Leila went to R3PLAY , the enormous retro-gaming event in Blackpool, and has returned armed with interviews with loads of people, including Sensible Soccer creator John Hare , Adam from the National Museum of Computing , and retro computing enthusiast off-the-telly Iain Lee . Back at Shift Run Stop Towers, our snackfood correspondent Dave Green takes us on a gastronomical voyage to far-off lands, and Roo shares the coolest thing he's seen all week. Links: R3PLAY | Video of SID80s playing at R3pl...
Nov 18, 2010
We welcome another ridiculously talented guest this week, in the form of acclaimed screen actor Andy Nyman . The horror aficionado joined us on his only night off from the West End hit Ghost Stories , which he wrote and stars in - though you might also remember his turn as the deliciously aggressive Patrick in Charlie Brooker's zombie satire Dead Set . He's a magician too, and for the past decade has worked closely with Derren Brown. Elsewhere, snack informant Dave shares some Swiss treats court...
Nov 11, 2010
It's all bionic legs, bananas and biplanes this week, as we meet the exuberant comedian Helen Keen , creator of acclaimed stand-up show and soon-to-be Radio 4 series "It IS rocket science". There's big news from Roo, inane comments about time travel from Leila, and your hosts finally get some decent food in them, via some very tasty cheese supplied by listener Kev Frost . It's nice to know someone's looking out for our glycemic index, thanks Kev! Helen Keen (homepage) | Helen Keen (Wikipedia) | ...
Nov 04, 2010
Yes, we've reached episode 50. When we started a year ago we didn't really know what the show would be like, or how sustainable it could be, so we're pleased to have made it this far. Thanks for sticking with it (would a hug be inappropriate?) In this one-off, one-for-the-fans, where-are-they-now geekstravaganza, excellent early guest Alice Bartlett returns to tell us about programming for Android and her fascinating family, and we take the mic to the live episode 50 games night we hosted the ot...
Oct 28, 2010
Rhianna knows games. We meet the famous "narrative paramedic" behind Heavenly Sword, the Overlord series, Mirror's Edge and lots more - and discover it all began with Leisure Suit Larry . But that's not all! Your hosts discuss the great "Inventing the 21st Century" exhibition at the British Library over a beer somewhere, while back at Shift Run Stop towers, Dave 'Snacktime' Green hypes everyone up with caffeine-packed drinks and some extreme sweets. Rhianna Pratchett (Wikipedia) | Rhianna's home...
Oct 21, 2010
Robert Schifreen and Stephen Gold hacked into the Post Office/BT's Viewdata system 'Prestel' back in the 80s, gaining access to thousands of mailboxes (including Prince Philip's). It was the first high profile hacking case in the UK, and resulted in the passing of the Computer Misuse Act . We reminisce with Robert about the good old days of computer crime, take a stroll along the Thames, and find snacks hedgehog Dave Green under a bonfire of sweet wrappers. Robert's company Security Savvy | Robe...
Oct 14, 2010
Special episode this week - two guests, several locations and lots of meaty snacks . We went to the annual London games conference Playful and Skype-interviewed very funny former Games Master host-turned farmer Dominik Diamond on stage - hear the best bits in this episode. Games consultant and former editor of Edge magazine, Margaret Robertson was at Playful too, talking about Minecraft . But we'd already booked her to come on our show, because we already knew she was ace, because we're way ahea...
Oct 07, 2010
A return to video games chat this week, and who better to put our endless questions about narrative and puzzles to than friendly games maker Hayden Scott-Baron (" Docky "). Hayden is the man behind hit iPhone physics game Tumbledrop , and much of what you like about RollerCoaster Tycoon. He's a comic artist , too, so we exploited his talent to bring you some of our cutest tapes so far. Head over to our store now to grab one for yourself - it's a very limited edition run! Also in this episode: yo...
Sep 30, 2010
This week as we talk to Simon Hickson, or to give him his full name: SIMON OUT OF TREVOR AND SIMON. He has one of those voices, and he uses it great effect in this nostalgic episode, revealing which of their characters were banned from Going Live, the thing that links Trev to Mad Men , and what really happened when Five Star were on. To be honest, we can't get enough of it. In a quieter moment your hosts tuck into some unusually good sweets from a listener in Australia, and tentatively launch th...
Sep 23, 2010
Kev Cecil, Kev Cecil. Rings a bell, doesn't it? You've definitely come across Kev's work, because he's written for everything. Black Books, Little Britain, Armstrong and Miller, Katy Brand, Harry & Paul, Armando Iannucci... wherever you go, there he is, often teaming up with writing partner Andy Riley . Most recently, the pair co-created the three-part hiking comedy The Great Outdoors , which was acclaimed for its funny jokes and brilliant cast including Mark Heap, Katherine Parkinson and Ru...
