229. Britain’s Last Colony: The Second World ...

How did the Gulf War drive a permanent wedge between Osama bin Laden and the Saudi royal family? Why did the bin Laden family finally decide to disown him? How did he manage a global terror network from a farm in Sudan? In Episode 4 of this series, William and Anita are joined by ...  Show more

Who were the bin Ladens, and how did they build a construction empire in Saudi Arabia? What was Osama bin Laden’s childhood like, and how was he radicalised by a puritanical PE teacher? What did a young Osama see on his television in 1982 that inspired his plan to down America’s ...  Show more

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Conversation Clubs - ⁠ https://www.patreon.com/thinkinginenglish⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You might not have heard about the Chagos Islands, but I think it is a story everyone should know. It is a story that involves colonialism, the construction of a secretive military base, and the e ...  Show more

It’s over fifty years since residents of the Chagos Islands were evicted by the British government. They were removed to Mauritius, the Seychelles and the United Kingdom. In 2002, people born on the islands were given the right to apply for Biritsh citizenship and to live and wor ...  Show more

When a boat carrying a group of Chagos Islanders landed on their homeland this week, it represented return after half a century of exile. The Islands were once part of British-run Mauritius, and in 1972, Britain removed the inhabitants, so it could hand one of the islands over to ...  Show more

The British Empire was one of the most influential and far-reaching empires in history. Dan and his guest journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera remember school lessons on the small island that rose to global dominance. From the 16th century to the 20th century, the British Em ...