EPISODE 6.13: DR DAVID KELLY
In 2003 Dr David Kelly was at the very pinnacle of his career. A brilliant scientist and world-renowned inspector of biological weapons sites, he had worked everywhere from Britain’s top secret military labs at Porton Down, to ex-Soviet weapons facilities, to alleged WMD caches in war-torn Iraq. But when he questioned an aspect of the UK government’s justification for going to war - the “forty-five minute claim” - he found himself in a new type of conflict zone. And a deadly one, at that. For, just one day after ebulliently giving evidence to a parliamentary committee, in which he had reiterated his disapproval of the controversial claim, Dr David Kelly lay dead.
This is the first installment of a three part investigation.
EPISODE 6.12: WILLIE MCRAE
In the second and concluding part of our look at the life and death of Scottish campaigner Willie McRae, we consider why the authorities failed to fully investigate his death, and we discover that he might have been in possession of some very dangerous information at the time.
EPISODE 6.11: WILLIE MCRAE
A thorn in the side of the British establishment, Scottish lawyer and political heavyweight Willie McRae met his doom on a windswept hillside in the remote Highlands. An anti-nuclear activist and leading supporter of Scotland’s independence from the UK, McRae made enemies over the years. But did anyone have motive enough to kill him? We look at the last hours of his life, the unusual aspects of the scene where he was found, and the baffling official investigation that followed. This is the first installment of a two-part investigation.
EPISODE 6.10: FRED HAMPTON
By the end of the 1960s, the Black Panther Party had been almost completely infiltrated and taken over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The target of J Edgar Hoover’s illegal COINTELPRO operations, leading Panthers had been killed or imprisoned, while paid agents controlled by FBI field offices ran much of the party’s activities and inner workings. Fred Hampton was, perhaps, the last leading figure within the party who stood in the way of its complete political decapitation. Just as it seemed certain that he would assume the national leadership of the Panthers, Hampton was shot and killed during an early morning raid on his Chicago apartment. Though this was initially ruled to have been a justified action by the raiding party of police officers and FBI agents, subsequent information and a prolonged legal battle indicated that this might have been a deliberate assassination.
EPISODE 6.9: MICHAEL CONNELL
Michael Connell was at the cutting edge of a new electronic frontier in US politics. In the 1990s, he developed media strategies and computing infrastructure for numerous Republican political campaigns. When George W Bush won the White House in 2000, Connell’s star continued to rise. But with the higher profile came higher stakes - and political controversies. By 2008, he was caught up in a lawsuit claiming that his websites had been used for electoral fraud. Under the legal microscope, Connell died on December 19th, 2008 when his single engine aircraft crashed en route from Washington, DC to Akron, Ohio. The Internet went wild with dark rumors that his death had been no accident.
EPISODE 6.8: HOUR OF THE ASSASSIN
Host Niall is joined by best-selling author Matthew Quirk, who discusses his latest book, Hour of the Assassin. A thriller set in Washington, DC, the novel leads us into a hidden political realm where a powerful figure in the shadows uses dark money, blackmail, and murder to achieve his ambitions.
Matthew is a former writer for the Atlantic magazine, and the author of six books. He spoke with Niall in early-May, 2020.
EPISODE 6.7: OLOF PALME
Olof Palme wished to live an ordinary life. He hated having security guards around him; instead, he wanted - demanded - as much freedom as possible for himself and his family. Problem was, being the Prime Minister of Sweden is no ordinary job, and Palme was no ordinary man. A titan of Swedish politics, he was also a significant player on the world diplomatic stage. This Social Democratic politician made enemies of far-right extremists, apartheid operatives, and a number of wealthy and powerful people. He was, in short, a man with a target on his back. Unguarded, walking home from an evening at the cinema with his wife, Palme was struck down by an assassin’s bullet on February 28, 1986. Thus began a massive manhunt - a search for the killer, or killers, that remains unsolved to this day.
EPISODE 6.6: INTERVIEW: ANDY THOMAS
An interview with Andy Thomas, the author of a book called Conspiracies: The Facts. The Theories. The Evidence. Andy is a historian, folklorist, and explorer of unexplained mysteries. His new book focuses on some of the most popular conspiracies of our times, including theories over assassinations, UFO cover-ups, the “New World Order”, and the Moon Landings. He also considers conspiracies surrounding cases such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the alleged assassination of British scientist and whistleblower Dr. David Kelly (which we’ll look at later this season).
