Josh Ireland

I'm delighted to be here.

I think it's one of the most amazing stories of the 20th century because it's one of those stories where everyone knows a few details about it.

You know that Trotsky dies in Mexico.

You know it's an ice axe.

But you don't know why he's in Mexico.

You don't know who's wielding the ice axe.

We all know who killed Julius Caesar or we all know who killed JFK.

The thing I was fascinated by was how did Trotsky get to Mexico and who's the man wielding the axe that day in August 1940?

Brilliant.

So he kind of comes from the edges of the Russian Empire.

Like Stalin.

Like Stalin.

So there is a kind of weird, I mean, obviously they go on to develop this fierce, vicious rivalry, but you can see quite a lot of similarities.

They're both bright boys who come from the edges of what was once the Russian Empire.

So in Trotsky's case, he comes from what is now Ukraine.

And Stalin is from Georgia.

And both of them come from quite humble provincial families, both of them from illiterate families.

So Trotsky's father was a farmer and Stalin's was a sort of alcoholic bootmaker.

So there isn't any sign that they will go on to become the sorts of people that will, you know, sort of grab the 20th century by the scruff of the neck and sort of shake it.

But I think there's two things about them.