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Gordon Smart on Murdoch’s private jet, the Bizarre column, and the career he walked away from at the top. Episode Overview Gordon Smart was Scottish Sun editor at 32 and deputy editor of The Sun at 35. The morning after Hibs won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 114 years, Rupert Murdoch called him personally. The picture turned out to be Murdoch kissing Jerry Hall. Smart had to decide on the headline. He left not long after, walking away from the editorship that had been the plan. What followed was Radio X, Good Morning Britain, 5 Live, a ghostwritten Vinnie Jones autobiography, and a whisky brand that Diageo bought. In this conversation he explains what it was like to drive Murdoch through Aberdeenshire being interrogated about fishing and satellite dishes, how the Bizarre column worked, and what The Sun understood about language that social media is still catching up with. The Murdoch section is the best account of what it was like inside News International at the top. The Sean Hoare story is the funniest thing this show has aired. Chapters (00:00) Cold open: Tia Maria at 9am, editing The Sun at 35, the brave pill (01:00) Intro: Scottish Sun editor at 32, Radio X, whisky, the career he walked away from (02:00) Tell me a story: Hibs, Twickenham, Murdoch kissing Jerry Hall (04:00) A riot on the pitch and his son asking about the horses (05:00) How often did Murdoch call? (06:00) Driving Murdoch through Aberdeenshire: fishing, satellite dishes, the Tory question (07:00) Tweets longhand in pencil, Brexit to a decimal point (08:00) What made Murdoch impressive (09:00) The sticker in a Canadian cable car (10:00) Gotcha and Premature Jockey Elation (12:00) How he became a journalist: Kinross, teachers, a dad who read to him (15:00) The first story he broke: was his art teacher a pop star? (17:00) Covering Hibs and Celtic and not realising it was a real job (18:00) Here’s a job, start Monday (19:00) Fleet Street day one: Tia Maria, the Rose Pub, a silk leopard-skin kimono (22:00) Sean Hoare’s plastic box: live in the office to outlast David Blaine (25:00) The Bizarre column: how it actually worked (26:00) Spice Girls reunion tour: Toronto, Vancouver, Las Vegas (28:00) Being called the bad guy by the people who briefed him everything (30:00) Writing in his voice: the team who had to be Gordon Smart (34:00) Leaving The Sun: the brave pill and the biggest career disappointment (35:00) “We are like shit Gallaghers” (36:00) Making Copper Dog famous: Jimmy Iovine and New York firefighters (46:00) From a really good living to figuring out what comes next (48:00) What brought clarity about the life he actually wanted (49:00) The seagull squawking competition (52:00) Finding peace and what comes next About the Guest Gordon Smart was editor of the Scottish Sun at 32 and deputy editor of The Sun at 35. He has since presented on Radio X, Good Morning Britain, and BBC Radio 5 Live, co-hosted Restless Natives with Martin Compston, ghostwritten for Vinnie Jones and Freddie Flintoff, and co-founded Copper Dog whisky, acquired by Diageo. Listen Elsewhere APPLE : ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413⁠YOUTUBE: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcast⁠ LINKTREE: ⁠https://linktr.ee/storycopod⁠ Credits StoryCo is a TellTale Industries production. Host: James Kirkham. Guest: Gordon Smart. Producer: Nelly Batt.Editor: Nelly Batt. Executive Producer: Jago Lee. Recorded at TYX Studios, King’s Cross. Theme: Doubt Point. Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.

Kate Cherrell on Victorian séances, TikTok mediums, and why the dead never really go away. Episode OverviewIn 1871, a woman called Mrs. Guppy was airlifted three miles across London by spirits and deposited, unconscious, onto a séance table. People at both ends confirmed she was there one minute, gone the next. Kate Cherrell tells this story in the first two minutes. It sets the tone exactly right. Cherrell has a doctorate in Victorian Gothic and has spent nine years writing about graves, mourning, and séances. She believes spiritualism booms whenever the world is in upheaval, and she has spent decades trying to explain away the man in a blue suit she saw walking through a house in Grimsby, and failing. In this conversation she explains how Helen Duncan was tried under an 18th-century Witchcraft Act for revealing a state secret during the Second World War, why mediumship was one of the only routes to female autonomy in the 19th century, what cold reading looks like up close, and why someone she knows lost a life-changing amount of money to a TikTok medium. The Mrs. Guppy opening is delightful. The Grimsby house is unsettling. The TikTok medium section is the most important thing in the episode for anyone with a grieving family member. Chapters(00:00) Cold open: Mrs. Guppy airlifted three miles across London(01:00) Intro: doctorate in Victorian Gothic, nine years of graves and séances(02:00) Tell me a story: the séance room, the bang, Mrs. Guppy on the table(04:00) The Fox sisters, Hydesville 1848, where spiritualism began(05:00) Mesmerism and the ideas that came before(06:00) Why spiritualism booms in times of upheaval(07:00) The First World War and the dead who needed to come home(09:00) The haunted house in Grimsby: footsteps, slashes of light, The Man(10:00) The man in a blue suit, as real as you or I(11:00) Skeptical believer: trying to explain it away and never managing(12:00) Ghost stories as functional objects(14:00) Victorian memorial culture and the relationship with the dead that didn’t end(15:00) Helen Duncan: state secret, Witchcraft Act, trial of 1944(17:00) Portsmouth, HMS Barham, and the arrest(19:00) What happened to mediums who pushed too far(20:00) Why mediumship gave Victorian women agency society denied them(22:00) The modern revival: witchcraft, TikTok, the same patterns(24:00) Cold reading: how it works(25:00) The TikTok medium and the unimaginable amount of money(27:00) The same exploitation, different platform(29:00) Facebook privacy settings and pre-built readings(31:00) The sensuality of the séance: smell, sound, darkness(35:00) Still visiting mediums(37:00) What protections should exist for spiritualist believers(39:00) The new book: ectoplasm and the sensory history of the séance About the GuestKate Cherrell has a doctorate in Victorian Gothic and has spent nine years researching séances, mourning culture, and mediumship. She has appeared on Weird Britain, BBC Three’s Britain’s Last Witch, Jonathan Ross’ Haunted Homecoming, and The Yorkshire Exorcist. She is currently completing a book on the sensory history of the séance. Listen ElsewhereAPPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcastLINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod CreditsStoryCo is a TellTale Industries production.Host: James Kirkham.Guest: Kate Cherrell.Producer: Nelly Batt.Editor: Nelly Batt.Executive Producer: Jago Lee.Recorded at TYX Studios, King’s Cross.Theme: Doubt Point.Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.

