243. The Troubles: London Bombings, Hunger Strikes, & The Graveside Grenade (Ep 3)

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Who organised the bombing of The Old Bailey in Central London? Why was Jean McConville abducted in December 1972? Why did the British government choose not to intervene when hunger strikers like Bobby Sands refused food in 1981? How was the graveside grenade incident linked to the first seed of peace that would one day end The Troubles? In the third of four episodes, William and Anita are joined once again by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss Bloody Friday, the infamous IRA bombings in London in 1973, and the hunger strike that changed the trajectory of The Troubles toward a battle for the ballot. _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community.
0:06.7	Discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast, add free listening and a weekly newsletter,
0:12.0	sign up to Empire Club at www.empowerpod.ukuk.com.
0:32.2	Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnhon.
0:34.3	And me, William Durimple.
0:38.6	And once again, we are joined by the brilliant Patrick Radden-Keefe, author of Say Nothing.
0:41.6	And if you are watching the series on the television,
0:46.0	can I just commend you to the book, which contains just so much more.
0:48.7	It's an absolute work of art, both William and I think so.
0:50.9	One of my all-time favourite non-fiction books, it reads like Truman Capote, Risen from the Dead. In the last episode,
0:56.5	we ended on Bloody Sunday with the troubles reaching a climax in 1972 with a whole range of horrors.
1:05.1	And we're now in July 1972. There's been a breakdown of talks, and the IRA has launched a series of bomb attacks on
1:15.4	the 21st July in what became known as Bloody Friday.
1:20.0	Patrick, do you want to take the story from here?
1:21.7	There's a story that I tell in my book about a guy named Brendan Hughes, who's one of my
1:27.0	big characters, who was a commander
1:30.4	in the Belfast IRA, a guy who was really revered by the people who followed him as a kind of
1:36.9	brilliant tactician. He was one of the people who helped conceive of this idea of on one day,
1:44.0	nearly simultaneously, blowing up a whole series
1:47.1	of bombs across Belfast. Most of them in commercial areas, and the idea would be, as was the
1:53.1	traditional playbook of the IRA, you call in warnings. You're not trying to kill civilians,
1:57.8	but obviously the margin for error is not great when you're planting
	...

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