The SCANDAL Mongers Podcast

Clive Irving from the Daily Beast returns to the podcast to tell the story of the rise and fall of the British tabloid press, as Prince Harry’s ‘hacking’ case make its way through the London courts - with the possibility that Rupert Murdoch might finally be made to give evidence about it in a court of law.

The actor Hugh Grant has recently accepted a settlement from a Murdoch-owned company. He said that it was too expensive to carry on. And in the past - such as with Fox News in the USA - the Murdochs have tried to settle cases rather than see their patriarch give evidence under oath.

But could Harry be the man to change all that?

After a long career in newspapers, both tabloid and not, Clive tells Andrew and Phil that we maybe approaching a day of reckoning after decades of excess in the press!

If you want to support what we do and help us grow this podcast we now have a Thank You option on YouTube for donations starting at 2 UK pounds - find it by clicking on the ’three dots’ next to the ‘download’ button.

You can buy books from the authors we feature in our own bookshop, along with thousands of others. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers...

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-last-queen-the-remarkable-story-of-elizabeth-ii-s-seventy-year-reign-and-the-future-of-the-monarchy-clive-irving/6584807?aid=12054&ean=9781785907302

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help...

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

THE SCANDAL MONGERS PODCAST is also available to watch on YouTube...

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

Andrew Lownie...

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig...

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers...

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org

(place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Produced by...

PodcastWorld.org

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

Not many books change the direction of an entire debate but, in 2023, Hannah Barnes’ ’Time To Think’ did just that. Through the testimony of whistle-blowers from inside the Tavistock hospital GIDS clinic, it revealed deep concern about the use of puberty blockers on gender-distressed children and how this approach - for which there is very little hard evidence - almost always led to further and irreversible hormone treatments and surgery.

When the Cass report into Britain’s treatment of gender questioning young people was welcomed by the UK Parliament last week, politicians from across the House of Commons praised Hannah for her work, and her book is credited with helping change the policy of the opposition Labour party (and possible next government) on this very divisive and controversial issue.

Hannah’s work explores how best to treat children who feel they are somehow living ‘in the wrong body’ and fear the changes of puberty. It asks whether the ‘instant affirmation followed by puberty blocking’ model is dangerous and might better be replaced by counselling and other therapies.

If you want to support what we do and help us grow this podcast we now have a Thank You option on YouTube for donations starting at 2 UK pounds - find it by clicking on the ’three dots’ next to the ‘download’ button.

You can buy books from the authors we feature in our own bookshop, along with thousands of others. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/time-to-think-the-inside-story-of-the-collapse-of-the-tavistock-s-gender-service-for-children-hannah-barnes/7313400?aid=12054&ean=9781800751132&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears ***

Andrew Lownie...

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig...

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers...

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org

(place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Produced by...

PodcastWorld.org

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

Andrew Gold joins us this week to talk about his brand new book and his life as a 'heretic' podcaster and reporter. In recent months Andrew has established himself a leading voice in the anti-woke free speech broadcasting community, talking provocatively to natural rebels such as Robbie Williams, David Baddiel, John McWhorter, Jon Ronson, Amanda Knox, Richard Dawkins and Helen Lewis. Whether it's the excesses of the trans-rights movement, the campaign to close down debate about Covid or the politics of the great royal rift, Andrew has something interesting to say.

For his fascinating new book he interviewed dozens of people with secrets - including cult members, fraudsters and violent prisoners - and he writes powerfully about how our ideas about secrecy, trust and exposure help define our world.

If you want to support what we do and help us grow this podcast we now have a THANKYOU option on YouTube for donations starting at 2 UK pounds - find it by clicking on the 'three dots' next to the 'download' button.

You can buy books from the authors we feature in our own bookshop, along with thousands of others. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-psychology-of-secrets-adventures-among-cults-psychopaths-and-murderers-andrew-gold/7525492?aid=12054&ean=9781035002597&

This is a better link for anyone outside the UK looking to buy Andrew Gold's book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-Secrets-Adventures-Murderers-Influencers/dp/1035002590/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with? We're here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie...

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig...

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers...

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org

(place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

Produced by...

PodcastWorld.org

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

We're thrilled to get an hour to talk with Simon Vigar, one of Britain's most experienced royal correspondents and writers, who is now the Royal Correspondent for 5 News.

Simon has had a ring side seat for all of the great royal dramas of the last two decades, and he brings an unusual level of sympathy and insight to the role. Amongst other things Phil and Andrew ask Simon for his views on the long term impact on Harry of the 'briefing wars' of the early 2000s when very unflattering stories about Diana and other royals were - it is alleged - traded by the Palace for favourable coverage of Charles and Camilla. 

Simon Vigar...

https://twitter.com/simonvigar5

If you want to support what we do and help us grow this podcast we now have a ThankYou option on YouTube for donations starting at 2 UK pounds - find it by clicking on the 'three dots' next to the 'download' button. 

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with? We're here to help.

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube...

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

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

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

Lady Colin Campbell joins Andrew and Phil again with an exclusive sneak peek at her new and explosive book on Meghan, Harry, the angry confrontations that shook the British royal family and Meghan's troubled family background. Based on her connections in the highest reaches of the British aristocracy - and her friendship with the Markle family - this is an uncompromising account of social climbing and what Lady Colin calls 'pathological narcissism' which challenges many of the stories told in the couple's Netflix series, to Oprah Winfrey and in Harry's book Spare.

Phil & Andrew on the Shaun Attwood show!...

(around 7 mins in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85n4uoW-Jfg&t=0s

NEW FEATURE

If you want to support what we do and help us grow this podcast we now have a ThankYou option on YouTube for donations starting at just 2 UK pounds - find it by clicking on the 'three dots' next to the 'download' button on the YouTube page.

You can buy books from the authors we feature in our own bookshop, along with thousands of others. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/meghan-and-harry-the-real-story-persecutors-or-victims-updated-edition-lady-colin-campbell/7648242?aid=12054&ean=9781916131781&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with? We're here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube...

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

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

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

In a special sports themed episode Andrew and Phil are first joined by writer and former newspaper editor Chris Blackhurst to discuss his investigation into Manchester United - the world’ favourite football team - and how it has fared under the ownership of the American Glazer family, plus the wider role of big money in professional football (or ‘soccer' if you’re American!). Chris also talks about his fascinating work in the world of risk management.

Next up is Andrew Butler and Matt Russell from Tortoise Media who reveal an astonishing scandal of match fixing and intimidation in the normally sedate world of professional snooker.  Spotted: snooker’s fight against match fixing...

https://shows.acast.com/the-tortoise-podcast/episodes/spotted-snookers-fight-against-match-fixing

You can buy books from the authors we feature - including those discussed in this episode - in our own bookshop. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-world-s-biggest-cash-machine-manchester-united-the-glazers-and-the-story-of-how-money-bought-football-s-soul-chris-blackhurst/7426973?aid=12054&ean=9781035011179&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube...

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

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

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

Why did Adolf Hitler's deputy and trusted confidante fly alone to an isolated

corner of Scotland at the height of World War Two?

Was it the act of a madman? Was it to conclude a secretly negotiated

peace deal with some of the most senior members of the British

aristocracy and - potentially - the royal family itself? Was

it to help senior conservatives launch a coup against Churchill? Or

was it all the result of a clever British intelligence plot? 

