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Real Dictators Podcast Transcripts

NOISER · 166 episodes with transcripts

Real Dictators is the award-winning podcast that explores the hidden lives of history's tyrants. Hosted by Paul McGann, with contributions from eyewitnesses and expert historians. New episodes available two weeks early for Noiser+ subscribers.

Spoken has transcripts of 166 Real Dictators episodes, with the speakers named. The newest listed here is from September 22, 2026.

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Every Real Dictators transcript in one script

166 episodes of Real Dictators have transcripts. Fetch them all as speaker-labeled Markdown in one script — 1 credit each, and re-fetching one you already have is free:

archive.sh
curl -s -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" \
  https://spoken.md/podcasts/1516194847/episodes \
  | jq -r '.episodes[] | "\(.id) \(.title)"' \
  | while IFS=' ' read -r id title; do
      slug=$(echo "$title" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | tr -cs 'a-z0-9' '-' | sed 's/-*$//')
      [ -f "${id}-${slug}.md" ] && continue
      curl -sf -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" \
        -o "${id}-${slug}.md" \
        https://spoken.md/transcripts/$id || rm -f "${id}-${slug}.md"
      sleep 0.34
    done

Already-saved files are skipped — safe to re-run after a top-up.

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Latest Real Dictators transcripts

Augustus Part 3: Birth of a Dynasty

September 22, 2026

Paul McGann (0:00)

It's September the 28th, 1960 We're at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, 18 miles west of London. On the back lot sits a recreation of the Egyptian port city of Alexandria. It's been replicated in the finest detail, exactly how it would have appeared in the first century BC. Sprawling across 20 acres, it's a…

Just three days into filming and trouble has already come into paradise. There are arguments over the film's as-yet-unfinished script. Producers squaring up to each other. There are trade union disputes. Moreover, there is the stark reality of the decision to film this movie in the UK, a decision undertaken for tax…

Joyce Tyldesley (6:47)

It's something that Caesar did as well when he was in Alexandria. He went to see the tomb of Alexander the Great. So I think that Octavian is both emulating Caesar. He's also saying, I'm not related to the Ptolemies, because the Ptolemies are no good, but we'll go back to Alexander the Great and he is someone who is…

Paul McGann (7:05)

In handling the corpse, Octavian accidentally knocks off Alexander's nose.

On arrival in Rome in August 29 BC, Octavian is granted a ticker tape parade, a triumph.

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curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" \
  https://spoken.md/transcripts/1000788306370

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