Journey Through Time

Journey Through Time

Forgotten stories from history and how they shaped the way we live today. Hear about the ordinary people from history and the extraordinary impact they’ve had on the present. Hosted by historians David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell, Journey Through Time will show how everyday actions have the most remarkable unintended consequences that ripple through time. From the first woman to run for President to the unknown story of how the world came to the brink of nuclear war in 1983, this podcast is for everyone, not just history lovers. To hear more Goalhanger podcasts, go to www.goalhanger.com

Episodes

79. McCarthyism: Paving The Way For Trump (Ep 6)

March 22, 2026 • 40 mins
How did the McCarthy-era blacklist impact Hollywood for many decades to come? What happened when McCarthy’s right-hand-man Roy Cohn met a cocky young real estate developer called Donald Trump? Are we still living under McCarthyism? How can we bring it to an end?  David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell look at the legacy of McCarthyism.  Here is the Season One Reading List mentioned at the end of the episode. Email: journeythr...
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78. McCarthyism: The Fall of Joseph McCarthy (Ep 5)

March 15, 2026 • 42 mins
What happened when Joseph McCarthy turned his communist-catching energy on the army? What film, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando, is viewed as an allegory for the McCarthy hearings? In what ways did the ‘Lavender scare’ subtext influence the investigations into Roy Cohn? What famous line brought down the reputation of this ‘red-scare’ fuelling demagogue?  Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga look at the Army-McCar...
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77. McCarthyism: The Crucible, High Noon, and Hollywood’s Revenge (Ep 4)

March 8, 2026 • 47 mins
How did the most celebrated writers and directors in America take aim at McCarthyism in works such as High Noon and The Crucible? Why did Roy Cohn, the man who went on to be Donald Trump’s mentor, get involved in the trials? Despite both men using homophobic language, why are there rumours about McCarthy and Cohn’s sexuality? What is the relevance of this for the trials?  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTim...
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76. McCarthyism: Spies, Lies, And Smears (Ep 3)

March 1, 2026 • 37 mins
Who is Joseph McCarthy, the young senator who gives his name to these trials? Had Communist agents really infiltrated the US Government? Who were the Rosenbergs, America's most notorious communist couple, executed for giving state secrets to the Soviet Union? Why were American academics forced into exile? Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga introduce Joseph McCarthy and the loyalty purges that made him notorious.  Email: journ...
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75. McCarthyism: Hollywood on Trial (Ep 2)

February 22, 2026 • 36 mins
What happened when the House of Un-American Activities Committee started to prosecute some of the biggest names in Hollywood? Who were the infamous ‘Hollywood Ten’? Why did the trial of Alger Hiss, a State Department official, terrify the American public? How did a young Richard Nixon make his name during these trials?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they look at when the HUAC hearings came to Hollywood.  Email: journ...
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74. McCarthyism: How The Red Scare Gripped America (Ep 1)

February 15, 2026 • 45 mins
What was the second Red Scare where government employees, creatives, and intellectuals were prosecuted for holding ‘un-American’ views? What are the 19th century origins of Trump’s catch phrase, ‘America First’? Who was Martin Dies, the man responsible for setting up the ‘House of Unamerican Activities Committee’?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga for the first part of their series looking at the McCarthyism purges that g...
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73. Chernobyl: An Explosion That Brought Down A Superpower (Ep 6)

February 11, 2026 • 36 mins
Did Chernobyl cause the collapse of the Soviet Union? How did the disaster fuel the fight for independence? What happened when war came to the Exclusion Zone after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022? How are the victims still being impacted by the violence?  Join David Olusgoa and Sarah Churchwell for the last episode in this Chernobyl series, looking at the legacy of the explosion.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: ...
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72. Chernobyl: Soviet Secrets Are Still Coming Out (Ep 5)

February 8, 2026 • 23 mins
Who were the bio-robots, the 3,000 young reservists drafted in to fight the radiation? Why was an absurdly inadequate, yet enormous, structure built at pace to contain the fallout? Could trust be restored between the US and the USSR after the latter lied about the explosion?  Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga look at how the nuclear fallout ate away at the very core of the Soviet Union.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger....
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71. Chernobyl: Three Men Who Saved Europe (Ep 4)

February 4, 2026 • 41 mins
What were the two "nightmare scenarios” that would have led to enormous damage in the weeks following the explosion? What happened when three heroic men waded into radioactive water to stop much of Europe becoming uninhabitable for centuries? How did army reservists fight to contain the nuclear fallout in a mission named ‘The Battle of Chernobyl’?  David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell explore the terrifying consequences that the s...
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70. Chernobyl: The Battle Against Nuclear Fallout (Ep 3)