Whatever the true reason, Rudolf Hess himself never got to speak it

since for the rest of his life he was kept well away from journalists and writers.

John Harris has spent decades investigating the affair.  Here he joins Andrew and Phil to

discuss his latest discoveries and insights. 

You can buy books from the authors we feature in our own bookshop. All profit are

shared between podcasters and independent booksellers.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/rudolf-hess-a-new-technical-analysis-of-the-hess-flight-may-1941-john-harris/92085?aid=12054&ean=9781803990231&

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/conspiracy-calamity-and-cover-up-the-truth-behind-the-hess-flight-to-scotland-may-10th-1941-john-harris/7072361?aid=12054&ean=9781914414978&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with?  We're here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube

subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will

help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube...

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

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

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

We're joined by another of Andrew and Phil's journalistic hero's - Richard Norton Taylor. Richard has uncovered dozens of scandals in his time working for London newspapers, and turned several of them into successful plays. Here he speaks about his work on a range of stories and decades battling Britain's 'secret state'. He also comments on the case of Julian Assange, currently facing extradition to the USA from Britain in a case that many believe threatens the rights of investigative journalists. 

You can buy books from the authors we feature - including Richard's recent play about the Grenfell Tower disaster - in our own bookshop. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/value-engineering-scenes-from-the-grenfell-inquiry-richard-norton-taylor/6132040?aid=12054&ean=9781350268258&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with? We're here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube...

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

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

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

Jason Evans joins Andrew and Phil to reveal a shocking story of medical negligence and official delay - in Britain and numerous other nations - that tragically resulted from the desire to treat dangerous illnesses with better drugs.

For many years blood donations - often collected for money in the USA - were used to make products to treat people with haemophilia and other illnesses. But so careless were the practices at every level, and so poor the quality controls, that blood from those infected with diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS got mingled into thousands of doses. As a result many people were infected with life altering and life shortening diseases, including Jason's father. Although there is now an official Inquiry about to report in the UK, the campaign for justice and compensation has dragged on for decades. 

Before speaking to Jason, Phil and Andrew work through some of the audience repossess - positive and negative - to our last episode with royal expert Valentine Low. 

Jason's campaign can be reached here...

https://www.factor8scandal.uk/jason-evans

You can buy books from the authors we feature - including Courtiers by Valentine Low - in our own bookshop. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers....

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/courtiers-valentine-low/6755938?aid=12054&ean=9781472290908

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with? We're here to help...

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube...

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

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please).

Production by

Theo X

Kerem Isik

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

This was meant to be the second of our two spy episodes, and it still is - but first Andrew and Phil were able to speak with our friend, the VERY well connected royal reporter Valentine Low, about the speculation that's swirling around the prince and princess of wales? Phil also references this article of his about the psychological roots of our interest in monarchy. 

https://thecritic.co.uk/the-kings-touch/

Then writer Robert Verkaik joins to explore the dark and controversial story of the dead British spy Gareth Williams - the notorious 'body in the bag' case from 2010. Was this a Russian 'hit', an imaginatively staged suicide or the result of a bizarre sex game gone very wrong?

You can buy books from the authors we feature - including Courtiers by Valentine Low - in our own bookshop. All profit are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/courtiers-valentine-low/6755938?aid=12054&ean=9781472290908

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with? We're here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on YouTube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJgy7_rHwpE&t=23s

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

'Spy mania' was at its height in the early 1960s when a junior clerk in the Admiralty was revealed to be spying for the Soviet Union, after he had been drugged and then secretly photographed by KGB agents in Moscow while being raped by at least two men. 

At a time when sexual relationships between men were illegal, John Vassall was jailed and publicly humiliated, while tabloid newspaper ran stories such as ‘How to Spot a Homo’.

Writer Alex Grant joins Andrew and Phil to discuss his book on John Vassall, and what his life story tells us about both espionage and the social history of the 1960s. 

You can buy Alex's book, and books from the other authors we feature here, in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more. Andrew’s own book on the spy Guy Burgess is also available here. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/sex-spies-and-scandal-the-john-vassall-affair-alex-grant/7392845?aid=12054&ean=9781785907883&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on YouTube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJgy7_rHwpE&t=23s

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

According to the court reports last week, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, pocketed more than £1 million from an allegedly corrupt financier acting on behalf of a Turkish millionaire. And nobody can say why. It’s one of many obscure stories of cash flowing into royal coffers that our Andrew - Lownie - has been trying to investigate for years.

In this special episode Andrew shares some of his theories about what has been happening here - and asks questions about Prince Andrew’s time as a ’trade envoy’. Just who was he representing on these expensive foreign trips? His country or his own family? We also discuss the wider issues of royal finance and the public’s right to know about it.

Andrew has spent many frustrating months battling for access to royal and other official documents about Prince Andrew and others, but Britain’s Freedom of Information system does not appear to be very helpful.

Later in the episode we talk to the guru of freedom of information (in Britain and elsewhere) about all this - ex BBC journalist Martin Rosenbaum.

Martin Rosenbaum has also written a guide book to your rights to information

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freedom-Info...

You can buy Andrew and Phil’s books, and work from the other authors we feature here, in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalmongers

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on YouTube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJgy7_rHwpE&t=23s

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (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

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

When famous crime writer Agatha Christie suddenly vanished without trace in December 1926 it triggered one of the greatest tabloid sensations of the age. Behind it lay a twisted story of love, loss and love affairs that’s worthy of one of her greatest novels.

Returning to the podcast for the third time, writer Laura Thompson peels back the layers to explain exactly what happened - and why this was the most important month of Agatha Christie's life and work.

You can buy Laura's excellent biography of Agatha, and books from the other authors we feature here, in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/agatha-christie-a-mysterious-life-laura-thompson/2300271?aid=12054&ean=9781472269560&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is available to watch on YouTube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJgy7_rHwpE&t=23s

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (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

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

When famous crime writer Agatha Christie suddenly vanished without trace in December 1926 it triggered one of the greatest tabloid sensations of the age. Behind it lay a twisted story of love, loss and love affairs that’s worthy of one of her greatest novels.

Returning to the podcast for the third time, writer Laura Thompson peels back the layers to explain exactly what happened - and why this was the most important month of Agatha Christie's life and work.

You can buy Laura's excellent biography of Agatha, and books from the other authors we feature here, in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/agatha-christie-a-mysterious-life-laura-thompson/2300271?aid=12054&ean=9781472269560&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

team@podcastworld.org (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

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

(PRODUCTION NOTE : If you're hearing last weeks show on this episode please erase this episode and re-download it again.)

In the second episode in this themed week, Canadian author Antony Anderson joins Phil and Andrew to discuss one of the greatest military and diplomatic disasters of the British Empire.

In 1956 a new government in Egypt took control of the Suez canal and Britain - along with France - wanted it back. With the help of Israel a war was secretly planned and then executed - amid global outrage. Britain and France were seen to be acting as old fashioned imperialist bullies in an age of supposed de-colonisation and self determination.

The resulting crisis split the British commonwealth, caused a deep rift between London and Washington and cast a shadow over the government of British Prime Minster Anthony Eden. It took a gifted Canadian diplomat - Lesley Pearson - to help restore international relations and calm the conflict.

Phil is writing a book about the end of the Second World War in which stories of British ‘imperial muscle memory’ will feature prominently, which he discusses with Antony.

