Afua Hirsch

Shows

Episodes

  1. Gary Lineker | The Polictics Of The World Cup | 1

    4d ago

    Gary Lineker | The Polictics Of The World Cup | 1

    hould football and politics ever really be kept apart? What happens when the host nation is at war with one of the teams competing in its own tournament? And when FIFA hands its brand-new peace prize to Donald Trump, has the beautiful game lost the plot completely? Gary Lineker sits down with Legacy for the first of three conversations on the World Cup, drawing on forty years inside the game to explain why politics has never once stayed off the pitch. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm [0:00] Gary Lineker and forty years at the heart of the World Cup [5:35] A history of politics gatecrashing every World Cup since Mussolini [8:23] Inside the Kremlin: Gary on meeting - and refusing to meet - Putin [14:23] Afua's own US visa troubles, and whether Gary's could be next [15:46] The White House note nobody expected [20:45] Would Gary refuse Trump the way he refused Putin? [23:33] Trump in a football kit: Gary picks his position Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    28 min
  2. Gary Lineker | Nation, Identity and the Beautiful Game | 2

    2d ago

    Gary Lineker | Nation, Identity and the Beautiful Game | 2

    What does it mean to cheer for the country that once colonised yours? Forty years on from the Hand of God, does one match still define how a nation sees itself? And when Ghana play England, who exactly is Afua Hirsch supposed to be supporting? Gary Lineker returns to relive 1986 — the Golden Boot, Maradona, and a quarter-final played four years after the Falklands War — before the conversation turns to something far more personal: identity, belonging, and what it means to wear a nation's shirt. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm [0:54] Part two: Gary Lineker on nation, identity and the beautiful game [4:05] Forty years since the Golden Boot - and the Hand of God [6:56] The most famous goal in World Cup history, minutes after the worst [9:02] Afua wears her Ghana strip - and picks a side [9:32] What it means when the coloniser plays the colonised [16:05] Why England's diversity is now part of its story [20:00] Racism, FIFA and the women's game - coming on Legacy Plus Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 min
  3. World Cup | Post Colonial World | 2

    Jun 25

    World Cup | Post Colonial World | 2

    What happens when the nations that invented football start losing their grip on it? How does a team representing a country that doesn't officially exist end up touring the world and unnerving an empire? And why did thirty-one African nations refuse to play at all? Afua and Peter follow football into the age of decolonisation — Algeria's phantom side, Nkrumah's Black Stars, a seventeen-year-old in tears in Stockholm — as the colonised stop asking permission and take the game for themselves. [0:00] 1950: the empires are gone, but nobody's told the World Cup [6:55] Bandung — half the planet decides to stop being spectators [9:27] Algeria's ghost team: the national side that didn't officially exist [12:46] Nkrumah, the Black Star, and building a nation out of nothing [17:48] South Korea lose 9–0 — and it still counts as a triumph [19:51] A teenager weeps on his teammates' shoulders and reorders the game [26:37] Thirty-one nations walk out of the World Cup at once [29:33] Eusébio: the man winning for the empire that denied his own Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    41 min
  4. 1776 | The Women Washington Could Never Catch | 2

    Jun 11

    1776 | The Women Washington Could Never Catch | 2

    Who really built American freedom — and why does the answer make so many people so uncomfortable? What happens when an enslaved woman takes the Declaration of Independence more seriously than the man who wrote it? And, when the President of the United States turns the full machinery of government against one young Black woman — why can't he catch her? Belinda Sutton petitioned a court for fifty years of unpaid wages and won. Ona Judge walked out of the President's house while George Washington ate his dinner, and spent the rest of her life free. The founding story you were taught left both of them out entirely. [0:00] The founding myth and its glaring blind spot [3:00] Belinda Sutton — kidnapped at 12, enslaved for 50 years, and why she still fought back [7:50] The petition that became one of the earliest demands for reparations in American history [12:00] John Hancock signs off — and why the estate still refuses to pay [17:00] How Belinda's story spread and why Ta-Nehisi Coates and Harvard both came calling [19:30] Ona Judge — Washington's secret system for keeping his household enslaved in Pennsylvania [24:00] The night she walked out while the President ate dinner [27:30] Washington weaponises the federal government to hunt her down [31:00] She negotiates with the President — and he blinks first [34:00] "I am free" — Ona Judge's answer, fifty years later, says everything Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    37 min
  5. Founding Fathers | The invention of the United States | 1

