Origin Story

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts you thought you knew.Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey pick up the story of nuclear war in the 1950s with the arrival of the H-bomb, and travel from the deadly face-off the Cuban Missile Crisis to the theory of nuclear winter and the place of nuclear weapons in a post-Cold War world.Kennedy and Khrushchev contemplate the abyss, Ronald Reagan frets about Armageddon, and Dr Strangelove brings the twisted psychology of nuclear deterrence to the screen. Plus the dark allure of the Cobalt Bomb, the Doomsday Machine that never existed.It’s a story of threats, war games and hair-raising close shaves. Did the strategists get it right in the end or were we just very lucky?Listen to next week’s episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod “In the US there was a recognition over and over by presidents stating…we know that if we fire, we get fired back on.” – Ian Dunt “(the Cuban Missile Crisis) brought the world to the abyss of destruction and the end of mankind.” – Robert Kennedy “Distrust almost destroyed the world” – Dorian Lynskey Reading List: Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist Martin Amis – Einstein’s Monsters Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons Ronald Reagan – An American Life Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon H.G. Wells – The World Set Free The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey MichaelsThe Ascent of Man by Jacob BronowskiWritten and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production.https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uncovering the hidden histories of concepts you thought you knew. This time: the ‘genocide machine’ – nuclear war. With Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer on its way and anxieties about Putin’s nuclear arsenal in the air, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey take us through how the human race learned to live with the first weapon that could potentially spell global annihilation.From the invention of the atomic bomb in a novel by HG Wells to the triumph of the Manhattan Project and the horror of Hiroshima, a modern Pandora’s Box opens. Einstein calls his role in the story his “one great mistake”, Oppenheimer says he has blood on his hands, and an anxious world wonders if it will be blown up tomorrow.This one has the lot: fear, guilt, paranoia and a glimpse of the end of the world.Listen to Part 2 right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “It wasn’t just a weapon. It’s an angry god. It’s Godzilla.” – Dorian Lynskey “The peoples of this world must unite or they will perish… The atomic bomb has spelled [these words] out for all to understand.” – J Robert Oppenheimer    “There should be a statue of Vasili Arkhipov in every town in the world. His refusal to fire stopped a nuclear war.” – Ian Dunt Reading List: Luis Alvarez – Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist Martin Amis – Einstein’s Monsters Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer David C. Cassidy – J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn Herman Kahn – On Thermonuclear War William Lanouette – Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard William L. Laurence – Dawn Over Zero: The Story of the Atomic Bomb Robert Jay Lifton and Richard Falk - Indefensible Weapons Ronald Reagan – An American Life Jonathan Schell – The Fate of the Earth P.D. Smith – Doomsday Men: The Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon H.G. Wells – The World Set Free The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, by Lawrence Freedman and Jeffrey MichaelsThe Ascent of Man by Jacob BronowskiWritten and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production.https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This time: the tumultuous history of Atheism. The concept has been around since the ancient world but for centuries it was demonised and suppressed. Who could believe such a thing? Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey track the ultimate heresy from the earliest days of western civilisation to the freethinkers of the Enlightenment and the bare-knuckle oratory of the New Atheists.What’s the difference between atheism, agnosticism, secularism and deism? What does it stand for? Can it explain the world while also satisfying the need for meaning and community? Was totalitarianism the monstrous zenith of atheism or just a substitute religion?Thomas Paine, Bertrand Russell, Percy Shelley, Albert Camus, Richard Dawkins and more feature in the story of the fight for the right not to believe in God.Listen to next week’s episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “Every day around the world it is incalculable the amount of damage done by religions saying; you can’t go there, you can’t marry them, you can’t say that.” – Ian Dunt “Declaring oneself an atheist is still a bold claim.” – Dorian Lynskey “It’s quite a humbling experience to think it’s taken us 1,500 years to get back to the position we were in in 300AD.” – Ian Dunt Reading List:  Julian Baggini – Atheism: A Very Short Introduction David Berman – A History of Atheism in Britain: From Hobbes to Russell Albert Camus – The Myth of Sisyphus John Gray – Seven Types of Atheism Christopher Hitchens – God Is Not Great Christopher Hitchens (ed.) – The Portable Atheist Susan Jacoby – Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism Percy Bysshe Shelley – The Necessity of Atheism James Thrower – A Short History of Western Atheism Tim Whitmarsh – Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient WorldRichard Dawkins – The God DelusionWritten and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Episode art by James Parrett. