Episode 2: The Book

June 1989. A family in West Belfast claim they are being tormented by a violent presence that seems determined to drive them from their home. The local press cover it extensively, neighbours gather outside to say prayers in the street – and the father tells the BBC that he was at ...  Show more

In June 1989, a family in West Belfast claimed they were being tormented by a violent presence that seemed hellbent on driving them from their home – what really happened?Reggie recalls a shocking event outside the bedroom window of his childhood home and wonders if violence and ...  Show more

This episode was originally published as a Patreon exclusive on 6 Oct 2019In the early hours of the 11th February, 1984, Patrick Nugent died in a car park in front of Bunratty Castle, Co Clare. There had been a party, and Patrick was working in the castle that night. A number of ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the notorious attack of 4th of May 1886 at a workers rally in Chicago when somebody threw a bomb that killed a policeman, Mathias J. Degan. The chaotic shooting that followed left more people dead and sent shockwaves across America and Europe. This ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the notorious attack of 4th of May 1886 at a workers rally in Chicago when somebody threw a bomb that killed a policeman, Mathias J. Degan. The chaotic shooting that followed left more people dead and sent shockwaves across America and Europe. This ...  Show more

After the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson and the signing of the polarising Anglo-Irish Treaty, how did the bombastic Battle of the Four Courts break out in Dublin? With British guns opening fire on the building, how long did the men of the IRA hold out? What was the outcome of ...  Show more