31 July 2026
The Umbrella Man and Other Stories
Another remote Book Club where Rich talks to author Martin Fitzgerald about his book about the JFK assassination, which looks at everything from a very different perspective by examining the witnesses and not worrying about whodunnit. Was the Umbrella Man really signalling to all the assassins that it was time to shoot (and wouldn't that be a bit of a distraction rather than a help)? What was it that attracted these people to the relatively quiet part of the route in Dealey Plaza rather than the ticker tape of Main Street? Is it possible to understand the amateurish nature of the detective work from a 21st Century perspective? Why did some witnesses hog the limelight whilst others disappeared immediately and did some people insert themselves into the story who weren't there? How did the racism endemic in Dallas at the time affect the responses of the African- American witnesses? What effect did the assassination have on Dallas as a whole? And how easy is it to be a reliable witness or a truly impartial judge of what happened? It's a terrific book and a really interesting approach to the event and I thoroughly recommend it.
Buy the book here - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-umbrella-man-and-other-stories-what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-the-jfk-assassination-martin-fitzgerald/80bddf3b35dec416
Audio mix by Ben Evans (NTO)
Thanks to Chris Evans (NTO)
