Did the CIA Poison England's World Cup Goalkeeper? (Ep 1)
6/7/202646 min
Why did Gordon Banks pull out of the 1970 World Cup quarter-final against West Germany? And was the CIA to blame?
Listen as David and Gordon are joined by journalist Gabriel Gatehouse who has spent the past three years investigating whether the CIA poisoned England's star goalkeeper.
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Read Gabriel's full investigation: https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/did-the-cia-poison-englands-chance-of-being-1970-world-cup-champions
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First 90 secondsDavid McCloskey· Host0:00
[upbeat music] For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series, first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books, join the Declassified Club at therestisclassified.com. Did the CIA sabotage England's chance of winning the Football World Cup? And could devious American spies [laughs] really have poisoned England legend Gordon Banks in 1970? Welcome to The Rest Is Classified, I'm David McCloskey.
Gordon Corera· Host0:31
And I'm Gordon Corera. Serious allegations, David.
David McCloskey· Host0:34
I, I read those lines under, under extreme duress, so send- Yeah ... send help, uh, if you're listening. [laughs] We are, of course, on the cusp of the World Cup about to start in the United States of America. The ticketing process, Gordon, has been fair and just. [laughs] Tickets are reasonably priced. It's easy to get to games if you want to go. And this time, we are looking at a spy story [laughs] that, that raises some very, very dark questions, Gordon. It may be the darkest spy story we've done on the podcast, right?
Gordon Corera· Host1:09
No, I think that's right, yeah. I think, to me, this is like, raises the possibility which it could break the Transatlantic Alliance if, if true.
David McCloskey· Host1:16
Big if true. And we are going to look today at a story that examines what the CIA is really capable of. Could the CIA, the beloved CIA, have once sabotaged the dreams