Professor Chris French on ghosts, sleep paralysis, UFOs, and what 35 years of testing the paranormal actually found. Episode Overview Chris French grew up terrified of the dark and believed every second of Uri Geller’s spoon-bending. He is now Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, founder of their Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, and one of Britain’s foremost experts on why people believe in things that aren’t there. He spent 35 years in laboratories and haunted buildings, testing ghost hunters and psychics under controlled conditions. In this conversation he explains sleep paralysis, why ancient Greek ghosts mostly just gossiped, the lucid dreamer study that left him discombobulated for several days, and why UFO congressional hearings produced nothing but hearsay. The sleep paralysis section is the most useful thing this show has aired for anyone who has woken up paralysed and terrified. The house-proud mouse is the best argument for not ruling out the mundane. And the question — why do ghosts have clothes? — punctures more assumptions than any data point in the episode. Chapters (00:00) Cold open: skepticism, subjective validation, lucid dreaming (01:00) Intro: from Uri Geller believer to paranormal debunker (02:00) Tell me a story: the lucid dreamer, precognition, discombobulated days (05:00) Iranian rugby team, backgammon, a drawing of our house (06:00) Why coincidences feel impossible to dismiss (07:00) Subjective validation: the mechanism behind every psychic reading (08:00) Lucid dreaming: a genuine phenomenon explained (09:00) What skepticism actually means (10:00) The case for belief: non-believers are more scared of dying (11:00) James’s family ghost stories: pubs, billiard balls, someone on the bed (12:00) Sleep paralysis: terrifying, and there is an explanation (14:00) The spectrum of ghostly experience (15:00) The house-proud mouse (16:00) How ghost stories improve in the retelling (17:00) Urban legends and the friend of a friend (18:00) UFOs: congressional hearings and nothing but hearsay (21:00) How ghost stories have changed across history (22:00) Ancient Greek ghosts: ephemeral and mostly gossiping (23:00) Why do ghosts have clothes? (24:00) What science is actually doing (25:00) Publication bias and the Bem experiment (27:00) Haunted buildings and infrasound (29:00) The God Helmet and magnetic fields (32:00) Uri Geller and the book that changed everything (34:00) Academia: tolerated but not encouraged (36:00) Pattern recognition, false meaning, conspiracy thinking (43:00) Skeptic in the Pub About the Guest Professor Chris French is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and founder of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit. He has spent 35 years scientifically investigating paranormal claims. He is editor of The Skeptic magazine and author of Anomalistic Psychology: Exploring Paranormal Belief and Experience. http://profchrisfrench.com/ Listen Elsewhere APPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413 YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcast LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod Credits StoryCo is a TellTale Industries production. Host: James Kirkham. Guest: Professor Chris French. Producer: Nelly Batt. Editor: Nelly Batt. Executive Producer: Jago Lee. Recorded at TYX Studios, King’s Cross. Theme: Doubt Point. Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.