    May 19

    Founding Fathers | The invention of the United States | 1

    How did a collection of desperate survivors, religious outcasts, and petty criminals become the architects of the world's most powerful nation? What does it mean to build a society on the language of liberty when that society is entirely dependent on enslaved labour? And are Americans still reckoning with a founding story that was never quite what it seemed? Peter and Afua go back to the very beginning — from the disaster of Roanoke and the brutal early years at Jamestown, to the transatlantic slave economy that quietly powered the rise of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. 00:00 Introduction — what America actually means 03:00 Roanoke and Jamestown — England's catastrophic first attempts 08:00 The colonial economy — slavery, sugar, and the triangle trade 14:00 New York's hidden history — one in five New Yorkers were enslaved 19:00 The contradiction at America's heart — liberty built on unfreedom 25:00 Who were the Founding Fathers — and who was left out? 32:00 Preview — Franklin and Madison up next Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min
  6. Declaration of Independence | Follow The Money | 1

    Jun 2

    Declaration of Independence | Follow The Money | 1

    What if the Boston Tea Party had less to do with liberty and more to do with a smuggler protecting his profit margins? What if hurricanes tearing through the Caribbean helped light the fuse of revolution? And, what if the men who gave birth to America were not visionary idealists but wealthy merchants who had simply run out of patience with British trade restrictions? Peter and Afua pull back the curtain on the financial machinery behind American independence — the Caribbean slave economy, the smuggling networks, the Bengal famine, and the merchants who dressed their self-interest in the language of liberty. (0:00) It wasn't about democracy. It was about who controlled the money (2:00) Britain's debt doubles after the Seven Years' War — and someone has to pay for it (7:50) The colonists were richer, taller, and paid less tax than anyone in Britain (11:50) Tea, empire, and why the whole system was built on piracy (13:30) The Boston Tea Party: orderly political theatre and a £10,000 act of destruction (17:35) The Boston Massacre and the propaganda machine that turned it into a rallying cry (20:30) The Caribbean cash machine — and how hurricanes made colonial merchants very rich (27:20) John Hancock: celebrated patriot, and according to British customs officials, the head of a massive smuggling operation (30:00) The first Continental Congress: protecting constitutional rights — and profit margins (34:00) The Bengal famine, 10 million dead, and why it became a weapon against British imperialism (38:00) Neither side wanted war — and that's exactly how they stumbled into one Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  7. Declaration of Independence | The Brand | 2

    Jun 4

    Declaration of Independence | The Brand | 2

    Who wrote "all men are created equal" — and then went home to more than 180 enslaved people? What does a document actually mean when it excludes women, Indigenous peoples, and one in five of the very population it claims to liberate? And, was the Declaration of Independence a genuine statement of universal human rights — or the most successful rebranding exercise in political history? Peter and Afua tear apart the Declaration of Independence: who wrote it, what it actually meant, what was left out on purpose, and why its contradictions still define America 250 years on. (0:00) "All men are created equal" — by men who didn't believe it (9:00) Britain vs the colonies: mistrust, miscalculation, and the slide into war (14:00) Lexington, Concord, and the shot heard around the world (19:00) Lord Dunmore's offer: freedom to the enslaved — and the colonists' outrage (24:00) Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the power of simple ideas (30:00) John Hancock signs big and invents a new word for "signature" (35:00) After independence: debt, fragility, and the problems victory didn't solve (42:00) How the revolution accidentally redirected the British Empire Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  8. Founding Fathers | Saints and Sinners | 4

