Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps

that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

Hello and welcome to free thinking. This program is going to be 45 minutes long, which is about 10 minutes longer than the momentous historical event that it's going to consider.

Colloden, the last battle fought on British soil, around about lunchtime on the 16th of April 1746.

The battlefield itself has become a place of pilgrimage, and the events that took place there

are among the most re-enacted and reimagined in our history, celebrated by Handel in oratorio

form, re-fought in the pages of G.A. Henty and Walter Scott, on canvases by John Seymour

Lucas, and by Doctor Who, who cohabited with the Jacobite Rebel for several years.

And one of the most significant portraits of that battle was broadcast on BBC television 50 years ago,

a revolutionary pseudo-documentary by Peter Watkins, one of the most rebellious talents the medium has yet produced,

a TV film that recreated the conflict and spoke to its combatants,

as if a film crew covering the Korean War had been sent back in time to 1746.

And we're going to hear a bit of that now.

Wolf, film!

I'm going to have to shout to make myself heard.

The smoke is beginning to thicken.

It's going to be very difficult to see what effect our cannon is having on the rebel line.

A cast iron ball of three pounds weight, fired from open sights.

This is round shot. This is what it does.

Alistair McKinness, age 20, right leg severed below knee joint.

Malcolm Angus Chisholm, age 24, disembowl.

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