Andrew Lownie discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Andrew Lownie was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was Dunster History Prizeman and President of the Union, before taking his Master’s and doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he later returned to Cambridge as a visiting fellow at Churchill College. He has been a bookseller, publisher and journalist, writing for the Times, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal ,...
Nov 01, 2020•28 min
Viv Groskop discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Viv Groskop is a writer, critic, broadcaster and stand-up comedian. She is the author of How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking, also a Top 10 iTunes podcast, now in its 8th series, featuring guests like Hillary Clinton, Margaret Atwood, Nigella Lawson, Julie Andrews, Sarah Hurwitz (Michelle Obama’s speechwriter). Her latest book is Au Revoir Tristesse: Lessons in Happiness from French Liter...
Oct 25, 2020•30 min
Tom Barber discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Tom Barber was a journalist for many years, writing for GQ, the Evening Standard and Tatler among others before founding the award-winning travel company Original Travel with two friends in 2003. Original Travel has gone on to win a number of industry awards, and specialises in tailormade trips to original destinations around the world, with particular expertise in adventurous and educational family holidays, sabba...
Oct 18, 2020•29 min
Madeleine Bunting discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Madeleine was a journalist on the Guardian and held a number of positions including columnist 1999-2012. She wrote on a wide range of subjects including politics, social affairs, faith and global development. Her book Love of Country was shortlisted for the Wainright and the Saltire Prizes 2017, and she won the Portico Prize for The Plot in 2010 which was also shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje...
Oct 11, 2020•30 min
Scientist Marty Jopson discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Marty Jopson has been making science television for over twenty years. He has worked behind the camera as a researcher, prop builder, director, producer, executive and company manager. His career as a presenter spans over ten years as the science reporter on the BBC1 flagship programme, The One Show. He has written The Science of Everyday Life, The Science of Food and The Science of Being Human. Find ou...
Oct 04, 2020•30 min
Journalist Kavita Puri discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Kavita Puri is an award-winning journalist, executive producer and broadcaster for the BBC. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed book Partition Voices: Untold British Stories. Kavita is a regular presenter of The Inquiry on the BBC World Service and Radio 4. Her landmark three-part series, Partition Voices, on Radio 4 marked the 70th anniversary of the partition of India. It was awarded T...
Sep 27, 2020•29 min
Johnnie Boden, the founder of Boden, discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Johnnie Boden founded Boden in 1991 with eight menswear products, sold through a catalogue hand-drawn on his kitchen table. As ambitious as he was, he couldn't have imagined that the fashion line bearing his name would become a multi-million-pound global business producing a huge range of clothes for every member of the family. The success of the business - which last year chalked up 2.5 m...
Sep 20, 2020•27 min
Caroline Eden discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Caroline Eden is a writer and critic contributing to the Guardian, Financial Times and the Times Literary Supplement. In 2020, she was awarded the prestigious Art of Eating Prize. She is the author of two food and travel books, Samarkand (2016) and Black Sea (2018). Her new book, Red Sands, looking at the food and culture of Central Asia, will be out in November 2020. You can follow her @edentravels on Twitter ...
Sep 13, 2020•28 min
Adam Hart-Davis discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Adam Hart-Davis is a freelance writer and lecturer – former presenter on television of Local Heroes, Tomorrow’s World, What the Romans (and others) Did for Us, How London was Built, and many other series. He has collected various awards for both television and radio, as well as four medals and 14 honorary doctorates. He has read several books, and written about 35, most of them about science and history. He sp...
Sep 06, 2020•29 min
Author Jini Reddy discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Jini Reddy’s most recent book Wanderland has been shortlisted for the 2020 Wainwright Prize. The prize celebrates the best in UK travel and nature writing. Her first book Wild Times was published in 2016. It won the book prize at the British Guild of Travel Writers Awards 2017. You can follow her @Jini_Reddy on Twitter and @jinireddy20 on Instagram. Time Travel novels https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Octavia-...
