Show Notes
Send us Fan Mail For nearly five centuries she has been remembered by a nickname: Bloody Mary. But was Mary Tudor really the monster history made her out to be? In this episode of Rearview Mirror Chronicles, we look beyond the propaganda and meet the woman behind the legend. From her childhood as the beloved daughter of Henry VIII, to her humiliation at the hands of Anne Boleyn, her dramatic seizure of the English throne, her marriage to Philip of Spain, and the religious persecutions t...
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Send us Fan Mail In August 1839, a wealthy English adventurer sailed up a river in Borneo aboard his private schooner, carrying a letter of thanks and a few presents for a local prince. Just two years later, he was the ruler of Sarawak. His name was James Brooke, and his extraordinary rise to power would establish a family dynasty that lasted more than a century. But how does an Englishman with no official authority, a fortune in his pocket and a ship armed with cannon end up ruling a kingdom...
Send us Fan Mail October 1962. The world is holding its breath. American warships are enforcing a naval blockade around Cuba, Soviet missiles are being prepared for launch, and in Washington, President John F. Kennedy faces a decision that could end civilisation as we know it. As the confrontation intensifies, an American U-2 spy plane is shot down over Cuba, Soviet submarines are pursued by the US Navy, and aboard one of them, a nuclear torpedo comes terrifyingly close to being fired. Behind...
Send us Fan Mail In October 1962, the world came closer to nuclear annihilation than most of us will ever fully appreciate. For thirteen extraordinary days, two superpowers confronted one another across ninety miles of Caribbean sea, and the future of civilisation hung in the balance. But the Cuban Missile Crisis was not quite the heroic diplomatic triumph we were taught at school. Behind the familiar photographs of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev lies a far more disturbing story of sec...
Send us Fan Mail In 1786, Francis Light raised the British flag over Penang and changed the history of the Malay Peninsula. But the deal behind it was far murkier than the familiar story suggests. The Sultan of Kedah believed he was gaining British protection against powerful enemies. The East India Company wanted a strategic island on the route to China. Francis Light stood between them, allowing both sides to believe they were getting what they wanted. Then the protection never came. What f...
Send us Fan Mail In April 1915, thousands of young Australians and New Zealanders approached an unfamiliar Turkish coastline in small boats. Most had never been under fire. Within hours, a new word would enter history: ANZAC. Gallipoli was supposed to be a bold shortcut to victory, a way through the Dardanelles to Constantinople and Russia. Instead, it became eight months of slaughter, disease, impossible terrain and extraordinary courage. This is the story of the men who landed at ANZAC Cove...