David McKelvey on contract killers, corrupt police, and why he believes two men are in prison for murders they did not commit. Episode Overview In 2008, David McKelvey was interviewing an informant at Ilford Police Station when the man began describing a contract on three people. McKelvey was one of them. A known contract killer was parked outside with a machine gun at that moment. When he reported it, his own force investigated him instead. He was cleared, the Met apologized in writing, and he used the compensation to start two businesses. He now runs TMI, Britain’s leading private prosecution firm, and My Local Bobby, which operates across 47 central London beats. He also believes Michael Steele and Jack Whomes did not commit the Rettendon murders. He spent five years investigating it, found two significant witnesses, and sent the material to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. They won’t speak to him. This is a conversation about what happens when the institution you served turns against you. The opening story is one of the best this show has had. The Rettendon section is genuinely unsettling. And the 94% drop in pickpocketing in three months on his Leicester Square beat is the most concrete proof of concept in any episode this series. Chapters (00:00) Cold open: contract killer outside the station, machine gun, get Paul off the streets (01:00) Intro: 60 commendations, contract on his life, cleared and compensated (02:00) Tell me a story: the informant, the contract, the call (03:00) How an organized crime gang used Professional Standards against him (04:00) Suicide attempts, apology from the commissioner, years to understand (05:00) The same group, the same tactic, decades of destroying investigating teams (07:00) The police are not going to help you (08:00) Corruption at the highest level (10:00) Why he joined: a nightclub, a beating, a decision the next morning (11:00) Stoke Newington and the minor stuff that matters (12:00) My Local Bobby: 47 beats, Dixon of Dock Green reinvented (13:00) Two minutes to a burglary (14:00) 94% drop in pickpocketing in three months (16:00) Sky documentaries and telling the fuller story (17:00) The Rettendon murders: December 1995 (18:00) Leah Betts and why Rettendon was everywhere (19:00) Darren Nicholls and how McKelvey got skin in the game (20:00) Six and a half years later: certain they’re guilty, then certain they’re not (21:00) 124 undisclosed crates and the corruption inquiries behind the case (22:00) Two witnesses and the door that opened (23:00) The CCRC won’t speak to them (24:00) The establishment will cover things up (25:00) Officers who’ve never rolled around with a drunk (27:00) MOJ admits crime will rise from early releases (29:00) Tech, WhatsApp, and how murder convictions are built now (37:00) Kids on electric bikes and what the data misses “If you actually put it into a film, people would say you’ve made it up. You’ve got to get to the truth. You can’t get to justice unless you uncover the truth.” — David McKelvey About the Guest David McKelvey is a former Detective Chief Inspector in the Metropolitan Police with over 60 commendations. He is founder of TMI, a private prosecution firm, and My Local Bobby, which operates beat policing across 47 locations in central London. He has worked with Sky on documentary investigations into the Rettendon murders and other high-profile cases. Listen Elsewhere APPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413 YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcast LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod Credits StoryCo is a TellTale Industries production. Host: James Kirkham. Guest: David McKelvey. Producer: Nelly Batt. Editor: Nelly Batt. Executive Producer: Jago Lee. Recorded at TYX Studios, King’s Cross. Theme: Doubt Point. Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.

Mobeen Azhar on the BBC's coverage of Palestine, why identity politics gives him the 'ick', and 20 years of stories nobody else would touch. Episode Overview Mobeen Azhar grew up in Huddersfield, the son of a bus driver whose appointment television was Newsnight and The Cook Report. He has spent 20 years at the BBC making documentaries nobody else would commission: Taliban drug raids in Karachi, British ISIS recruits, Johnny Kitagawa’s pop empire, heroin in his own hometown. The last one got him death threats and a BBC studio evacuation at 11pm.He has won a BAFTA, an RTS Award, and a Grierson. In this conversation he says things about the BBC he admits he would not have said 18 months ago: that it bends over backwards for the Daily Mail; that its Palestine coverage has propagated a distorted view of impartiality; and that for the whole of 2024, when a Palestinian appeared on screen, the first question was always the same. He also explains why he sees everything through class rather than identity, and what it means that a documentary he made in Japan changed the country’s laws. Chapters 00:00 Cold open: Taliban alarm system, metal bars on a Karachi rooftop 01:00 Intro: BAFTA, Grierson, 20 years of stories nobody else would touch02:00 Tell me a story: police raid, arrests, the sound that meant run 04:00 Not danger for its own sake: stories that are truly revealing 07:00 Huddersfield, a bus driver father, Newsnight at 10:30, Roger Cook 10:00 Law degree, no direction, and the penny dropping at university 11:00 The school shut down two years after he left: 30 GCSEs in a year group of hundreds12:00 Hometown: heroin, class A importation, death threats 13:00 BBC studio evacuated at 11pm after a threat called in14:00 Pakistani, Muslim, gay, Yorkshireman: identity versus class 15:00 Everything through the lens of class: one group with power, one without 16:00 America, Obama, Trump, and the mask finally slipping17:00 The ICC, Israel, and what America’s anger is really about 18:00 Why identity politics misses the point: inequality over representation 19:00 The BBC: vision and leadership and what the new DG needs to do21:00 The BBC bending over backwards for the Daily Mail and The Telegraph 22:00 Palestine: factual accuracy versus a weird illusion of balance 23:00 20,000 children. Intent and result. And still the BBC hesitates. 24:00 YouTube’s MacTaggart speech: a monopoly, and you might earn some ad money 26:00 GB News algorithms and content that radicalizes researchers27:00 Regulation: Wild West versus public service 30:00 What has gone wrong for young men 32:00 Baroness Kidron and tech legislation in the Lords 34:00 How he finds stories: access, trust, being the person in the room 36:00 Japan: Johnny Kitagawa, the open secret, and laws that changed39:00 Four Emmys and a son who shifted a country’s news cycle 41:00 What drives him: people who would otherwise run the other way About StoryCo StoryCo is a podcast about the business of story and storytelling, hosted by James Kirkham. New episodes every week from TellTale Industries.About the GuestMobeen Azhar is a BAFTA, RTS, and Grierson Award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist at the BBC. His films include Hometown, which investigated heroin importation in Huddersfield, and a documentary on Johnny Kitagawa’s pop empire that prompted changes to Japanese law. He has reported for PBS Frontline and Panorama from conflict zones across Asia. Listen Elsewhere LINKTREE: ⁠https://linktr.ee/storycopod⁠ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcast APPLE : ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413 Credits StoryCo is a TellTale Industries production. Host: James Kirkham. Guest: Mobeen Azhar. Producer: Nelly Batt. Editor: Nelly Batt. Executive Producer: Jago Lee. Recorded at TYX Studios, King’s Cross. Theme: Doubt Point. Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.

