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-authors of NYT Bestseller, Difficult Conversations.

Elaine’s new book is Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent and Lead with Courage, available at https://www.waterstones.com/book/unlearning-silence/elaine-lin-hering/9781529900170.

1. The real costs of AI https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ais-climate-impact-goes-beyond-its-emissions/

2. Babble hypothesis of leadership https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/leaders-talk-more-babble-hypothesis/

3. No-knead pizza dough https://www.seriouseats.com/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe

4. Social change ecosystems Guide-April-2022.pdf">https://buildingmovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ecosystem-Guide-April-2022.pdf

5. Use of low power language is strategic https://www.yourpowerunleashed.org/blog/2023/5/21/womens-use-of-low-power-language-at-work-is-not-diminishing-but-very-strategic

6. Forest-bathing is healthy https://time.com/5259602/japanese-forest-bathing/

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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 to promote freedom of expression, and the Istanbul literature house, Kiraathane. He has written a number of non-fiction titles, including Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know which was “called a succinct, readable and expert briefing on the modern country” by the Daily Telegraph and “no better introduction to today’s Turkey” by Andrew Mango. The Adventure of the Second Wife is his debut novel.

1. The obsession of the Ottoman sultan Abdülhamid II for Sherlock Holmes https://www.thebulwark.com/p/plagues-of-the-body-and-plagues-of-the-mind-orhan-pamuk

2. The art of the dramatically satisfying ending 101-best-movie-endings-of-all-time-ranked.html">https://www.vulture.com/article/the-101-best-movie-endings-of-all-time-ranked.html

3. Cornucopia https://www.cornucopia.net/

4. The Big Green Egg https://www.biggreenegg.co.uk/

5. The plight of Turkish journalism https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/turkey-after-an-attempted-coup-the-journalists-nightmare

6. The periphery of Istanbul https://www.istanbulmeetandgreetservice.com/the-5-most-charming-small-villages-near-to-istanbul/

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Bill Weir discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Bill Weir is a veteran anchor, writer, producer, and host who came to CNN in 2013 after a decade of award-winning journalism at ABC News.

In 2019, he was named the network’s first Chief Climate Correspondent, drawing on his experience creating and hosting the primetime CNN Original Series “The Wonder List with Bill Weir,” now streaming on Discovery+.

His first book, Life As We Know It (Can Be) was published by Chronicle Prism in April 2024.

1. The Goldilocks Earth https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-host-bill-weir-plans-to-hold-bidens-feet-to-the-fire-on-climate-change

2. Humanity’s role models will be beavers, camels and gentoo penguins https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/16/climate/life-as-we-know-it-book-bill-weir/index.html

3. We need thoughtful YIMBYs https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/23/us/climate-crisis-earth-day-weir-letter/index.html

4. The home of the future will come with much thicker walls https://www.builderonline.com/products/building-construction-materials/cnn-report-examines-alternative-way-to-build-homes

5. The new industrial revolution revolution-weir-pkg.cnn">https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2024/02/05/clean-revolution-weir-pkg.cnn

6. Veggie burgers can do more environmental harm than a steak https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/03/us/climate-crisis-cattle-amp-grazing/index.html

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Chioma Okereke discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Born in Nigeria, Chioma Okereke grew up in London and studied law at UCL. She started her writing career as a performance poet before turning her hand to prose. Her debut novel, Bitter Leaf (Virago), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and her short story, Trompette De La Mort, received First Runner Up in the Costa Short Story Award. Her new novel is Water Baby.

1. Jamaica Kincaid https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2022/04/07/jamaica-kincaids-rope-of-live-wires/

2. Cadaqués https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/cadaques

3. PRP (platelet rich plasma) https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/platelet-rich-plasma-injections

4. Raye https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/raye-escapism-21st-century-blues-interview-1234671381/

5. Tiger nuts https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772753X23003325

6. Andre Brink https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/08/andre-brink

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Ash Bhardwaj discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Ash Bhardwaj is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and keynote speaker, whose work explores the intersection of travel, current affairs and human behaviour. He has reported from around the world for outlets including the BBC, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and Condé Nast Traveller. Before travel writing, Ash was a ski instructor, science teacher and wannabe cowboy. He is an officer in the British Army Reserve, and a lecturer in travel journalism at City, University of London. Why We Travel is his first book.

