To mark the 350th episode, comedian Al Murray discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Al Murray's alter ego, The Pub Landlord, is one of the most recognizable and successful comic creations of the past twenty years. He is also the author of many successful books including Watching War Films with My Dad and Command, a sharply entertaining analysis of the key allied military leaders in the Second World War. He is well known for co-hosting the hugely popular Second World War hi...
Nov 17, 2024•30 min
Jon Moynihan discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Jon Moynihan is a businessman and venture capitalist who started his career advising companies and banks in the Netherlands, the US and the UK as a specialist in mergers and turnarounds. He then ran the global firm PA Consulting Group for 21 years. He subsequently transitioned into venture startups, creating over 20 companies to date, most of them in the science and technology fields. Jon has worked as a volunteer in the c...
Nov 10, 2024•29 min
Delayed Gratification co-founders Rob Orchard and Marcus Webb discuss with Ivan six things which should be better known. Rob Orchard and Marcus Webb are co-founders of Delayed Gratification, the world’s first Slow Journalism magazine, launched in 2011. Delayed Gratification revisits events after the dust has settled and makes a virtue of being “Last to Breaking News.” Along with Delayed Gratification’s art director Christian, Rob and Marcus are co-authors of An Answer For Everything, the critica...
Nov 03, 2024•31 min
Andrew Hindmoor discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Andrew Hindmoor grew up in Sheffield, left, went to Australia, and boomeranged back to Sheffield in 2013. He is a Professor of Politics and Co-Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute. He recently published Haywire: A Political History of Britain Since 2000 with Penguin which was the Times' 'book of the week' when it was released. He has previously published 12 Days Which Made Modern Britain with O...
Oct 27, 2024•30 min
Josie Lloyd discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Josie Lloyd, also writing as Joanna Rees, is the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling international author of over twenty novels and has been translated into 27 languages. Come Together, which she co-authored with her husband Emlyn Rees, was number one for 10 weeks and made into a Working Title film. Josie Lloyd recently wrote contemporary women’s fiction novels The Cancer Ladies Running Club and Lifesaving for Beginners, which wa...
Oct 20, 2024•29 min
Historian Alice Hunt discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Alice Hunt is Professor of Early Modern Literature and History at the University of Southampton. She is the author of The Drama of Coronation (Cambridge University Press) and has previously written about the Tudors and James I, and often appears in the media to discuss monarchy. Her new book is Republic: Britain’s Revolutionary Decade 1649-60, which is available at https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/republic-britain-s...
Oct 13, 2024•30 min
Nabeel Qureshi discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Nabeel S. Qureshi is an entrepreneur and researcher specializing in artificial intelligence and healthcare. He is the CEO of a new startup company and a Visiting Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Nabeel is based in New York and grew up in Manchester, England. The filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/the-metaphysical-world-of-apichatpong-weerasethakuls-...
Oct 06, 2024•30 min
Edward Carey discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Edward Carey is a writer and illustrator who was born in North Walsham, Norfolk, England, during an April snowstorm. He is the author of the novels Observatory Mansions and Alva and Irva: the Twins Who Saved a City, and of the YA Iremonger Trilogy, which have all been translated into many different languages and all of which he illustrated. His 2018 novel Little has been published in 20 countries. His novella The Swallowed...
Sep 29, 2024•30 min
Steve Prest discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Steve Prest was a Weapon Engineer Officer who joined the Royal Navy after reading Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Loughborough University. He served in the Defence Communications Services Agency in Corsham in support of Op TELIC 1 (Iraq); undertook a short tour in Afghanistan as a Liaison Officer to Task Force Helmand; and has served on exchange with the French Navy. In the UK he has worked in Defence Equipment and...
Sep 22, 2024•30 min
Ivan Wise discusses four anti-war plays which should be better known. Post Mortem by Noel Coward http://www.ww1plays.com/2015/07/noel-cowards-serious-war-play.html The White Disease by Karel Capek https://artsfuse.org/198970/arts-commentary-pestilence-on-stage-part-one-karel-capeksthe-white-plague/ O’Flaherty VC by George Bernard Shaw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Flaherty_V.C . Last Days of Mankind by Karl Kraus https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/dec/13/artsfeatures4 This podcast is p...
