165. Why England Didn't Win the 1970 World Cup (Ep 2)

About this episode

The episode explores the possibility that England could have won the 1970 World Cup if not for Gordon Banks' food poisoning and investigates the CIA's potential involvement in England's football history.

Could England have won the 1970 World Cup if their star goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, hadn't contracted food poisoning the day before the quarter-final? And could the CIA have had anything to do with England's 60 years of hurt? David and Gordon are joined by journalist Gabriel Gatehouse to get to the bottom of whether the CIA poisoned England's World Cup ambitions. ------------------- Listen to Gabriel's full investigation, Foul Play: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/foul-play/id1896803199 ------------------- THE REST IS CLASSIFIED LIVE 2026 at The Rest Is Fest: Buy your tickets ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see David and Gordon live on stage at London’s Southbank Centre on 4 September: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/the-rest-is-classified-live/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------------------- Sign-up for our free newsletter where producer Becki takes you behind the scenes of the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/goalhanger.com/tric-free-newsletter-sign⁠-up⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------------------- Join the Declassified Club to go deeper into the world of espionage with exclusive Q&As, interviews with top intelligence insiders, regular livestreams, ad-free listening, early access to episodes and live show tickets, and…

People in this episode

Hosts: David, Gordon

Guest: Gabriel Gatehouse

Topics covered

• 1970 World Cup
• Gordon Banks
• CIA
• football history
• England football
• sports conspiracy

Keywords

• 1970 World Cup
• Gordon Banks
• CIA
• England football
• sports history
• football conspiracy
• Gabriel Gatehouse

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA, Goalhanger

Books & works: Foul Play

Places: London

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