Few historical figures in the British political landscape have been as monumental as Winston Churchill. By the time of his death at the age of 90 in 1965, many thought him to be the greatest man in the world. But what was his life really like? And what might he make of the world today? Churchill's definitive biographer Andrew Roberts joins Matthew D'Ancona to illuminate Churchill in his full complexity, from his childhood to his closest relationships, to even his financial troubles. He also shar...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 24 min
The seven deadly sins are the vices of humankind that define immorality, the roots of all evil in the world. But do these sins really represent moral failings, or are they important and useful human functions that aid us? In this episode of the podcast, neurologist Dr Guy Leschziner shares the evolutionary benefits of gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, envy, lust and anger. From continuing the existence of the human race to protecting against famine, he reveals a new perspective that engenders compa...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 7 min
In the Kabul offices of Moby Group, Afghanistan's largest media company, hundreds of men and women continue to bring programmes and news to the country even after the return of the Taliban. From talk shows to breaking news to educational programmes for young girls, the television empire that began as a small radio station continues to brave the country's shifting political landscape. Now Moby's CEO Saad Mohseni joins Rory Stewart to reveal the dedication and complexity of maintaining a free pres...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr 13 min
We are expected to operate with industrial-era efficiency at work. But creativity and high-quality ideas can't be generated on the assembly line. So how can we curate the best mental ecosystem for learning, creativity, and problem-solving? From adapting the pace of our work to optimising moments of discovery and illumination, Dr Mithu Storoni explores the gears of our brain and what we can do to make the most of our brain power. To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howto...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 8 min
We live in a world where uncertainty is inevitable. How should we deal with what we don’t know? And what role do chance, luck and coincidence play in our lives? Cambridge statistician and beloved broadcaster David Spiegelhalter has spent his career dissecting data in order to understand risks and assess the chances of what might happen in the future. In this episode of the podcast, recorded live in London with live examples with the audience, he guides us through the principles of probability, s...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 15 min
How do you balance kindness and competence in the workplace? How can you get the success you deserve, earn credit for your accomplishments, and navigate complex office politics without antagonising your colleagues? Over decades of research, behavioural scientist Alison Fragale encountered these recurring questions from high-powered and early-career women alike, determining that many women’s workplace issues boil down to the perception of others. Now she joins us to share her insights, offering a...
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 7 min
“With just 26 letters, you can create any conceivable universe.” - Alan Moore With the rise of new technology, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality, what power remains in our more ancient forms of storytelling? Modern-day alchemist Alan Moore who transmuted comic books into literary gold joins Robin Ince to explore the enduring power of prose and the unique magic that written stories bring. To celebrate the release of Alan's new book The Great When which marks the beginning of his Lon...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Long gone are the days when pigeons relayed our messages; now we have a flood of information at all times, from social media to artificial intelligence, all weaving narratives that shape our lives. But the rise of these new modes of information technology has the power to spread misinformation, challenge independent thought, and even threaten democracy. Bestselling author of Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari joins Robin Ince to explore how humanity can navigate these new networks, and asks, in this con...
Nov 14, 2024•2 hr 36 min
Best-known for her journey trekking across the Australian desert, Robyn Davidson joins us to reveal a new expedition, this time into the past. From the lush tropics of Malabar to the loneliness of London, Robyn shares an illuminating portrait of her childhood, the loss of her mother, her journey as a writer, and the strange and wondrous persistence of memory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nov 09, 2024•26 min
Aged 27, Rebecca F. Kuang is already a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling, multiple-prize winning author of five novels, a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge, and currently finding time to squeeze in finishing a doctorate at Yale while writing three more novels she has already sold. Now Rebecca reveals her own literary journey, and how her global sensation Yellowface strikes a deeply personal chord. From the art of crafting villains to loving one's characters, from waiting for hours ...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Since the dawn of humanity monsters have loomed large in our collective imagination. But why do frightening beasts hold such a powerful grip on us? Natalie Lawrence has always loved monsters. Her passion that took her all the way to Cambridge, where she completed a phD in the history of early modern monsters that informs her new book, Enchanted Creatures. Now she joins us on the podcast to delight your adult brain and inner child alike. When does an animal become a monster? Why should anyone sti...
