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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.
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- 3 days ago1h 39m
Rupert Murdoch – Part Two – Decline of the Digger
Hello and welcome to season 10 of Origin Story. This week we conclude the story of Rupert Murdoch, the media titan people love to hate. After a brush with bankruptcy in 1990, Murdoch came roaring back with a new focus on television around the world. In 1996, he launched Fox News under the baleful command of Roger Ailes, which became a key driver of the polarisation of America. For a period, his celebrity-loving new wife Wendi Deng and attraction to New Labour seemed to pull Murdoch himself in a more liberal direction but his innate conservatism, and the profit monster of Fox News, won out. In the 2010s, Murdoch looked truly vulnerable for the first time. Damaged by the phone-hacking crisis at his British tabloids and multiple scandals at the increasingly extreme Fox News, he downsized his empire and wrestled with a succession psychodrama of his own making. After pitting three of his children — Lachlan, Elisabeth and James — against each other for years, he finally chose an heir but the bitterness he generated in the process has had seismic ramifications for his business. Murdoch is 95 and the global edifice he has spent seven decades building looks shakier than ever. Along the way, we dig into Murdoch’s strange personality, his pugilistic deal-making, his unique parenting style, and his subtle way of exerting political influence over his outlets even when he’s half a world away. Why did one bank in Pittsburgh almost ruin Murdoch? How did Fox News go from laughing stock to kingmaker, and what has it done to America? How did the question of inheritance come to tear Murdoch’s family apart? In what ways have the personality and prejudices of one man changed the shape of the world we live in? And what happens to his kingdom after he’s gone? • Support Origin Story on Patreon to help the podcast AND get merch and extra material too. Reading list • Neil Chenoweth – Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Media Wizard (2001) • Peter Chippindale and Chris Horrie – Stick It Up Your Punter! The Uncut Story of the Sun Newspaper (2013) • Harold Evans – Good Times, Bad Times (1983) • Robert Harris – Selling Hitler (1986) • Simon Jenkins – The Market for Glory: Fleet Street Ownership in the Twentieth Century (1986) • Andrew Marr – My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism (2004) • Andrew Neil – Full Disclosure (1996) • John Preston – Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell (2021) • William Shawcross – Murdoch (1993) • Gabriel Sherman – Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family — and the World (2026) • Michael Wolff – The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (2010) Articles and podcasts • Anonymous, ‘The Battle for New York’, Time (17 January 1977) • Ken Auletta – ‘The Pirate’, New Yorker (6 November 1995) • Julian Barnes – ‘Union Blues’, New Yorker (14 April 2003) • McKay Coppins – ‘Growing Up Murdoch’, Atlantic (14 February 2025) • Clyde Haberman — ‘Roger Ailes, Who Built Fox News Into an Empire, Dies at 77’, New York Times (18 May 2017) • Hendrik Hertzberg – ‘Topless Tabloids of Gotham’, New Yorker (15 February 1999) • Joseph Lelyveld – ‘Murdoch Savors His British Coup’, New York Times (2 March 1986) • Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg – ‘How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World’, New York Times (3 April 2019) • Jane Martinson – ‘“We’re clearly heading towards collapse”: why the Murdoch empire is about to go bang’, Observer (22 February 2025) • Andrew O’Hagan – ‘How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire — and Remade the News’, New Yorker (2 February 2026) • David Shaw – ‘Making of a Megamogul’, New York Times (26 May 1985) • Gail Sheehy – ‘A Fistful of Dollars’, Rolling Stone (14 July 1977) • Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News, written and presented by Josh Levin, Slate (2024) Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago1h 36m
Rupert Murdoch – Part One – Empire of The Sun
Hello and welcome to season 10 of Origin Story. Thanks for listening and supporting our work. We kick off with the world-shaking, century-spanning story of Rupert Murdoch. No single person has ever dominated, and changed, the media landscape like Murdoch. Starting out with an inheritance of a single newspaper in Australia, within three decades he had built a global media empire through his relentless desire to win and had become the most envied, feared and hated man in the business. In part one we cover the period from 1931 to 1989. Despite being the Oxford-educated scion of Australia’s most famous journalist, Murdoch always felt like an outsider, at war with a faceless enemy called “the establishment”. As a young man, he became a major force in Australian newspapers through a combination of brute force, cunning and seemingly impossible deals. In 1968, he came to Britain to snap up the News of the World and the Sun and revolutionised tabloid newspapers with his killer instinct for what readers really wanted, however ugly. Moving to America, he applied the same populist impulse to the New York Post and inspired outrage: one critic called the paper a “force for evil”. Murdoch had a tabloid soul but craved broadsheet prestige. His purchase of the Times and Sunday Times in 1981 set off a series of dramas: the firing of beloved editor Harold Evans, the Hitler Diaries hoax and war with the print unions at Wapping. Ruthlessly unsentimental, he took the gambles and fought the battles that nobody else had the stomach for. It was in the