1. Great Polynesian Migration https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/encounters/polynesian-voyaging

2. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

3. Ukraine (as a place, not just a site of war) https://theculturetrip.com/europe/ukraine/articles/the-top-20-attractions-in-ukraine

4. Turning grief into hope https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/new-zealand/my-mother-died-of-cancer-new-zealand-turned-my-grief/

5. How beliefs and behaviours work https://iulianionescu.com/blog/how-our-beliefs-and-values-shape-our-behavior/

6. Psychogeography https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/psychogeography

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Anthony Daniels discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Anthony Daniels was born in London in 1949. He retired from medical practice except for medico-legal work in 2005. He has written several books, including an account of a journey across Africa by public transport, and under his pseudonym, Theodore Dalrymple, has written many essays for publications such as City Journal, some of which were collected in Life at the Bottom (2001), which has been translated into several languages. His new book is Buried But Not Quite Dead: Forgotten Writers of Père Lachaise. He divides his time between England and France.

1. The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2007/nov/01/thearsonistsstillburnsbrig

2. The Hospital Poems by WE Henley https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1931720414002025

3. A Mother Peeling Apples by Pieter de Hooch https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-woman-peeling-apples-209233

4. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne-Melchior_de_Vog%C3%BC%C3%A9

5. That Le Corbusier was a fascist https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32546182

6. That the poor are disproportionately the victims of crime https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/apr/18/socialexclusion.crime

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Historian Leah Redmond Chang discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Leah Redmond Chang is a former Associate Professor of French and Director of the French Literature Programme at George Washington University, and was most recently a Senior Research Associate at University College London. She is the author of two previous books: Into Print: The Production of Female Authorship in Early Modern France and Portraits of the Queen Mother: Polemics, Panegyrics, Letters, winner of the Josephine Roberts Award from the International Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. She lives with her husband and three children, and divides her time between Washington, DC and London.

1. Fake news goes back at least to the 16th century https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/fake-news-history-long-violent-214535/

2. 16th-century Europe was dominated by female leaders https://www.historytoday.com/archive/review/young-queens-leah-redmond-chang-review

3. The Renaissance Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2022/03/this-italian-artist-became-the-first-female-superstar-of-the-renaissance

4. The teenaged queen consort of Spain, Elisabeth de Valois https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2018/06/11/book-review-elizabeth-de-valois-queen-of-spain-and-the-court-of-philip-ii-by-martha-walker-freer/

5. The story of the 16th-century French peasant Martin Guerre and his wife Bertrande origins.net/history-famous-people/martin-guerre-0016613">https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/martin-guerre-0016613

6. Letter-locking https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210616-how-the-forgotten-tricks-of-letterlocking-shaped-history

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Historian Alice Loxton discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Alice Loxton is a 28 year old history broadcaster and writer with over two million followers on social media (@history_alice). She has appeared on many channels including Sky Arts, Channel 5, BBC News and History Hit, and has worked with a wide array of organisations to bring history to mainstream audiences, including Christie’s, Meta, The National Trust, 10 Downing Street, The Royal Collection Trust, The National Portrait Gallery and The National Gallery. UPROAR! Satire, Scandal and Printmaking in Georgian London is Alice’s first book. Her second book, Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives, comes out in August 2024.

1. James Gillray https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v23/n12/peter-campbell/at-tate-britain

2. The fact that Napoleon wasn’t short https://www.history.com/news/napoleon-complex-short

3. Landmark Trust https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/may/12/how-a-derelict-scottish-tower-was-turned-into-a-sumptuous-retreat

4. The French House, Soho https://www.timeout.com/london/bars-and-pubs/french-house

5. Parish churches https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/days-out/britains-most-beautiful-churches

6. The London Library https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v13/n18/john-sutherland/sod-off-readers

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Charlie Russell discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Charlie Russell she/her. Creative Associate and co-founder at Mischief. Trained at LAMDA. Work with Mischief includes Groan Ups (West End); The Play That Goes Wrong (UK Tour, West End, Broadway); Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Pleasance, West End, BBC1 adaptation, Broadway); The Comedy About A Bank Robbery (West End); The Goes Wrong Show (BBC Sitcom); Improviser, Mischief Movie Night (West End, UK Tour), Austentatious, Yes Queens. Charlie wrote and performed a run of her first solo show, Charlie Russell Aims To Please, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022. Other acting work includes Kat in Kite Strings (Short Film), Doctors (BBC 1), And Then There Were None (BBC1 & Mammoth Screen) #FindTheGirl (BBC3 Online) and A Twist Of Dahl (BBC Radio 4). Charlie can next be seen starring in Fanny at The Watermill Theatre in May 2024.

