Phil through his remarkable story, and that of the other key spies. And they discuss whether Burgess was the most important of them all.

They’re joined by one of Britain’s greatest ever writers on intelligence, Nigel West. Nigel met with Anthony Blunt, one of the most important Cambridge spies, and gained access to previously secret Soviet files.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stalins-Englishman-Lives-Guy-Burgess/dp/1473627362

www.nigelwest.com

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can now get in touch with the show...

[email protected] (Place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network.

Recorded in Kentish Town, London.

Production by

Theo X,

Kerem Isik,

David Kurzer.

Available on YouTube, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Googleplay, Acast and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.