Mystery On The Rocks

The sensational story of the gruesome 1943 murder of Sir Harry Oakes - a baronet, philanthropist and incredibly wealthy owner of a gold mine who was living in the Bahamas at the time. Stabbed with a miner's pick, to disguise other wounds from an ice pick, and then doused in insecticide, set alight and covered in feathers.All of that in a story which also finds time to take in the actual King of England turning detective to try to solve the murder!Plus time for us to natter about the 1998 version of Godzilla for a bit...____________________We're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mystery

In one of the most ghoulish cases we've covered, in 1932 in Sweden a sex worker by the name of Lilly Lindeström is found dead in her apartment, naked and face down on the bed. Police had to break into her apartment and she had been dead for days.There are several sick elements to this case, not least that Lily's body had been drained of blood without a drop being spilled, except for traces on a soup ladle next to her body...We're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time! Hosted on

An unidentified man, beaten to death, is found floating in the sea 12 miles off a tiny archipelago, itself 43 miles off the coast of Germany. Dressed in smart clothes, he is known to this day only as The Gentleman...OK, so this week's mystery has so few clues and such little hope of ever being solved we kind of got very distracted...Distracted enough to invent a new game, play it through, have such fun doing it and end up devising a brand new panel show!Enjoy!And we're doing a live show! On November 3rd at 7pm we will be at The Princess Victoria pub in London's Shepherds Bush as part of the Cheerful Earful podcast festival. If you're in or around the area we'd love to see you there, simply head to https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/events/mystery-on-the-rocks for details!PLUS get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which w

It's October 1954 in Tuscany and local football rivals Fiorentina and Pistoriese are playing a derby in front of 10,000 screaming fans. But the stadium falls silent, the players stop playing and the ball rolls to a slow halt.Everyone is transfixed by cigar-like UFOs drifting up above, with strange materials trailing down far enough to be touched by the crowd and taken away to be sampled...So what on Earth was it? Hear Sooz spooked far more than she ever has been before!Get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!Video we mention - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrS0igctMi0Geological Society Blog Post we mention - https://blog.geolsoc.org.uk/2014/12/09/door-9-football-geothermal-energy-and-the-1954-wave-of-ufos/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happened to Lawrence Joseph Bader, the salesman riddled with debt who rented a fishing boat and promptly vanished in 1957?Does it have anything to do with the gregarious TV show host John Johnson who appeared elsewhere four days later?And what is pole sitting?Let's find out!Get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!PLUS our very own Sooz is touring the UK with her stand-up show Playstation RIGHT NOW. Head to www.soozkempner.co.uk/copy-of-playstation-2022 to see if the tour is coming near you and, if it is, to buy tickets! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sooz, Chris and Masud all agree that Succession is one of the greatest TV shows ever made, and that the finale is one of the greatest TV finales of all time...So here is a one-off Succession special where we get everything out of our system following the conclusion of an absolutely phenomenal show, so that further episodes of Mystery on the Rocks are not blighted (quite so much as previously) by endless Succession tangents...For newbies, we usually do a cocktail and mysteries podcast called Mystery on the Rocks but we just had to discuss Succession now that has ended to stop us from derailing future episodes of the podcast. If you think that sounds like your sort of thing then jump on in!And if you wanted to go one extra step in supporting the channel we also have a Patreon with an enormous back catalogue of bonus episodes, outtakes, cocktail recipes and more - including plenty more Succession chat! Find us at www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