1. 500 Acts of Kindness group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2074795452542346/

2. Fanny Mendelssohn review-fanny-mendelssohn-was-audacious-too.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/23/arts/music-review-fanny-mendelssohn-was-audacious-too.html

3. The game Worldle https://thinkygames.com/reviews/worldle-a-treasure-trove-for-geography-nerds/

4. Improv comedy-club-london-bridge.html">https://www.hooplaimpro.com/improv-comedy-club-london-bridge.html

5. A Short History of Queer Women by Kirsty Loehr. https://www.gscene.com/arts/books/book-review-a-short-history-of-queer-women-by-kirsty-loehr/

6. Therapy https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/benefits-of-talking-therapies/

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Sunny Singh discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Sunny Singh is a writer, novelist, public intellectual, and a champion for decolonisation and inclusion across all aspects of society. She is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, Hotel Arcadia, With Krishna’s Eyes, and Nani’s Book of Suicides, a study of Amitabh Bachchan for the BFI’s film star series, and the recent, A Bollywood State of Mind: A Journey into the World’s Biggest Cinema. She has recently completed a collection of stories linked by the theme of war and is currently working on a new novel, and a non-fiction book about writing ethically. In 2017 she launched the celebrated Jhalak Prize. She is also a founder of the Jhalak Foundation that focuses on a range of literary, artistic and literacy initiatives in the UK and beyond. Sunny lives in London where she is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at the London Metropolitan University.

1. Bollywood movies https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/a-bollywood-state-of-mind-a-journey-into-the-worlds-biggest-cinema-by-sunny-singh/

2. Backpacking https://nomadsworld.com/6-reasons-backpacking-good/

3. Intersectionality https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination

4. Senegal http://hipafrica.com/features/9-reasons-visit-senegal/

5. Open water swimming (and adult swimming lessons) https://www.brighton.ac.uk/news/2023/is-open-water-swimming-good-for-you

6. The excellence and range of literature by British writers of colour https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/03/akala-bernardine-evaristo-ben-okri-and-more-pick-20-classic-books-by-writers-of-colour

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Alexandra Tolstoy discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Alexandra Tolstoy is an Anglo-Russian mother, adventurer, author and TV presenter. She organises adventurous horse riding holidays in Kyrgyzstan, and runs The Tolstoy Edit, a curated shop of her favourite interiors discoveries.

1. Kyrgyzstan https://alexandratolstoytravel.com/

2. Ronald Welch https://foxedquarterly.com/ronald-welch-carey-novels-telegraph-review/

3. Darning and patching https://pieceworkmagazine.com/your-guide-to-mending/

4. Ivan Bilibin http://textualities.net/jennie-renton/the-art-of-ivan-bilibin

5. 19th century European novels https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/review-the-semi-detached-house-by-emily-eden/

6. Victoria sponges https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/grannys-victoria-sponge

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Novelist Julius Taranto discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Julius Taranto is the author of a novel, How I Won a Nobel Prize, which is available at https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/julius-taranto/how-i-won-a-nobel-prize/9781035006830. His other writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Phoebe. He attended Yale Law School and Pomona College. He lives in New York.

1. Cynthia Ozick https://centerforfiction.org/interviews/cynthia-ozick-interviewed-by-alessandra-farkas/

2. The Spirit of Liberty by Learned Hand https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2013/12/05/judge-who-shaped-our-law/

3. Jon Brion https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2023/01/17/jon-brion-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview/

4. Polite Society https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/26/polite-society-review-fun-action-comedy-mashes-jane-austen-and-the-chuckle-brothers

5. American Civil War battlefields and history tourism https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/defining-battles-civil-war/

6. Peter Carey https://play.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics/petercarey

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Faye Begeti discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Faye Begeti is a practising neurology doctor and neuroscientist at Oxford University Hospitals. She completed her medical degree and PhD at Cambridge, and currently conducts research into Parkinson’s disease alongside seeing her neurology patients. Her Instagram account @the_brain_doctor was started to share her knowledge more widely and has since amassed a community of over 134K followers. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two young daughters. Her new book is The Phone Fix at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phone-Fix-Brain-Focused-Building-Breaking/dp/1803285567

1. Our phones are not addictive https://technosapiens.substack.com/p/smartphoneaddiction

2. Habits are stored in a subconscious part of our brain https://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them

