The House at Number 48: Made in Britain

Summary

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The History Podcast — "The House at Number 48: Made in Britain"

Host: Charlie Northcott, BBC Radio 4
Date: October 17, 2025
Main Guest: Antony Easton

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Overview

This episode launches the story of Antony Easton's investigation into his family's long-buried secrets. After his enigmatic father's death, Antony begins to piece together mysterious clues—German banknotes, a hidden family tree, and a birth certificate with an unfamiliar name—uncovering his father’s double life and the devastating events that scattered his family, destroyed their wealth, and left unanswered questions about their true heritage. The episode explores themes of identity, family trauma, postwar migration, memory, and the search for justice.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Introducing Antony Easton and His World

• Antony Easton, a successful advertising executive living in eccentric comfort in West London, introduces himself, giving context about his everyday life and personality.

  • "I like to have as good a time as possible, as often as possible… I go and watch Chelsea Football Club… I like rock and roll, dance music, classical music, jazz. Simple pleasures really." (Antony Easton, 02:40)

• Host Charlie Northcott paints a vivid picture of Antony's home, full of character, and sets up his “quirky” nature.

Early Family Dynamics and Secrets

• Antony describes growing up with a distant, formal, almost severe father, Peter Roderick Easton, whom he found hard to relate to.

  • “There was a cloud around my dad. There was a darkness around his world.” (Antony Easton, 05:06)

• Antony’s sister, Nicola, echoes these impressions:

  • “He had quite dark moods. He was quite anti-social, would be very happy with his own company. There was a sort of, a mysterious side to him.” (Nicola Easton, 05:51)

The Ubiquitous Suitcase and Clues to Another Life

• Throughout his childhood, Antony is drawn to a mysterious brown suitcase his father always keeps nearby.

  • “It was always under his bed… I was intrigued by it because I knew it was full of interesting things.” (Antony Easton, 07:03)

• Sneaking a look inside, he finds strange items: articles about a fatal car accident, a neighbor’s suicide after the war, global postcards, medals, and crisp German banknotes.

  • “I found these two banknotes and one was for 5 million marks… that was kind of confusing for a young person. And I guess I sort of pushed it to the back of my mind. But it never went away.” (Antony Easton, 08:14)

Other Signs: The German Connection

• Antony remembers a black trunk arriving filled with dishes, all wrapped in old German newspapers featuring Nazi imagery. He is disturbed and more confused about his family's background.

• Antony and Nicola note their father’s strange accent, which he would always deny:

  • “Where are you from? ‘What do you mean I have an accent? I don’t have an accent, I’m British.’ That was kind of odd…” (Antony Easton, 09:30)
  • Nicola recalls a moment a friend accidentally confronts their father about his German roots and he is “totally thrown.” (Nicola Easton, 10:17)

A Family Fixer: “Mr. Man”

• During stressful times, a mysterious figure—“Mr. Man”—would visit, mediating family tensions, especially around finances. Antony suspects he, too, is German.
  • “Mr. Man was an enigma. And I guess if you’re going to be an enigma, you might as well be called Mr. Man.” (Antony Easton, 10:47)

Confronting the Hidden Past

• Antony reflects on his father’s failed political campaign run as a “British-made” candidate—when he already realized the truth:

  • “I noticed it said Made in Britain… well, that’s not true, is it? You know, my dad wasn’t made in Britain because he was made in Germany.” (Antony Easton, 12:30)

• The ultimate secret: discovering his father’s birth certificate with another name—Peter Hans Rudolf Eisner.

  • “I realized that there were two people I was dealing with: Peter Roderick Easton and Peter Hans Rudolf Eisner. What is that thing that Seamus Heaney says? Whatever you say, say nothing. You know, he really didn’t want anything to do with his past.” (Antony Easton, 13:25)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On his eccentric father:
  "I never saw my dad in a T-shirt. I don't think he possessed a T-shirt."
  (Antony Easton, 04:08)

• Antony’s childhood realization:
  "I want to be everything he's not."
  (Antony Easton, 05:06)

• Mr. Man’s influence:
  "Mr. Man seemed to have some sway over my dad’s family, which had to do with money. And… the person who seemed to be able to solve this was this mysterious character called Mr. Man.”
  (Antony Easton, 10:57)

• The hidden German identity:
  “My dad wasn’t made in Britain, because he was made in Germany.”
  (Antony Easton, 12:30)