Why does "Make America Great Again" beat "Stronger Together"? John Yorke, Mark Borkowski and Misha Glenny on why political slogans work, and why the best ones are really stories. Three StoryCo guests look at political communication through the lens of narrative. They argue that a good slogan tells a complete story in a handful of words, with a clear protagonist, antagonist and goal, and that emotion matters more than argument. The conversation moves from Trump and Starmer to Take Back Control, James Graham's Channel 4 drama Brexit: The Uncivil War, and a film about a referendum campaign in Chile that won by selling hope rather than policy. These are the guests' views. Hear the full StoryCo interviews on the StoryCo feed. Follow the show so you don't miss Season 2, and find us on Instagram: @StoryCoPodcast Chapters:00:00 Are we destined for leaders who are reality TV stars?02:01 What makes a political story work?03:12 Why "Make America Great Again" beats "Stronger Together"05:14 Soundbites for the Reels age05:51 "Take Back Control": a slogan in one scene06:58 Chile's referendum campaign and the power of positivity Host: James KirkhamGuests: John Yorke, Mark Borkowski, Misha GlennyProducer: Nelly BattEditor: Nelly BattExecutive Producer: Jago LeeSpecial thanks: Craig Heptinstall and Jack Freegard

Why can't Britain investigate its own monarchy? Andrew Lownie has spent a decade trying to find out, and what he has uncovered explains why so much stays hidden. Lownie sets out the position of the royal family as he sees it: exempt from freedom of information laws, beyond parliamentary scrutiny, with opaque finances, sealed wills and no register of their business activities. He argues that a culture of deference and secrecy has left the institution exposed to foreign intelligence services and shielded from the questions any other powerful body would face. In this conversation, Lownie explains why he believes the monarchy has lost its moral authority, why the police and the establishment may let the story go quiet, why he does not trust the line that no one is above the law, and how he thinks Parliament and public pressure could close the royal exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act. These are his views and his claims. Hear both of Andrew's full StoryCo interviews on the StoryCo feed. Follow the show so you don't miss Season 2, and find us on Instagram: @StoryCoPodcast Chapters:00:00 Why can't Britain investigate its own monarchy?00:30 Is the monarchy a security vulnerability?01:10 Trust, privilege and lost moral authority02:24 Misconduct in public office: a very high bar03:27 Can the establishment shut the story down?06:02 "No one is above the law": does Lownie believe it?07:46 Why the establishment survives08:40 Can Parliament close the Freedom of Information exemptions?10:10 What can the public actually do? Host: James KirkhamGuest: Andrew LownieProducer: Nelly BattEditor: Nelly BattExecutive Producer: Jago LeeSpecial thanks: Craig Heptinstall and Jack Freegard

Four experts, four different reasons not to panic about AI. Dr Julia Shaw argues that the risks we focus on, like "AI psychosis", are vanishingly rare, and that free access to a listening ear at 3am has probably saved more lives than it's harmed. Psychotherapist Kathleen Saxton agrees AI has a role in mental health, but only as a guide toward proper, qualified human help. Film director Mike Figgis isn't worried about AI's creative output: as far as he's concerned, it's about as clever as Hollywood, which isn't saying much. And media commentator Richard Welsh reframes AI entirely, not as something alien, but as our own collective intelligence, repackaged. From the StoryCo episodes featuring Dr Julia Shaw, Kathleen Saxton, Mike Figgis and Richard Welsh. Watch the full conversations: Dr Julia Shaw: https://youtu.be/HuVb15k9tpksi=wlbEmqjjDMNa9xLS Kathleen Saxton: https://youtu.be/pmzrYdupyLksi=GodGgudSEu4Z7PyK Mike Figgis: https://youtu.be/FAvTSXdwrtg?si=WHYwnYAAHvdlWEoH Richard Welsh: https://youtu.be/uheWVjlrTXk?si=xCyVBVyZRzA77yub More from StoryCo: Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@storycopodcast Instagram: @StoryCoPodcastTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@storycopod Timestamps: 0:00 Dr Julia Shaw: why "AI psychosis" fears are overblown 1:30 Why an AI "therapist" at 3am might save lives 2:30 Kathleen Saxton: AI as a guide to real therapy, not a replacement 4:00 Mike Figgis: why AI still isn't clever enough 5:00 Richard Welsh: AI as our own intelligence, not something alien #StoryCoExplains #ArtificialIntelligence #AI

Every season of this show begins with a simple request: tell me a story. We have gathered five accounts that have stayed with us long after the cameras stopped rolling. From author Will Storr recounting a haunting ancient Bengali tale about a tiger and a hunter, to John Yorke exploring the weight of words in politics and history, this episode examines why narrative craft is the fundamental building block of communication.We also hear from Joey D'Urso on the miracle of last-minute sports drama, Misha Glenny on the chilling reality of a sniper in Sarajevo, and Dr. Julia Shaw on the psychology of a crime that never happened. Whether you are a writer or just someone who loves a good story, these examples show how a well-told story shapes our memory and understanding of reality. Subscribe for weekly storytelling breakdowns, and let us know in the comments which of these five stories resonated with you the most. Listen to the full episodes: Will Storr: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6lWUzsQBk1rubtlXQLevTO?si=7de33637d9a44478John Yorke: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4a7ZXtKXenvaBBThBaYc7u?si=2f125375e085477fJoey D'Urso: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0XQK2lo33KDOcKM7eYcb0S?si=c12fc352d6434c0aMisha Glenny: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5weDaokrh2OMuJ7tB3IGzw?si=366d1e6b7f23410dDr Julia Shaw: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cLLsrlxfceaUEImY9TUUU?si=3e2fb38e58f24215 More from StoryCo:Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@storycopodcastInstagram: @StoryCoPodcastTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@storycopodTimestamps: 0:00 Will Storr: the six-word story 1:50 John Yorke: his father, Belsen, and politicians who use words 7:10 Joey D'Urso: Jimmy Glass and Carlisle United's last-minute miracle 8:20 Misha Glenny: the sniper's bullet in Sarajevo 11:15 Dr Julia Shaw: the crime that never happenedStorytelling is the most powerful tool for human connection. Here are five unforgettable narratives that changed how we see the world.

