Picks of the week

History Listen: Rock

Audible, episodes weekly

St Vincent is your soothing host for this fine music lesson, starting in post-second world war America where jazz and blues merged in a “spilt booze and stale smoke palace”. The characters of the time are compelling subjects, particularly Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, who recorded an early version of Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog and went on to collaborate with Muddy Waters. St Vincent shows how this wasn’t just a man’s world. Hannah Verdier

The Squid Scam: Hunting the NFT Artists

Audible, all episodes out now

When Squid Game became a huge hit, it provided a handy hook for cryptocurrency peddlers to hang their imaginary coins on. Tech journalist Janhoi McGregor tells how the scammers capitalised on the show without Netflix’s permission and convinced investors they were in for a great opportunity. A well-told cautionary tale of risk and fraud. HV

St. Vincent performs on stage at Usher Hall on June 28, 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
St. Vincent performs on stage at Usher Hall on June 28, 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photograph: Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns

Operation: Tradebom

Widely available, episodes weekly

The Twin Towers attack is etched on people’s memories, but this series shows that the World Trade Center was a target for years. It recalls how a bomb was planted in the garage below the North Tower, killing six people and injuring thousands. How did global tensions stop the FBI and NYPD from preventing another attack? HV

Chameleon: Dr Dante

Widely available, episodes weekly

The new season of Chameleon puts the spotlight on Dr Ronald Dante, a hypnotist who toured nightclubs and celebrity parties plying his trade off the back of the self-help boom. Sam Mullins tells the alarming but entertaining story of how the “tall, dark, Vegas-handsome” scammer got rid of his rivals, hypnotised women out of cash and opened a fake university. HV

Rocky Flintstone Unleashed

Widely available, episodes daily

The author of the erotic My Dad Wrote a Porno stories might only have spoken publicly for the first time a few weeks ago in the show’s final episode, but he’s making up for lost time. This new series sees him reading new Belinda-based ribald shenanigans in daily, 10-minute episodes. Alexi Duggins

There’s a podcast for that

Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton during “Gone in 60 Seconds” Los Angeles Premiere at National Theater in Westwood, California.
Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton during “Gone in 60 Seconds” Los Angeles Premiere at National Theater in Westwood, California. Photograph: Steve.Granitz/INACTIVE/WireImage

This week, Hannah Verdier chooses five of the best scandalous podcasts about the rich and famous, from a high society gossip show to a podcast breaking down Hollywood’s messiest break-ups

The Just Enough Family

Fashion designer Liz Lange grew up in a family with a helicopter, a house in the Hamptons and a ski lodge in Aspen. But despite the Steinbergs’ lavish lifestyle and penchant for being massive show-offs, the close family fell on hard times. Lange documents their rise and fall, from jaw-dropping displays of wealth to bankruptcy and the knock of the bailiffs at the door (you know you’re in trouble when you have to sell off more than 50 of your old masters). If you’re a fan of financial schadenfreude, it’s particularly satisfying.

Even the Rich

Gossip queens Brooke Siffrinn and Aricia Skidmore-Williams clearly love the questionable decisions rich people often make, and their podcast documents everything Getty, Versace and Hilton. Some people think it’s tasteless to rake over royal gossip, but fortunately the hosts say a healthy “Hell yeah” to the practice and delight in schooling listeners in Diana and Meghan’s lives. The rags-to-royalty stories give more fuel to the pair’s belief that the rich are “just like us”, with Charles and Diana’s horse riding, cheating and arguing offering a glorious source of scandal.

Trashy Divorces

Gawping at other people’s failed relationships may not be kind, but it can providehours of fun, as hosts Alicia and Stacie prove. The prolific podcasters (and married couple) prod not just celebrity divorces but breakups, too. Celebrities featured are of course rich enough to fill a good divorce lawyer’s bank account, but the hosts also show their human sides. Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are all featured with just the right amount of gossip, relish and laughter.

Queen of the Con: The Irish Heiress

When reality TV producer Johnathan Walton met fun-loving Mair Smyth she was just a glamorous heiress waiting for her inheritance. But the reality was much more scandalous. Would a grasping cousin really be able to relieve her of the promised cash? Why was she fired from multiple jobs? Walton lost thousands to his shape-shifting neighbour and as the red flags waved he began to investigate further, discovering she had impersonated Jennifer Aniston, posed as a psychic, and blackmailed married men. A juicy tale, though ultimately a sad one for everyone involved.

American Scandal

The case of Patty Hearst has been well documented over the years, thanks to its intoxicating ingredients, namely a rich heiress and a blundering revolutionary gang. Kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army at 19, the FBI struggled for leads in Hearst’s disappearance – until she was arrested for robbing a bank. Was she brainwashed or just doing what it took to survive? American Scandal examines the evidence in detail, with slightly theatrical dramatisations that put listeners at the heart of the action.

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