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Origin Story

Podmasters

131 episodes

What are the real stories behind the most misunderstood and abused ideas in politics? From Conspiracy Theory to Woke to Centrism and beyond, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey dig into the astonishing secret histories of concepts you thought you knew. Want to support us in making future seasons? There are now two ways you can help out: • Patreon – Get early episodes, live Zooms, merchandise and more from just £5 per month. • Apple Podcasts – Want everything in one place with one easy payment? Subscribe to our premium feed on Apple Podcasts for ad-free shows early and bonus editions too. From Podmasters, the makers of Oh God, What Now?, American Friction and The Bunker.

Episodes page 1 of 3

  1. Anti-vaxxers – Herd impunity – Origin Story Revisited

    · 1 h 25 min · S9 E22

    Hello Origin Story listeners. We’re launching season 10 in the second half of October and to mark that milestone we thought it would be fun to revisit some of our old episodes under the name Origin Story Revisted.…

  2. Russell Brand – Confidence man – Origin Story Revisited

    · 1 h 29 min · S9 E21

    Hello Origin Story listeners. We’re launching season 10 in the second half of October and to mark that milestone we thought it would be fun to revisit some of our old episodes under the name Origin Story Revisted.…

  3. Ayn Rand: The ego has landed – Origin Story Revisited

    · 1 h 21 min · S9 E20

    This week, while we research a two-parter on the history of libertarianism, we're revisiting the story of the political novelist Ayn Rand. In this episode from 2022 — the first time we chose to focus on an individual…

  4. The Battle of Cable Street – Origin Story Revisited

    · 45 min · S9 E19

    Hello Origin Story listeners. We’re launching season 10 in the second half of October and to mark that milestone we thought it would be fun to revisit some of our old episodes under the name Origin Story Revisited.…

  5. John Rawls – Philosopher king of the 20th Century

    · 1 h 05 min · S9 E18

    This week we dive into the life and ideas of John Rawls, the most celebrated liberal philosopher of the post-war period. Even in his own lifetime he was compared to Plato and Hobbes, becoming the only figure of our era…

  6. Origin Story Live at Union Chapel

    · 2 h 07 min · S9 E17

    Hello listeners. This week’s episode is an audio recording of our live show at the Union Chapel in London on 1 September 2026. This time we did something different and made a live show out of a classic Origin Story…

  7. Section 28 – Anatomy of a Moral Panic

    · 1 h 22 min · S9 E16

    Hello and welcome to a bonus episode of Origin Story. This time we tell the story of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, the legislation that prohibited local councils from funding the “promotion” of…

  8. The Duke of Buckingham – How a queer love story predicted modern politics

    · 1 h 18 min · S9 E15

    Welcome to another bonus episode of Origin Story, where we look at the short and extraordinary life of the Duke of Buckingham (1592–1628). It's a bizarre, tragic tale which weaves together queer history, courtly…

  9. Origin Story live show announcement!

    · 3:05

    Tickets are flying out of the door for Ian and Dorian’s biggest live show yet at the stunning Union Chapel in London’s sophisticated Islington on Tue 1 Sept. A spectacular Gothic Revival church on Upper Street, the…

  10. Starmer Revisited – Where Did It All Go Wrong?

    · 1 h 28 min · S9 E13

    Welcome to a bonus episode of Origin Story. For the first time, we’re revisiting an earlier episode to ask what we got right and what we got wrong about the subject. Just before the July 2024 election we profiled…

  11. The Luddites – Rage Against the Machine

    · 1 h 44 min · S9 E11

    Welcome to the finale of season nine of Origin Story. We’re wrapping up the season by telling the thrilling, misunderstood story of the Luddites and how their name became an insult synonymous with ignorance, reaction…

  12. Paranormal Investigations – Is There Anybody Out There?

    · 1 h 43 min · S9 E10

    Welcome to Origin Story. This week we’re doing something different: the history of paranormal investigations and what it says about the relationship between evidence and belief. In 1848, two sisters in Hydesville, New…

  13. Think Tanks – Part Two – The Room Where It Happens

    · 1 h 22 min · S9 E9

    Welcome to Origin Story and part two of the story of think tanks. Last time we traced the history of two very different varieties: the non-partisan centre for research and policy development and the handsomely-funded…

  14. Think Tanks – Part One – What’s the Big Idea?

    · 1 h 20 min · S9 E8

    Welcome to Origin Story. This week we explore the world of think tanks, a term that has developed two very different meanings. To many people, it suggests deceptively named and opaquely funded vehicles for the…

  15. Evangelicals – Part Two – Good News, Bad News

    · 1 h 25 min · S9 E7

    Ever since the birth of evangelical Christianity in the 1730s, believers have disagreed over whether to dedicate themselves to changing society as well as converting individuals. For most of that time, the most…