Ben Lewis and Arthur Brand on the Louvre heist, the art theft epidemic, and why stolen Renoirs end up as drug collateral. Episode Overview In October 2025, thieves arrived at the Louvre on scooters, erected a furniture lift, and were in and out with 88 million euros in Napoleonic crown jewels in four minutes. They dropped the Empress's tiara on the way out. Within 12 hours, another French museum was hit. Ben Lewis, who exposed the Salvator Mundi fraud, returns to investigate the pattern. Joining him is Arthur Brand, who has recovered over 150 stolen works in two decades by operating inside criminal networks — and whose best informants, he reveals, are ex-wives. Together they work through six heists and propose competing theories: Moldovan gangs using Renoirs as drug collateral; mafia bosses stealing nationally important works as sentence-reduction bargaining chips; crime families walking into museums on camera because the gold will be melted before anyone catches them; and the Pink Panthers, 200 former Yugoslavs who smile at CCTV before a heist because they think they are in a movie. Arthur's opening story sets the tone perfectly. The drug collateral theory is the most surprising. The detail about thieves casing museums with stopwatches, counting seconds between the display case and the exit, is the one that stays. Chapters (00:00) Cold open: the Louvre heist and Arthur's craziest case (01:00) Intro: the art historian and the Indiana Jones of the art world (02:00) Tell me a story: Dali on the bus, Oscar Wilde's ring, Nazi general's secret (06:00) How Arthur got the job: one email to the world's biggest art criminal (10:00) The Louvre: furniture lift, axle grinder, four minutes, dropped tiara (12:00) Were they caught and who is Mr Big? (13:00) The copycat effect: 12 hours, another museum, 200 Roman coins (14:00) The golden helmet of Cotofenesti: explosives, Romanian national pride (16:00) São Paulo: a book thief commissioning heists from jail (17:30) Parma: Matisse, Renoir, Cezanne, Moldovan gang (18:00) The Villena treasure and Sicily's Antonello panels (20:00) Theory one: Renoirs as drug deal collateral (21:00) Theory two: nationally important works as mafia bargaining chips (22:00) Italy makes the deal, the Netherlands won't (25:00) Theory three: the insurance ransom (27:00) Inside Arthur's day: informants and ex-wives (29:00) Stolen paintings under babies' beds (31:00) Art theft as geopolitics: destroying national identity in wartime (33:00) Theory four: rising violence and the shoplifting epidemic (35:00) The Pink Panthers: smiling at CCTV, 30 million in diamonds (37:00) Vienna: no masks, taking one for the team (39:00) Cattelan's golden toilet, melted down (42:00) 80% of thieves get caught. Does it matter? (44:00) The upside of art theft: the Mona Lisa and record prices (46:00) The Salvator Mundi: $1,000 to $450 million (47:00) The future: security, innovation cycles, cat and mouse (49:00) How thieves case a museum with a stopwatch (51:00) Why museum directors don't want to think about crime "On Monday, art was invented. On Tuesday, the first art was stolen. On Wednesday, the first art was forged." — Arthur Brand About the Guests Ben Lewis is an investigative journalist, art historian, and author of The Last Leonardo. Arthur Brand is an art crime investigator based in Amsterdam who has recovered over 150 stolen works in two decades, working with police across Europe. Listen Elsewhere APPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413 YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcast LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod Credits StoryCo is a TellTale Industries production. Host: James Kirkham. Guests: Ben Lewis and Arthur Brand. Producer: Nelly Batt. Editor: Nelly Batt. Executive Producer: Jago Lee. Recorded at TYX Studios, King's Cross. Theme: Doubt Point. Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.

