'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 V...
Mar 13, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 61
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 P...
Mar 10, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 60
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 biograph...
Mar 06, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 59
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 biograph...
Mar 03, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 58
(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 gl...
Feb 29, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 57
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 langua...
Feb 26, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 56
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, charmi...
Feb 19, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 55
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 e...
Feb 13, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 54
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...
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 53
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 ...
Jan 29, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 52
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 ...
Jan 23, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 51
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 ...
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 50
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...
Jan 08, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 49
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 tra...
Jan 01, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 48
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 li...
Dec 25, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 47
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 ...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 46
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 o...
Dec 11, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 45
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 s...
Dec 05, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 44
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...
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 43
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 allegatio...
Nov 27, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 42
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...
Nov 13, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 40
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 be...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 39
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 cont...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 38
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 ...
Oct 23, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 37
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 ...
Oct 16, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 36
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 W...
Oct 11, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 35
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...
Aug 28, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 34
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 intervi...
Aug 21, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 33
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 candidate...
Aug 14, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 32
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 wo...
Aug 07, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 31
