{"podcast":{"title":"Cold War Conversations - \"vivid & compelling\" The NY Times","slug":"cold-war-conversations-vivid-compelling-the-ny-times-1014119","podcast_index_feed_id":1014119,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/NSR5326520675","website_url":"http://www.coldwarconversations.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/4c941332-cd54-11ed-891b-5f881caae663/image/e538425e88d5a24ff3c6d98b6126d441.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Ian Sanders","episode_count":467,"summary":"\"Listening to even one episode of \"Cold War Conversations\" will make this sprawling, potentially intimidating period of history feel vivid and compelling.\" The New York Times Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast. Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more. These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human. This is Cold War history, told from the inside out. We cover subjects such as spies, spying, the Iron Curtain, nuclear weapons, warfare, tanks, jet aircraft, fighters, bombers, transport aircraft, aviation, culture, and politics. We also cover personalities such as Fidel Castro, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Mikhail Gorbachev, Konstantin Chernenko, Margaret Thatcher, John F. Kennedy, Josef Stalin, Richard Nixon, Lech Walesa, General Jaruzelski, Nicolae Ceaușescu. Other subjects include Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, West…","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T22:21:59.359371+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-war-conversations-vivid-compelling-the-ny-times-1014119"},"episode":{"title":"Defection, Spies and the Shadow of Georgi Markov (466)","slug":"defection-spies-and-the-shadow-of-georgi-markov-466","published_at":"2026-07-24T23:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-war-conversations-vivid-compelling-the-ny-times-1014119/defection-spies-and-the-shadow-of-georgi-markov-466","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-war-conversations-vivid-compelling-the-ny-times-1014119","url":"https://coldwarconversations.com/episode466","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR5933299484.mp3?updated=1748027495","summary":"In 1986, Oggy Boytchev made a split-second decision that would change his life forever. Sent to Egypt by a Bulgarian shipping company, he seized an unexpected opportunity to escape communist Bulgaria, boarding a flight to London and claiming political asylum at Heathrow. In this 2nd episode with Oggy, he recounts details of his extraordinary escape to becoming a broadcaster with the BBC World Service. He describes the emotional impact of leaving his family behind, the pride his father felt hearing his son’s voice broadcasting back into Bulgaria, and the dramatic events that followed the collapse of communism. Episode one is here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode465/ Oggy also takes us inside the Bulgarian section of the BBC, where the memory of murdered dissident Georgi Markov still lingered. He reveals stories of another mysterious death linked to the section, recalls interviewing KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky about Markov’s assassination, and reflects on later encounters with spies, intelligence chiefs and world leaders during a distinguished BBC career alongside John Simpson. Oggy’s latest novel, 'The Istanbul Connection ', is a gripping, morally complex thriller that explores the blurred lines between ideology and manipulation Enter the book giveaway here ⁠ https://coldwarconversations.com/giveaway1/⁠ Check outOggy's books here ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/4wyGHjT⁠⁠ Curated episode extras ⁠⁠https://coldwarconversations.com/episode466/ Help me preserve Cold War history via a simple monthly donation, You’ll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, receive a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank-you, and bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://coldwarconversations.com/donat…","meta_description":"In 1986, Oggy Boytchev made a split-second decision that would change his life forever. Sent to Egypt by a Bulgarian shipping company, he seized an unexpe…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2495,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/cold-war-conversations-vivid-compelling-the-ny-times-1014119/episodes/defection-spies-and-the-shadow-of-georgi-markov-466/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-war-conversations-vivid-compelling-the-ny-times-1014119/defection-spies-and-the-shadow-of-georgi-markov-466.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}