decade of Reagan and Thatcher, both of whom he loudly supported, that Murdoch expanded his empire in all directions: a movie studio, a publishing house, satellite television stations and more. Rivals like Ted Turner and Robert Maxwell loathed him but emulated him. Even when one of his deals failed, it changed the game. He built the world’s first cross-media, intercontinental dominion. But as the 1990s dawned, this precariously funded spending spree brought Murdoch to the edge of bankruptcy. How did Rupert Murdoch’s Australian origins inform his worldview? What enabled him to consistently outwit his rivals and foes? How did he first change both the tone and the business of newspapers and then globalise the media industry? What led the New York Times to call him “the most vilified press mogul in the world today”? Why did his immense power never mute his underdog resentment? Why was it never enough? • Support Origin Story on Patreon to help the podcast AND get merch and extra material too. Reading list • Neil Chenoweth – Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Media Wizard (2001) • Peter Chippindale and Chris Horrie – Stick It Up Your Punter! The Uncut Story of the Sun Newspaper (2013) • Harold Evans – Good Times, Bad Times (1983) • Robert Harris – Selling Hitler (1986) • Simon Jenkins – The Market for Glory: Fleet Street Ownership in the Twentieth Century (1986) • Andrew Marr – My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism (2004) • Andrew Neil – Full Disclosure (1996) • John Preston – Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell (2021) • William Shawcross – Murdoch (1993) • Gabriel Sherman – Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family — and the World (2026) • Michael Wolff – The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (2010) Articles and podcasts • Anonymous, ‘The Battle for New York’, Time (17 January 1977) • Ken Auletta – ‘The Pirate’, New Yorker (6 November 1995) • Julian Barnes – ‘Union Blues’, New Yorker (14 April 2003) • McKay Coppins – ‘Growing Up Murdoch’, Atlantic (14 February 2025) • Clyde Haberman — ‘Roger Ailes, Who Built Fox News Into an Empire, Dies at 77’, New York Times (18 May 2017) • Hendrik Hertzberg – ‘Topless Tabloids of Gotham’, New Yorker (15 February 1999) • Joseph Lelyveld – ‘Murdoch Savors His British Coup’, New York Times (2 March 1986) • Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg – ‘How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World’, New York Times (3 April 2019) • Jane Martinson – ‘“We’re clearly heading towards collapse”: why the Murdoch empire is about to go bang’, Observer (22 February 2025) • Andrew O’Hagan – ‘How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire — and Remade the News’, New Yorker (2 February 2026) • David Shaw – ‘Making of a Megamogul’, New York Times (26 May 1985) • Gail Sheehy – ‘A Fistful of Dollars’, Rolling Stone (14 July 1977) • Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News, written and presented by Josh Levin, Slate (2024) Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago1h 24m
Anti-vaxxers – Herd impunity – Origin Story Revisited
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. Somehow we’ve recorded over 150 episodes so we’ve chosen four of our favourites to reissue with new introductions where we discuss making them and reflect on how subsequent events have changed how we think about these stories. For our final Revisited before Season 10 begins, we look again at anti-vaxxers. Vaccine resistance is as old as vaccines themselves but not until the 2000s did a toxic compound of junk science and media credulity give rise to a serious anti-vax movement. Since we made this episode in June 2024, that movement has gained power in the US with an anti-vaxxer President (Trump) and Health Secretary (Robert F Kennedy Jr). The dreadful result is not just an immediate spike in measles cases but the stifling of preparations for the next pandemic. Here’s the story of how crank paranoia and industrialised ignorance came to jeopardise one of the greatest achievements in the history of public health. • Support Origin Story on Patreon Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago1h 28m
Russell Brand – Confidence man – Origin Story Revisited
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. Somehow we’ve recorded over 150 episodes so we’ve chosen four of our favourites to reissue with new introductions where we discuss making them and reflect on how subsequent events have changed how we think about these stories. This week we’re returning to our October 2024 episode about Russell Brand, who is back in the news this week because jury selection has begun in his trial on multiple sexual-offence charges. Obviously we can’t discuss legal proceedings but we can talk about how his rise and fall represents a very modern narrative of radicalisation and/or opportunism. From ubiquitous celebrity to left-wing hero to right-wing conspiracy theorist, Brand is a creature of 21st century media and a warning to the gullible. • Support Origin Story on Patreon Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Oct 7, 20261h 21m
Ayn Rand: The ego has landed – Origin Story Revisited
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 rather than an abstract idea — we explore how Rand's extreme views on the self versus the society inspired a whole school of thought but somewhat ruined her life. And we read some very long novels. Enjoy • Support Origin Story on Patreon Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Sep 30, 202645 min
The Battle of Cable Street – Origin Story Revisited
