Real Dictators
Real Dictators is the award-winning podcast that explores the hidden lives of history's tyrants. Hosted by Paul McGann, with contributions from eyewitnesses and expert historians. New episodes available a week early for Noiser+ subscribers. You'll also get ad-free listening, early access and exclusive content on shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started or head to noiser.com/subscriptions For advertising enquiries, email info@adelicious.fm No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.
Episodes
June 16, 2026 • 58 mins
Josip Broz was the wartime resistance leader who became Tito, the strongman ruler of Yugoslavia. He defeated both Hitler and Mussolini. He stared down Stalin. He consolidated much of the Balkans as a single state, helping it to punch above its weight. But beyond his undoubted political skill and avuncular demeanour there was also a darkness… and an iron fist. So who really was the man behind the name? How did he chart a thir...
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June 11, 2026 • 60 mins
This is a preview of a brand-new show from the Noiser Podcast Network. Hosted by Clarke Peters (The Wire, The Boroughs), 'Founding Fathers: An American Dream' tells the epic story of the birth of the United States of America, 250 years ago.
Follow George Washington into bloody battles, sit alongside Thomas Jefferson as he crafts the Declaration of Independence, hear Alexander Hamilton debate the future of the new nation. And dis...
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March 19, 2026 • 54 mins
This is a preview of a brand-new show from the Noiser podcast network. Hosted by Iain Glen (Game of Thrones, Silo), Real Vikings takes you on a deep dive into the Viking age.
You’ll board longboats bound for new lands, follow mighty warlords, meet master navigators, and uncover the real figures behind the legends of the sagas.
But we begin on a quiet beach in the south of England, where a cold-blooded murder on the shingle ...
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December 30, 2025 • 63 mins
The new emperor of the Central African Republic is introduced to the world in a totally surreal manner - with white horses from Belgium, finery from France and songs from a Broadway musical. The CAR’s finances continue to tumble. A controversial policy about school uniforms leads to one of the most tragic episodes in the country’s history. And as the emperor loses control, old friends become foes, old foes return from t...
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December 23, 2025 • 58 mins
A new year brings new beginnings in the Central African Republic. President Bokassa attempts to modernise. But at the same time, the mass incarcerations and torture ramp up and corruption takes hold. And then things get really strange… An imposter infiltrates Bokassa’s homelife. A bizarre public competition is launched to marry off the president’s daughters. And the leader takes a significant trip to Colonel Gadd...
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December 16, 2025 • 61 mins
The former soldier in the French army who seized power in his African homeland. The leader of the Central African Republic who proclaimed himself emperor. The emperor who ruled as an avaricious dictator. Jean-Bédel Bokassa’s time in power in the CAR began with promises of equality and justice. Hailed as a beacon of strength, he would go on to preside over a regime of eccentricity, excess and sadistic cruelty. But decades befo...
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December 7, 2025 • 48 mins
This is a preview of a brand-new audiobook from the Noiser Podcast Network. Join Sir David Suchet as he reads a selection of Charles Dickens’s most chilling short works, brought to life with sound design and original music.
We’ll encounter dark premonitions of disaster experienced by a lonely railway signalman… A Victorian murder trial cast into chaos when the dead man’s ghost interrupts proceedings&hell...
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July 1, 2025 • 57 mins
The end arrives. Embarrassed at a baseball game, the Maximum Leader responds with arrests and intimidation. We hear first-hand testimony from a Cuban on the receiving end of the violence. A nasty public fall and a painful ordeal in the air show that age and illness are catching up with the dictator. But even as a change of leadership finally takes place, can Cuba ever truly be free from Fidel?
A Noiser podcast production.
Nar...
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June 24, 2025 • 57 mins
After a tragedy in the Florida Straits, a dramatic tug of war takes place between Castro and America - all centred on a five-year-old boy. A new leader in the Soviet Union comes to power with fresh ideas which terrify Fidel. The Berlin Wall crumbles, putting Cuba on the brink. As riots break out in Havana, rebellion is in the air...
A Noiser podcast production.
Narrated by Paul McGann.
Featuring Alvaro Alba, Michael Bustam...
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June 17, 2025 • 54 mins
When a bomb goes off on a south Florida street, it bears all the hallmarks of a Cuban expert. Castroland is going international. As exiles flock to Miami, Fidel sets off on a globe-trotting mission - meeting Colonel Gaddafi in Libya and dispatching troops to Angola. But back at home, not everything is rosy. And when a bus driver rams his vehicle through the gates of an embassy, Castro will encounter a problem unlike any he’s ...