  16. Evangelicals – Part One – Altared States

    · 1 h 33 min · S9 E6

    Welcome to Origin Story, the show about why we are where we are. This week we begin the story of evangelical Christianity and its influence on politics. Starting in the 1730s, Protestants in colonial America replaced…

  17. J.K. Rowling – Part Two – Transparent

    · 1 h 28 min · S9 E5

    Welcome back to Origin Story and part two of the story of J.K. Rowling. In this episode we turn away from her life story towards her public statements and the information she is consuming. In 2020, Rowling publishes…

  18. J.K. Rowling – Part One – Transformation

    · 1 h 10 min · S9 E4

    Hello and welcome to Origin Story. This week we begin the story of J.K. Rowling and how the world’s most beloved author became its most divisive. How did she become obsessed with trans rights and how did her colossal…

  19. European Union – Part Three – The Expanse

    · 1 h 23 min · S9 E3

    Hello and welcome to the final part of the story of European union, in which we finally see the European Union come to pass — and run into trouble. The transition begins with Jacques Delors, a pragmatic idealist in…

  20. European Union – Part Two – Reality Bites

    · 1 h 09 min · S9 E2

    Welcome back to Origin Story and part two of the story of European union. Last time we left Europe in 1955, with Jean Monnet’s European Coal and Steel Community bringing European nations together without military force…

  21. European Union – Part One – Come Together

    · 1 h 24 min · S9 E1

    Hello and welcome to season nine of Origin Story. After last season’s history of socialism, we’re returning to our usual format of taking on a completely different topic each time, and we’re starting with a big one. As…

  22. Origin Story – Live at Bloomsbury Theatre, 15th April 2026

    · 1 h 47 min · S8 E23

    This week’s episode is an edited version of Origin Story Live at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre on Wednesday 15 April 2026. It was a thrill to take the stage in the former terrain of Origin Story regulars such as Jeremy…

  23. The General Strike – The Revolution That Wasn’t

    · 1 h 25 min · S8 E22

    Hello and welcome to another bonus episode. It’s the centenary of the General Strike of May 1926, the most important industrial dispute in British history, but what really happened and did it really change Britain?…

  24. Introvert / Extrovert – In Two Minds

    · 59 min · S8 E21

    The terms introvert and extrovert have never been more popular. People seem to increasingly latch onto them as a core element of their personality, clinging to the personal definition they offer with ever-greater…

  25. Stephen Miller – American Fascist

    · 1 h 18 min · S8 E20

    Welcome to a bonus episode of Origin Story. Sometimes we profile people who are psychologically complex, who have undertaken fascinating intellectual journeys, whose sins and achievements are intertwined in ways that…

  26. 15-Minute Cities – How Urban Design Entered the Culture War

    · 1 h 06 min · S8 E19

    Welcome to another between-season bonus episode of Origin Story. This week Ian tells the story of 15-minute cities: the notion that every urban resident should live a 15-minute walk or bike ride away from all essential…

  27. Blue Labour: We Need to Talk About Maurice

    · 1 h 30 min · S8 E17 · Explicit

    Origin Story is live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London on Weds 15th April 2026 - tickets selling fast, get yours here Welcome to a between-season bonus episode of Origin Story. We’ve missed you! This one emerged from…

  28. Socialism: The Finale – What’s Left?

    · 1 h 40 min · S8 E15

    Welcome to the finale of Origin Story season eight: the story of socialism. Thanks to everybody who has followed our most ambitious season yet, especially those whose support has enabled us to make it. We left the…

  29. The Fall of the USSR – End Game

    · 1 h 35 min · S8 E14

    Welcome to the penultimate episode of Origin story season eight: the story of socialism. We close the book on Soviet communism with the story of how it all came crashing down — what has been called the most unexpected…

  30. Che Guevara – Guerrilla in the Mist

    · 1 h 32 min · S8 E13

    Welcome back to Origin Story season eight: The Story of Socialism. This time, we take a look at hands-down the sexiest revolutionary of socialist history: Che Guevara. Born in Argentina to wealthy but unhappy parents,…

  31. The New Left – Part Two – Children of the Revolution

    · 1 h 13 min · S8 E12

    Welcome to the second episode of the week as we conclude the story of the New Left. In part one, we explained the various groups and thinkersthat fed into the New Left’s attempts to reimagine socialism during the…

  32. The New Left – Part One – Generation Next

    · 1 h 05 min · S8 E11

    Welcome back to Origin Story season eight: The Story of Socialism. This time, we’re explaining the New Left, the messy constellation of ideas and movements that came out of the discrediting of Soviet communism 70 years…

  33. Origin Story – Live at the Tabernacle, 13th Nov 2025

    · 2 h 03 min · S8 E10

    This week’s episode is an edited version of Origin Story Live at the Tabernacle in London on Thursday 13 November. The theme is political insurgents: the politicians and thinkers who are reshaping politics in 2025. In…

