Lethal Action - Understanding Poison with Neil Bradbury

Summary

Neil Bradbury (Website, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the deadly history of poison and espionage. Neil is an author and biochemist.  

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• How different poisons affect the human body 
• The usage of poisons as a covert assassination method
• The deaths of defectors Alexander Litvinenko and Georgi Markov
• The Soviet Union’s Lab X and the production and research of poisons on the state level

Reflections

• The double edge of creativity 
• The necessity for research and experimentation

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

“In order to counteract lots of the poisons, you have to know how they work, and you have to be able to develop your own. So, yes, undoubtedly, Western governments are just as actively involved in creating these chemicals and also the antidotes to them.” – Dr. Neil Bradbury.

Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

*Spotlight Resource*

• A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them, Neil Bradbury (St. Martin’s Press, 2022) 

*SpyCasts*

• The Murder of an IRA Spy with Henry Hemming (2024)
• I Helped Solve the Final Zodiac Killer Cipher with David Oranchak (2024) 
• The North Korean Defector with Former DPRK Agent Kim, Hyun Woo (2023)
• Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East vs. West with Calder Walton (2023)

DEEPER DIVE

Books

• Poison: The History of Potions, Powders and Murderous Practitioners, B. Hubbard (Welbeck Publishing, 2020)
• Poison: A History: An Account of the Deadly Art and its Most Infamous Practitioners, J. Davis (Chartwell Books, 2018)
• The KGB's Poison Factory: From Lenin to Litvinenko, B. Volodarsky (Zenith Press, 2010) 

Primary Sources 

• Press Release on the Poisoning of Alexei Navalny (2020)
• Update on the Use of Nerve Agent in Salisbury, UK (2018)
• The Litvinenko Inquiry (2016)
• Situation Report on Piesteritz (1953)
• Analysis of Madame Lefarge’s Arsenic Trial (1840)

*Wildcard Resource*

• This week’s companion song can only be Waterloo Sunset (1967) by The Kinks. 
• Heralded as one of the most beautiful songs of the swingin’ sixties, “Waterloo Sunset” is appropriately incorporated into the title of Neil’s chapter on the assassination of Georgi Markov, which took place on London’s Waterloo Bridge. 

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