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production.https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt explain the most misunderstood ideas and people in politics.This time: part 2 of their Winston Churchill deconstruction. The pair chronicle the turbulent decade that defined Churchill's political legacy. From Munich and his unexpected elevation to power, from the Bengal Famine to victory over Hitler, his surprise defeat in the 1945 election and his long, gloomy decline, they look at a life which still casts a shadow over Britain. And they even read Boris Johnson’s Churchill book, so you don’t have to.Churchill craved greatness. Did he live up to his ideal? There’s only one way to find out…Listen to next week’s episode right now when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “I think what he did was primarily journalism, rather than being a prime minister.” – Ian Dunt “People think they can look at Churchill like a lifestyle guru they can replicate without the nuance.” – Dorian Lynskey  “Churchill personifies the European confusion that has lasted in this country to the present day” – Ian Dunt Reading List:Churchill by Roy JenkinsThe Churchill Factor by Boris JohnsonChurchill: Military Genius or Menace? By Stephen NapierChurchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. RicksChurchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew RobertsOblivion or Glory: 1921 and the Making of Winston Churchill by David StaffordChurchill’s Shadow by Geoffrey WheatcroftFree Thinking: Churchill's Reputation – BBC Radio 3Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production.https://twitter.com/OriginStorycast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New Series! Explaining the most misunderstood ideas and people in politics.This time: Winston Churchill is caricatured as either a bigoted villain or a stainless hero. Is he neither… or both? Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt take on a Churchillian task: to avoid reducing the legacy of Britain’s war leader into a simple binary. In part one they look at Churchill’s complicated childhood, his military adventures, his surprisingly progressive time as Home Secretary, his role in the Gallipoli disaster and his journey from the Tories to the Liberals and back again, leaving him on the brink of the 1930s. And they weigh up the allegations against him, from racism to sending troops to fire on striking miners at Tonypandy. Between the myths and the countermyths there’s a fascinating mess of a man.Get Part Two of our Churchill exploration right now – and all of our episodes a week early – when you support Origin Story on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/originstorypod  “Yes, he is a racist imperialist warmonger. He’s also the most important antifascist of human history.” – Ian Dunt “He had no followers. No ‘Churchillites’. Nobody in politics would sacrifice a thing for him.” – Dorian Lynskey  “At this point he’s Woke Winston. He's a liberal, supports votes for women, nationalising the railways and restrictions on monopolies.” – Dorian Lynskey  Reading List:Churchill by Roy JenkinsWalking With Destiny by Andrew RobertsThe Churchill Factor by Boris JohnsonChurchill: Military Genius or Menace? By Stephen NapierChurchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks Oblivion or Glory: 1921 and the Making of Winston Churchill by David StaffordChurchill’s Shadow by Geoffrey WheatcroftFree Thinking: Churchill's Reputation – BBC Radio 3Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A between-seasons special: The Lineker Affair didn’t just expose the BBC’s fear of the Government. It triggered a flood of bad takes on whether it’s ever permissible to compare contemporary politics to 1930s Germany; BBC employees’ rights to speak their minds; the limits of Twitter; and even whether the Nazis were in fact left-wing. Spoiler: they weren’t.Seasoned spotters of bad faith arguments Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt examine a gala week of political nonsense, obfuscation, straw-manning and plain old bullshit.Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New series preview: How much do we really know about the people who make the headlines? In a provocative new series the acclaimed journalist Michael Crick, formerly of BBC, C4 and Newsnight, delves into the backgrounds of the powerful and the influential.In this first episode: Few newspaper editors wield as much power as the Daily Mail’s Paul Dacre. Feared and courted by politicians, he’s imposed his singular vision of Britain on successive governments – while sometimes stretching the law in pursuit of justice. But what makes Dacre tick? What does he want? And how might this epic career end?Like this excerpt? Hear the complete episode on all platforms right now here. And subscribe for new episodes every Monday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A taster of our new series. Search for Jam Tomorrow in your favourite podcast app or visit https://kite.link/JTS1Episode One: Every Day Is Like D-Day. How did Britain’s dreams of a new postwar world go unfulfilled? And what does that mean for us today? In the first of a new documentary series from the makers of Oh God, What Now?, Ros Taylor looks at the legacy of the War itself. Ιdeals of the Blitz Spirit and dreams of wartime heroism still shape everything from pop culture and entertainment to the Brexit debate. But the truth of the War is more complex and less comforting. What will it take for us to see the Second World War – and ourselves – clearly?•  “If you’re going to have a foundation myth it might as well be one where you destroy Nazism.” – Al Murray•  “If the response to air raid wasn’t stoicism there was a fear that morale would break down.” – Lucy Noakes•  “The Keep Calm And Carry On poster was designed for a type of war that never arrived.” – Henry Irvine•  “Britain went into the war not alone but at the head of the world’s biggest empire… When Britain went to war, so did vast part of the world.” – Lucy Noakes Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Jade Bailey. Voiceovers by Imogen Robertson. Original music by Dubstar. Lead producer: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Jam Tomorrow is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“We surely live in the stupidest possible era of debate about free speech,” says Ian Dunt. When a key arbiter of free expression is the smirking tech bro who owns Twitter, he might be right. How did the right to express yourself freely get hijacked by reactionaries? Are progressives really a threat to freedom of speech?Dorian Lynskey and Ian delve back in time from the printing press and its early “paper bullets” via the surprisingly racy life of John Stuart Mill right up to the First Amendment of the US Constitution and our current panics over woke, hate speech and cancel culture. How did shouting “free speech” become an instant way to shut down debate?Support Origin Story to get extra episodes and more at https://www.patreon.com/originstorypod “If somebody tries to make their point about freedom of speech by using a cartoon on the internet, they’ve probably simplified it a bit.” – Dorian Lynskey “There is a choice not between order and liberty, it is between liberty with order and anarchy without either.” – Justice Robert H Jackson “The whole story of free speech is the story of doubt.” – Ian Dunt Reading ListFrom IanJacob Mchangama – Free Speech: A Global History From Socrates To Social MediaJohn Rees – The Leveller RevolutionJohn Stuart Milll – On LibertyThe Complete Works Of Harriet Taylor Mill – Editor Jo Ellen JacobsRichard Reeve – John Stuart Mill: Victorian FirebrandFrom DorianAnthony Lewis — Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First AmendmentSuzanne Nossel — Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for AllNat Hentoff – Free Speech for Me But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each OtherStanley Fish — There’s No Such Thing as Free SpeechSamuel P Nelson — Beyond the First Amendment: The Politics of Free Speech and PluralismKarl Popper — The Open Society and Its EnemiesFlemming Rose — Tyranny of SilencePE Moskowitz — The Case Against Free SpeechRichard Delgado and Jean Stefancic — Must We Defend Nazis?: Why the First Amendment Should Not Protect Hate Speech and White SupremacyHenry Louis Gates Jr — Let Them TalkGeorge Orwell — Freedom of the ParkHerbert Marcuse — Repressive ToleranceWritten and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drugs won the War on Drugs decades ago, so why are governments still squandering billions on this unwinnable battle? Where did the idea come from? Can we even agree on what drugs are? Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt delve into the tortuous evolution of the futile battle against narcotics. From morphine users Jules Verne and Bismarck and cocaine fan Sigmund Freud to the Opium Wars, the Red Scares, the Jazz Panic, Richard Nixon’s declaration of war on narcotics in 1971 up to Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no”, the War on Drugs becomes a justification for racism, a proxy assault on the ’60s – and an immovable block on evidence-based policy.Support Origin Story to get extra episodes and more at https://www.patreon.com/originstorypodThank you to drugs expert Steve Rolles for his assistance with this episode. “This is about as profound a policy failure as any you can find anywhere on Earth.” – Ian Dunt “If the hideous monster Frankenstein came face-to-face with the monster Marijuana he would drop dead of fright.” – Harry J Anslinger, Federal Bureau of Narcotics director “When they say ‘war on drugs’ what they mean is, war on some things we don’t like.” – Ian Dunt “By accident or design, the drugs war had evolved into a race war.” – Mike Gray, author of Drug Crazy “Drugs function like pornography or the military do with technology. They drive forward rapid change.” – Ian Dunt Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices