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 at 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 tonight on free thinking, we take a peek from behind the curtain at Penny Dreadful,

a new drama, brimful with Egyptian mummies, corpses and literary Victoriana.

Do you believe there is a demi-monde, Mr Chandler?

A half-world between what we know and what we fear.

A place in the shadows, rarely seen but deeply felt. Do you believe that?

Yes.

And also tonight, Incognito. The new play from Nick Payne explores the brain, the story of the man who stole Einstein's and what it means to lose the power to think.

But first, a new book out next week.

Women of the World looks at the history of female diplomats,

from their unofficial negotiating role as diplomatic wives,

through the thoroughly macho climate of the Cold War

and the more unpredictable convulsions of geopolitics today.

Helen McCarthy's history of women and diplomacy

brings together professional and personal stories of those fighting for the top posts.

Nowadays, of course, embassies do have high-flying women diplomats,

but the Foreign Officer's own research said recently

that the institution is still falling short of its targets to increase

the number of diplomats who are women in top jobs. At the moment, it's only about a quarter of the

total. I'm joined by the historian and author of Women of the World, Helen McCarthy, and by

...