Nov 01, 2024•36 min
In the last five centuries, humankind has brought change to every inch of the Earth, in a story of environment and empire, of genocide and ecocide, of the expansion of human freedom and its costs. Asking whether humanity can now summon the collective wisdom to save itself, Professor Sunil Amrith joins the podcast to share a history of environmentalism from the perspective of social justice. Arguing for an empathetic approach to climate usage, Professor Amrith shares why environmentalism is ill-s...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Harvard Professor and Ukrainian-born historian Serhii Plokhy joins the podcast to reveal the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian workers held hostage inside Chernobyl under Russian occupation. As hours stretched into weeks of hostility with no help from the outside world, the crew members' critical decisions alone prevented another nuclear catastrophe reminiscent of the disaster three decades earlier. In a wider warning to the world, Serhii Plokhy uncovers just how unprepared we are to deal ...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Soon after announcing his first campaign for presidency, Donald J. Trump declared that life “had not been easy for me”, delivering a campaign narrative around his business acumen based on his journey from talented upstart to a multi-billionaire. This narrative was a lie. Drawing on access to twenty years’ worth of Trump’s confidential tax information, business records and interviews with Trump insiders, reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig won a Pulitzer Prize for the investigations into Tr...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Traumatic experiences leave their imprint on the body as well as the mind, but they need not define us. Fusing insights from thirty years at the cutting-edge of neuroscience, and with the weight of decades of experience as an active therapist, Dr van der Kolk reveals the power of our relationships – whether the intimacy of the home or in our wider communities – to both hurt and heal. In this episode, recorded live in London, Dr van der Kolk explores trauma, abuse and suicidality to reveal new ap...
Oct 11, 2024•2 hr 54 min
Since the dawn of humanity, our sense of ourselves has been shaped by things that seem human - or nearly human - but are not. From sacrificial animals to household pets, ancient gods to future technologies like robots and AI, human ethics was, is and will continue to be profoundly influenced by its relationship with intelligences other than our own. What moral responsibility do we have toward the prey that we hunt and the machines that clean our homes? Why did medieval Europeans put pigs and cat...
Oct 07, 2024•41 min
Ambitious yet anxious? Harvard-trained clinical psychologist Dr Mary E. Anderson joined us with an actionable guide to maintaining your edge all while reducing stress and finding happiness along your journey. From understanding thoughts and behaviours that might be causing obstacles for you, such as negative forecasting and perfectionism, to building sustainable habits that can help you thrive, Dr Anderson reveals that success doesn't have to come at the expense of your wellbeing. To get an excl...
Oct 04, 2024•1 hr 7 min
In our turbulent times, how do we grapple with our past? Are we capable of grappling with Britain's imperial history without whitewashing? David Olusoga and Alan Lester believe that the truth matters; it matters far too greatly to be hijacked by apologists and racists. They joined us in conversation to reveal the truth about the British Empire and fight back against those who smear the integrity of professional historians; together, they reveal a new way forward in understanding the history of t...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Psychotherapist and Sunday Times bestselling author Anna Mathur joins the podcast to debunk traditional strategies to manage common worries and introduce her new approach to overcoming the ten fundamental, uncomfortable truths in life: acceptance. Drawing upon her experience as a therapist as well as her own personal journey of grief, and training as a therapist alongside her mother, she dives into topics that many of us are afraid to face. In the episode Anna proposes that joy and heartbreak wi...
Sep 28, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Longtime listeners will remember the artist and folklorist Amy Jeffs from her episode exploring the medieval wilderness; her latest book Saints returns to the medieval world to explore the lives and legends of European saints -- from men raised by wolves to women communing with flocks of birds. She joined us in conversation with the author and critic Sam Leith, whose new book The Haunted Wood is a history of and reflection upon children's literature from Aesop to the modern day. Their dialogue i...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Oliver Burkeman’s global bestseller Four Thousand Weeks was a reflection upon our brief time on earth that changed lives and inspired thousands. Now armed with a meadow of playful metaphors to illustrate his philosophy, he joins the podcast to offer us a crash course in how to make the most of our lives without giving into the cult of self-help. Sharing his cynicism of society’s overemphasis on hyperproductivity, which has held us hostage to a ‘daily productivity deficit’, Oliver shows that ‘don...
