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 th...
Jul 31, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 30
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' ...
Jul 24, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 29
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 fie...
Jul 16, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 28
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, no...
Jul 10, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 27
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 edito...
Jul 03, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 26
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,...
Jun 29, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 25
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 inde...
Jun 19, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 24
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 committe...
Jun 12, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 23
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 eve...
Jun 05, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 22
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 phy...
May 15, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 21
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 foll...
May 03, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 20
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 ...
Apr 24, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 19
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 bo...
Apr 17, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 18
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 thor...
Apr 03, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 17
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 prepare...
Mar 27, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 16
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 h...
Mar 21, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 15
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...
Mar 13, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 14
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 - unearthin...
Feb 20, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 13
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/oldfat...
Feb 13, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 12
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 th...
Feb 08, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 11
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 mistreat...
Jan 30, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 10
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...
Jan 23, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 9
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 tru...
Jan 11, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 8
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 ...
Dec 19, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 7
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 a...
Dec 12, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 6
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 ...
Dec 05, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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 bio...
Nov 28, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 4
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 anyth...
Nov 21, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 3
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 th...
Nov 14, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 2
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 allegatio...
Nov 08, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 1
