A deadly bomb. A death in a police station. A secret kept from the public.

In 1969, an explosion in Milan killed 17 people. The police accused a group of anarchists, but the story was not that simple.

In part one of this three-part mini-series on "Gli Anni Di Piombo" (The Years of Lead), we look at how this tragedy started one of the darkest times in Italian history.

• Italy modernising fast, but divided and tense.
• 12 December 1969: bomb at Milan’s Piazza Fontana.
• Seventeen dead, eighty-eight injured; shock across Italy.
• Coordinated Rome bombs; no claim; anarchists blamed.
• Anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli dies after police questioning; controversy.
• Pietro Valpreda arrested; weak evidence; years before acquittal.
• Evidence pointed to far-right group Ordine Nuovo.
• Suspected cover-ups by police and secret services.
• Strategy of tension; suspected Gladio links; extent unclear.
• Impact: fear, ordinary victims, start of the Years of Lead.

Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/piazza-fontana

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Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

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On 20 July 1944, a bomb ripped through a meeting room in Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair.

This episode tells how Operation Valkyrie *almost* managed to kill Adolf Hitler, and the vicious crackdown that came afterwards.

• The Wolf’s Lair meeting on 20 July 1944
• Claus von Stauffenberg’s injuries and role in the plot
• Setting one bomb; briefcase placed near Hitler
• Explosion at Wolf’s Lair; Hitler survives due to briefcase moved
• Operation Valkyrie: reserve army plan blaming SS
• A mixed group’s reasons to remove Hitler
• Coup starts; Goebbels phones Hitler; Remer switches sides
• Bendlerblock firefight, arrests, executions of plotters
• Brutal crackdown: show trials, thousands arrested, many executed
• Haunting “what if”: ways the plot almost succeeded

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Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

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In part one of a three-part mini-series on the theme of "university", we go on a whirlwind tour of the history of universities, from medieval student guilds in Bologna to the modern day.

• The University of Bologna nears its thousand-year anniversary.
• Why universities emerged: stability, trade, rediscovered texts, Church needs.
• Student guilds hired teachers; papal charters granted privileges, recognition.
• Medieval curriculum and university specialisations in law, theology, medicine.
• Renaissance humanism broadened studies beyond law and theology.
• Scientific Revolution made universities producers of new knowledge.
• Humboldt model united teaching and research in modern universities.
• Post-war expansion massified higher education around the world.
• Today: many universities, 250 million students; degrees often required.
• UK participation reaches 50%; rising costs and student debt.

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Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية