Drawn to a family legend about his German-Jewish family’s dramatic escape from Nazi Germany in 1936, the writer Joe Dunthorne accidentally discovers a far more unsettling history.A confession hidden on page 1692 of his great-grandfather Siegfried’s unpublished memoir leads Joe into a story of radioactive toothpaste, unexploded bombs and erased histories, exploring the many ways the past continues to haunt the present - even when we try to ignore it.A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
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2:21
Invisible Hands: 6. There Is No Alternative
In 2006 an Australian investment bank bought Thames Water – Britain’s biggest water company. Everything went well for a bit. And then people started noticing something strange. Sewage in the water. Leaking pipes. Hosepipe bans. Now in 2025 Thames Water is on the brink of financial collapse and looking for new owners. There is even talk about doing something shocking. Nationalisation.So what went wrong? Why did this water company which makes healthy profits year on year fail so badly. And what can that tell us about how the dream of free market capitalism has turned out, not just here but also in Donald Trump’s America.David Dimbleby traces the history of an idea that charts his lifespan. It started on a chicken farm in Sussex, gained traction in the shadows of post-war London and rose to heights of excess in the new champagne bars of the City.But who are the little-known people behind it? What did they want? And is the free market here to stay? Or are we entering a new era?Presenter: David Dimbleby
Producer: Jo Barratt
Sound Design: Peregrine Andrews
Executive Producers: Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina
Story Editors: Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeA Samizdat Audio production for BBC Radio 4
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29:04
Invisible Hands: 5. The Lucky Gambler
James Goldsmith was a billionaire tycoon who thrived in the free-market revolution. He was a corporate raider who conquered both the City of London and Wall Street. He was a playboy – four wives, a host of mistresses and a reputation as outsized as a Bond villain. Then in 1987 he predicted a stock market crash and disappeared from the world stage. A few years later he turned up again, ready to tell the world something shocking. That everything he had believed about the free market was wrong. That a global elite had rigged the system and global capitalism was now stifling the very freedoms it promised to protect. That global free trade had led to a hollowing out of manufacturing towns and communities. That the nation state itself was being undermined.Then in 1997 he saw there was an election coming up in Britain. An election where he could spread his message that globalisation and global free trade had failed. An election that perhaps, more than any other, set the stage for Donald Trump. David Dimbleby traces the history of an idea that charts his lifespan. It started on a chicken farm in Sussex, gained traction in the shadows of post-war London and rose to heights of excess in the new champagne bars of the City. But who are the little-known people behind it? What did they want? And is the free market here to stay? Or are we entering a new era?Presenter: David Dimbleby
Producer: Jo Barratt
Sound Design: Peregrine Andrews
Executive Producers: Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina
Story Editors: Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeA Samizdat Audio production for BBC Radio 4
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29:12
Invisible Hands: 4. The Big Bang
Thatcher and her capitalist dreamers' next big gamble was a radical shake-up of London’s financial sector. They called it Big Bang. Seemingly overnight, the stuffy old City of London was replaced by a fast-paced world of risk-takers, rule-breakers, and yuppies brandishing mobile phones the size of their head. It was a golden age of capitalism, where fortunes were made at lightning speed and the stakes were just as high. Nick Leeson was a working-class kid from Watford who arrived at just the right time. By 1995 he was a superstar trader. He was a poster boy for Thatcher’s Britain. Poor kid gets rich. But then something happened that turned him from a hero to a criminal on the run. Did the very thing that spurred on his success precipitate his downfall? And what did that mean for the Thatcherite revolution. This is a story of the boom and bust of the 80s.David Dimbleby traces the history of an idea that spans his life. It started on a chicken farm in Sussex, gained traction in the shadows of post-war London and rose to heights of excess in the new champagne bars of the City. It's 2025 and this once radical idea now defines every aspect of life in Britain. An idea that transformed the economy, politics and, ultimately, society itself.But how did it happen? Who are the little-known people behind it? What did they want? And - as Donald Trump threatens to overturn the global economic system - is the free market here to stay? Or are we entering a new era?Presenter: David Dimbleby
Producer: Jo Barratt
Executive Producers and Story Editors: Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina
Sound design: Peregrine Andrews
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeA Samizdat Audio production for BBC Radio 4
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29:19
Invisible Hands: 3. Selling The Silver
A young banker sits in front of a book full of balance sheets. Boring work. But he has come to a realisation. And it’s a realisation that will, in a few short years, transform Britain. This banker - John Redwood - had realised that the best way to turn the country into a free market paradise was to sell all the big industries owned by the state to the people of Britain. To create a nation of shareholders. The only problem? No one wanted to listen to him. This is the story of a radical experiment in free market capitalism. One that had never been tried before. And of one man with a vision and a set of spreadsheets. To remake the country and sell capitalism to the masses.David Dimbleby traces the history of an idea that spans his life. It started on a chicken farm in Sussex, gained traction in the shadows of post-war London and rose to heights of excess in the new champagne bars of the City. It's 2025 and this once radical idea now defines every aspect of life in Britain. An idea that transformed the economy, politics and, ultimately, society itself.But how did it happen? Who are the little-known people behind it? What did they want? And - as Donald Trump threatens to overturn the global economic system - is the free market here to stay? Or are we entering a new era?Presenter: David Dimbleby
Producer: Jo Barratt
Executive Producers and Story Editors: Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina
Sound design: Peregrine Andrews
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeA Samizdat Audio production for BBC Radio 4
NEW on The History Podcast: Half-Life. Drawn to a family legend about his German-Jewish family's dramatic escape from Nazi Germany in 1936, the writer Joe Dunthorne accidentally discovers a far more disturbing history.
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