Episode 3 of Bunkum & Ballyhoo is a look at the magician Jasper Maskelyne, the claims that his magical prowess was employed in the fields of camouflage and espionage in World War 2, and why looking critically at the mythmaking around a dead old magician is still important in 2024.
Audio Sources:
Jasper Maskelyne for Pathétone - British Pathé
The Mind Of David Berglas - Channel 4
Selected Sources
The War Magician: The True Story of Jasper Maskelyne by David Fisher
Magic: Top Secret by Jasper Maskelyne
White Magic by Jasper Maskelyne
Genii Magazine

Episode 2 of Bunkum and Ballyhoo once again looks at an intersection between professional wrestling and dubious politics, with the stranger than fiction story of how Norfolk professional wrestler Eric "Panther" Pleasants went from wrestling in Jersey to fighting for Hitler.

Audio Sources:
The Brits Who Fought For Hitler - History Channel
Harwich Newsreel: Britons Freed From Russia (1954) - British Pathé

Selected Sources:
The Traitors: A True Story Of Blood, Betrayal and Deceit by Josh Ireland
I Killed To Live: The Story Of Eric Pleasants, Professional Strongman by Eric Pleasants & Eddie Chapman
Hitler's Bastard: Through Hell and Back in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia by Eric Pleasants
Agent Zizag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman by Ben Macintyre
The Frank Falla Archive

In the very first episode of Bunkum & Ballyhoo, professional wrestling historian Patrick W. Reed looks at The Masked Marvel, a South African wrestling superstar whose legacy outside the ring was far grizzlier than any punishment he inflicted inside it.