{"podcast":{"title":"Iain Dale All Talk","slug":"iain-dale-all-talk-18823","podcast_index_feed_id":18823,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/iain-dale-all-talk/","website_url":"https://www.lbc.co.uk/","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/75e41973-70bd-4f71-9152-825f1360d48d/9clYGOCx8pYI9PRuDWRmP8jQ.jpg","author":"Global","episode_count":396,"summary":"Award-winning LBC radio presenter, writer and ‘For the Many’ podcast co-host, Iain Dale brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs as he speaks with high profile media and political figures.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iain-dale-all-talk-18823"},"episode":{"title":"362. Paul Bessell","slug":"362-paul-bessell","published_at":"2026-04-15T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iain-dale-all-talk-18823/362-paul-bessell","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iain-dale-all-talk-18823","url":"https://www.lbc.co.uk/","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/32529718-6a4c-4b1c-8a85-0f06efb28130.mp3?aw_0_1st.showid=b054c5f5-ad19-428c-a49b-8ee61b7712ea&aw_0_1st.episodeid=32529718-6a4c-4b1c-8a85-0f06efb28130","summary":"Iain Dale interviews author Paul Bessel about his new book FINDING DAD, a memoir-investigation into the life of Paul’s father, Peter Bessel: a Liberal MP (1964-1970), close friend of Jeremy Thorpe, later a key prosecution witness in the 1979 Thorpe conspiracy-to-murder trial. Bessel explains why he delayed writing for decades, what triggered the book, and how fearful he was of uncovering painful truths in his parents’ archives. The conversation traces Peter Bessel’s rise as a respected Cornish MP, his later financial collapse, a dramatic disappearance in 1974 that left his family suddenly impoverished, and the complicated, sometimes clandestine life he led (including secret “work” Bessel suspects may have involved US national security).","meta_description":"Iain Dale interviews author Paul Bessel about his new book FINDING DAD, a memoir-investigation into the life of Paul’s father, Peter Bessel: a Liberal MP…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3544,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/iain-dale-all-talk-18823/episodes/362-paul-bessell/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iain-dale-all-talk-18823/362-paul-bessell.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}