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. Somehow we’ve recorded over 150 episodes so we’ve chosen four of our favourites to reissue with new introductions where we discuss making them and reflect on how subsequent events have changed how we think about these stories. Our first Revisited episode is The Battle of Cable Street from August 2024. It’s not just because the 80th anniversary of that event falls on 4 October. In light of the emergence of Patriot Platform and other forms of far-right intimidation, it’s a good time to look again at the day a vast anti-fascist alliance stood up to Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in the East End, and at how popular resistance can spur state action. Hope you enjoy it. • Support Origin Story on Patreon Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Sep 23, 20261h 4m
John Rawls – Philosopher king of the 20th Century
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 to enter the canon of Western thought alongside the greatest figures in the philosophical tradition. Rawls' work was a deadly surgical attack on neoliberalism and a rigorous defence of a more progressive form of liberalism, grounded in equality, rights and social justice. His notion of the veil of ignorance is perhaps the single most influential philosophical idea of the 20th Century and one of the most beautiful concepts in political theory. He provided a systematic justification for a centre-left worldview and policy programme, with a firm moral grounding and extremely radical repercussions. We trace his life story, from early childhood tragedy, through the battlefields of the Second World War, to a long and distinguished career in Harvard. We find a quiet, shy, unassuming man, uncomfortable in large groups and immune to self-importance, who nevertheless shook the philosophical world to its foundation. As his libertarian opponent Robert Nozick admitted: "Political philosophers must either work within Rawls' theory or explain why not." We then delve into Rawls' political philosophy, providing a concise explanation of a foundational idea in the history of progressive thought. If you've ever wondered what the limit of the market should be, or how much inequality we should allow, or why people should be entitled to rights, Rawls will provide the explanation. Join us for an inspiring story of a world-changing idea. • Support Origin Story on Patreon Reading list • Daniel Chandler - Free and Equal: What Would a Fair Society Look Like? (Penguin, 2024) • Thomas Pogge - John Rawls: His Life and Theory of Justice (Oxford University Press, 2007) • John Rawls - Political Liberalism (Columbia University Press, 2005) • John Rawls - Theory of Justice (Harvard University Press, 1999) Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Sep 8, 20262h 7m
Origin Story Live at Union Chapel
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 narrative. It’s the story of how the Daily Telegraph’s deterioration from grey citadel of High Toryism to feral troll farm mirrors the cognitive decline of conservatism in Britain. In part one we tell the story of the Telegraph. Founded in 1855 by a crank army colonel to pursue an obscure vendetta, it was soon bought by the Levy-Lawson family, who turned into Britain’s liveliest newspaper and the world’s largest. During the 20th century, it became the heart of British conservatism: solidly — sometimes alarmingly — right-wing yet respectable and conscientious. It was proud to be boring: a safe harbour in a changing world. “Was, is, and will be,” its masthead boasted. The Telegraph took a strange turn after 2004, with its acquisition by the Barclay brothers and the rise of online journalism. Drawing more of its editors and energy from the Daily Mail, it began platforming more extreme voices in the hunt for clicks. By the time of Brexit in 2016, the viciousness and paranoia that characterised its online output had colonised the newspaper itself. Could its recent purchase by Germany’s Axel Springer trigger a return to normality? In part two we play headline tennis with some of the Telegraph’s barmiest articles, dig into the feverish, apocalyptic world view of columnist-editor Allister Heath, and explore what the paper’s decline says about the crumbling of the Tory mind. Then we take questions from the audience. Hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed doing the show. Reading list Books Lord Burnham – Peterborough Court: The Story of The Daily Telegraph (1955) Colin Coote – Editorial: The Memoirs of Colin R. Coote (1965) W. F. Deedes – Dear Bill: A Memoir (2005) Duff Hart-Davis – The House The Berrys Built: Inside The Telegraph (1990) Max Hastings – Editor: A Memoir (2002) Jane Martinson – You May Never See Us Again: The Barclay Dynasty: A Story of Survival, Secrecy and Succession (2023) Peregrine Worsthorne – Tricks of Memory: An Autobiography (1993) Articles Stephen Bates – ‘Sir Peregrine Worsthorne obituary’, Guardian (5 October 2020) Jason Cowley – ‘The lost magic of England’, New Statesman (11 February 2016) Bryan Curtis – ‘Paper Tiger’, Slate (25 October 2006) Allister Heath – ‘Vast forces are mobilising to stop Britain’s only real chance of survival’, Telegraph (18 February 2026) Allister Heath – ‘The Fall of Britain: A tragedy in three horrifying acts’, Telegraph (19 April 2026) Liz Truss – ‘Trump has been proven right about pretty much everything’, Telegraph (14 April 2025) Jim Waterson – ‘“Toxic” Telegraph made me feel nauseous, says Graham Norton’, Guardian (7 October 2019) Peregrine Worsthorne – ‘The “Daily Telegraph”: No other British institution has been so badly degraded’, Independent (21 November 2005) Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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About Origin Story
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.
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