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June 10, 2025 • 57 mins
Castro sets out to create a breed of “new people” - turning Cuba into an island of mini-Fidels. A particular dairy cow becomes a national treasure and hot dog vendors are declared counter-revolutionary, as things get surreal. Fidel’s own sister flees, declaring Cuba a “floating prison”. And as one of the dictator’s right-hand men is killed, the revolution will be rocked to its foundations…...
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June 3, 2025 • 56 mins
The first man in space arrives in Cuba for a special visit. A passenger liner from the Soviet Union docks in Havana. But it’s not carrying tourists. Out in the countryside a massive yet mysterious construction project begins. Stranger-than-fiction plans are put in motion as the CIA tries everything to assassinate Fidel. And as Khrushchev and Castro take the most daring of gambles, the whole world holds its breath…
A...
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May 28, 2025 • 56 mins
A man who was right there tells us the tale of one of history’s most notorious military failures. Castro’s former lover is given a handful of poison capsules and dispatched to Fidel’s hotel. A Havana schoolboy crosses his fingers as the American bombing begins. And a young activist prepares to do whatever it takes to repel the impending invasion...
A Noiser podcast production.
Narrated by Paul McGann.
Fea...
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May 20, 2025 • 57 mins
Castro goes on a victory parade, eventually arriving in Havana on top of a tank. Vengeance is wrought on the old dictator’s supporters, as the new leader moves into the Hilton hotel. Fidel takes a trip to Washington - for a sit-down with Richard Nixon. And a regime insider tells us how he turned his back on Castro, only to pay the price...
A Noiser podcast production.
Narrated by Paul McGann.
Featuring Carlos Eire, L...
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May 13, 2025 • 55 mins
While Batista tries to convince the world that Castro is dead, Fidel regroups in the mountains. The world’s press descends on Cuba, hoping to meet this elusive rebel, and Fidel is only too happy to grant everyone interviews. Meanwhile, in Havana, Batista’s sick son helps to save him from assassination. But his grip on the island is slipping…
A Noiser podcast production.
Narrated by Paul McGann.
Featuring...
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May 6, 2025 • 58 mins
Castro wrestles with Marxism and begins another affair. Attempting to reignite the revolution, he swims naked across the US border. At a get-together in Mexico City, he strikes up a rapport with a scruffy Argentine known as “Che”. Together, in a battered old boat, they will set sail for Cuba - to bring the fight to Batista…
A Noiser podcast production.Narrated by Paul McGann.
Featuring Michael J. Bustamante...
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April 29, 2025 • 66 mins
Fidel Castro - a revolutionary turned strongman dictator, beloved by his supporters and loathed by his enemies. The bête noire of the United States who pushed the world to the brink of annihilation. The ultimate political survivor who evaded hundreds of barely believable assassination attempts. We scroll back to the early years of the one they would call El Loco. It all begins on a farm in the east of Cuba - an island paradise...
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April 8, 2025 • 52 mins
This is a taster episode of a brand-new podcast from the Noiser podcast network. Join host Paul McGann as he explores life and death on the most famous ship in history.
You’ll be right there on board - setting sail from Southampton, chugging across the Atlantic, striking the iceberg and sinking into the icy depths. We’ll hear the harrowing tales of the victims and the testimonies of the lucky survivors. And Paul explor...
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January 28, 2025 • 64 mins
As Italy switches sides, Hitler hatches a plan to rescue his pal. But with the Axis collapsing on all fronts, Mussolini makes for Switzerland - stowed away and in disguise. For Il Duce’s enemies, the race is on to get to him first. His downfall will come at the hands of his own people…
A Noiser production, written by Jeff Dawson.
Many thanks to Giulia Albanese, Joshua Arthurs, John Foot, Nicholas O’Shaughnessy,...
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January 21, 2025 • 61 mins
It all starts to go horribly wrong… After the disastrous invasion of Greece, Mussolini sends troops to Russia. Benito’s Blitz prompts bemusement in Britain. An Italian assassin somehow survives the firing squad. A famous American mobster helps the Allies in Sicily. And Il Duce’s son telephones his father with devastating news…
A Noiser production, written by Jeff Dawson.
Many thanks to Giulia Albanese, J...
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