Life on a Polaris Nuclear Missile Submarine

As a restless and adventurous 18-year-old, Richard Humphreys joined the submarine service in 1985 and went on to serve aboard the nuclear deterrent for five years at the end of the Cold War. Buy the book here and support the podcast. Now before we start his story as I’d like to tell you about some … Read more

A Cold War UK/GDR Romance

    In 1986 GDR student Antje met a British guy who was installing sewing machines in of the hosiery companies in East Germany. Unusually he was given quite a bit of freedom to socialise locally and he eventually asked Antje to marry him. However, with her prospective husband being a citizen of the capitalist … Read more

Eyewitness to the 1991 Soviet Coup

As a 24 year old Kieran Williams was in Moscow staying with Soviet friends when the 1991 Moscow Coup occurred. He is a Professor at Drake University in the United States and previously he taught for nine years at University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies, where he was an associate professor … Read more

Bridget Kendall – Cold War BBC Moscow Correspondent 1989 – 1995

  Today we have James taking the helm again with a fascinating chat with Bridget Kendall, the BBC’s Moscow correspondent from 1989 to 1995 when she was witness to the power struggles in the Soviet Communist party as Mikhail Gorbachev tried to introduce reform. However…before we start I have to thank our fans who are … Read more

Breaking the news of the 1991 Soviet Coup

We speak today with Alistair Coleman who joined BBC Monitoring as a technician in 1989, just in time for the Berlin Wall. He was on a console night shift at Caversham, on the night of the coup against Soviet Leader Gorbachev in 1991 and describes that night as the highlight of his career at the … Read more

A visit to Cold War base RAF Burtonwood

I’m here today at the RAF Burtonwood Heritage Centre, near Warrington in the UK. Based on what was once the largest and longest-running military airbase in Britain. The Heritage Centre was established to preserve and uphold the history of the men, women and activities that occurred here. Now many of our fans are the proud … Read more

Stasi Infiltration of the Prenzlauer Berg Underground Literary Scene

  In this episode we speak with Professor Alison Lewis is Professor of German in the School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne, Australia. She is the a co-author of Cold War Spy Stories from Eastern Europe which is published in August 2019. Now several of our fans are the proud owners of … Read more

Cold War alternate history – Liberation Square

  Gareth Rubin is an author and journalist and today we’re talking to him about his latest novel, Liberation Square set in a Soviet occupied UK in the 1950s. Buy the book on this link and support the podcast Thanks to  our select band of supporters who are helping us financially for the price of … Read more

A tour of Cold War F-111 base RAF Upper Heyford

In this episode we visit RAF Upper Heyford for a photography tour for Cold War enthusiasts … The episode is in three parts, the first is some audio from the tour, followed by an interview with Ric Batson a former member of the USAF 20th Security Police Squadron and tour guide as well as an … Read more

Disarming Doomsday – the human impact of nuclear weapons since Hiroshima

In this episode, we speak with Dr Becky-Alexis Martin, an award-winning pacifist scholar,  lecturer in Cultural and Political Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University,  and photographer. Her first book, “Disarming Doomsday”, critically considers the social, cultural, ​and spatial inequalities and harms perpetuated by nuclear warfare, and was the recipient of the 2020 L.H.M. Ling Outstanding First … Read more