The Guildford Four | Day Trips to the Moon | 1
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What events set the stage for the 1974 IRA pub bombing in Guildford?
Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of British Scandal ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. This episode contains strong language, descriptions of bomb scenes and police violence. Listener discretion is advised. What the hell do you think you're up to?
I'm just coming here to work.
Who are you?
Alice F I'm Matt, I'm your colleague.
Yeah, you're also a forty-three year old white guy from Nottingham.
I am, yes.
You one hundred percent fit the bill for a lot of bad stuff that's been going down around these parts.
Just because some forty three year old white men from Nottingham do bad things, it doesn't mean all of us do.
Well, that's all I got to work on. So I have profiled you.
Okay, well that feels slightly prejudicial.
Okay. I've seen the error of my ways. You're right, I came in a bit heavy handed, and I feel like I owe you an apology, and I was just I was just trying to find the bad guys.
Alice, don't worry. I realise you've got a job to do. It's not easy, and I'm used to it, so it's cool. Um just on a separate point, could I hide this bag of guns down there?
Saturday the fifth of october, nineteen seventy four. Guildford Police Station. Detective Chief Superintendent Wally Simmons rubs his eyes. He's just put in a ten hour shift and he's exhausted. He crushes out his cigarette. He's just about to head out when one of his sergeants bursts through the door. Hors and Groom Popsa, North Street. Wally size. He knows it well. He's tired of having to step in and break up fights between drunken soldiers, but he grabs his jacket.
This already feels that so long ago, doesn't it? Cops doing 10-hour shifts, cigarettes, soldiers fighting in pubs. It was a better time.
He jumps into his car. Switches on is silence. The noise usually scares the brawlers before he's arrived. But as he nears the scene, he spots a plume of dark, acrid smoke in the air. He turns the corner. And stares in horror. The whole pub building is buckled. Inside is a charred smouldering wreck. People stagger out, burned, blood soaked, and shocked. The stench of chemicals and charred flesh hits him like a punch to the gut, as he realizes. This is a bomb attack. He races inside, the air thick with dust and smoke. He can just make out four, maybe five charred bodies in the wreckage. He feels his stomach turn. He looks down. A young woman, her face bloodied, reaches up to him. He drops by her side. Oh Christ!
Her legs a gnarled bloody mess of flesh and bare bone. He takes off his tie, tries to stem the bleeding, looks around in desperation.
We need a paramedic over here!
Outside he doubles over, gulps in the dusty air. Feels his eyes prick with tears. In all his twenty nine years in the police force, he's never seen anything like this. He pushes through the crowd to his sergeant.
Why wasn't the pub evacuated?
The man's eyebrows arch up. No warning given, sir. Wally freezes. The IRA always calls ahead. Giving civilians a chance to escape. He straightens up. tightens his jaw as five body bags are wheeled out. If they're not playing by the rules anymore, then neither will he. He'll do whatever it takes to hunt these murdering Irish scumbags down.
How does young Gerry Conlon’s life in Belfast lead to his arrest?
And when he gets his hands on them, he'll make them wish they'd never been born.
James Arthur Ray was a charismatic self-help guru who promised his followers a path to wealth and enlightenment by becoming the best versions of themselves. But not all who followed him finished their journey. For the best bingeable series, listen to the Audible True Crime podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of the podcast American Scandal. Our latest series tells the story of college counselor Rick Singer, who thought he'd found a way to rig the admissions process for his wealthy clients until an unrelated FBI investigation inadvertently exposed the largest college admission scandal in American history. Listen to American Scandal on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts.
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And I'm Matt Ford.
And this is British Scandal, the show where we bring you the murkiest stories that ever happened on these odd little aisles.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What events set the stage for the 1974 IRA pub bombing in Guildford?
0:00–4:01
2
How does young Gerry Conlon’s life in Belfast lead to his arrest?
4:01–13:14
3
Why does Gerry decide to move to London and what challenges does he face there?
13:14–30:23
4
What role does Detective Chief Superintendent Wally Simmons play in the investigation?
30:23–53:43