You can buy Antony’s book on Pearson, and books from the other authors we feature here, in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-diplomat-lester-pearson-and-the-suez-crisis-antony-anderson/3200341?aid=12054&ean=9781773100456&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on Youtube...

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

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

team@podcastworld.org (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

(Assisted by Charlie Harvey)

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

At the start of a themed week this is one of the most celebrated imperial scandals of them all - the riotous misbehaviour of a wealthy expatriate community living in colonial Kenya which leads to a famous - and famously unsolved - murder in 1941. Later this week we get more political with a look at the famous ’Suez crisis’ of 1956. 

In the so-called ‘Happy Valley case’ Sir Henry “Jock” Delves Broughton was tried for the murder of Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll, a notorious ‘rake’, in the language of the time, who had been having an open love affair with Sir Henry’s wife, Lady Diana Broughton. Within the infamously promiscuous Happy Valley set it was widely believed that Sir Henry was relaxed about his wife’s relationship - but was he? He was acquitted in a court case that many felt bad flawed - so who else might have pulled the trigger that fatal night?

Author James Fox joins Andrew and Phil to discuss the case. James wrote the definitive book ‘White Mischief’ which was later made into a successful movie. 

You can buy ‘White Mischief’ and books from the other authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/white-mischief-james-fox/328169?aid=12054&ean=9780099766711&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to watch on youtube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

This week writer Anne de Courcy joins Andrew and Phil to discuss her extraordinary biography of Lord Snowdon, Antony Armstrong Jones, who was married to Princess Margaret for 18 tumultuous years.

A gifted photographer, designer and charity entrepreneur, Lord Snowdon was also a notorious womaniser before, after and during his marriage. His relationship with Margaret veered between affection and bitter recrimination, even cruelty, whilst he cut a dashing swathe through British high society, charming his way out of numerous perilous social and sexual intrigues.

Anne’s ’semi authorised' biography of Snowdon exposed many new secrets and received huge acclaim. One reviewer said 'The amorous Snowdon was remarkably helpful for this life; the result is jaw-droppingly revealing.

You can buy Anne's books at the Scandal Monger’s own bookstore, along with thousands of others. All profits are shared between independent booksellers and podcasters.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/snowdon-the-biography-anne-de-courcy/4377193?aid=12054&ean=9781474625142&

We also now have our own merchandise in a new online shop. You can currently buy a mug, a T shirt and a Sweater, and more products will be added soon. The perfect gift for that special scandalous someone in your life!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears and eyes.

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

The Scandal Mongers Podcast is also available to listen to watch on youtube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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

#royals #scandal #scandalmongers

#ScandalMongersPodcast #mongersPodcast

#PhilCraig #AndrewLownie

#snowden #princessmargaret

#AnnedeCourcy

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

In January 1889, when Rudolf, the crown prince of Austria, was found dead in an Imperial hunting lodge alongside his 17 year old mistress, Baroness Mary Vestera, it triggered a monumental cover up, a crisis that shook the royal families of Europe, and changed the direction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the world’s great powers. Some believe it even helped set the scene for the outbreak of the First World War by removing the reformer Rudolf from the line of succession and replacing him eventually with the very different Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination triggered the conflict.

Writer Lucy Coatman lives and works in Vienna where she is writing a new book on the case. She’s already discovered many new documents that reveal the strange psychological and sexual dynamic between the doomed lovers. Lucy’s work reveals an extraordinary world of aristocratic decadence, infidelity, drug use, mental illness and venereal disease. Did Mayerling witness a suicide pact or a murder? Was Rudolf a manipulator, drawing an inexperienced teenager into his strange melancholic obsessions? Or was Mary herself wrapped up in a morbid fantasy life and a willing actor in this lethal drama?

You will be able to buy Lucy’s book at the Scandal Monger’s own bookstore, along with thousands of others. All profits are shared between independent booksellers and podcasters.

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalm...

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

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

A packed episode featuring two of Britain’s most determined investigators. 

Andy Webb returns to the podcast to tell Andrew and Phil of new developments in his long-running battle to uncover the truth behind Martin Bashir’s interview with Diana, Princess of Wales. Newly released BBC emails - some heavily redacted - reveal the scale of a 25 year cover up and shine new light on the case, including the disgraced reporter’s belief that his critics are motivated by professional jealousy or even racism. Andy also has some harsh words on the conduct of the BBC governors. If they had asked tougher questions at the time, could the course of Diana’s life have been changed for the better?

We then meet ex MP Norman Baker, one of the most dogged investigators to have ever worked in Britain’s House of Commons. He’s led a thirty year battle to uncover the truth about BA flight 149, which flew into Kuwait during Saddam Hussein’s invasion of that country in 1990, leaving its passengers to become hostages. Was the flight allowed to land despite the obvious dangers in order to insert a special forces team? Bakes believes that he can prove that it was.  

Norman also discusses his investigative work on the hugely controversial death of government WMD scientist David Kelly, and his belief that the investigation into it was badly compromised, and his probes into royal finances and MP’s expenses. 

You can buy Norman's books at the Scandal Monger’s own bookstore, along with thousands of others. All profits are shared between independent booksellers and podcasters. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/and-what-do-you-do-what-the-royal-family-don-t-want-you-to-know-norman-baker/578847?aid=12054&ean=9781785906213&

We also now have our own merchandise in a new online shop. You can currently buy a mug, a T shirt and a Sweater, and more products will be added soon. 

The perfect gift for that special scandalous someone in your life!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

We have two scandalous stories this week, but on a similar theme.

Firstly our friend Dai Davies - former top royal protection officer - returns to the podcast to talk about how his former colleagues in the Metropolitan police have been dealing with royal scandals recently, and especially their interest (or lack of!) in certain allegations involving Prince Andrew, the disgraced Duke of York, and his past life as a trade envoy. Are we really all equal before the law in modern Britain?

Then Andrew and Phil are joined by American fingerprint expert Pat Wertheim to discuss one of the greatest unsolved royal mysteries of all time - the murder of multi millionaire Harry Oakes in the Bahamas during the Second World War, whilst the Duke of Windsor - former King Edward VIII - is governor of the island. Is the Duke, along with others close to the case, involved in unusual financial dealings? Why did he treat the murder investigation in such an unorthodox manner? And why was an innocent man almost sent to the gallows whilst the obvious suspect walked clean away?

It’s a colourful tale worthy of Agatha Christie and, although the mystery has still not been solved, Pat and Andrew share their theories!

You can buy books from the authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalmongers

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

Scandal Mongers is available to watch on YouTube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

According to Princess Diana, Prince Charles once asked her in a towering bad temper: ‘Am I to be the only Prince of Wales not to be allowed a mistress?’

Taking their cue from the landed aristocracy, British royals have for centuries ‘married for the dynasty’ then engaged in semi-official affairs - or even long term parallel relationships - with others in their circle. Those marrying into the family were expected to ‘understand’ and not make a public fuss, and many did (unlike Diana!).

Our guest this week, Tom Sykes, has a very good reason to care about this story. He’s a writer and the royal correspondent for The Daily Beast - and he thinks that his own grandmother, Camilla Sykes (nee Russell) may have had a long term love affair with the King. In fact members of Tom’s family going back several generations have been closely involved with the British royals at their wildest and naughtiest - including Edward VII when he was a most scandalous Prince of Wales. Hearing their stories provides a unique window into the social history of Upper Class Britain.

You can buy books from the authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalm...

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalM...