Sep 16, 2010
Kim Plowright is an inspiration. She turns up in all the best projects like a digital Bill Murray, and instantly makes everything a million times better. This week we learn why Hypercard games were so weird, how to voice a Numbers Station, and what it was like sharing a school with our Dave , who returns this week armed with a few snacks that should never have been made . Kim Plowright | Hypercard | The Manhole | Prestel (again, it's like we're obsessed) | Dave's site Snackspot | Buy this podcas...
Sep 09, 2010
Elizabeth Sparrow is President of the Chartered Institute for I.T . In this week's fun-packed episode, we find out about being in charge of geeks, use the phrase 'digital native', and ask our guest whether kids should be forced to use Facebook. We also get the scoop on a film competition you can enter - with real prize money. And be warned, you might be going up against US . Yeah. In other episode 42 news, Roo calls Leila's bluff with a surprisingly difficult quiz about Red Dwarf, and we welcome...
Sep 02, 2010
We chat to Alex Bellos this week. You must have seen his popular maths book (illustrated by SRS guest Andy Riley ); Alex's Adventures in Numberland is everywhere at the moment. But is maths really that interesting? How many loaves of bread does it take to change a bell curve? What's 'God's Number' and is it cheaper if you ring after 6pm? Alex computes the answers, while in an unexpectedly gothic twist, your hosts assemble an edible skeleton and pool their entire knowledge of Twilight. We have th...
Aug 26, 2010
This week's guest is a prolific game designer. So prolific, in fact, that if you like games you probably already have something he's created in your house. So it was an honour to talk to Reiner Knizia about German board games, the iPhone market, whether German telly really is rubbish, and lots more. And your hosts play a game of their own this week, too. To celebrate the podcast's 40th birthday, Leila quizzes Roo on his knowledge of Shift Run Stop. But how well will you do? Pause the cassette, a...
Aug 19, 2010
Denise Wilton , co-founder of B3ta and creative director at Moo , joins us this week to discuss creativity, community, Chris Morris, Commodore PETs, cross stitch, corpses, Community Chests and cheating. Meanwhile, your hosts become angry and confused about popular culture and Leila badly wants to believe something Roo still can't bring himself to stomach. Are you prepared to experience the most interesting thirty-six-and-a-bit minutes of your life so far? Go and get a cup of tea first. We'll wai...
Aug 12, 2010
Magicians are massive geeks and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Ali Cook 's lonely adolescence in this enchanting episode. Your hosts also find a moment on a park bench to discuss the toaster/Kryten overlap in Red Dwarf and share details of the idiotically simple video games they've been wasting their brains, time and 21st century computing power on this week. Links: Ali Cook (home page) | Ali Cook (Twitter) | Ali's 2010 Edinburgh show "Pieces of Strange" | Ali's amazing water tank trick on ...
Aug 05, 2010
Film-maker Ivo Gormley drops in this week to tell us about his new projects, as well as the ones he's probably best known for - Us Now and the brilliant new documentary about live gaming, Playmakers . He's an inspirational and interesting chap - why not follow him on Twitter ? We also enjoy some unusually tasty snacks with regular guest Dave and talk about Roo's favourite iPad games, supermarket fruit machines, and other stuff too... Links: Playmakers | Us Now | Ivo on Twitter | Think Public | D...
Jul 29, 2010
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock tells us how to make a telescope, where you can launch a satellite, and why people STILL haven't gone back to the moon, in this week's show. Maggie leads the optical instruments group at Astrium and communicates big ideas in an accessible way through her own company Science Innovation Ltd . She must be the most enthusiastic scientist in our neck of the galaxy and we really loved meeting her and her new daughter, Lauren. Elsewhere this week, Roo and Leila discuss eyesight,...
Jul 22, 2010
Meet the esteemed computer scientist, academic and Bletchley Park campaigner Dr Sue Black , and find out how she fell in love with the birthplace of British computing, and why the 1980s classroom BBC Micro is more dangerous than you think. Elsewhere, your hosts discuss everything from the 'Hide and Seek' live gaming event that took place at London's National Theatre recently, to why boys aren't allowed to play with girls' toys, and The Great Twitter Portrait Project . Our Dave pours out more odd...
Jul 15, 2010
It was only a matter of time before we had this Original Internet Celeb on the show. Danny O'Brien is of course Dave 's former partner in crime from the world-famous geek newsletter NTK . He's been involved with the EFF, the ORG and loads of other stuff in recent years but has never forgotten his early internet roots . Now a long-term resident of California, we catch up with the digital Robin Hood on a brief visit to the UK. Incidentally, when we emailed Danny to invite him on the show we told h...
