Lord Cochrane: The real Jack Aubrey?

Thomas Cochrane: The real-life Master and Commander | Peter Moore’s A Dangerous Game

Naval hero. Political radical. Convicted fraudster. Thomas Cochrane’s life makes the fiction he inspired look almost tame.

Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse discuss Peter Moore’s A Dangerous Game, a biography of one of Britain’s most extraordinary—and troublesome—naval commanders. From the audacious capture of a vastly superior Spanish warship to the stock-market scandal that destroyed his career, and his reinvention fighting for South American independence, this is history with all the adventure of a novel.

Along the way, Antonia makes an impassioned case for Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin novels, we explore Cochrane’s connections to Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower, and Roger ventures well beyond his usual historical waters.

Expect daring tactics, bitter rivalries, prize money, scandal—and an enthusiastic recommendation for a cracking history book.

CHAPTERS
00:00 A forgotten hero and a slightly hungover introduction
01:09 Peter Moore’s A Dangerous Game
04:37 Cochrane’s early life and entry into the navy
07:16 Jack Aubrey, Hornblower and the real-life inspiration
11:47 HMS Speedy versus El Gamo
14:04 What makes Moore’s biography so good?
15:49 Where to start with Patrick O’Brian
17:09 Radical politics and naval corruption
18:12 The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814
20:39 A new life fighting for South American independence
21:35 Kate Cochrane: elopement and disinheritance
22:39 Our verdict

FEATURED BOOK
A Dangerous Game: Thomas Cochrane’s Life on the Edge by Peter Moore
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/440249/a-dangerous-game-by-moore-peter/9781784743208

ALSO DISCUSSED
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin novels, including Master and Commander, Post Captain, HMS Surprise and The Far Side of the World.
C. S. Forester’s Hornblower novels.

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