Category Archives: Podcasts

Catherine The Great, One of a Kind (Part One)

Brought to Russia as fourteen-year-old Princess Sophia from a tiny German principality, she became Catherine the Great, the most powerful woman in Europe.

Peter III, Catherine’s husband
Catherine’s mother, Princess Johanna
The Empress Elizabeth
Frederick the Great
Grigori Orlov
Poniatowski
Catherine on the the balcony of the Winter Palace after she seized the throne from Peter III
Catherine, in the uniform of the Imperial Guard

Catherine the Great, One of a Kind (Part Two)

Brought to Russia as fourteen-year-old Princess Sophia from a tiny German principality, she became Catherine the Great, the most powerful woman in Europe.

Catherine’s coronation painting, wearing her remarkable crown
Pugachev, harassing captive nobles before their execution
Paul I, Catherine’s son and heir
Grigori Potemkin
Peterhof Palace
The Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum
The Bronze Horseman statue of Peter the Great

Bob Marley, Reggae Superstar and Legend (Part One)

Listen to this February 5, 2020 flashback episode about Bob Marley, homeless at age 20 in one of the poorest cities of the Third World, he became a popular music phenomenon and 20th century icon.

Bob Marley performing in July of 1980
Bob Marley’s mother’s home, Trench Town, Kingston, Jamaica
Bunny Wailer, one of Marley’s earliest collaborators
Peter Tosh, another Marley associate, performing in 1978
The I Threes, performing with Marley, Rita, his wife, center

Bob Marley, Reggae Superstar and Legend (Part Two)

Listen to this February 5, 2020 flashback episode about Bob Marley, homeless at age 20 in one of the poorest cities of the Third World, he became a popular music phenomenon and 20th century icon.

Marley, performing last outdoor show, Dublin, Ireland, July 6, 1980
Marley, publicity photo
Marley’s son, Ziggy
Bob Marley, mausoleum complex entrance, Nine Mile, Jamaica

D. B. Cooper and the Only Unsolved Air Hijacking in US History (Part One)

This special flashback episode, from March 16, 2018, discusses D. B. Cooper and the most infamous unsolved hijacking in US history.

Some of the crew members from the plane Cooper hijacked
Initial crude wanted poster circulated by the FBI
Richard McCoy, wanted poster circulated after he escaped from a federal penitentiary
Another potential D. B. Cooper, Robert Rackstraw.

D. B. Cooper and the Only Unsolved Air Hijacking in US History (Part Two)

This special flashback episode, from March 16, 2018, discusses D. B. Cooper and the most infamous unsolved hijacking in US history.

Northwest Orient Plane similar to the one DB Cooper hijacked.
Money recovered on the shores of the Columbia River that was ultimately identified as part of Cooper’s $200,000
Grave of Richard Mccoy, who many believe was D. B. Cooper

 

Howard Hughes and His Empire of Madness (Part One)

On April 5, 1976, when he died in a private jet,  en route to Houston, Texas, Howard Hughes was a hopeless drug addict, weighed 93 pounds and hadn’t even taken a step on his own in several years.  He was also the world’s wealthiest man, living proof that money can’t buy happiness.

Howard R. Hughes Sr., standing next to a drill site
Howard Hughes as a small boy
Howard Hughes’ boyhood home in Houston, Texas
Movie poster for Hell’s Angels
Jane Russell, The Outlaw
Hercules, aka The Spruce Goose, taxiing in Long beach Harbor

Howard Hughes and His Empire of Madness (Part Two)

On April 5, 1976, when he died in a private jet,  en route to Houston, Texas, Howard Hughes was a hopeless drug addict, weighed 93 pounds and hadn’t even taken a step on his own in several years.  He was also the world’s wealthiest man, living proof that money can’t buy happiness.

The entrance to the Beverly Hills Hotel, Howard Hughes’ home for over a decade
Jean Peters
The Desert Inn, circa 1968
Actress Terry Moore, one of Hughes’ female companions, who claimed after his death that he married her in a boat in international waters and that she gave birth to Hughes’ illegitimate child that died shortly after childbirth. The Hughes estate settled with her for a sum believed to be around 400,000 dollars.

Edward Snowden, American Hero or Malignant Traitor? (Part One)

In 2013, while working as a contractor at the National Security Agency, Edward Snowden leaked an extensive collection of top secret documents, an act of defiance that, today, still reverberates throughout US intelligence and international relations.

National Security Agency Headquarters, Fort Meade, MD
Edward Snowden
Glenn Greenwald, publicity photo
Laura Poitras
General Keith Alexander

Edward Snowden, American Hero or Malignant Traitor? (Part Two)

In 2013, while working as a contractor at the National Security Agency, Edward Snowden leaked an extensive collection of top secret documents, an act of defiance that, today, still reverberates throughout US intelligence and international relations.

Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport
Edward Snowden in his Hong Kong hotel room
Glen Greenwald and Ewan Mckaskill, in Hong Kong
Academy Award onstage presentation to Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald and Lindsay Mills, second from right
Keith Alexander 2014 retirement party, with Chuck Hagel and James Clapper