3. We don’t have unlimited mental energy https://www.dayagrant.com/blog/how-the-brain-leaks-energy

4. Chronic stress can lead to physical symptoms https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/stress/signs-and-symptoms-of-stress/

5. A good night’s sleep starts in the morning Healthy-Nights-Sleep-Starts-the-Moment-You-Wake-Up.pdf">https://hr.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1421/2023/02/A-Healthy-Nights-Sleep-Starts-the-Moment-You-Wake-Up.pdf

6. Building cognitive reserve reduces the risk of dementia https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/health-wellbeing/mind-body/staying-sharp/thinking-skills-change-with-age/cognitive-reserve/

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Kelly Link discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Kelly Link is the author of White Cat, Black Dog; Get in Trouble, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction; Magic for Beginners; Stranger Things Happen; and Pretty Monsters. Her short stories have been published in The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She is a MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow and has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the co-founder of Small Beer Press and co-edits the occasional zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. She is also the co-owner of Book Moon, an independent bookstore in Easthampton, Massachusetts. The Book of Love is her debut novel.

Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/book-of-love-9781804548431/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Love-Kelly-Link/dp/1804548456/ Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-book-of-love-kelly-link/7508595?ean=9781804548455 Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-book-of-love/kelly-link/9781804548455

1. Kathryn Davis https://artsci.wustl.edu/faculty-staff/kathryn-davis

2. Dorothy https://dorothyproject.com/

3. Winterpills https://www.winterpills.com/

4. Kiva www.kiva.org

5. CCATE www.ccate.org

6. Street Books www.streetbooks.org

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Alice Kinsella discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Alice Kinsella is a poet from Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland. She is the author of Sexy Fruit (Broken Sleep, 2018) and editor of Empty House: poetry and prose on the climate crisis (Doire Press, 2021). Milk (Picador, 2023) is her debut book of prose. She is an Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Artist.

1. The Loneliest Whale in the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDwDXwcF3iw

2. Happy Tummy Company https://www.thehappytummyco.com/

3. Mosab Abu Toha https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/01/a-palestinian-poets-perilous-journey-out-of-gaza

4. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/polycystic-ovary-syndrome

5. County Mayo's Whaling past https://iwdg.ie/end-of-our-whaling-era/

6. Being wrong https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/24/french-parliament-passes-law-giving-citizens-the-right-to-make-mistakes

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Robert McCrum discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Robert McCrum is a writer and editor whose most recent book, Shakespearean was published to great acclaim in 2021. Formerly the editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber, and literary editor of the Observer, he is also the author of Wodehouse: A Life (2004), and a classic memoir, My Year Off (1998).

From 1980 to 1996, McCrum was editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber, where he published Kazuo Ishiguro, Hanif Kureishi, Milan Kundera, Peter Carey, Danilo Kis, Paul Auster, Marilynne Robinson, Lorrie Moore, Adam Phillips, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jayne Anne Phillips, Orhan Pamuk, and Adam Mars-Jones. At the same time, he wrote seven novels, and co-authored the BBC TV series, The Story Of English, for which he was awarded an Emmy in 1986, followed by a Peabody Prize in 1987.

In July 1995, McCrum suffered a serious stroke, a personal crisis he described in My Year Off, a book now regarded as an essential study in the understanding of the condition.

He was literary editor of the Observer from 1996 to 2010. Globish (2010) was an international bestseller. In 2024, he will publish The Penalty Kick: The Story of A Game-changer with Notting Hill Editions.

1. The Lost Art of Silence by Sarah Anderson https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/animal-emotions/202312/the-art-and-power-of-connecting-to-the-sounds-of-silence

2. The River Granta https://www.wildlifebcn.org/news/river-granta-gets-wiggle

3. The invention of the penalty kick in football https://epicchq.com/story/william-mccrum-the-irish-inventor-of-the-penalty-kick/

4. Alfred the Great https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n09/tom-shippey/what-did-he-think-he-was

5. Kindness https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-enthralled-a-generation/

6. Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqrzmdevQSI

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Ivan looks back at previous discussions with a variety of guests and picks out the things which they think should be less well known. Foregoing the normal positivity, guests rant, complain and moan about famous people, books, television shows, sports, ideas and 90s dances which they find deeply tiresome. The guests and topics are:

James Runcie on Lord of the Rings Helen Thompson on The West Wing Paul Willetts on Meghan Markle Matthew Parris on Alistair Campbell Irenosen Okojie on The Sun Daisy Dunn on Whats app Jon Glover on the word “like” Dominic Sandbrook on history Emma Smith on Shakespeare Kate Mosse on Nigel Farage Henry Hemming on Formula One Subhadra Das on Charles Darwin Andy Smith on Macarena

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Matthew Rice discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Matthew Rice paints, writes and runs courses in the summer which utilise his garden, which is the focus of the rest of his time. Over his career he has published 11 books on architecture, designed many millions of mugs for the business he ran with his then wife Emma Bridgewater, and illustrated for Country Life magazine. His interests in architecture have led to a series of charity roles in that area. Matthew grew up in a household of designers and now lives in Oxfordshire where he paints and writes.

Matthew Rice, educated at Bedales, studied painting and theatre design at Chelsea and Central Schools of Art, is an honorary doctor of Keele and Staffordshire Universities and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Matthew has four children and one grandson.

His books include Village Buildings of Britain, Building Norfolk, Rice’s Architectural Primer, The Lost City of Stoke-on-Trent, Rice’s Church Primer, Oxford, Pat Albeck Queen of the Tea Towel, Rice’s Language of Buildings, Venice A Sketchbook Guide and Rome A Sketchbook Guide.

During the summer, Matthew runs a variety of painting and gardening courses in addition to opening his garden at his home in west Oxfordshire. Further details are available at www.matthewricewatercolours.co.uk.

His 2024 courses include: Tuesday 30th April – Vegetable & Cut Flower Growing Course Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th May – Botanical Drawing Course Wednesday 29th & Thursday 30th May – Sketchbook Course Wednesday 5th & Thursday 6th June – Sketchbook Course Wednesday 19th & Thursday 20th June – Botanical Drawing Curse Wednesday 10th & Thursday 11th July – Architectural Drawing Course

His 2024 Open Garden dates are: Sunday 2nd June, Sunday 21st July an Sunday 8th September.

1. Poundbury https://poundbury.co.uk/

2. Landmark trust https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/

3. Choral evensong https://www.choralevensong.org/uk/

4. The Grant Museum https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/grant-museum-zoology

5. Zinnias https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-zinnias/

6. Silver Birch https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/silver-birch/

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Richard Mills discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Richard Mills is Associate Professor in English Literature and Popular Culture at St Mary’s University, London. He has been programme director for the Film and Popular Culture, Cultural Studies and Irish Studies degrees. He has published extensively on popular music, Irish literature and culture, film, fashion and British television. Mills is the author of The Beatles and Fandom: Sex, Death and Progressive Nostalgia (Bloomsbury 2019). He is co-editor of Mad Dogs and Englishness (Bloomsbury 2017) and The Beatles and Humour (Bloomsbury 2023). He is author of the forthcoming The Beatles and Black Music: Post-colonial Theory, Musicology and Remix Culture (Bloomsbury 2024) Richard is a regular contributor to BBC4’s Last Word, Sky News, RTE, Portobello Radio and BBC Live and serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Beatles Studies.

1. Bedazzled https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/32e4e509-795e-5e0d-b70b-681f67bde3c8/bedazzled

2. The black artists who influenced the Beatles' music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqp2h65BAs8 & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLGzRXY5Bw

3. Deep End https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_End_(film)

4. Disturbing the Peace by Richard Yates https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disturbing-Peace-Vintage-Classics-Richard/dp/0099518554

5. Dining at the Dunbar by Maurice Leitch https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/13/maurice-leitch-obituary

6. Claire Keegan's stories and novels https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/claire-keegan

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Noreen Masud discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Noreen Masud is a Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature at the University of Bristol, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker 2020. Her first book for non-academic audiences is A Flat Place (2023): a memoir-travelogue about the beauty of flat places, and how they might help us relate to each other.