• On secrecy:
  “What is that thing that Seamus Heaney says? Whatever you say, say nothing. You know, he really didn’t want anything to do with his past.”
  (Antony Easton, 13:25)

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Key Segment Timestamps

• [01:48] — Antony Easton introduces himself
• [03:19] — Discussing early suspicions about his father
• [05:06] — Antony recalls the emotional distance from his dad
• [07:03] — The suitcase discovery and its contents
• [08:48] — The "German trunk" and family confusion
• [10:47] — Introduction of Mr. Man
• [12:30] — Father's political campaign and realization of dual identity
• [13:25] — Antony discovers his father’s true name and heritage

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Episode Tone & Style

True to BBC Radio 4’s tradition, the episode balances investigative journalism with personal storytelling, blending warmth, subtle humor, and reflective melancholy. Antony’s voice is open, direct, at times vulnerable, while host Charlie Northcott deftly guides the narrative with a mix of curiosity and empathy.

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Looking Ahead

The episode closes with a promise to delve further into the secrets hidden in Peter Easton’s suitcase—hinting at video tapes and further revelations—setting up the story’s next chapter as Antony’s quest expands.

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For listeners:
This episode artfully sets up a tale of hidden identities, postwar trauma, and a quest for truth about family and fortune—inviting continued listening to Antony’s search for justice and for self-understanding.

Transcript

[BBC Announcer]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk. At the BBC we go further so you see clearer. With a subscription to BBC.com, you get unlimited articles and videos, hundreds of ad free podcasts and the BBC News Channel streaming live 24. 7 from less than a dollar a week for your first year. Read, watch and listen to trusted Internet, independent journalism and storytelling. It all starts with a subscription to BBC.com. find out [e-mail] unlimited.

[Charlie Northcott]

You're about to listen to the History podcast the house at number 48. Episodes of this series will be released in two parts wherever you get your podcasts. But if you're in the uk, the whole series is available right now, first on BBC Sounds. Most of us at some point in our childhood, discover that our parents have secrets. Things they never told us, things they kept hidden. This story is about a man called Anthony and the secrets his family kept from him. It's a story about betrayal, about death, and about how this man should be the heir to a fortune worth billions of pounds. But that fortune has been stolen from Radio 4 and the history Podcast. This is the house at number 48. I'm Charlie Northcott. Episode one made in Britain.

[Anthony Easton]

Okay, so my name is Anthony Easton. I'm amazingly 61 years old and I live in London with my wife Anna and my dog Stan.

[Charlie Northcott]

I was shocked when you told me how old you were. I thought you were literally 10 to 15 years younger. I really had no idea.

[Anthony Easton]

Yeah, I'm shocked how when I find out how old I am as well.

[Charlie Northcott]

Anthony Easton's home is a three story mews house in West London. In one of the bedrooms, there's a genuine Banksy painting, which he says he picked up years before the artist was famous. He jokes that it's now worth more than his house. It's an image of Queen Victoria on a wooden chair, her legs spread apart without any pants on. Antony's quite a quirky character. Sharp eyes and a lot of energy. His home is eccentric too. Open plan, metal staircase, yellow sofas in the living room, a bright orange kitchen.

[Anthony Easton]

I like to think I have a relatively balanced personality. I'm pretty normal. I like to have as good a time as possible, as often as possible. Things that I like doing. I mean, I go and watch Chelsea Football Club. I have a season ticket there. That's not always fun. I like rock and roll, I like dance music, I like classical music, I like jazz. Simple pleasures really, you know.

[Charlie Northcott]

Anthony's had a long and successful career in advertising. He went to art school and went on to direct ad campaigns for some of the UK's biggest brands. But beneath all of that, there's been something eating away at him for years. Dark secrets at the heart of his family.

[Anthony Easton]

I've been trying to unravel the mysteries of my family, especially my dad's family. You know, they weren't really like other people, my family, but my dad wasn't really like other people. And my mum, she wasn't like him either, in a really good way. My dad was in a slightly troubling way.

[Charlie Northcott]

Anthony grew up in the 1970s in London. On the surface at least, his dad seemed quite normal.

[Anthony Easton]

So my dad's name was Peter Roderick Easton. He was an Anglican and he was a pretty regular guy. He was quite straight. He certainly wasn't a hippie or anything like that.

[Charlie Northcott]

And that's a picture of him there, is it?

[Anthony Easton]

So that's a picture of my mum and dad? Yeah, probably.