Andrew Lownie on Prince Andrew, royal secrets, and why the establishment is harder to crack than ever. Episode OverviewAndrew Lownie came back to StoryCo because listeners asked for him. Since the first episode, the story hasn't stopped moving. Andrew was seen bruised in the back of a car. Harry lost in court. The sovereign grant was tripled with no parliamentary debate. And Lownie is now writing about Prince Philip. In this conversation he goes deeper. Not just the fall of one prince, but the machinery protecting the whole family: civil servants shuffling ministers sideways for asking the right questions, judges who know which way their bread is buttered, files reclassified after being open for 20 years, and a Freedom of Information success rate collapsed from 70% to 10%. He explains the Thursday Club, what the Profumo papers still won't say, and why he is more hopeful than he has any right to be. The archive section is the most forensic this show has had. The civil servant who moved a minister sideways for asking about Andrew is the best account of how the system works. The detail about ministers deliberately misspelling subjects so FOI searches find nothing is the one that stays. Chapters(00:00) Cold open: grant tripled, Andrew bruised, the Queen and Epstein(01:00) Intro: the return guest, the story that hasn't stopped(02:00) Tell me a story: embassies competing not to host Andrew(03:00) Andrew bruised: shady businessmen, naval colleagues, or a horse(04:00) Andrew and Epstein: are we done or is this coming back?(06:00) A royalist radicalized: archives denied, everything changed(07:00) Half a million pounds, 33,000 pages, a remortgaged house(08:00) The establishment as a blob: no names, no numbers(09:00) The sovereign grant tripled with no debate(11:00) The minister who asked about Andrew and was moved sideways(14:00) Andrew as trade envoy: massages lost in accounting(15:00) Philip: the book, the respect, the mistresses(16:00) The Thursday Club and the verboten subjects(17:00) The Queen who paid off Virginia Giuffre(19:00) Substack, podcasts, things being said that weren't before(20:00) Harry in court: no hacking, leaking staff(22:00) Diana: conspiracy questions without clean answers(25:00) The Thursday Club: Soho, a fish restaurant, girls brought to lunch(26:00) The Profumo papers and archives that vanish(27:00) 20 years open, then reclassified(29:00) Judges who know which way their bread is buttered(32:00) Ministers misspelling subjects so FOI searches find nothing(33:00) Citizen journalism and flooding the system with noise(36:00) Farage: ten years, no publisher would touch it(37:00) The holy trinity: Putin, Farage, Trump(40:00) Micro communities and why Lownie's phone is now ringing(43:00) Hubris gets them all(44:00) What story should we be telling about the royals?(46:00) Why Lownie keeps going About the GuestAndrew Lownie is a historian, literary agent, and author of Entitled: The Definitive Biography of Prince Andrew and The Mountbattens. He has spent years fighting for access to public archives, remortgaging his house to fund legal battles for documents the public has a right to see. He is currently writing a biography of Prince Philip. Listen ElsewhereAPPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcastLINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod CreditsStoryCo is a TellTale Industries production.Host: James Kirkham.Guest: Andrew Lownie.Producer: Nelly Batt.Editor: Nelly Batt.Executive Producer: Jago Lee.Recorded at TYX Studios, King's Cross.Theme: Doubt Point.Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.

Clare Rewcastle Brown on the 1MDB scandal, vexatious lawsuits, and why one blog brought down a government. Episode OverviewSome $7 billion was stolen in the 1MDB scandal. It cost $8 billion to cover it up. Clare Rewcastle Brown uncovered it from a spare room, with a blog and a shortwave radio and no newsroom behind her. When the Malaysian government hired a $15 million PR firm to destroy her reputation, she exposed the PR firm and had it shut down. When London's top libel firms sent legal letters, she didn't reply. The prime minister who orchestrated the theft is now in prison. Rewcastle Brown grew up in Borneo, watched the rainforest she remembered become palm oil plantation, and started writing about it. What she found ran through Goldman Sachs, the Wolf of Wall Street, a Kuwaiti emirate, and the global financial system. In this conversation she explains how half a million leaked emails cracked the story, why corruption is almost always in plain sight, how London's libel laws protect the corrupt rather than the journalism that exposes them, and what it means to be called a persistent pest by one of the men she put in jail. The libel system section is the best account of how the law has been weaponised against public interest journalism. And the moment she says she's not interested in the prime minister's prison sentence but in the consequences for the people of Borneo is the one that stays. Link to her most recent book - https://saqibooks.com/books/the-westbourne-press/the-china-contract/?utm_source=storyco&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=storycopodcast Chapters(00:00) Cold open: $7 billion stolen, $8 billion to cover it up(01:00) Intro: blog, shortwave radio, no newsroom, brought down a government(02:00) Tell me a story: the call from Kuwait and the final jigsaw piece(04:00) Borneo childhood: the Amazon of the East and what happened to it(06:00) The greenwash conference in 2006 and the palm oil plantation(07:00) Mafia