Andrew Lownie

  / andrewlownie  

Phil Craig

  / philmcraig  

Scandal Mongers

  / mongerspodcast  

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

We begin with the latest from the Post Office Scandal that we first covered with investigative journalist Nick Wallis 8 months ago. In recent weeks a powerful

ITV drama has made the behaviour of the Post Office - and the cruel treatment of its employees - front page news in the UK. It’s truly blood boiling!!

Then writer Neil McKenna joins Andrew and Phil to reveal a story of 19th Century sexual, political, royal and legal intrigue - the infamous ‘Cleveland Street Affair’ which shook

the British upper classes and prompted fevered speculation all around the world. Could it be that a senior member of the royal family was a patron of London’s most notorious gay brothel?

With incredible details of the society of this time - and the way that wealth and privilege could guarantee legal protection - Neil lays out all the details of a saga that’s as fascinating as it’s shocking.

You can buy Neil's books and other books by the authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/fanny-and-stella-the-young-men-who-shocked-victorian-england-neil-mckenna/1669922?aid=12054&ean=9780571231911&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

Scandal Mongers is available to watch on Youtube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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

#postoffice

#postofficescandal

#Scandalmongers

#ClevelandStreetAffair

#philcraig

#andrewlownie

#NeilMcKenna

#Podcastworld

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

With so many new revelations concerning the Jeffrey Epstein scandal we begin this episode with Andrew and Phil’s assessment of what it all means for Prince Andrew and his hopes of returning to public life (and what it may also mean for our Andrew’s book on the Prince!)

Top magazine editor and author Tina Brown then joins us from New York to discuss all things royal. Tina has had an incredible career running, amongst other things, Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Talk. Some of the world’s best reporters have worked for her and she helped create a model for ambitious, high end and beautifully illustrated contemporary writing. Her books on the British royal family are impeccably sourced and packed with insights from real insiders, along with Tina’s own trademark ‘smarts’. 

She tells Andrew and Phil where the various feuding factions of the Windsor clan stand in America and the wider world, and where she thinks King Charles is taking the family. And she delivers some typically sharp pen portraits of Andrew, Fergie, William, Kate, Meghan and Harry!

You can buy Tina's books - and many thousands more - at our very own bookstore, which profits shared between podcasters and independent booksellers. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-palace-papers-the-sunday-times-bestseller-tina-brown/7008572?aid=12054&ean=9781529158809&

With so many new revelations concerning the Jeffrey Epstein scandal we begin this episode with Andrew and Phil’s assessment of what it all means for Prince Andrew and his hopes of returning to public life (and what it may also mean for our Andrew’s book on the Prince!)

Top magazine editor and author Tina Brown then joins us from New York to discuss all things royal. Tina has had an incredible career running, amongst other things, Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Talk. Some of the world’s best reporters have worked for her and she helped create a model for ambitious, high end and beautifully illustrated contemporary writing. Her books on the British royal family are impeccably sourced and packed with insights from real insiders, along with Tina’s own trademark ‘smarts’.

She tells Andrew and Phil where the various feuding factions of the Windsor clan stand in America and the wider world, and where she thinks King Charles is taking the family. And she delivers some typically sharp pen portraits of Andrew, Fergie, William, Kate, Meghan and Harry.

You can buy Tina's books - and many thousands more - at our very own bookstore, which profits shared between podcasters and independent booksellers.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-palace-papers-the-sunday-times-bestseller-tina-brown/7008572?aid=12054&ean=9781529158809&

And we now have a store where you can obtain your very own scandalous gifts!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

Andrew Lownie.

https://twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

https://twitter.com/philmcraig

https://twitter.com/MongersPodcast

Scandal Mongers is available to watch on yuoube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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 New Year’s Day 2024 and we’re starting the year with a double dose of scandal, as writer John Preston joins as our main guest. But first Phil and Andrew react to the surprising sight of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, back at the heart of a royal family Christmas for the first time in decades. What does it mean for her, for her embattled husband Prince Andrew….and for our Andrew’s upcoming biography of them both?

John Preston is one of Britain's most successful true crime writers whose tragi-comic books about great British scandals have been hugely popular and formed the basis for some excellent TV dramatisations in recent years. He discusses his work with special reference to two of the most outrageous British political and business scandals of the 1970s and 80s. Jeremy Thorpe, Leader of the Liberal Party, is the subject of John's book ‘A Very British Scandal’, which deals with his role in a bungled plot to murder his former gay lover. Robert Maxwell, a politically powerful media tycoon - and father of Ghislaine Maxwell - had an equally colourful rise and fall…ending in a literal fall off a boat when his many shady business dealings began to unravel. 

You can buy John’s books - and many thousands more - at our very own bookstore, which profits shared between podcasters and independent booksellers. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/fall-winner-of-the-costa-biography-award-2021-john-preston/1223159?aid=12054&ean=9780241388686&

And we now have a store where you can obtain your very own scandalous gifts!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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 a surprise holiday treat Andrew and Phil review their year in the scandalsphere, compare the best and worst of the reviews, chat a little about Wallis Simpson, look forward to 2024 and thank everyone who has subscribed in 2023.

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on Youtube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Prince Harry’s court room victory has reignited his feud with the British tabloids, and especially former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan. Andrew and Phil react and wonder what’s coming next.

The bulk of this episode is then dedicated to one of the most tragic - and controversial - criminal cases in British history: the unsolved disappearance of there year old Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese holiday apartment in 2007.

Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate were originally identified as suspects by the local police only for charges to be dropped. In recent years a German paedophile named Christian B has also been investigated for the crime. The case has generated years of feverish speculation and argument, along with dozens of books and TV documentaries and many still believe that the parents are in some way involved in their daughter’s fate. They have always accepted some guilt for leaving their three children unsupervised that night.

Our interviewee this week, Robbyn Swann, working with her husband Anthony Summers, has produced numerous highly acclaimed investigative books. Her work on the McCann story leads her to believe that the police investigation was scandalously badly handled and the the parents faced unfair accusations spun by both police officers and online conspiracy theorists. Her work was heavily featured in the recent Netflix series on the case. https://www.netflix.com/search?q=mccann&jbv=80194956

You can buy Robbyn's book and other books by the authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/looking-for-madeleine-anthony-summers/3923440?aid=12054&ean=9781489495655&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

With total silence from both the ‘firm’ and Team Harry and Meghan, the allegation that King Charles and Kate, Princess of Wales, both expressed 'concerns’ about the colour of a future royal baby linger poisonously in the air. What to make of it?

After that Phil and Andrew meet Dan Davies to discuss one of the greatest scandals in British public life since the Second World War - a scandal that revealed a series of horrific sex crimes carried out by a much loved ‘national treasure’ and a history of cover ups and failed investigations what shook many institutions including police forces and the BBC, where Saville was a huge star for decades.

Dan’s book ‘In Plain Sight’ is the definitive account of the Saville affair and was a major source for for the recent BBC dramatisation of Saville’s life, in which Dan is portrayed as one of the predator’s main interrogators over many years. 

You can buy Dan’s book and other books by the authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - along with thousands more. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/in-plain-sight-the-life-and-lies-of-jimmy-savile-dan-davies/155650?aid=12054&ean=9781782067467&

Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you’d like to get scandalous with? We’re here to help.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on Youtube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

In this second special episode about the royal racism scandal, Clive Irving joins Phil and Andrew from America.