February 1, 2026 • 44 mins
Who were the doomed firefighters, first on the scene after the Chernobyl explosion? What forced the Soviets to come clean about the disaster? How did the USSR sacrifice Belarussian farmers to stop nuclear rain falling on Moscow? Why did this secret take 13 years to come out?  Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga look at the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl meltdown.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTim...
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69. Chernobyl: The Countdown To Catastrophe (Ep 2)

January 28, 2026 • 28 mins
Why was reactor four two years overdue a critical safety test? What happened in the seconds and minutes leading up to the explosion? Who was the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster?  David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell recall the fateful events leading up to the meltdown in reactor four on the night of the 26th April 1986.  Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com  X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram:...
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68. Chernobyl: The Worst Nuclear Disaster In History (Ep 1)

January 25, 2026 • 38 mins
How did a routine safety test turn into the worst nuclear disaster in history? How did Soviet secrecy, impossible targets, and corner-cutting set the stage for Chernobyl? Why did the disaster begin long before 1986, and end with the unravelling of the Soviet Union itself? Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga trace the political and historical failures which led to the fateful Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Social Producer: Emma J...
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67. The Spanish Civil War: The Death of Democracy (Ep 6)

January 21, 2026 • 35 mins
How did the Spanish Civil War inspire resistance movements throughout the 20th century? Why does Spain contain thousands of hidden mass graves? What is the legacy of the conflict in modern Spain? Why were American volunteers persecuted for opposing fascism? David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell explore the long legacy of the Spanish Civil War and the shadow it still casts. Social Producer: Emma Jackson Assistant Producers: Alfi...
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66. The Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Picasso and The Nazis (Ep 5)

January 18, 2026 • 31 mins
How did Pablo Picasso capture the horror of aerial bombing? Why did Hitler use a small Spanish town to test the Blitzkrieg? What was Stalin’s role in the Spanish Civil War?  David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell explore how Spain became a testing ground for the Second World War. Social Producers: Emma Jackson Assistant Producers: Alfie Rowe, Alfie Norris  Producer: Alice Horrell Head of History: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: To...
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65. The Spanish Civil War: Orwell V Stalin (Ep 4)

January 14, 2026 • 23 mins
What were Barcelona’s ‘May Days’? How did Orwell manage to escape Stalinist agents? Why did communists and anarchists begin to fight each other? How did the Spanish Civil War inspire Animal Farm and 1984? Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they look at the harrowing events that inspired one of the twentieth century's most iconic writers. Social Producers: Emma Jackson, Harry Balden Assistant Producers: Alfie Rowe, Al...
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64. The Spanish Civil War: A Nazi Training Ground (Ep 3)

January 11, 2026 • 23 mins
What were Barcelona’s ‘May Days’? How did Orwell manage to escape Stalinist agents? Why did communists and anarchists begin to fight each other? How did the Spanish Civil War inspire Animal Farm and 1984?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell as they look at the harrowing events that inspired one of the twentieth century's most iconic writers. Social Producers: Emma Jackson, Harry Balden Assistant Producers: Alfie Rowe, Alf...
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63. The Spanish Civil War: Fighting Fascism With Hemingway And Orwell (Ep 2)

January 7, 2026 • 34 mins
Why did 35,000 foreign volunteers join the International Brigades? How did the conflict lead to the first racially integrated military unit in US history? What was women’s role in the conflict? How was modern conflict journalism pioneered in Spain? David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell examine the role of foreign volunteers and journalists in the Spanish Civil War Social Producers: Emma Jackson, Harry Balden Assistant Producers: ...
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62. The Spanish Civil War: A Nation In Flames (Ep 1)

January 4, 2026 • 41 mins
What caused Spain to collapse into civil war in 1936? How did Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin become involved in the conflict? Why did western democracies do nothing to aid Spain’s government? What connected Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gelhorn, George Orwell and Kim Philby to the war? David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell explore the events that led to Spain’s 1936-1939 Civil War. Social Producers: Emma Jackson, Harry Balden Assistant...
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61. A Christmas Carol: From Alastair Sim To The Muppets (Ep 3)

December 31, 2025 • 43 mins
In what significant ways did the bestselling book ‘A Christmas Carol’ change Victorian behaviour around Christmas? From Christmas movies to the office Christmas party, what traditions do we have Charles Dickens to thank for? Why does this story still resonate in modern debates around poverty, responsibility, and compassion?  Join David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell exploring the enduring legacy of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Ca...
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60. A Christmas Carol: The Radical Message Hidden In A Holiday Classic (Ep 2)

December 28, 2025 • 31 mins
How did the three Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future manage to save Scrooge, Tiny Time, and the Christmas spirit? What deadly social problem was Dickens looking to solve with A Christmas Carol? Who is actually on trial in the story: Scrooge or the society that made him possible?  Join Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga as they look at the Ghost story that terrified Victorian Britain into helping the poor.  Social P...
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