Welcome to Just Between Us, the podcast with all of the answers, some of the time.

A bit of a different thing going on this week.

You've been immature and you've lied.

And now you're trying to turn it on me and manipulate me and gaslight me.

I was trying to manipulate you.

Diana, you would be chucking their clothes out of the window.

I know, I'd be like, are you joking?

I don't know.

I guess you'd have to ask. Someone that has sex. Someone that has sex. Right. And remember,

it's just between us. Hello and welcome to the History Extra podcast from BBC History Magazine, Britain's best-selling history magazine.

I'm Ellie Cawthorne.

British forces surrendering in their thousands.

Millions of tonnes of shipping sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic.

And a German fleet sailing past the Straits of Dover in broad daylight.

For Britain, 1942 was a year of many calamities, and for its leader, it was a time of peril.

In his new book, the historian Taylor Downing chronicles the events of this year, and reveals

how close Churchill came to being ousted as Prime Minister.

He was joined in conversation by BBC History Magazine editor Rob Atar.

Your book explores the events of 1942 and is entitled Britain at the Brink.

Now, by 1942, Britain had survived the perils of 1940 and gained two powerful new allies in the USA and the USSR.

So why then do you feel that the country was at the brink at this point?

Many people think that the real crisis for Britain in the Second World War, the darkest hour, if you like, was 1940. Battle of France,

...