His perspective is very different to that of our last guest, Lady Colin Campbell, since he views racism allegations made against Britain’s King Charles (and future Queen Kate) in the context of a bigger story - that of a dynasty trying to come to terms with the darker sides of its own, and Britain’s, history. A history of empire and slavery is a critical element in this, which is why so many people outside the UK, in America and in the Commonwealth, are looking to the family to do more on race and equality.

Clive is a leading columnist on the Daily Beast in New York and, previously during a long career as a journalist, was the founder of the famous Sunday Times Insight investigative team, and managing editor of the paper. More recently he’s author of 'The Last Queen’, which covered the reign of Elizabeth II and its impact on the nation.

You can buy books by the authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - and thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-last-queen-the-remarkable-story-of-elizabeth-ii-s-seventy-year-reign-and-the-future-of-the-monarchy-clive-irving/6584807?aid=12054&ean=9781785907302&

We now have a shop too, perfect for those seeking a gift for the special scandalous someone in their lives.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on Youtube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Details ‘accidentally’ revealed in the latest royal ’tell-all’ book by Omid Scobie have thrown Britains’ royal family into a new crisis.

Did the current King and the future Queen expression 'concern’ about the colour of Meghan and Harry’ children? Do they harbour prejudices against their non white subjects and commonwealth members? Or is this an exaggerated account of a normal and friendly conversation, spun from California to inflict damage in London?

In the first of two episodes exploring this dramatic new development, Lady Colin Campbell returns to the podcast - and she’s not taking any prisoners.

Tomorrow editor and author Clive Irving will bring a very different perspective to bear, that of someone who lives in the USA and understand its media culture deeply - and who feels that the British royals already struggle with a legacy of slavery, racism and exploitation.

You can buy books by the authors we feature here in our own Scandal Mongers bookshop - and thousands more.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-queen-s-marriage-lady-colin-campbell/2209252?aid=12054&ean=9781527209848&

We now have a shop too, perfect for those seeking a gift for the special scandalous someone in their lives.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube.

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

On the 60th anniversary of the most scrutinised and mythologised political assassination of all time writer Gerald Posner returns to the podcast to tell Andrew and Phil why he is more convinced than ever that Oswald was the lone killer and that there was no wider conspiracy.

In 1993 Gerald’s book CASE CLOSED went through all of the details of the case in forensic detail and was judged by many to be the definitive work, and the definitive rebuttal to the Oliver Stone movie ‘JFK' and its allegations about the case.

You can buy Gerald’s books at the Scandal Monger’s own bookstore, along with thousands of others. All profits are shared between independent booksellers and podcasters...

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalmongers

We also now have our own merchandise in two new online shops, one on ETSY and one on TIKTOK. You can currently buy a mug, a T shirt and a Sweater, and more products will be added soon...

The perfect gift for that special scandalous someone in your life!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers

https://www.tiktok.com/@scandalmongers5

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube.

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

With the new season of the Crown stirring up memories of Diana’s romance with Dodi al-Fayed and the summer they spent together before their tragic deaths, we are very lucky to have Michael Cole on the podcast today.

He was a board member of Mohamed Al-Fayed’s companies in the UK and a personal friend of the Al-Fayed family. As a former BBC reporter and royal correspondent he also represented the family in public many times. He knew both Dodi and Diana well and was a first hand witness to everything that happened that summer.

His views of the love affair, their alleged engagement, the role played by his friend Mohamed Al-Fayed, and his close relationship with Henri Paul, the driver on that fateful night, will surprise many people.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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 our first birthday!

And to help us celebrate we’re talking to the Daily Mail’s legendary royal correspondent and author, Richard Kay.

No journalist ever got closer to Diana, Princess of Wales, and in the final years of her life they spoke many times a day. At that time, and in the years since, Richard has broken dozens of royal stories and knows more about the goings-on behind closed palace doors than any writer alive. But he’s also won the confidence of many royal people - especially Diana - by NOT always printing what he knows.

In this fascinating conversation with Andrew and Phil (Phil and Richard worked together once), he speaks frankly about his near 40 year career and reveals some of the secrets of his own trade.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube.

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

In another ‘double-bill’ episode we first hear back from former Chief Royal Protection Officer Dai Davies. He has a few things to say about the episode we made recently on the alleged assassination of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Then we speak to the author Adam Sisman, who has recently published a ‘warts and all’ biography of acclaimed British spy writer John Le Carre. In a life and career characterised by what Le Carre himself called ‘the profession of lying’, Andy discovers that deception and betrayal was a central part of his private life, and perhaps even an essential fuel for his writing.

Exposing numerous affairs and seductions - and their consequences for those around Le Carre - Adam offers a unique insight into a much loved writer, and lifts the lid on the complex relationship between biographer and subject.

You can buy Adam’s books - and thousands more - at our own bookstore. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-secret-life-of-john-le-carre-adam-sisman/7414638?aid=12054&ean=9781800817784

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on Youtube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Few royal writers merit the description ‘insider’ as much as much as the super well connected Lady Colin Campbell.

Moving through aristocratic and upper-class circles, she has been attuned to whispers of scandal for decades. One of the first writers - perhaps THE first - to reveal the true state of the Charles-Diana marriage, she has gone on to write numerous outspoken, controversial but also wildly entertaining books.

And she’s at her indiscreet best with Andrew and Phil.

This episode also contains a new element of the Scandal Mongers format - an interview with a listener. Royal expert Julie Koenig joins us from Ohio to discuss the stories that fascinate her.

Lady Colin Campbell’s books can be bought at the Scandal Mongers Bookshop - along with thousands more. All profits are shared between independent booksellers and podcasters.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-queen-s-marriage-lady-colin-campbell/2209252?aid=12054&ean=9781527209848

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available on YouTube

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Ever since Dodi Al Fayed’s father, Mohamed, claimed that his son and Diana, Princess of Wales, were killed on the orders of ‘the royal family’, the events of 31st August 1997 have been meticulously analysed and debated.

Nobody spent more time on that than Australian writer John Morgan, and his startling conclusion was that the crash in Paris' Alma tunnel was no accident, but an assassination. He wrote a series of books, the best known simply called ‘How They Murdered Princess Diana’.

Phil wrote a biography of Diana and - at that time - was happy to accept the ‘drunk driver going too fast’ explanation of the Princess' death. And he goes into this episode at Andrew’s suggestion, feeling intensely sceptical. Does he change his mind?

John Morgan died a few years ago but his friend and collaborator Paul Sparks knows his work inside out, and he joins Andrew and Phil to discuss it.

John’s book can be found here...

https://amzn.eu/d/8HO5MNA

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on Youtube.

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Dai Davies is one of the World's foremost experts in Security and Investigations, a Former Head of Royal Protection and a Chief Superintendent (Divisional Commander) in London’s famous Metropolitan Police.

Dai shares some of the secrets of his shadowy line of work with Andrew and Phil, and gives some forthright opinions about how royal security has changed over the years. He also casts some new light on the famous royal personalities he has worked alongside and come to know - and on the tangled story of Prince Andrew’s controversial ’trade missions’.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

The Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YouTube.

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Few royal biographers have ever had such deep access to their subject as Andrew Morton obtained with Diana, Princess of Wales when preparing his sensational bestseller ‘Diana: Her True Story’. In the years that followed he’s written many other very well-sourced royal books, with a special emphasis on royal women.

In this episode he joins Andrew and Phil to compare and contrast three of the most famous ‘outsiders’ of the last century, and discuss their often challenging relationships with 'Team Windsor'.

