Dominic Sandbrook

So like his father, he is a moderniser.

So both of them, Reza Pahlavi, a classic kind of military man of the interwar years who tried to westernise and modernise Iran, his son is the same.

And we'll talk a little bit more in the second half about the political implications of this, but let's just concentrate on Mohammed and his character.

By the 1960s, he is developing a personality cult.

His courtiers treat him as a demigod.

He starts to see himself as the heir to the great kings of the past, people like Cyrus the Great.

Exactly.

And he does with gusto.

They put up posters everywhere in Tehran.

He's got this classic kind of 1950s, 1960s dictator vibe.

So he wears a military uniform and enormous sunglasses.

I like a dictator in sunglasses, to be honest.

I'd wear them myself if I was a dictator, but there you go.

The thing is that actually behind the scenes, he's still actually a very shy and sullen man and very reserved and timid.

But in the West, he becomes a real celebrity.

So Western visitors think he's very polished and very impressive.

The gossip columns are full of, you know, he speaks English and French fluently.

He goes skiing in St.

Moritz.

He plays tennis on the French Riviera.