EPISODE 6.5: ROBERT MAXWELL PART 2
No sooner had the news of Robert Maxwell’s death broken than the rumor mill started to churn. Had he committed suicide or had he been murdered? Or maybe it was a heart attack or just a simple accident? Maxwell certainly had enormous pressures upon him, with his business empire on the brink of collapse and the possibility of criminal charges looming on the horizon. But he also possessed information from a lifetime of covert activities - intelligence that was of great value - secrets sensitive enough to kill for.
EPISODE 6.4: ROBERT MAXWELL PART 1
In 1991, Robert Maxwell met his demise. After a lifetime of ruthlessly pursuing his ambitions and satiating his appetites, usually at the expense of those around him, one of Britain’s most colorful characters fell from his yacht and drowned. Or did he? Could it be that “Cap’n Bob” was murdered by those who wanted his secrets to sink to the bottom of the Atlantic with him?
EPISODE 6.3: JIMMY HOFFA
In the militant struggles of the 1930s, James Riddle Hoffa gained a reputation as a fighter for union rights, rising through the ranks to become leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. From the moment he assumed office, Hoffa was the subject of investigations into rampant corruption and Mafia connections in the union. Sent to prison, he was released early on the proviso that he not seek to take “his” union back. He defied that edict, in the process angering powerful forces who wanted him to disappear.
EPISODE 6.2: ROBERT F KENNEDY PART 2
We conclude our look at the murder of Robert Francis Kennedy, considering the police response to the statements of two eye witnesses concerning the “girl in the polkadot dress” - the person seen with Sirhan Sirhan at the scene of the crime, who was then observed running away boasting of her involvement in the killing. We also encounter serious irregularities with the ballistic evidence presented at Sirhan’s trial. And we meet the man who might have been the real assassin.
EPISODE 6.1: ROBERT F KENNEDY PART 1
Senator Robert Francis Kennedy was killed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968, as he was campaigning to be become the Democratic Party presidential nominee. While someone was caught red handed and convicted of the murder, there are several aspects of the case that didn’t quite add up - not least the mysterious girl in the polkadot dress. Part 1 of 2.
Season 6 commences on March 16th. For the next few months we will explore stories of people whose deaths remain shrouded in mystery: murders unsolved, disappearances unexplained, and official verdicts cast into serious doubt. We begin our season with the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy, who was shot to death in California during his run for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.
Episode 5.10: Harvey Milk Part 2
We witness Milk’s relentless campaigning for political office, which finally saw him elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. His tireless efforts were often opposed by the Democratic Party establishment, including other prominent gay activists. But Milk found allies in two quite different men: Jim Jones, self-proclaimed Messiah of the People’s Temple church, and Dan White, the man who would become his assassin. This is the concluding part of our investigation into this case, and the final episode of this season of the show.
Episode 5.9: Harvey Milk Part 1
There were many versions of Harvey Milk. The teacher, the salesman, the Wall Street broker, and the hippie dropout. He was a Republican, a Democrat, a conservative ideologue, and a progressive liberal. He eschewed involvement in the gay liberation movement right up until he became its most famous face. And, following his assassination, he became a martyr for LGBT rights, even though his killer was not seemingly motivated by anti-gay hatred. This is the first of a two-part look at the twists and turns of Milk’s life and the tragedy of his death.
Episode 5.8: Steve Biko
Bantu Stephen Biko’s murder at the hands of police officers in 1977 produced an outpouring of grief and anger across South Africa. It was the latest atrocity committed by a regime that had already shown its ugly face during the Soweto Uprising the year before. The leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, in death, Biko became one of the most cherished political martyrs of the struggle to end apartheid.
Episode 5.7: Mahatma Gandhi
In the concluding part of our investigation, we witness Gandhi leading India to independence, a long struggle that was met with British brutality, ending in the communal violence that accompanied partition. Tragically, Gandhi would not live for very long in the land he had spent so many years fighting to free.
Episode 5.6: Mahatma Gandhi
The son of a local administrator in British-ruled India, Mohandas Gandhi’s political evolution took him from loyal subject of the Crown to leader of a mass civil disobedience movement that brought an end to the British Raj. This is the first episode of a two-part look at one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century.
Episode 5.5: Emiliano Zapata
From the rural backwater of Morelos State, Emiliano Zapata rose to national prominence during the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910. The leader of an army of poor peasants, he waged a struggle for land reform and democratic rights for the common people, who faced harassment and exploitation by the landed elite with their ever-expanding haciendas. Though he battled his way to the presidential palace in Mexico City, he faced his demise back in Morelos, where he strove to put into action the reforms for which he had fought.