You can buy Andrew's books - along with thousand of others - at the Scandal Mongers own bookstore, with all profits shared between independent booksellers and podcasters.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/wallis-in-love-the-untold-true-passion-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-andrew-morton/1325449?aid=12054&ean=9781789293739

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Gerald Posner is one of the most successful investigative writers in the world. He joins Andrew and Phil to discuss his personal history and beliefs and discusses bestselling books on subjects as varied as the assassination of President Kennedy (he wrote the definitive anti-conspiracy theory account, ‘Case Closed’) and the evil experiments of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

Our focus is the dark history of the Vatican bank, the subject of his bestseller ‘God’s Bankers: a history of money and power at the Vatican’. From the Bank’s WW2-era origins to the still-unresolved death of Roberto Calvi, found hanging under London’s Blackfriars Bridge, this is a fascinating tale of intrigue, murder and corruption. 

You can buy all of Geralds book - and many thousand more - in our own online bookshop where profits are shared between independent booksellers and podcasters.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/god-s-bankers-a-history-of-money-and-power-at-the-vatican-gerald-posner/3501574?aid=12054&ean=9781416576594

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Forever remembered as the smart and stylish First Lady to President John F Kennedy, whose shocking death in Dallas she witnessed first hand, Jackie Kennedy is an enduring icon of the 20th Century. But much about her turbulent life in the public gaze - before, during and after her marriage to Kennedy - has remained a closely guarded secret.

One of the world’s most successful biographers, J Randy Taraborrelli, has been working on a book about Jackie for thirty years, conducting hundreds of interviews with her friends, her family and her lovers. His best selling ‘Jackie, Public, Private, Secret' came out earlier this year. Reviewers have queued up to praise its blend of revelation and respect.

J Randy joins Andrew and Phil to share his insights, reveal his methods and deliver a masterclass in the art of the biography.

You can buy the book - along with thousand of others - at the Scandal Mongers own bookstore, with all profits shared between independent booksellers and podcasters.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/jackie-public-private-secret-j-randy-taraborrelli/7441358?aid=12054&ean=9781250276216

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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 seems likely that the Presidential election of 2024 will be a re-run of 2020.

Donald Trump faces multiple court cases and could, potentially, run for the most powerful office in the world whilst being a convicted felon.

Joe Biden is facing his own growing scandal, with political and legal investigations into his son Hunter gathering pace amid attempts by the President's opponents to link him to Hunter’s numerous misbehaviours.

How did America end up with such a scandal-rich slate of candidates, and how will their respective troubles affect the upcoming election?

The Times Washington correspondent, Alistair Dawber, studies the ins and outs of American politics for a living whilst striving to keen an objective perspective on both parties. This week he joins Andrew and Phil to deliver his analysis and predictions for the turbulent months ahead.

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

In the days before this episode was recorded Andrew discovered that he has been, and maybe still is, the subject of extensive official data collection, including private information that might one day be used against him. The spooks are probably listening into these podcasts too! He believes this government surveillance is directly connected to his long pursuit of the facts about Lord Mountbatten’s life, and perhaps also his current research into the financial side of Prince Andrew’s life and work.

Many newspapers have reported on what Phil calls #Lowniegate and several highly respected British journalists - like this week's guest Michael Crick - have called for an official inquiry into Andrew’s case.

In this special episode we discuss the many ways that the royal family and British officialdom try to obstruct - and maybe even attack - historians and writers as they dig for uncomfortable truths. Despite numerous Freedom of Information and Data Protections laws, is it harder than ever to get to the truth?

The conversation also includes something touched upon in last week’s episode on the Covid Lab Leak theory. Are reporters today themselves preventing important stories coming out because they become framed not in journalistic terms, but political ones. For example there’s more evidence emerging that leading media and social media groups downplayed the lab leak story because it came to be identified with Donald Trump. 

You can buy Michael’s many books at our online bookstore, including his recent biography of Nigel Farrage.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/one-party-after-another-the-disruptive-life-of-nigel-farage-michael-crick/3378145?aid=12054&ean=9781471192296

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Six girls and one boy, raised in aristocratic luxury in the years before World War Two, became the most famous - and most scandalous - family in Britain. Their lives were captured in a much loved book - The Pursuit of Love - by eldest sister Nancy Mitford, the subject of a recent glossy TV adaptation. 

They first became household names because of their beauty and self confidence, soon followed by a series of lurid stories about their wild lifestyles, marriages and affairs. But what really made them important was their politics.

As more and more nations embraced authoritarian governments and the rule of dictators, the Mitford sisters began to use their energy and fame on behalf of the most famous, and frightening, strong-men of them all. One became obsessed with Hitler and managed to make herself a member of his closest circle. Another renounced the privileges of her upbringing, admired Stalin and risked her life to embrace the communist cause. A third married and worked closely with Britain’s most high profile demagogue: Sir Oswald Mosely, a former socialist who had embraced fascism and anti-semitism and was spoken of as Britain's version of Hitler or Mussolini. 

Laura Thompson, who has previously been on the podcast discussing Lord Lucan, joins us to talk about her widely acclaimed book on the Mitfords and their time (and why they still fascinate us today). 

You can buy it - and thousands more - at the Scandal Mongers’ own bookshop, where all profits are shared between podcasters and independent bookstores. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/take-six-girls-the-lives-of-the-mitford-sisters-laura-thompson/1211074?aid=12054&ean=9781784970895

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

In the early days of the pandemic a lot of attention was paid to the fact that the Chinese city of Wuhan, from which the virus emerged, contained a biological research laboratory that had been experimenting with coronaviruses.

But this was met by political and scientific reassurance that the virus was more likely the result of an evolutionary leap and had spread via a food market. Those who persisted with the laboratory hypothesis were criticised for being anti-Chinese or 'conspiracy theorists' and their views were largely excluded from mainstream media reporting and ‘flagged’ as outliers on social media sites.

The fact that President Trump, who had been pushing strange ‘cures’ for Covid, also entertained the lab-leak theory, made many of his opponents feel it was probably incorrect.

This week’s guest, journalist Matt Ridley wasn’t so sure, and he set about with a co-author, molecular biologist, Alina Chan, to investigate. Their 2021 book ‘Viral' laid out the case for and against the lab leak theory in great detail.

Meanwhile the administration of President Biden started to review the evidence, as a series of scientific and congressional inquiries put ‘lab escape’ back on the mainstream news agenda. Today more and more experts are entertaining it.

So what’s the real evidence - and could it be that political bias may have stopped us looking dispassionately at the cause of greatest public health emergency of the century?

You can buy Matt Ridley’s book - and thousands more - from the Scandal Mongers own online bookstore - part of a profit-sharing collaboration between podcasters and independent book stories.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/viral-the-search-for-the-origin-of-covid-19-alina-chan/6158390?aid=12054&ean=9780008487492

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

You can also get in touch with the shows hosts via...

team@podcastworld.org

(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.

The Duke and Duchess of York have been in the public eye for decades. Once widely admired for their freshness and sense of fun (and his record in the Falklands War) their lives became tangled in a series of scandals, both financial and sexual. Today he lives in a form of internal exile, banished from royal duties after settling a court case with Virginia Giuffrie, who alleged she was trafficked to have sex with him. Meanwhile ‘Fergie’, tho divorced from the Prince, remains one of his closest fiends.