Aug 30, 2020•28 min
As a bonus episode, in a surprising turn of events, Ivan gets invited to an office summer party via Zoom and is asked to provide some entertainment for the benefit of a group of bewildered colleagues. He discusses with Jacob Cunningham, Angharad Hopkinson and Ezekiel Jacob three things which they think should be better known. This episode was recorded in front a live audience, but unfortunately they were all on mute. Fidel Castro's milk obsession https://medium.com/war-is-boring/fidel-castro-s-b...
Aug 27, 2020•23 min
Kris Hollington discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Kris Hollington is a bestselling non-fiction author and ghost-writer of over twenty books, mostly covering crime, several of which have been adapted for TV dramas and documentaries and nominated for various awards. In 2017 he won the People’s Book Prize for non-fiction and his latest book, Corrupt Bodies, written with Peter Everett, is currently long-listed for the Crime Writers’ Association prize for non-fict...
Aug 23, 2020•30 min
Author Dorian Lynskey discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Dorian Lynskey is an author and journalist who writes about music, politics, film and books for publications including the Guardian, the Observer, GQ, Billboard and the New Statesman. He is the author of 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs (Faber, 2011) and The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 (Picador, 2019). He also hosts the Remainiacs and Bunker podcasts. Find ...
Aug 16, 2020•30 min
Actor Jack Gilpin discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Jack Gilpin is an American actor and Episcopal priest. He currently stars in television drama series Billions and has previously performed in Succession and Law & Order. He has acted in many films including Quiz Show, Mulan and Adventureland. The Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sheep_and_the_Goats Modern poetry https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/152025/an-introduction-to-modernism The i...
Aug 09, 2020•30 min
Author Richard Askwith discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Richard Askwith is author of six books, including the award-winning Feet in the Clouds (about fell-running); Today We Die A Little (an acclaimed biography of the Czechoslovak runner Emil Zátopek); and, most recently, Unbreakable: The Countess, the Nazis and the World’s Most Dangerous Horse Race, which won Biography of the Year at the 2020 Telegraph Sports Book Awards. A former executive editor of The In...
Aug 02, 2020•30 min
Journalist and author Louise Gray discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Louise Gray is the author of The Ethical Carnivore which discusses the ethics of meat by only eating animals she had killed herself. She was previously environment correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. Squirrel Kebabs https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ethical-Carnivore-Year-Killing-Eat/dp/1472933109/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr = Climate change acronyms https://www.telegraph.co....
Jul 26, 2020•27 min
Psychologist Stuart Ritchie discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Stuart Ritchie is a Lecturer in the Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King's College London. His new book, Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science, is available now. More details are at http://sciencefictions.org . Bach's cantatas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHtwSyxMsU Katakana https://www.dartmouth.edu/~introjpn/text/katakana.html Limmy htt...
Jul 19, 2020•29 min
Anand Menon discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London and director of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative. His many books include Brexit and British Politics, which he co-wrote with Geoffrey Evans. 13 Minutes to the Moon https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2 The Middle https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/21/the-middles-realpolitik Maths https://www.phdstudies.com/...
Jul 12, 2020•29 min
Historian David Vincent discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. David Vincent is Professor of Social History at the Open University, where he was previously Pro Vice Chancellor. He is an Honorary Professor of History at Keele University, a recent visiting research fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at Cambridge, and a Research Associate of the Wellcome Trust funded Pathologies of Solitude project. He is the author of a ran...
Jul 05, 2020•29 min
Author Rose George discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. You can find out more about her at www.rosegeorge.com Janet Vaughan https://longreads.com/2015/03/10/a-very-naughty-little-girl/ The bidet https://www.bidet.org/blogs/news/history-of-the-bidet Dr. George Merryweather https://whitbymuseum.org.uk/whats-here/collections/special-collections/tempest-prognosticator/ Lucio Battisti https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-11-11/lucio-battisti-a-legend-in-ten-songs/ Fell running ht...
Jun 28, 2020•30 min
Novelist Emily Temple discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Emily Temple is the Managing Editor at Literary Hub, where she recommends more books than anyone could read. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published in June 2020 by the Borough Press (UK) and William Morrow (US). You can read more about Emily at https://www.emilytemple.net/ and see her Lit Hub work at https://lithub.com/author/emily-temple/ . Jonathan Richman https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/j...