    May 28

    Founding Fathers | Saints and Sinners | 4

    Was Alexander Hamilton the real architect of American capitalism — or just the most self-destructive genius in the room? What does it mean that the man who shaped the nation's finances spent his career surrounded by an economy built on enslaved labour he understood firsthand? And, if the founding fathers were so brilliant, why is America still fighting about what they actually built? Peter and Afua peel back the marble on two of the most mythologised men in history: Hamilton, the penniless Caribbean immigrant who survived a hurricane, built the American financial machine, and then blew up his own career with a 95-page confession; and Washington, the slave-owning Virginia planter who became the face of liberty — and knew exactly when to put the power down. 0:00 Hamilton, Washington, and the show that won't let the founders off the hook 1:48 The Caribbean origins of Alexander Hamilton — and what Nevis reveals about colonial violence 5:30 How working at the epicentre of the Atlantic slave economy shaped Hamilton's political thinking 9:10 The outsider who doubled down: Hamilton's ambition, his tongue, and why people feared him 11:36 The Reynolds affair — confessing adultery to defeat a corruption charge 15:50 What Hamilton brought to the revolution that none of the others could 20:10 George Washington: the Virginia planter who had to learn how to be a gentleman 24:00 How marrying Martha Custis transformed Washington's wealth and status overnight 26:40 The land grab Britain tried to block — and why it radicalized Washington 30:30 The fragile coalition: Franklin's joke, the hanging rope, and what really held them together 35:00 Washington's genius was knowing what not to do — and when to walk away 38:40 The American dream was built on free labour — and the dishonesty that disguised it Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    42 min
  9. Founding Fathers | The Original Brexit | 3

    May 26

    Founding Fathers | The Original Brexit | 3

    Who was the boring lawyer who quietly built the machine that made America work? Was John Adams so relentlessly right that even his allies couldn't stand him? And, how did the man who wrote the most beautiful words on human equality spend decades owning the woman who bore his children? Peter and Afua tear into the contradictions of 1776 — the forgotten architect, the honest man nobody liked, and the wordsmith whose legacy history has never quite known what to do with. 0:00 The original Brexit: what 1776 really was 6:00 John Jay — the unsung hero who built the legal framework of a nation 11:00 The Federalist Papers and the Roman Republic obsession 14:00 Jay's reluctant revolution: the man who wanted reconciliation 16:00 Enter Thomas Jefferson: plantation privilege and the Declaration of Independence 18:30 Jefferson at his desk — and the enslaved people outside the window 21:00 Martha, Sally Hemings, and the relationship history tried to bury 25:00 John Adams: the honest man too competent for his own good 31:00 Rome's collapse, checks and balances, and why they feared what they were building 36:00 Jefferson gave the revolution its language, Jay its structure, Adams its urgency Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  10. The Founding Fathers | The O.G.'s | 2

    May 21

    The Founding Fathers | The O.G.'s | 2

    What turned America's most famous British loyalist into its most dangerous revolutionary? What does a public humiliation in a Whitehall chamber have to do with the Declaration of Independence? And, if the man who designed the American constitution believed men were angels, would he have bothered? Peter and Afua trace how a candle-maker's son who pulled lightning from the sky and a sickly scholar obsessed with the fall of Rome built the architecture of the most powerful republic in history. 0:00 Franklin: the 18th century's global multimedia superstar 6:10 Poor Richard's Almanac and the art of building a platform from scratch 9:45 From kite and key to the Royal Society — Franklin's lightning moment 13:20 A proud Briton in London: the comfortable life that couldn't last 16:00 The Hutchinson letters, a Whitehall ambush, and an hour of public savaging 18:30 The moment Franklin stopped thinking of himself as British 21:00 Enter James Madison: the smallest man in public life and the biggest thinker 24:30 Two thousand years of history as a laboratory of political failure 28:00 Taxation without representation, the Intolerable Acts, and the radicalisation of Madison 31:30 'If men were angels, no government would be necessary' Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min
  11. Rasputin | How Rumour Broke an Empire | Feat. Sir Antony Beevor