Sep 15, 2024•26 min
Marieke Bigg discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Marieke Bigg is the author of Waiting for Ted, and This Won’t Hurt. Writing across fiction and non-fiction, she deconstructs the cultural givens around bodies, minds and identity. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge, where she studied the technological transformation of human reproduction. In addition to her books, Marieke speaks about the sociology of medicine and psychiatry, and collaborates wit...
Sep 08, 2024•30 min
Kathy Willis discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Katherine Willis CBE is Professor of Biodiversity in the department of Biology and the Principal of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. She is also a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. Previous roles include Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee. In 2015, Kathy was awarded the Michael Faraday Medal for public communication of science from ...
Sep 01, 2024•31 min
Bruce Omar Yates discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Bruce Omar Yates was born in London to an English father and an Indian mother. Bruce grew up in the South of France before returning to London to study Literature and Film at King’s College London. Bruce is principal songwriter for the cult rock groups Famy, who released their album We Fam Econo in 2014, and Los Porcos, who released their album Porco Mio in 2016. The Muslim Cowboy is his first novel and is out now from...
Aug 25, 2024•29 min
Pedro Domingos discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Pedro Domingos is a renowned AI researcher, tech industry insider, and Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. He is the author of the best-selling book The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World (Basic Books, 2015), which has been translated into over twelve languages and sold over 300,000 copies. His new book is 2040: A Sil...
Aug 18, 2024•30 min
Harriet Constable is a journalist and filmmaker based in London. Her journalism and documentary work has featured in outlets including the BBC, Economist and New York Times. She is a graduate of Colombia University’s School of Journalism summer school, is a Pulitzer Center grantee and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Her first novel is The Instrumentalist. Anna Maria della Pietà: the greatest violinist of 18th century, possibly a composer in her own right, fundamental to Vivaldi's music, g...
Aug 11, 2024•28 min
C. Michelle Lindley discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. C. Michelle Lindley’s writing has been featured in The Georgia Review, Conjunctions, and more. She has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and a BA from the University of Berkeley in English and Art History. The Nude is her first novel. Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/dictee-by-theresa-hak-kyung-ch...
Aug 05, 2024•27 min
Richard Davenport-Hines discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Richard Davenport-Hines is a British historian and literary biographer. His history of the Profumo scandal, An English Affair, was published in 2013. His book on espionage scandals, Enemies Within: Communists, the Cambridge Spies and the Making of Modern Britain was published in January. His other books include biographies of W. H. Auden, Marcel Proust and John Maynard Keynes. He was a Visiting Fellow at All Sou...
Jul 28, 2024•29 min
Susanna Rustin discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Susanna Rustin is a leader writer on social affairs at The Guardian, where she has worked for more than 20 years. Before that, she worked at the Financial Times. Sexed is her first book. The "Reform Firm" - the group of women's rights campaigners with Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon at the centre of it, in the middle of 19th century. They organised the first big suffrage petition presented in the House of Commons, ran a mag...
Jul 21, 2024•28 min
A.J. Jacobs is an author, podcaster and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. His most recent book is "The Year of Living Constitutionally," in which he tries to understand our nation’s primary document by adopting the mindset and lifestyle of our Founding Fathers. The result is “fascinating and necessary” (Booklist) and “marvelously witty and wise” (Kirkus). He hosts the “The Puzzler With A.J. Jacobs,” a dai...
Jul 14, 2024•30 min
Katherine Bucknell discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Katherine Bucknell edited all four volumes of Christopher Isherwood's Diaries , a volume of letters between Christopher Isherwood and his partner Don Bachardy (The Animals), and W.H. Auden's Juvenilia: Poems 1922-1928. Co-editor of Auden Studies, a founder of The W. H. Auden Society, and director of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, she is widely recognised as a leading authority on Isherwood, and her new biograp...