Jun 21, 2020•28 min
Writer Cal Flyn discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Cal Flyn’s first book Thicker Than Water was published in 2016. It deals with the colonisation of Australia and questions of inherited guilt. Her second book, Islands of Abandoment, is due out in 2021. A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/book-of-a-lifetime-a-place-of-greater-safety-by-hilary-mantel-2218080.html Moth appreciation http://nati...
Jun 14, 2020•30 min
David Spiegelhalter discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in the University of Cambridge, which aims to improve the way that statistical evidence is used by health professionals, patients, lawyers and judges, media and policy-makers. He advises organisations and government agencies on risk communication and is a regular media commentator on statistical issues, with...
Jun 07, 2020•29 min
Brooke Allen discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Brooke Allen has a PhD in English from Columbia University. She writes frequently for newspapers and magazines and has published two volumes of literary essays as well as works of history, travel, and biography. She spent eight years on the Literature faculty at Bennington College in Vermont, and currently teaches History of Thought in the Bennington Prison Education Initiative. She lives in the Hudson Valley, N...
May 31, 2020•28 min
Deirdre Mask discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Deirdre Mask is a lawyer, a writer and sometime academic. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, Lit Hub, The Harvard Law Review, The New Hibernia Review, The Dublin Review and Irish Pages. Her first book The Address Book is out now. Missing Maps www.missingmaps.org Welikia Project www.welikia.org Gillespie Nature Reserve https://www.islington.gov.uk/sports-parks-...
May 24, 2020•29 min
Peter Gatrell discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Peter Gatrell teaches modern history at the University of Manchester. His books include a trilogy on refugee history: the prize-winning book A Whole Empire Walking: Refugees in Russia during World War 1, Free World? The Campaign to Save the World's Refugees, 1956-1963 and The Making of the Modern Refugee. His latest book, The Unsettling of Europe: the Great Migration, 1945 to the Present, a new history of Europe...
May 17, 2020•29 min
Lucy Jones discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Lucy Jones is a writer and journalist. She previously worked at NME and the Daily Telegraph, and her writing on culture, science and nature has been published in BBC Earth, BBC Wildlife, The Sunday Times, the Guardian and the New Statesman. She is the author of Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild (Allen Lane) and Foxes Unearthed (Elliott & Thompson). The psychological aspect of our relationship to nature ...
May 10, 2020•29 min
Ali Thurm discusses six things with Ivan which she thinks should be better known. Ali is a novelist, poet and teacher. After balancing a career in primary teaching with writing part time, she was taken on by the literary agency Emily Sweet Associates in 2016. Her debut novel, One Scheme of Happiness was published in February 2020 by Retreat West Books. Find out more about Ali on her blog: https://alithurm.com and on Twitter @alithurm. You can buy One Scheme of Happiness by Ali Thurm at https://w...
May 03, 2020•27 min
Ivan Wise discusses six things which he thinks should be better known, on the theme of Stories about Writers. The rehearsals for Pygmalion https://www.stuckinabook.com/the-truth-about-pygmalion-by-richard-huggett/ Arrow in the Blue and The Invisible Writing by Arthur Koestler https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2000/02/10/the-afterlife-of-arthur-koestler/ Writers' pseudonyms https://lithub.com/the-surprising-stories-behind-the-pen-names-of-10-famous-authors/ The obscenity trial of Lady Chatterley's...
Apr 26, 2020•29 min
Daisy Dunn discusses six things with Ivan which she thinks should be better known. Daisy is a classicist and critic and author of, mostly recently, In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, Of Gods and Men: 100 Stories from Ancient Greece & Rome, and Homer: A Ladybird Expert Book. Find out more about Daisy at www.daisydunn.co.uk. Hesiod http://www.impossibleobjectsmarfa.com/fragments-2/early-greek-philosophy and https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/01/18/hesiod-doggish-translation/ Spelt ...
Apr 19, 2020•30 min