Jul 08, 2010
Geeky fun beyond your, er, quite wild dreams this week as we chat with the utterly delightful Thom and Myk from the Thomyk podcast about comics, Lego, D&D, dice, and of course podcasting. Snack seer Dave Green divines the most unexpected drinks of the summer, including at least one that's so unexpected, it's not even a drink. Links: Thomyk podcast | Tho m on Twitter | Myk on Twitter | Thom's Dick Cheney lego scene on Boing Boing | Dave's Snackspot | Buy this podcast o n cassette or just dona...
Jul 01, 2010
If you like games you probably already know about games wizard Dan Hon, and even if you don't know him you're bound to have come across his work. Together with his brother Adrian, Dan co-founded Six to Start , the award-winning games company behind teen ARG Smokescreen and involved with loads of other fun stuff too, e.g Misfits , We Tell Stories and of course Wired (they're also in the mag's top 100 ). Roo gets the scoop on Dan's next move, and finds out what he really thinks about the term ARG ...
Jun 24, 2010
Your hosts catch up after a couple of weeks away from SRS Towers, in this chat-packed reunion episode. Learn how Roo coped with a physical illness at the risk of inducing a mental one by binge-eating a sci-fi box-set with his eye-mouth. Meanwhile, Leila finds a way of combining her new walkie talkies with her fridge to conti nue our audio spin-off of Roo's In The Fridge project . And is your Dad a massive nerd? Of course he is! Sporting one of the best accents we've had on the show so far, Wired...
Jun 17, 2010
A summery episode this week, as a guitar-wielding Mark "MJ" Hibbett swings by to serenade us in the sunshine, and we snack on Southwold's finest seaside fare. Mark is responsible for the world's first internet hit, the gloriously nostalgic vintage computing paean Hey Hey 16K ("What does that get you today?") plus loads of other brilliant songs AND a new rock musical about dinosaurs and robots called Dinosaur Planet. Everything about that paragraph was good. Poor Roo has been ill ( watching the e...
Jun 10, 2010
A rough and ready little episode this week, as our Roo - the edit smarts - has been off on a well-earned holiday (though Roofans relax: his past self does grace this episode - before he left we discussed Red Dead Redemption ). And while he was drinking in the Spanish sunshine, Leila and Dave were drinking in the complimentary wine at the premier of the BCS 's Information Pioneers campaign, which aims to highlight the trailblazers of the information age through a series of films and a public appe...
Jun 03, 2010
Mellifluous-voiced Kathy reads the news on Radio 4, stars in Scott Mills' 'Posh Radio 4 Lady' segment, plays the 'uke', writes books, loves Twitter , and still finds time to tell you to turn around when possible on your Tom Tom. We had a great chat and she even played a few requests for us. It was still hot outside when recorded this, so drink in the exotic holiday atmosphere, wintery futureboy, as we step outside to sample some sun-drenched refreshments with Dave Green from dormant cybervolcano...
May 27, 2010
Games games and more games. And breakfast cereal. In this week's episode we meet two heroes of British gaming at Game Camp , play some video game legends trump cards , eat a wide and frankly terrifying range of breakfast cereals and talk about iPhone games. Keep your datasette peeled for the secret 'datablast' at the end of the episode too. Links: Games Workshop | Game Camp | G-Force The Game | Wet | Bioshock 2 | Video Game Legends trump cards | Dave's Snackspot | Buy this podcast on cassette | ...
May 20, 2010
Our guest this week has been keeping a watchful eye on the Large Hadron Collider since it booted up again in March, but luckily he's very well-qualified. In fact, Jon is a Professor of Physics at UCL and via the ATLAS experiment, pushes the boundaries of so-called science over at CERN on a regular basis. Well, we don't know much about science, but we know what we like, and it was a joy to learn about everything from the mystery of mass to the mystery of the LHC rap . Over in parallel dimension, ...
May 13, 2010
This week we catch up with games publisher James Wallis in the suitably recreational environs of a sunny London park. James is an ambassador for storytelling - his company Magnum Opus Press recently published The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen . Learn about that, the geography of World of Warcraft , and how to win a World Record for endurance D&D playing, in this geeky(-est? ever?) episode. Back in the studio, our very own Sophie Dahl of snacks, Dave Green , has some refreshing...
May 06, 2010
Writer-performer Isy Suttie drops in this week. Isy is a hit with geeks everywhere thanks to her role as Peep Show 's winsome I.T. worker 'Dobby', but her talents reach far and wide. We discuss her performing career and her personal passions, which include The Office and The Wicker Man - and she plays the piano for us. You don't get that on This American Life. Elsewhere this week, Dave Green joins us for more al fresco international snackery, bringing his expertise to bear on some Californian ch...
Apr 29, 2010