Andrew is working on a new joint biography and in this episode he offers a sneak peek into some of the remarkable and controversial things he has been finding out.

From toe-sucking to influence peddling, dodgy arms deals to suspicious house sales... and, of course, Jeffrey Epstein...this is the essential primer on Britain’s most scandalous royal couple. 

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

The Times royal correspondent returns to the podcast for a second interview. This time we’re highlighting the new work he has done for the latest edition of his widely acclaimed book COURTIERS, which first lifted the lid on simmering tensions behind palace walls and gave a voice to staff members who claimed to have been bullied and belittled by the Duchess of Sussex.

What’s the real divide that drives the current feud in the House of Windsor? Could it be a deep personality clash between Kate, now Princess of Wales, and Meghan?

'Recollections may vary', as the late Queen Elizabeth said of the Sussexes Oprah Winfrey interview!

You can now buy Valentine’s book in the Scandal Mongers own online book store, which shares profits between independent bookshops and other podcasters.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/courtiers-valentine-low/6755938?aid=12054&ean=9781472290908

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

A once popular British Prime Minister brought down by scandals, after a career in politics with more than its fair share of controversy.

Is it too soon to write Boris Johnson off? What can we learn from his turbulent career? And what will his long term legacy be for British politics and the wider world?

Our guest Tom McTague is one of the most respected political writers in Britain and he has spent a lot of time closely observing Boris Johnson, while working for The Atlantic Monthly and as editor of UNHERD.COM

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

After winning the Victoria Cross and numerous other medals, Australian SAS veteran Ben Roberts Smith became a national hero. But then allegations started to circulate - of bullying within his unit and, more seriously, of prisoners mistreated and executed in Afghanistan. 

Chris Masters, one of Australia’s best known journalists, had been trusted by the military to write a book about the war in Afghanistan. He then became interested in the story of Ben Roberts Smith.

The result would be that Chris, along with a handful of other reporters, was taken to court for defamation in one of Australia’s longest and most bitter legal dramas. In June 2023 the Judge ruled in favour of Chris, tho an appeal maybe pending.

In this episode Chris tells the story from his perspective, and explains that applying the laws of warfare is difficult in extreme circumstances but that it essential that a honourable military system should always try to do it. 

You can buy Chris’ upcoming book on the case - and thousands of others - in our own online bookstore. All profits are shared between podcasters and independent booksellers. 

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalmongers

For more on Chris:

 https://halloffame.melbournepressclub.com/article/chris-masters

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Andrew and Phil discuss the remarkable - and remarkably shocking - story of the East India Company. How did a handful of men in a small office in London come to rule India, transforming the histories of both nations?

William Dalrymple, author of the much acclaimed book 'The Anarchy’ joins them to tell a hair raising story of plunder, conquest, scandal and death.

You can buy’s The Anarchy - and thousands of other books - in our new Scandal Mongers online bookstore. All profits shared between independent booksellers and podcasters like us.

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalmongers

Williiam Dalrymple.

@DalrympleWill

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

The global financial system almost collapsed in 2008. Afterwards there was understandable anger at the behaviour of major private and national banks. A series of investigations resulted in many traders going to prison as a result of the alleged manipulation of the key interbank LIBOR rate.

But were the right people punished? Award winning reporter Andy Verity thinks not and in his book RIGGED he makes a powerful case that ‘fall guys’ were set up and persecuted for crimes they never even committed - in fact for crimes that didn’t even exist. And that some of the people prosecuted were the whistle blowers who had first tried to alert the outside world to what was happening to the LIBOR rate.

Meanwhile - he alleges - much more senior figures in banking and politics who gave instructions to ‘rig’ the system and help drive the global economy to the brink have never been held to account.

You can buy’s Andy’s book - and thousands of others - in our new Scandal Mongers online bookstore. All profits shared between independent booksellers and podcasters like us.

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scandalmongers

Andrew Lownie

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

In our first episode Andrew raised shocking sexual abuse allegations about Lord Louis Mountbattten - one of the most famous and most powerful royal celebrities of all time. This week Andrew and Phil reveal new evidence from named witnesses about Mountbatten. They also explore the famously ‘open marriage’ he enjoyed with his wife Edwina.

Shining a light on the sexual politics (and many hypocrisies) of that age, they ask if the Mountbatten’s notorious bed hopping may have played a role in huge events of state such as the partition of India.

You can buy Andrew’s bestselling book on the Mountbattens - and thousands of others - in our Scandal Mongers bookshop and help support us and a range of small, independent, profit-sharing booksellers in the UK...

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-mountbattens-their-lives-loves-the-sunday-times-bestseller-andrew-lownie/1587301

Andrew Lownie

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

From nowhere East Germany came to dominate international swimming and athletics in the 1970s and 80s - an astonishing sequence of sporting success based upon a secret state-run doping programme that involved the notorious STASI secret police and the most senior political leaders. Many of the East German sporting starts of that time suffered sever health consequences, especially the young female athlete given huge - in fact experimental - doses of steroids and male sex hormones to boost their physical performances.

Despite this some remain intensily proud of what they achieved; one of many paradoxes explored in Katja Hoyer’s fascinating new book about East Germany, the country of her birth. Hoyer adds colour and compassion to a story often told in stark black and white terms, revealing lives lived in a lost world that was much more complex than most Westerners every understood.

You can buy her book - and thousands of others - in our Scandal Mongers bookshop and help support us and a range of small, independent, profit-sharing booksellers in the UK.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/beyond-the-wall-east-germany-1949-1990-katja-hoyer/7149638?aid=12054&ean=9780241553787

For those interested, Phil produced a documentary on this subject a few years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR9CUGBVH-Q&t=351s

Andrew Lownie

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Giles Milton is an internationally best selling author and the host of a top ten history podcast looking at the strange disappearance of the famous British naval diver Commander Lionel Crabb, and the subsequent high level cover up, in 1957 at the height of the Cold War...

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cover-up-ministry-of-secrets/id1621750804

Drawing on new information, he discusses with Phil and Andrew the various theories about what happened to Crabb and if the body discovered the following year actually was him, or not!

You can buy’s Giles’ books - and thousands of others - in our new Scandal Mongers online bookstore. All profits shared between independent booksellers and podcasters like us...

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/checkmate-in-berlin-the-first-battle-of-the-cold-war-giles-milton/2776077?aid=12054&ean=9781529393170

Andrew Lownie

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

The Greatest Briton, the saviour of his nation and perhaps of democracy itself, the Lion who roared defiance in the face of a Nazi juggernaut - all these things have been said of Winston Churchill. But throughout his long and turbulent life Churchill was always a deeply controversial and divisive figure - and was involved in scandals aplenty.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft has written a very powerful ‘warts and all’ portrait which tries to balance the good and the bad. Other Churchill biographers, notably Andrew Roberts, have said he goes too far into negativity. But does he? And does it do any harm to point out that a leader who is great at one time may not be great all the time?

You can buy Geoffrey’s book, or the very different Andrew Roberts one - in our own online bookstore. All profits are shared with independent booksellers and podcasters like us (rather than going to Amazon!) In fact you can buy thousands of books there!

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/churchill-s-shadow-an-astonishing-life-and-a-dangerous-legacy-geoffrey-wheatcroft/5832452?aid=12054&ean=9781847925732

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Nick Wallis is a reporter who became part of the story, playing a key role exposing one of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice in recent British history.