    May 14

    Rasputin | How Rumour Broke an Empire | Feat. Sir Antony Beevor

    How does a Siberian peasant mystic end up controlling the most powerful empire in Europe? Could the rumours that destroyed a dynasty have been entirely false — and did they matter anyway? And, without Rasputin, would there have been no Lenin — and would the 20th century have looked completely different? Peter sits down with Sir Antony Beevor — bestselling author of Stalingrad, Berlin, and D-Day — to dig into his new book on one of history's most mythologised figures: Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian wanderer who charmed the Tsarina, antagonised everyone else, and whose murder was so catastrophically bungled it reads like black farce. 0:00 From Siberia to the Imperial court — how a peasant mystic reached the centre of power 5:30 Holy fools, wandering pilgrims, and why Russia was always fertile ground for figures like Rasputin 10:00 The voice, the eyes, and the seduction: how Rasputin actually worked on people 13:00 The Tsarina's obsession — and why Antony Beevor is certain the rumours were fake news 17:30 How Rasputin's ministerial choices set the railways on fire and sparked a revolution 24:00 Rasputin was right about the war — and then made everything worse anyway 27:30 The assassination: poisoned cakes, Yankee Doodle, and a murder plot of spectacular incompetence 32:00 Putin, Nicholas II, and why historians should be wary of historical parallels 36:00 Without Rasputin, no Lenin? The counterfactuals Antony loves but won't fully follow Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    39 min
  12. Mystics | Helena Blavatsky's Karma | 2

    Apr 30

    Mystics | Helena Blavatsky's Karma | 2

    Who invented the spiritual vocabulary of the modern world — karma, reincarnation, yoga studios, the idea that you can be "spiritual but not religious"? What if the hidden masters living in remote Tibetan mountains who inspired her weren't real — but the New Age movement they sparked absolutely was? And can you change the course of Western spirituality forever while being accused of fraud, plagiarism, and dropping fake letters through the ceiling? Peter and Afua explore the extraordinary life of Helena Blavatsky: Russian aristocrat, globe-trotting mystic, chain-smoking occultist and the most polarising spiritual figure of the 19th century — whose Theosophical Society gave us yoga mats, abstraction in art, and the modern wellness industry, all while she battled accusations of being one of history's greatest frauds. 0:00 Introduction: The Woman Who Invented New Age Spirituality 4:15 Russian Aristocrat: Growing Up Between Two Worlds 9:40 The Lost Years: Tibet, Egypt, and the Mysterious Mahatmas 16:20 Arriving in New York: Spiritualism, Grief, and the Telegraph 23:10 Meeting Henry Steel Olcott: The Partnership That Changed Everything 28:35 Isis Unveiled: 1,200 Pages That Sold Out in 10 Days 35:50 Moving to India: Strategic Genius or Cultural Appropriation? 41:20 The Mahatma Letters: Messages from the Ceiling 47:05 The Coulomb Scandal and the Hodgson Report 53:30 Vindication? The 1986 Harrison Report 58:10 The Secret Doctrine and Her Uncomfortable Nazi Legacy 1:03:45 Blavatsky's New Age Legacy: From Mondrian to Matcha Lattes 1:09:20 Final Verdict: Genius, Fraud, or Both? Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&As, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    54 min
  13. Mystics | Nostradamus: The Arophecary | 1

    Apr 28

    Mystics | Nostradamus: The Arophecary | 1

    Nostradamus has predicted every major disaster in history — or so the internet would have you believe. Peter and Afua get behind the myth to meet the real man: a plague-era apothecary, rejected by the medical establishment, whose greatest invention wasn't prophecy — it was selling certainty to an anxious world. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    48 min
  14. Mystics | Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man In The World | 3

    May 5

    Mystics | Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man In The World | 3

