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Episode details

Radio 4,08 Oct 2024,13 mins

SeriesThe Brighton Bomb

2. The Man Who Wasn't Walsh

The History Podcast

Available for over a year

The clock – the long-delay timer – nobody is meant to hear is counting down to 2.54am on the 12th October, 1984. It's attached to a bomb, behind the panel of the bath of Room 629 in Brighton’s Grand Hotel, left there by a man who signed in as Roy Walsh. Except he's not Roy Walsh. Who is the man using his name? And how did he go from a childhood in the east of England to attempting to assassinate the Prime Minister and all her cabinet in the biggest assault on a British government since the Gunpowder Plot on 5th November 1605? The long timer to this moment was set many, many years before. Written and presented by Glenn Patterson Series Producer: Owen McFadden Story Consultant and Sound Design: Alan Hall Producer: Lena Ferguson Archive Producer: Fran Rowlatt McCormick Production Co-Ordinator: Hollie Wallace Composer: Mark McCambridge Sound Engineer: Claire Marquess Mixing Engineer: Mike Woolley Patrick Magee archive courtesy of Peter Taylor and Whistledown Productions Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4

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