corruption at the highest levels of the state(08:00) Why a single blog was enough(09:00) The truth has immense power, even in a post-truth era(11:00) The $15 million PR campaign and why she exposed the PR firm instead(13:00) Why mainstream newsrooms couldn't touch the story(15:00) Six libel firms pre-publication(16:00) Anti-SLAPP laws and who the libel system actually protects(19:00) The legal bluff: why she didn't reply(21:00) Najib Razak, Jho Low, and the sidekick everyone knows(22:00) The Wolf of Wall Street, the PM's wife, Jho Low in the launch photos(23:00) Corruption is almost always in plain sight (25:00) Half a million emails and how the story broke(26:00) Not interested in the PM in jail: the consequences for Borneo(28:00) Epstein, 1MDB, and the overlap she kept bumping into(29:00) Persistence pays: a persistent pest(31:00) Sarawak Report and journalists in danger worldwide(34:00) Public interest journalism needs to be protected by law "You can be up against the most powerful people, with enormous support to disguise and push back, but when people read the truth, it resonates." — Clare Rewcastle Brown About the GuestClare Rewcastle Brown is an investigative journalist and founder of Sarawak Report, the blog that exposed the 1MDB scandal. Her reporting contributed to the defeat and imprisonment of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. She has been sued, surveilled, threatened, and convicted in absentia in Malaysia. Her book on the cover-up period of 1MDB is out now. Listen ElsewhereAPPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcastLINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod CreditsStoryCo is a TellTale Industries production.Host: James Kirkham.Guest: Clare Rewcastle Brown.Executive Producer: Jago Lee.Producer: Nelly Batt.Editor: Nelly Batt.Recorded at TYX Studios, King's Cross.Theme: Doubt Point.Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard

Ben Macintyre on Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and the strangest book he has ever written. Episode OverviewIn 1943, British intelligence floated a dead body off the coast of Spain with letters from an officer who had never existed. The Germans believed it. In 1941, a professional safe-cracker parachuted into Britain by the Nazis immediately switched sides. In 1979, a senior KGB officer in Tehran agreed to spy for Britain because he wanted erectile dysfunction medication the West didn't actually have. Ben Macintyre has spent 30 years telling these stories for The Times and in bestselling books that became films, a TV series, and a West End musical. In this conversation he covers the Cambridge spy recruiter who nearly made him an intelligence officer, why he prefers bad men doing good things to heroes, the chain from Ian Fleming's imagination to a real wartime deception to a Broadway singalong, and the new book Redwood, completely unknown until now, about the KGB spy whose private problem changed the shape of the modern Middle East. The Cambridge tap-on-the-shoulder opener is exactly who Macintyre is. The Operation Mincemeat section is the best account of how fiction becomes reality becomes fiction again. And the Redwood reveal at the end is the most genuinely surprising thing this show has aired. Chapters(00:00) Cold open: the tap on the shoulder and the strangest book he has ever written(01:00) Intro: Agent Zigzag, Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends(02:00) Tell me a story: Cambridge, Major Halliday, sandals(04:00) Why the Oxbridge club was a systemic failure for British intelligence(05:00) Oxford historian father and the narrative verve that matters(07:00) Columbia journalism school and the foreign correspondent years(08:00) The gold dust question: what did it smell like?(09:00) Journalism in crisis and why people are starting to pay again(13:00) Paraguay, the lost German tribe, Nietzsche's sister(15:00) Why intelligence history has better sources than any other period(16:00) Agent Zigzag: the four-foot archive and the double defector(19:00) Why secret files are more honest than public ones(21:00) The anti-Bond: bad men, twisted timber, no heroes(24:00) Operation Mincemeat: homeless man, false identity, Spanish spy(26:00) Ian Fleming's idea, Duff Cooper's novel, the Broadway singalong(29:00) Rogue Heroes and letting go of the story(31:00) The Iranian Embassy Siege and the first breaking news(33:00) Why the gunmen weren't Islamic radicals(36:00) Redwood: the new book, completely secret(37:00) A KGB officer, Tehran, and erectile dysfunction(39:00) Vitamin tablets and secret Biro prescriptions(40:00) What Redwood revealed: the Soviet plan to topple the Ayatollah(41:00) The CIA, the Iranians, and the world we still live in(43:00) Rewriting the final chapter after an Israeli airstrike killed the characters About the GuestBen Macintyre is a columnist and associate editor at The Times and the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends, The Spy and the Traitor, and Rogue Heroes. His books have been adapted into films, a BBC drama series, and a West End musical. His new book, Redwood, publishes this year. Listen ElsewhereAPPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcastLINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod CreditsStoryCo is a TellTale Industries production.Host: James Kirkham.Guest: Ben Macintyre.Producer: Jago Lee.Assistant Producer: Nelly Batt.Editor: Nelly Batt.Recorded at TYX Studios, King's Cross.Theme: Doubt Point.Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard, Tyler Newton, Isa Gibson.