Jul 07, 2024•29 min
Tom Newton Dunn is a presenter, political commentator and writer. He first made his name as an award-winning defence correspondent covering the Iraq and Afghan wars. He went on to be Political Editor of The Sun for 11 years, leading coverage of four general election campaigns and the Brexit referendum, and interviewed seven British Prime Ministers and US President Donald Trump. Moving to broadcast, Tom helped launch Times Radio as the new station’s Chief Political Commentator and the presenter o...
Jun 30, 2024•30 min
Alex Edmans discusses with Ivan six things which should be less well known. Alex’s new book is May Contain Lies, about misinformation, and so, in a reversal of the usual format, he discusses six ideas and beliefs which have been overexposed. Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex has a PhD from MIT as a Fulbright Scholar, and was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Alex has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos,...
Jun 23, 2024•31 min
Jonn Elledge is a New Statesman columnist, and a contributor to the Big Issue, the Guardian, the Evening Standard, and a number of other newspapers. He was previously an assistant editor at the New Statesman, where he created and ran its urbanism-focused CityMetric site, and spent six happy years writing about cities, maps and borders and hosting the Skylines podcast. He has written over a hundred editions of the Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything. His new book is A History of the World in 47 ...
Jun 16, 2024•30 min
Henry Oliver discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Henry Oliver is a writer, speaker, and brand consultant. He writes regularly for outlets like the New Statesman, The Critic, and UnHerd. He writes the popular Substack The Common Reader, which was recently mentioned in the Atlantic. His book Second Act is about late bloomers. In 2022, he was given an Emergent Ventures grant. Izaac Walton https://newcriterion.com/article/the-right-angle/ Wren churches https://sixinthecity.c...
Jun 09, 2024•29 min
Jamaica Kincaid discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John’s, Antigua. Her books include At the Borrom of the River; Annie John; Lucy; The Autobiography of My Mother; My Brother; Mr Potter; and See Now Then. She teaches at Harvard University and lives in Vermont. Her new book is an Encylopedia of Gardening for Colored People at https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780374608255?gC=5a105e8b . Let Love Come Between Us by James and Bobby P...
Jun 02, 2024•30 min
Caroline Eden returns to discuss with Ivan six things which should be better known. Caroline Eden is a writer and book critic contributing to the Financial Times, Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement. Her new book is Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Journeys. Her earlier books include Samarkand, Black Sea and Red Sands, winner of the prestigious André Simon Award and a Book of the Year for the New Yorker. Ukrainian borsch Uzbek melons Russian pirozhki Polish pierogi Armenian lavash Turkish...
May 26, 2024•29 min
Caroline Crampton discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Caroline Crampton is the author of The Way to the Sea: The Forgotten Histories of the Thames Estuary (Granta, 2019). Her award-winning podcast, Shedunnit, is distributed by BBC Sounds. Her journalism has appeared in the New Statesman, The Times and the Guardian. An experienced broadcaster, she has appeared on BBC Two, Sky News, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4. Her new book is A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondri...
May 19, 2024•30 min
Kathryn Hughes discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Kathryn Hughes is the critically acclaimed author of The Victorian Governess, The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton, which was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, and the hugely acclaimed George Eliot: The Last Victorian, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography. Her new book is Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern World. Educated at Oxford University, she holds a PhD in ...
May 12, 2024•29 min
Elaine Lin Hering discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Elaine Lin Hering has been a lecturer at Harvard Law School and a Managing Partner at Triad Consulting Group. She has worked with a wide range of clients in Fortune 500 companies, including American Express, Capital One, Google, Merck, Nike, Shell and Pixar, as well as with government and non-profit organisations. Elaine "has all the ingredients to become the next Brené Brown” - Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, co-autho...
May 05, 2024•29 min
Journalist Andrew Finkel discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Andrew Finkel has spent years reporting for media organisations including The Times, The Economist, New York Times and CNN. He has covered wars and earthquakes, market booms and busts, and in his capacity as a food critic and contributing editor for Istanbul’s Cornucopia magazine, the postmodernity of the kebab. His experiences working in the Turkish-language press prompted him to co-found P24, an association t...
Apr 28, 2024•27 min
