Episode 45 — Secrets That Created the World

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Did you know James Buchanan promised to write a letter explaining every secret about his life, and then at the last minute had it destroyed? Or that the concept of "nuclear winter" was a load of B.S. invented by the KGB? Or that Diane Lane had to read the 'Man of Steel' script in extreme confidentiality, even though it's basically the worst movie of the last ten years? The world is full of secrets -- in a way that's deeply creepy and probably counterproductive. And, on today's podcast, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Daniel O'Brien and Soren Bowie bring together as many of those secrets as they can to see if they aren't all a little ridiculous.

 

In fact, there are so many secrets in this episode that there's a whole 'nother person providing extra ones. "Mike" is a U.S. border agent and former undercover operative working against Mexico's drug cartels. He (OR SHE????) was featured on the site before in a hit personal experience article (read it here: www.cracked.com/article_21257_5-i…rcover-agent.html) and on the podcast they go further into exactly how sneaky they needed to be in the shady, terrifying world of battling drug runners, human traffickers and more.

 

From there, we pick apart the biggest secrets of our time -- why do only two people get to know the recipes for KFC and Coke? Did a secret government operation kill off key Italian political figures after World War II? Was all that official hand-wringing about WikiLeaks just a smokescreen for governments feeling really embarrassed? Find out before we're kidnapped and carted off to black sites by throwing on your headphones and clicking play above.

[Johnny Unusual 525]

Great episode! Interestingly, the silliness of spy secrets and spy fiction was sort of satirized in the Prisoner (a fantastic show), particularly in the episode "Hammer Into Anvil" in which the protagonist drives the villain mad by simply fucking around and letting the villain assume that it is a part of an indecipherable larger plan.

[BeadLelly 0]

Does anyone know what John le Carré stories they were talking about, around the 32:00 mark?