Journey Through Time

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: [email protected] 

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Instagram: @JourneyThroughTimePod

Social Producer: Emma Jackson

Assistant Producers: Alfie Rowe, Alfie Norris 

Producer: Alice Horrell

Head of History: Dom Johnson

Exec Producer: Tony Pastor
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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 Jackson

Assistant Producers: Alfie Rowe, Alfie Norris 

Producer: Alice Horrell

Head of History: Dom Johnson

Exec Producer: Tony Pastor
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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: Alfie Rowe, Alfie Norris 

Producer: Alice Horrell

Head of History: Dom Johnson

Exec Producer: Tony Pastor
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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: Tony Pastor
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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, Alfie Norris 

Producer: Alice Horrell

Head of History: Dom Johnson

Exec Producer: Tony Pastor
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