    What happens when you raise a child telling him he's the Beast — and he decides to prove you right? Could a man who genuinely repelled everyone around him have quietly shaped the culture we live in today? And, is the world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll actually the legacy of a repressed Victorian occultist with a god complex? Peter and Afua descend into the dark, theatrical, and genuinely troubling life of Aleister Crowley: English occultist, self-declared Great Beast 666, and the man who may have done more than anyone to wire transgression, desire, and spiritual hunger into the DNA of modern culture. 0:00 The wickedest man in the world — and why he owned it 6:00 The Exclusive Brethren: the suffocating sect that made Crowley inevitable 10:00 Cambridge, cigars, and erotic poetry: the beast is unleashed 15:00 Golden Dawn and the occult underground of Victorian London 20:00 Mountaineering, meditation, and the spiritual pick-and-mix 24:00 Cairo, 666, and the Book of the Law 26:00 Rose Kelly: the woman without whom none of it happens 33:00 The Abbey of Thelema and a scandal that shocks even the tabloids 38:00 How Crowley became the Beatles' and Led Zeppelin's spirit animal 42:00 Jack Parsons: the rocket scientist who performed Crowley rituals by night 44:00 Was Crowley a feminist? (Afua has thoughts) 48:00 The stain that runs through modern culture straight back to him Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Watch Legacy on YouTube and Spotify video. Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    51 min
  15. The Age Of Cargo | The Cargo Ship | 1

    Apr 16

    The Age Of Cargo | The Cargo Ship | 1

    The cargo ship didn't just move goods — it moved civilisations. Peter and Afua trace 2,000 years of maritime trade, from Roman grain ships and spice routes to the Hanseatic League, the sugar plantations of Madeira, and the brutal economics of the triangular trade. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    44 min
  16. Diets | Three Eggs and a Bottle of Wine | 1

    May 7

    Diets | Three Eggs and a Bottle of Wine | 1

    What did Vogue actually recommend women eat in 1977 — and why did it make one food writer cry in the bathroom? How did the Greeks turn a six-pack into a moral argument? And, has the human obsession with controlling what we eat ever really been about health at all? Peter and Afua trace the long, strange history of dieting — from ancient Greek athletics and Roman feast-and-purge excess, to medieval starvation saints who turned self-denial into a radical act of female agency. 0:00 Vogue’s 1977 Wine and Egg Diet — and what happened when someone actually tried it 6:30 The diet industry’s dirty secret: it was never about nutrition 9:00 Peter on fasting, cranky emails, and what not eating teaches you about your relationship with food 14:30 Ancient Greece: when abs were a moral statement, not just an aesthetic one 19:30 The manosphere’s Spartan fantasy — and what the Greeks would actually make of it 23:00 Rome: the inventors of binge and purge culture 24:30 When Christianity enters the chat — and fasting becomes holy 26:00 Catherine of Siena: the medieval starvation saint who used hunger as protest 30:00 Anorexia mirabilis — holy anorexia, and why Peter is wary of projecting modern diagnoses onto the past 32:00 Why medieval peasants weren’t dieting — they were just trying to stay alive Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A’s, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min
  17. The Age Of Cargo | Globalisation and the Oceans | 2

    Apr 21

    The Age Of Cargo | Globalisation and the Oceans | 2

    From colliers carrying coal out of Newcastle to Marshall Plan grain crossing the Atlantic, Peter and Afua trace how the movement of goods by sea built the modern world. This is the story of bulk cargo — and why the ships that carried it changed everything. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min
  18. The Age Of Cargo | The TEU | 3

    Apr 23

    The Age Of Cargo | The TEU | 3

    Malcolm McLean was a frustrated truck driver who thought there had to be a better way. The metal box he invented now carries 90% of the world's traded goods — and quietly runs the global economy. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  19. Facelifts | The Gory Truth Behind the Celebrity Glow | 2

    Apr 14

    Facelifts | The Gory Truth Behind the Celebrity Glow | 2

    Afua and Peter explore the "undetectable" world of deep plane facelifts, examining why celebrities are finally trading surgical secrecy for viral transparency. They dissect the astronomical costs of modern "tweakments" and the rising pressure to match AI-generated perfection as surgery recipients get younger than ever before. Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min
  20. Ernest Hemingway | The Lost Generation | 1

    Feb 24

    Ernest Hemingway | The Lost Generation | 1

    Afua and Peter track Ernest Hemingway’s path from a suburban Chicago childhood spent hunting and boxing to the bloody front lines of Italy. They show how a brutal war injury and his newsroom grind birthed the "iceberg theory," revealing a man who hunted Nazis and survived plane crashes but often treated his own life like his best piece of fiction. Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: peterfrankopan.substack.com afuahirsch.substack.com Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fm Stay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    43 min
Afua Hirsch on Apple