[Charlie Northcott]

He's got kind of thick rimmed black glasses. He's wearing a suit and a shirt. He looks quite formal.

[Anthony Easton]

Yeah, very formal. I mean, I never saw my dad in a T shirt. I don't think he possessed a T shirt.

[Charlie Northcott]

My dad, Ant's dad, looks like a banker or an accountant. Neat and tidy. And for the lively and energetic young Anthony, he seemed stern and serious, you.

[Anthony Easton]

Know, like any small boy. I guess I was a little bit fearful of him. I mean, he wasn't a violent person at all. He never laid a finger on me. But he was quite gruff and, you know, he was a difficult person to grow up with.

[Charlie Northcott]

Like many young boys growing up in the 1970s in England, Ant's childhood was immersed in the culture of the Second World War.

[Anthony Easton]

When this lousy war is over, he.

[Charlie Northcott]

Played games at school where he'd imagine being a pilot shooting down German planes. And at home he'd build model tanks and aircraft and watch TV shows and listen to music about Britain's fight against Germany.

[Anthony Easton]

There was one song I played over and over again and I'd stand in the living room with my model Spitfire and I'd fly it around to this song. And one day I was doing it and I probably played it like God knows how many times. My dad stormed in and slid the needle off the record, picked up the record and just smashed it in a lot of ways with my dad when I was growing up, he was quite a useful touchstone for me because I thought, I want to be everything he's not. There was a cloud around my dad. There was a darkness around his world.

[Charlie Northcott]

Ant's Older sister Nicola, also noticed their dad had a dark side.

[Nicola Easton]

He had quite dark moods. He was quite anti social, would be very happy with his own company. There was a sort of a side, a mysterious side to him.

[Charlie Northcott]

Their father had a slightly vague job description. He worked in travel prison. He was away a lot, flying all over the world.

[Anthony Easton]

Baden Baden, Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil. Santiago, Chile.

[Charlie Northcott]

The Eastern family were always on the move.

[Anthony Easton]

I lived in 11 houses with my parents. Every house that we had, he had an area or a room actually, which he could shut the door of and he would sequester himself away.

[Charlie Northcott]

So did you have a feeling like he was hiding something or holding stuff back when you were growing up, it.

[Anthony Easton]

Was like getting blood out of a stone, you know. My dad gave very little away. He played his cards very close to his chest.

[Charlie Northcott]

Wherever the family moved, there was one item that Peter Easton always kept with him. A brown leather suitcase. A case full of secrets.

[Anthony Easton]

It was always under his bed or it was in his study. It was under his desk or it was somewhere. It was always dotted around. I was intrigued by it because I knew it was full of interesting things.

[Charlie Northcott]

For curious young Anthony. The suitcase under the bed was too enticing to resist.

[Anthony Easton]

One day when he was out, I guess, or he was away, I sort of looked into the suitcase and I found this article. And it was about a man being killed in a car accident with my dad in the 50s. And I mean, that was. That was so interesting.

[Charlie Northcott]

You were sneaking in.

[Anthony Easton]

I was sneaking in. Oh, yeah. No, this was not available for public consumption. There was another article and it was about a woman, a naked woman who had jumped from the block of flats where he lived with his mother and his sister after the war, and she committed suicide off the roof of that building. It made me think, why? Why did he keep them?

[Charlie Northcott]

There were other strange things in the suitcase too. Postcards from all over the world, medals, handwritten journals and banknotes. Money. Money from Germany.

[Anthony Easton]

I found these two banknotes and one was for 5 million marks and one was for 50,000 Deutschmarks. And they were really in beautiful condition and absolutely pristine. And that was kind of confusing for a young person. And I guess I sort of pushed it to the back of my mind. But it never went away.

[Charlie Northcott]

Dotted throughout Ant's childhood are strange memories like this. Hints that his dad had something he was hiding.

[Anthony Easton]

One day, it was in the early 70s, a big black trunk showed up at our house. Wooden trunk. And inside was a load of crockery and other things. But the thing that really got Me with it was that everything was wrapped up in German newspapers and I knew they were German because I could see that there were Nazis goose stepping in pictures and the language was obviously German. I thought, there's something going on here.

[Charlie Northcott]

As Ant and his sister Nicola got older, there were other signs of an uncomfortable German connection.

