At least, that was the case in 1951, when the CIA carried out its first coup in Iran at the request of an oil-thirsty British government. This audacious Anglo-American venture makes for the perfect introduction to a podcast on espionage co-presented by a British journalist and an ex-CIA agent.

Armed with redacted documents and candid memoirs, Gordon Corera and David McCloskey drolly transport us to a time of analogue tradecraft, when coded messages were delivered via BBC radio programmes – and chased with a vodka lime or three.

It’s a Tuesday morning. Usual drill. Up, exercise, read, get the boy ready for nursery, get on my bike and head for the office. It’s around a quarter to four that afternoon when the “red drops” begin. These are the news wire services, telling us something important has happened. My editor is in my ear: “Check your urgent wires, getting some lines on Zelensky.” What now?

We always knew that American presidential debates could make or break a candidate. It’s the primetime moment to shine or – in Joe Biden’s case – spectacularly evaporate. Poor Joe. To this day the thought of his incoherent mumbling still makes me wince with embarrassment.

I was there in the journalists’ watch room that night in Atlanta, and I can tell you that on multiple occasions the air fell silent. Reporters stared at each other in stunned disbelief while others blocked their ears.

As the BBC's Washington, DC correspondent from 2002, and Channel 4 News’s from 2011-2013, Frei lived in America for 11 years, and there, he says, the people make the job “incredibly easy,” simply because “everyone wants to talk to you.”

“They love being on camera, they deliver beautiful sound bites. They’re very articulate—despite the fact that their presidents are often known for the opposite.”

It appears the country may have rubbed off on him. There’s a streak of showmanship about Frei, and he’s certainly given to a soundbite or three.

Question

Christine Lampard: Do you wake in the morning and decide what you want to rant about that day?

Answer

Piers Morgan: I used to run a daily paper. And the whole point of it was that, every morning, if you’re running a newsroom with 400 people, you have to get them going with your opinions.

So I think it was always in my DNA to be hugely opinionated about absolutely everything. I try to work myself into indignant rages on most subjects.

'I am one vegan sausage-roll wrap from being fired'

Jonathan Dimbleby was in the chair to lead a 90-minute discussion – “Have We Got News for You?” – on the future of local news in the regions. The panellists were journalist and academic Roy Greenslade; controller of BBC English Regions David Holdsworth; Ujima FM station manager Julz Davis; and Trinity Mirror editor Rachel Sugden.

The event featured filmed provocations from Richard Sambrook, director of the Centre for Journalism at Cardiff University, who charted the decline in print media and argued that there was a lack of local accountability.

Zika

The first big story of the year was the Zika virus. It yielded moving pictures of troubled mothers and their babies, with malformed brains. It prompted near pandemonium, however, when speculation spread that it might disrupt the Olympic Games. 

There was also the continuing Ebola virus outbreak which had, in 2014, seen British servicemen and women come to the aid of folk in faraway places. That included the building of hospitals, which were staffed by brave medics, many taking time out from the NHS. 

1. Horace and Pete