Show Notes
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...
More from Rearview Mirror Chronicles
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...
Send us Fan Mail They began as a handful of armed monks protecting pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem. Within two centuries, the Knights Templar had become one of the most powerful organisations in medieval Europe, warriors, landowners, financiers and servants of kings and popes. Then, on Friday the 13th of October 1307, everything changed. Across France, Templars were arrested in a single coordinated operation. Their leaders were imprisoned, accusations of heresy and blasphemy followed, and b...