[Anthony Easton]

You know, I could tell there was something slightly different about my dad from other dads. He had this kind of curious accent which I couldn't really identify as a child, but I could tell it was different. And there were these sort of slightly creeping realizations that I had as we got older, you know, and friends got more confident and that sort of stuff. I remember they'd come over and one or two of them, we talk and they talk to my dad and they'd say innocently, oh, Ms. Reason, you have a slight accent. Where are you from? What do you mean I have an accent? I don't have an accent, I'm British. That was kind of odd because that's not really how my dad dealt with people.

[Nicola Easton]

I didn't notice his accent. And then one day one of my friends was around, we were sitting in the back garden and she said something to my dad, something about being German, and he was totally thrown. He didn't want to go there. And I was really embarrassed. I just thought, that's very odd.

[Charlie Northcott]

Another strange thing about Anthony and Nicola's dad were the people he associated with. In particular, a mysterious figure who would visit during times of tension in the family.

[Anthony Easton]

There was a man called Mr. Man. Mr. Man was an enigma. And I guess if you're going to be an enigma, you might as well be called Mr. Man.

[Charlie Northcott]

How are you picturing him in your head?

[Anthony Easton]

He was old and he had oiled straight back hair, some round glasses and very formal and rather severe. Mr. Man seemed to have some sway over my dad's family, which had to do with money. And, you know, the main source of arguments between my parents was about money, you know, that we obviously were running out of it continually. And the person who seemed to be able to solve this was this mysterious character called Mr. Man. And Mr. Man's actions would really influence my dad's moods.

[Charlie Northcott]

Yeah, that's weird. And did you get a sense that Mr. Man might have been German?

[Anthony Easton]

Yeah, I mean, totally.

[Charlie Northcott]

And did you ever have a direct conversation with your dad about this stuff?

[Anthony Easton]

Well, what became pretty clear was that my dad, the accent and everything, was that he had something to do with the Germans. And that was worrying. As a kid, I didn't want to look at any of it, I was happy. I just wanted to be an English kid, play cricket, play football. I certainly didn't discuss it with anyone.

[Charlie Northcott]

In 1974, Anthony's father decided to become a politician. He ran as a Liberal Party candidate for the European Parliament. One of his campaign posters had the slogan, vote Eastern. Made in Britain.

[Anthony Easton]

By this point, I definitely cottoned on to what my dad's story was. And he, you know, I was not the most forgiving son, I don't think, at that point. And I noticed it said Made in Britain. And I thought, well, that's not true, is it? You know, my dad wasn't made in Britain because he was made in Germany. My dad.

[Charlie Northcott]

Anthony's dad, Peter Roderick Easton, was a British citizen, but he had another identity too, an identity he'd kept almost entirely hidden from his son during his childhood. His dad had a second name, a German name, Peter Hans Rudolf Eisner.

[Nicola Easton]

We didn't really talk about his background and his childhood. It was a bit of a mystery.

[Anthony Easton]

I realized that there were two people I was dealing with. Peter Roderick Easton and Peter Hands. Rudolf Eisner. What is that thing that Seamus Heaney says? Whatever you say, say nothing. You know, he really didn't want anything to do with his past.

[Charlie Northcott]

What was Anthony's dad hiding? Next time on the house and number 48, we investigate the inside of that secret suitcase.

[Anthony Easton]

I found these tapes after he died. Video films and productions. There's something weird going on here.

[Charlie Northcott]

You can listen to the whole series right now. First on BBC sounds from BBC Radio 4, the Fort Royal Marines and army pilots speaking for the first time. We felt there were Taliban fighters coming.

[Anthony Easton]

Through the this complex called Juran Fort. It was the most intense firefight I've ever been involved in. The word gets around that 40 is missing.

[Charlie Northcott]

The Apache pilot said to me, you.

[Anthony Easton]

Just need four volunteers.

[Charlie Northcott]

We've secured them to the Apache wings.

[Anthony Easton]

And we'll go back and get Lance Corporal Ford.

[Charlie Northcott]

Get me four marines and I will take them in and we'll get that boy home. Listen. Listen to the Fort on BBC Sounds.

[BBC Announcer]

At the BBC we go further so you see clearer with a subscription to BBC.com, you get unlimited articles and videos, hundreds of ad free podcasts and the BBC News Channel streaming live 24. 7 from less than a dollar a week for your first year to read, watch and listen to trusted independent journalism and storytelling. It all starts with a subscription to BBC.com find out [e-mail] unlimited.