Tom Holland

And this is what we talked about last time.

the pillaging of the Temple of the Sun to pile up Atahualpa's ransom.

So he ended with Atahualpa being garrotted by the Spanish anyway.

So this is paranoid atmosphere in Cajamarca, where since November 1532, Pizarro and his comrades have been holding Atahualpa prisoner.

And this is just the beginning of the looting of Peru, because this is the story of one of the greatest gold heists, surely actually the greatest gold heist in history.

The?

Surely?

I mean, I can't think of anything comparable.

And at the heart of the story are the temples and treasure houses of the Incas' holy city of Cuzco.

So it's a story today of gold and greed on an epic scale.

But there is more.

We'll be telling the story of the greatest pitched battle in the history of the conquest of Peru.

So tens of thousands of warriors.

Because to be honest, we haven't had any yet, have we?

No.

And I think people are gagging for a battle and they're going to get one.

We'll be meeting a terrifying Inca warlord who turns his victims into percussion instruments.

We love an Inca warlord who turns his victims into percussion instruments.

On the rest is history.

And most exciting, and this is a real gift for long-standing listeners, we should be welcoming back to the show one of our favourite characters, top gilet and red trousers model, Pedro de Alvarado.