Misha Glenny on war zones, McMafia, and why this is the time of monsters. Episode OverviewIn 1994, Misha Glenny drove across Sarajevo Airport under sniper fire. A bullet entered his car, passed through the drive shaft, and exited the other side. He didn't panic. He traced the bullet's path with the detached curiosity of someone who had been doing this for years. Glenny made his name covering the fall of communism and the Yugoslav Wars for the Guardian and the BBC, then spent years tracing the globalisation of organised crime for McMafia. He has just taken over In Our Time from Melvyn Bragg. In this conversation he covers the three moments when new technology met political revolution and ended in catastrophic violence, why Starlink is Musk's real business, how the Austrian army decoupled from Microsoft, and why organized crime adapted to Ukraine faster than any government. The Sarajevo opening is the best this show has had. The McMafia section on what criminals understand that governments don't is the most practically useful. The In Our Time section at the end, on being the representative of the listener rather than a demonstration of your own cleverness, is the one that stays with you longest. Chapters(00:00) Cold open: a bullet through the drive shaft in Sarajevo(01:00) Intro: Yugoslavia, McMafia, In Our Time(02:00) Tell me a story: Sarajevo Airport 1994(05:00) Staying calm: the only rule in a war zone(06:00) Reporting what you know versus what you think(08:00) Camera phones and politicians denying what everyone can see(09:00) Fake news is not new: the problem is scale(10:00) Three technology revolutions, three waves of catastrophic violence(13:00) Doom scrolling and the false promise of connection(15:00) Musk, Starlink, and controlling global communications(19:00) The Austrian army decouples from Microsoft(21:00) 1989 and peak optimism(25:00) Yugoslavia: where the optimism died(26:00) Gramsci: the time of monsters(28:00) Hybrid warfare: cheap disinformation, North Macedonia teenagers for cash(29:00) McMafia: how Yugoslavia globalized organized crime(31:00) Brazil, favelas, AK47s, talking your way through(33:00) The Serbian checkpoint: Politika and Serbo-Croat saved two lives(36:00) What organized crime understands that governments don't(40:00) Odessa closes: 4,000 men a month smuggled across the border(42:00) Take back control and Make America Great Again(44:00) The Chilean referendum and the word yes(46:00) In Our Time: taking over from Melvyn Bragg(48:00) You are the representative of the listener(49:00) Archaea: the third branch of life nobody knew about until 1977 About the GuestMisha Glenny is a journalist, author, and broadcaster. He covered the fall of communism and the Yugoslav Wars for the Guardian and the BBC, and his book McMafia traced the globalization of organized crime and was adapted into a BBC drama. He ran the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and this year took over In Our Time on BBC Radio 4 from Melvyn Bragg. Listen ElsewhereAPPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcastLINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod CreditsStoryCo is a TellTale Industries production.Host: James Kirkham.Guest: Misha Glenny.Producer: Jago Lee.Assistant Producer: Nelly Batt.Editor: Nelly Batt.Recorded at TYX Studios, King's Cross.Theme: Doubt Point.Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard, Tyler Newton, Isa Gibson.

Thalia Kent Egan on vertical drama, AI theft, and why filmmaking shouldn't be brutal. Episode Overview Thalia Kent Egan was commissioned to write a 90-page vertical drama script. She was told she would direct it, that the company wanted bold storytelling, real actors, heartbeat moments. Then they went quiet. When she followed up, they replied to say they had already released it as an AI-generated project using her script without telling her. Thalia studied languages at Oxford, did a directing master's at Goldsmiths, and has spent over a year inside the vertical drama world. She is one of the few people working in the format who will say clearly what it is: a tech industry making content for commercial gain, with a bingo card of tropes, racist casting, exploitative storylines, and crews paid below proper rates. She is also one of the few people trying to change it from within, and one of the most thoughtful observers of what the format is actually doing to audiences. This conversation earns its runtime at every turn. The opening story is the sharpest possible account of where the industry is heading. The bingo card section is the funniest. The observation that the phone screen creates a cult fandom around actors that AI cannot replicate is the most interesting. And the Garden of Eden feature she has been developing since her year abroad in France is the best note to end on. Chapters (00:00) Cold open: brutal sets, the world built by men, AI takes over (01:00) Intro: Oxford, Goldsmiths, vertical drama director (02:00) Tell me a story: the script they commissioned, the AI release she never knew about (05:00) Oxford languages, Berlin and Paris, why film was always the destination (06:00) Goldsmiths: finding her people, a year of practical filmmaking (07:00) Communal directing: deconstructing the hierarchy (08:00) What vertical drama actually is (09:00) Six to nine days to shoot a feature film's worth of content (11:00) "All you have to do is direct" (12:00) Intimacy coordination and fitting two people into a tight vertical shot (15:00) Constraints, creativity, and being a square peg (16:00) Quiet time, freeform pages, writing on the tube (18:00) The bingo card: drugged women, mafia bosses, tropes that never change (20:00) Why vertical drama is always about rich people and luxury (21:00) The phone as private screen (23:00) Racism, straight-written queer storylines, who is funding this (25:00) Actor fandom: intimacy creates cult followings AI cannot replicate (27:00) Marketing budgets four to five times larger than production (28:00) AI: keep its dirty mitts off the creative process (29:00) 14 of the top 20 vertical dramas already AI-generated (32:00) Better budgets, risk-taking stories, what a good version looks like (35:00) The feature: Garden of Eden, Adam as abuser, Eve escaping toward a queer communal world "Filmmaking shouldn't be like a brutal process. There's no point focusing on egos." — Thalia Kent Egan About the Guest Thalia Kent Egan studied French and German at Oxford and completed a directing master's at Goldsmiths. She has been directing and producing vertical drama for over a year while developing her own short films and photography work. She is also a trained intimacy coordinator. Her feature film is in development. She is on Instagram and Substack as Dolly Kentigan. Listen Elsewhere APPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413 YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcast LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod Credits StoryCo is a TellTale Industries production. Host: James Kirkham. Guest: Thalia Kent Egan. Producer: Jago Lee. Assistant Producer: Nelly Batt. Editor: Nelly Batt. Recorded at TYX Studios, King's Cross. Theme: Doubt Point. Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard, Tyler Newton, Isa Gibson.