Sep 20, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Barrack and Michele Obama loved Rumaan Alam's apocalyptic third novel, Leave the World Behind, so much they helped turn it into a wildly successful Netflix movie. That novel anticipated and captured the feel of life in the COVID pandemic with uncanny accuracy, and Rumaan's new book is no less attuned to the way we live now. Entitlement is the story of Brooke, a young, ambitious Black New Yorker who finds herself in the employ of ageing billionaire-philanthropist Asher Jaffee - with unpredictable...
Sep 16, 2024•56 min
Nate Silver's remarkable career has seen him conquer many seemingly unrelated worlds: professional poker, sports journalism, and the political forecasting that made him a star of US politics. He joined us on stage in London to reveal the ideas that glue these together - an idea that helps to explain how power, business, and politics really work. There is a new paradigm of power with global importance. This power belongs to a new class of professional risk-takers – including VCs, gamblers, tech m...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Many of us wrestle with daunting life-choice questions from time to time: what should I be aiming for? Am I being ambitious enough? Has an excess of ambition led me astray? Stefan Stern has dedicated a lifetime to answering these questions. The FT's former management columnist, a think-tank director, and now a professor at Cass Business School, Stefan joins the podcast to investigate how ambition and success work together through the unlikely icon of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth. Whether your look...
Sep 06, 2024•35 min
Yevgeny Prigozhin emerged as one of the most dangerous warlords in the world and as one of Vladimir Putin’s chief rivals in Russia’s tumultuous political climate, exiled after leading Wagner’s attempted coup and killed in a mysterious plane crash. But what is the truth about this enigmatic figure, and the chaos unleashed across Russia by his turn against Putin? And, in the aftermath of his death, what is next for Russia in the new stage of late Putinism that Prigozhin’s life forged? Drawing on y...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 4 min
From ancient thrones to Hollywood stars, gems have not only adorned humanity but also shaped its history. How did emeralds and rubies etch our origin stories? How did garnets embody the flickering soul or jade the tenets of living a good life? Senior Jewellery Curator at the V&A Museum Helen Molesworth reveals how gems came to embody our most cherished ideals, our most vicious battles for power, and our evolving understanding of ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c...
Aug 30, 2024•56 min
Traditional stories of the evolution of life on our planet tell us that we and all other creatures on Earth were shaped by evolution. But how do minds that are shaped by evolution go on to transform nature in their own right? In the final volume of the landmark trilogy that began with Other Minds and continued with Metazoa, philosopher of science Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the role that animal minds - and, especially, human minds - have had on our world. If you've ever wondered why it was prim...
Aug 27, 2024•55 min
Have you ever wondered how we got here? From hunting mammoths, to flying to the moon? Historian Yuval Noah Harari introduced millions of readers to the story of the human species with his global bestseller Sapiens. His new book Unstoppable Us is the first in a new four-book series telling that story to younger readers. Over the summer he joined children's author and essayist Katherine Rundell on stage to tell us more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 22, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Created in collaboration with Fern Press and Tortoise Media, the Fern Academy Prize was created to discover and nurture unpublished writers who shine a light on the universal human experience and speak to the times we live in. Gabriela Denise Frank won the 2024 prize with A Self She Can Continue Living With: a tragicomic depiction of the middle manager's lot in corporate America and the soul-crushing absurdities of the white collar world. In this episode of the podcast, Gabriela reads the essay ...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 19 min
A healthy gut functions like a successful company, with different roles and employees. So how do we keep these employees happy? In this episode of the podcast, microbiome scientist and dietician Dr Emily Leeming joins us to reveal the groundbreaking new evidence between food and mood, and actionable steps for a healthier, more energising lifestyle. She reveals the impact of sedentary lifestyles on our gut, the microbiome benefits of a ten second kiss, and a disco inspired mnemonic for keeping yo...
Aug 16, 2024•1 hr 7 min