Hundreds of innocent small businesspeople were remorselessly persecuted because of a computer fault in a saga that casts an unflattering light on the Post Office, the police, the court system and other key UK institutions.

You can buy Nick’s book here, at our brand new Scandal Mongers bookshop. It’s part of an alliance of independent booksellers that makes commission for us and other podcasts and bookstores rather than Amazon! In fact you can buy tens of thousands of books through this portal, at great prices.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-great-post-office-scandal-the-fight-to-expose-a-multimillion-pound-it-disaster-which-put-innocent-people-in-jail-nick-wallis/7310677?aid=12054&ean=9781739099206

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

With Guest Laura Thomson.

It’s one of British history’s greatest open and shut cases. An angry, controlling man identified (even by himself) at the scene of a savage crime who then disappears, never to be seen again.

But writer Laura Thompson thinks we might be getting this story wrong. In a fascinating conversation with Andrew and Phil she reveals her controversial new theories and argues that the ‘myth’ of Lord Lucan, and the terrible murder he will always be associated with, both merit a thorough rethink.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Different-Class-Murder-Story-Lucan/dp/1788543831

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

Britain will soon witness the crowning of King Charles III, with Queen Camilla by his side. It’s an ending to the story of a 50 year on-off-on-again relationship that few would have predicted amid the scandals of the Charles-Diana marriage, and especially after the publication of the notorious ‘Camillagate’ tape in 1992.

So is Camilla a society intriguer, determined to work her way towards the crown at any cost, or is she a woman driven by duty, devoted to a man who clearly needs her and prepared to wait decades for her chance of happiness?

We’re joined by one of Britain’s top royal reporters, Rob Jobson. Rob knows Camilla well and has insider sources so good that he broke the story of her upcoming marriage to Charles in 2005.

Rob’s new book on King Charles is available in April.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-King-Charles-Monarch-Revealed/dp/1789467047/ref=sr_1_7?qid=1679826002&refinements=p_27%3ARobert+Jobson&s=books&sr=1-7&text=Robert+Jobson

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

The Profumo affair is the scandal that has everything: sex parties in high places, Soviet agents, political resignations, dramatic court cases, drugs, deaths, cover ups and endless tabloid excitement, all at a critical moment in the Cold War and when, in London, the sixties are beginning to swing.

But after so many years how much is here still to learn about the tangled relationships between John Profumo, Christine Keeler, Stephen Ward, Mandy Rice-Davies and Yevgeny Ivanov? And were other very highly placed men protected by an Inquiry so opaque that key documents are still kept under lock and key and will be for many decades to come?

Our guest Stephen Dorril has written The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward: Sex, Scandal and Deadly Secrets in the Profumo Affair (with Anthony Summers), and is author of MI6: Fifty years of Special Operations, which remains the definitive account of the UK’s post-war secret intelligence service.

Purchase Stephen Dorill's book below...

MI6: Fifty Years of Special Operations.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1857027019/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i1

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

The assassination of Senator ‘Bobby' Kennedy - widely tipped to become US President in 1968 - was an event that shook and possibly changed the world.

Sirhan Sirhan was arrested at the scene, just feet away from Kennedy and with a literal smoking gun in his hand. He’s been incarcerated ever since. Case closed? Or is it.

The LAPD and FBI investigations into the killings have long been regarded as sloppy, insufficient and prejudiced against alternative explanations, even to the point of ignoring or intimidating some key witnesses. Author and filmmaker Tim Tate has spent many years working on the case and has unearthed powerful evidence that Sirhan was not acting alone, could not have fired the fatal shots - and may even have been part of a wider plot that feels like something a Hollywood screenwriter would dream up.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Assassination-Robert-Kennedy-Conspiracy-Investigation/dp/1839012730

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org (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.

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...

team@podcastworld.org (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.

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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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...

team@podcastworld.org (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.

In the second part of our royal special, Andrew and Phil and joined by a very special guest: Patrick Jephson. Patrick was Diana’s only ever Private Secretary, effectively her Chief of Staff and lead advisor. He has been widely credited with helping shape the must successful years of her public life. His deep contacts to multiple members of the royal family and court make him one of the best informed royal commentators in the world. 

And, as we discover, he doesn’t think the 'Diana Wars' are anything like over!

Patrick Jephson...

https://knightayton.co.uk/male-presenters/patrick-jephson

https://pagesix.com/2022/11/15/king-charles-staff-fed-mental-health-lies-about-diana/

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

team@podcastworld.org

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network

Filmed in Kentish Town, London.

Production by Theo X, Kerem Isik, and David Kurzer 

Available on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud + more.

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

King Charles is on the throne with Camilla by his side, and The Crown has returned to Netflix amid a storm of controversy about dramatising recent history. 

Phil knows more than most about Diana’s life and marriage. Having run a large TV production team that produced an unusually well-sourced biography of the Princess, widely praised for its intelligence and objectivity, he’s spent over two decades learning about this subject, and de-constructing the real story of briefing and counter briefing that lies behind much of what we think we know about her and her life. 

Andrew, who is no slouch when it comes to royal scandals and the dark arts of royal biography, interrogates Phil and puts his theories to the test.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Diana-Story-Princess-Tim-Clayton/dp/0743422066

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

team@podcastworld.org

(Place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)

This show is Part of the PodcastWorld.org network

Filmed in Kentish Town, London.

Production by Theo X, Kerem Isik, and David Kurzer 

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

In today’s episode Andrew and Phil explore some truly shocking allegations about one of the most celebrated figures of the 20th Century, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and reveal new evidence and insights into what could be one of the greatest scandals in the history of the British royal family.

Andrew’s book on Mountbatten and his wife Edwina created a sensation when it was published in 2019. Packed with new accounts of the highs and lows of a remarkable life it included the many rumours and allegations that had long circulated about the famous Lord, and critically it also included named witnesses testifying that they had been abused by him.

The book - along with Andrew’s campaign to gain full access to the papers of the Mountbatten family - propelled the story onto the front pages of the British press for the first time.

Much of Andrew’s work involves a long-running British abuse scandal, the Kincora Boy’s Home affair. Having made a groundbreaking TV investigation of this story in the 1990s, breaking Britain’s Official Secret’s Act on behalf of the BBC, Phil brings a unique perspective of his own to this dark but fascinating subject.

Andrew Lownie Mountbatten Book review...

www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/arti…ountbatten.html

Andrew Lownie.

twitter.com/andrewlownie

Phil Craig.

twitter.com/philmcraig

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

team@podcastworld.org

(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, ITunes, Stitcher, Spotify and Soundcloud.

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

Every week bestselling author Andrew Lownie joins his life-long friend, the filmmaker and writer Phil Craig, to reveal the world’s greatest scandals.THE HOSTS...Andrew Lownie.Andrew read history at Cambridge before taking his doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and President of the Biographers’ Club, his royal books include The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves and Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke of Windsor.https://twitter.com/andrewlowniePhil Craig.Cambridge history graduate Phil Craig is an award winning filmmaker and the bestselling author of five non fiction books. As a senior producer on BBC Panorama, an executive producer of acclaimed international history documentaries and a network executive for Discovery Channel and ABC Australia, he’s told some of the biggest stories of our age. He is currently working on the final volume of his WW2 trilogy Finest Hour.https://twitter.com/philmcraigYou can now get in touch with the show...team@podcastworld.org(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, ITunes, Stitcher, Spotify and Soundcloud.

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