  34. The Labour Party – Part Three – One Battle After Another

    · 1 h 34 min · S8 E9

    Welcome to the third and final part of the story of the Labour Party, from Keir Hardie to Keir Starmer. Margaret Thatcher’s first election victory in 1979 initiates Labour’s longest period in opposition and its…

  35. The Labour Party – Part Two – War and Peace

    · 1 h 36 min · S8 E8

    Welcome back to Origin Story season eight: The Story of Socialism. This week, we continue the tale of the UK Labour Party, from Keir Hardie to Keir Starmer. It’s 1940 and Clement Attlee’s Labour has joined the wartime…

  36. The Labour Party – Part One – A Very British Socialism

    · 1 h 32 min · S8 E7

    Welcome back to Origin Story season eight: The Story of Socialism. This week, in the year of its 125th anniversary, we begin the tale of the UK Labour Party, from Keir Hardie to Keir Starmer. “The British Labour Party…

  37. Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin – Part Three – Terror

    · 1 h 36 min · S8 E6

    • See Origin Story LIVE at The Tabernacle on Thur Nov 13. Buy tickets here. Welcome to the third and final part of the story of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin: Terror. It’s 1929 and the age of Stalin has begun. His…

  38. Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin – Part Two – Power

    · 1 h 32 min · S8 E5

    • See Origin Story LIVE at The Tabernacle, London on Thur Nov 13. Buy tickets here. Welcome back to Origin Story: The Story of Socialism as we resume the story of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin in part two: Power. It’s…

  39. Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin – Part One – Revolution

    · 1 h 31 min · S8 E4

    • See Origin Story LIVE at The Tabernacle, London on Thur 13 Nov. Buy tickets here. Welcome to Origin Story. The Story of Socialism is our first ever themed season and now we begin our first ever three-part story…

  40. Karl Marx – Part Two – The Father

    · 1 h 23 min · S8 E3

    Welcome back to Season Eight: The Story of Socialism as we conclude the story of Karl Marx and the birth of Marxism. It’s 1849. In the wake of the failed revolutions in Europe, Marx and his wife Jenny arrive in London…

  41. Karl Marx – Part One – The Fighter

    · 1 h 29 min · S8 E2

    A spectre is haunting Origin Story — the spectre of Karl Marx. Welcome back to season eight: The Story of Socialism. Last week, we explored the various socialisms that were exciting Europe when Marx was a young man.…

  42. The Birth of Socialism – A Better World is Possible

    · 1 h 32 min · S8 E1

    Welcome to season eight of Origin Story. This season we’re trying something different: one big narrative across multiple topics. It’s the story of socialism, from the earliest blueprints to the present day, Lenin to…

  43. The British Chinese – Hidden generations

    · 1 h 05 min · S7 E17

    British Chinese compose nearly one per cent of the British population, but they are culturally and politically ignored with precious little representation in politics or television. In this Origin Story special…

  44. Rivers of Blood – How Enoch Powell poisoned Britain

    · 1 h 26 min · S7 E16

    Welcome back to Origin Story. In this bonus episode Dorian tells the unnervingly relevant story of Enoch Powell’s so-called “Rivers of Blood” speech. On 20 April 1968, the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West…

  45. Shostakovich and Stalin – The Composer and the Dictator

    · 55 min · S7 E15

    Welcome back to Origin Story. This bonus episode is something a bit different: a story about the power of music and the music of power. Tortured genius? Stalinist stooge? Undercover dissident? Perhaps no musician…

  46. ICE – How Trump built an American Gestapo

    · 55 min · S7 E14 · Explicit

    What is ICE? Who are these men we see gathered around students and politicians in the US, with their faces covered, wearing unmarked clothing, often throwing people into unmarked cars? Where did this organisation…

  47. Martin Luther King Jr. – Part Two – Owning the dream

    · 1 h 23 min · S7 E11

    Welcome to the grand finale of Origin Story season seven, as we conclude the remarkable story of Martin Luther King Jr. With the march from Selma to Montgomery and the passing of the Voting Rights Act, 1965 marked the…

  48. Martin Luther King Jr. – Part One – Eyes on the Prize

    · 1 h 32 min · Explicit

    Welcome to the final topic of Origin Story season seven: the extraordinary life and legacy of Dr Martin Luther King. By Origin Story standards, there’s an unusual moral clarity to this story — a genuinely good man up…

  49. Growth – GDP is the Magic Number

    · 1 h 29 min · S7 E9 · Explicit

    Welcome back to Origin Story, where we’re discussing the concept of economic growth. Growth is the world’s great obsession. When it’s booming, it makes everything easier. When it stagnates or goes into reverse,…

  50. Mars – The Next Frontier?

    · 1 h 24 min · S7 E8 · Explicit

    Welcome to the first ever episode of Origin Story dedicated to a planet. We’re taking a long look at the place of Mars in the popular imagination, from ancient civilisations to fin de siècle Mars mania to the current…

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