January 1994, in a sleepy West Midlands village, a retired school caretaker makes a gruesome discovery while walking his dog.A gruesome delivery with links to arms dealing, a double shooting and Kuwaiti royalty...Get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon. Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where this currently a considerable back catalogue of loads of cool stuff!And our very own Sooz is touring the UK with her stand-up show Playstation RIGHT NOW. Head to www.soozkempner.co.uk/copy-of-playstation-2022 to see if the tour is coming near you and, if it is, to buy tickets! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oslo, 1995.A Jane Doe. With a gunshot wound to the head. Holding a gun she couldn't possibly have fired. In a locked hotel room in Oslo... Mystery upon mystery upon mystery. So what really happened and who was she? The answers to these questions might never be answered but join us for a quick look through what we DO know and if it might offer a solution?Get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where we've got a huge back catalogue of really cool stuff which we keep adding to all the time!PLUS our very own Sooz is touring the UK with her stand-up show Playstation RIGHT NOW. Head to www.soozkempner.co.uk/copy-of-playstation-2022 to see if the tour is coming near you and, if it is, to buy tickets! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In April 1935 a tiger shark is caught 2 miles out to sea from Sydney before being transferred to a nearby aquarium where, in front of awed spectators, it vomits out a human arm with a distinctive tattoo.This is only the beginning...We take a look at the series of coincidences and bizarre chain of events which centre around this puking shark.Get early, ad-free access to episodes as well as cocktail recipes and outtakes plus whole bonus episodes over on our Patreon. Just head to www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks where this currently a considerable back catalogue of cool stuff!And our very own Sooz is touring the UK with her stand-up show Playstation RIGHT NOW. Head to www.soozkempner.co.uk/copy-of-playstation-2022 to see if the tour is coming near you and, if it is, to buy tickets! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back!A quick note to say that the first episode of the sixth season had a bit of a messed up audio file (Masud going away obviously jinxed us) but we have cleaned up to the best of our abilities. Going forward, all should be resolved tech wise and subsequent episodes won't have this hiccup...In February 1945, 70 year old Charles Walton is found near his Warwickshire home brutally murdered and impaled to the ground through his neck with his own pitchfork. Who did it? And, more to the point, why did so many people think witchcraft was responsible?Joining us to pick it apart is the FANTASTIC Alasdair Beckett-King - comedian, host of the brilliant podcast Loremen and now bona fide mystery writer with the publication of his awesome childrens' book 'Murder at the Museum'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season Six starts NEXT MONTH but we recorded a brand new special episode ahead of that to mark our 4th anniversary!December 2008 in Jackson, Tennessee bar owner and sheriff's deputy Euhommie Bond is tragically killed in a shootout outside his bar and grill, Spanky's. With so much gunfire concentrated in such a short space of time, finding out who killed him is no mean feat, one main reason why the police investigation stalls so dramatically...And why is the family so reluctant to support his beloved aunt when she tries to get the case looked into?For a huge backlog of exclusive bonus content, including early ad-free access to episodes, be sure to check out our Patreon at www.patreon.com/mysteryontherocks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An extra episode to (belatedly) kick off 2023.When the Andrew Tate/Greta Thunberg thing kicked off on Twitter, we decided to do an impromptu episode to discuss it, some British political happenings of 2022 and also to do a bit of between-seasons admin we weren't able to do in the previous episode on account of being thrown out (quite, quite rightly) of the Phoenix Arts Club.Unfortunately it was so impromptu that Masud couldn't make it again but he'll be back, we promise! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So a little later than expected...By us too!Illness and Christmas and family and bollocks conspire as they always do to stymie any kind of momentum. Not that Christmas and family are in trouble for doing so but illness and bollocks can fuck off quite frankly.Anyway, our Christmas (more like New Year) Special - recorded on location backstage at the Phoenix Arts Club - is here! Sooz takes the reins and Chris sips a Negroni while Masud sits this one out as we take a look at the (quite frankly compelling) evidence that Michael Jackson composed the music for seminal 1994 videogame Sonic the Hedgehog 3... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's here! We did it! YOU did it!Made it through our longest season yet. We take stock of the topics covered and take a moment to reflect on our collective favourite episode of this season - Magnus Hirschfeld and Dora Richter. We discuss how it's a good indicator of whether or not humanity has learned from the history of the 20th Century.We don't think it has!Thanks for sticking with us this season - we're looking forward to sharing some cases of the week again with you very soon!And while we're taking a break between seasons, we're not taking a break over on our Patreon where we'll still be posting mini episodes, bonus episodes. If you can't bear the thought of waiting for Season Six why not head over to our Patreon to see if you fancy going one extra step in supporting the podcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's (almost) the end...A mammoth trawl through geopolitics, war and espionage brings us to 2021 and an outgoing US President incites an insurrection on the house of government. What led us there, what parallels from history can be drawn and, more interestingly, where could this possibly lead us?We don't get entirely gloomy though, there's also a bit where we all thirst over Denzel Washington. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We hurtle towards the present day and the end of this mammoth season as we hit 2018 this week when the poisonings of two Russians, a father and daughter named Sergei and Yulia Skripal, in the Wiltshire town of Salisbury kick off mass panic, the death of a woman entirely unrelated to them whatsoever, a further tensing of international relations with Russia itself, calls to boycott the World Cup AND (in the generation of social media) a slew of memes.And what part could the British weather have played in the whole thing?We take a look as we disorientate ourselves a little bit with both how recent and  distant this feels... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2010, Gareth Williams - a mathematician and spy - is found dead in a padlocked duffel bag in a bath tub in an en suite in a British secret service safe house in Pimlico with no fingerprints, not even Gareth's, left on the padlock, bag or bathroom. Loads of theories have come out since but, if we're honest, no real satisfactory explanation for what actually happened.Did Russia attempt to recruit him and he rebuffed them? Was he in possession of British secrets the authorities were worried about him handing over? And, if he was assassinated, why was he left in the flat in such a manner? Equally, if he killed himself, how did he get in the bag and leave no fingerprints?In what is one of our messiest recordings for a while, can we get to the bottom of this strange case and is this the drunkest Sooz has been for a while? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2006, British-based Russian author and journalist Alexander Litvinenko is suddenly taken seriously ill. His deterioration is world news, chronicled right up until his death 3 weeks later.Thing is, Litvinenko wasn't only a journalist - he was a former Russian agent. And not only was he a former Russian agent, he was a vocal critic of the Kremlin and of Vladmir Putin, having gone on record accusing Putin of unspeakable crimes.A deliberate assassination, not even disguised as an accident. Is this when the world started waking up to the idea of a new full-blown tyrant? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the most seismic events of recent history, conspiracy theories abound as to what "really happened" when planes flew into the World Trade Center (plus Pentagon, and stopped from flying into the Capitol) on September 11, 2001. We take a look at some of them and how, actually, such theories aren't as harmless as some might think.Yeah, as Masud called it - it's the Big One.Sooz has been waiting for this since we started the podcast. So excited that she didn't notice until too late that her headphones weren't plugged in, meaning this is a rip of the Zoom audio. That wouldn't usually be a massive problem except it coincided with the day Chris was having his windows replaced. So forgive any residual noise... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1998 a White House intern's life comes crashing down after her affair with the President of the United States is exposed. Worldwide media goes crazy, the President is impeached but ultimately moves on with reputation intact, relative to the intern's in question... Monica Lewinsky.So how did the affair come to light, what were the ramifications and could it possibly have somehow contributed to one of the most Earth-shattering events of the early 21st Century? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.