1. The beauty of flat landscapes https://theartsdesk.com/books/noreen-masud-flat-place-reflective-landscapes
2. The history of non-white British MPs https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01156/
3. Deep canvassing https://www.vox.com/2020/1/29/21065620/broockman-kalla-deep-canvassing
4. W. S. Graham https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-s-graham
5. The proper use of prepositions and conjunctions 1-2-1.html">https://content.byui.edu/file/b8b83119-9acc-4a7b-bc84-efacf9043998/1/Grammar-1-2-1.html
6. How to make elderly carrots less bendy https://www.allrecipes.com/article/how-to-revive-limp-vegetables/

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Bob Cryer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Bob Cryer is an actor and writer best known for Coronation Street and Hollyoaks. He is the youngest child of Barry Cryer. He collaborated with his father on Barry's book of anecdotes, Butterfly Brain, in 2010. Shortly afterwards, they created the book series Mrs Hudson's Diaries, which was adapted into a play for Wilton's Music Hall. Mrs Hudson's Radio Show soon followed for Radio 4 in 2018. Their joint podcast, Now Where Were We?, launched just before Barry's death in January 2022. Bob's new book is Barry Cryer: Same Time Tomorrow?: The Life and Laughs of a Comedy Legend.

1. Black filter coffee https://majestycoffee.com/blogs/posts/americano-vs-drip-coffee

2. Phyllis Pearsall https://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/post/the-real-story-of-a-z-maps-by-phyllis-pearsall

3. Barry Cryer https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34041501

4. Raymond Carver https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/12/24/rough-crossings

5. The Felice Brothers https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/23/the-felice-brothers-life-in-the-dark-new-album

6. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/kiss-kiss-bang-bang-review/

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Martin Knight discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Martin Knight is a British author. He has written autobiographies with footballers George Best, Dave Mackay, Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke also Alan Longmuir founder member of the Bay City Rollers.

In addition he has authored true crime titles and novels. His latest book Justice Killer is released in November 2023. His collaboration with ex-criminal Ronnie Field Nefarious will be published by Harper Collins in 2024.

1. Bird identification apps https://birda.org/best-birdwatching-apps-uk/

2. Letter writing https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/26/from-me-with-love-lost-art-letter-writing

3. Non-league and lower league football news.co.uk/sport/23260993.support-non-league-football/">https://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/23260993.support-non-league-football/

4. The Small Faces https://medium.com/the-riff/the-tragic-story-of-the-small-faces-8830946625b9

5. The Footage Detectives https://www.tptvencore.co.uk/Playlist/Footage-Detectives?id=1ce12be2-3de3-4c50-a784-a8ceb1083fb0

6. Hastings secret-highlights-of-a-weekend-in-hastings-east-sussex.html">https://www.ellieandco.co.uk/2022/02/7-secret-highlights-of-a-weekend-in-hastings-east-sussex.html

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To mark the 300th episode of Better Known, actor Henry Lewis discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Henry Lewis is a power house creative: writer, actor, director and puzzle genius. He is the Artistic Director of Mischief and writes, produces and performs for the company. His work with Mischief includes: The Play that Goes Wrong (Broadway, West End, UK & International Tours), Peter Pan Goes Wrong (BBC1, West End & UK Tours), The Comedy About A Bank Robbery (West End & UK Tour), The Goes Wrong Show (BBC1 & Amazon), Magic Goes Wrong (created with magicians Penn & Teller, West End), Groan Ups (West End), Mischief Movie Night (West End & UK Tour). Henry's work has earned him five Olivier Nominations including a win for Best New Comedy for The Play that Goes Wrong, and his writing has been performed in over thirty countries worldwide. His new book is The Museum Heist, available at https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-museum-heist/henry-lewis/9781408728499.

1. Royal Institution www.rigb.org

2. I am Mother et-mn-capsule-genre-string-20190620-story.html">https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-genre-string-20190620-story.html

3. Paxos https://www.greektravel.com/greekislands/paxos/

4. John Duffin https://www.johnduffin.co.uk/

5. Tony’s Chocolate https://tonyschocolonely.com/uk/en

6. The Mystery Agency https://themysteryagency.com/

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Lucy Eaton discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Lucy Eaton’s theatre credits include: The Duchess of Malfi (Old Vic), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Trafalgar Studios), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Southwark Playhouse), Daisy Pulls it Off (Park Theatre), Khadija is 18 (Finborough Theatre) and Almost, Maine (Park Theatre).

TV credits include BBC1's lockdown smash comedy Staged, alongside David Tennant and Michael Sheen, and Netflix US’ Murder Maps.

Alongside her acting, Lucy co-runs Go People, a production company specialising in uplifting escapism on an intimate scale. She is also Founding Director of Revels in Hand, an internationally renowned luxury events service that offers world class theatre productions in clients’ private homes. Revels in Hand has been featured in Tatler, The Guardian, Forbes, The Telegraph and Vogue.

1. Greek food https://greekreporter.com/2012/03/05/top-10-strange-greek-foods-you-may-like-or-not/

2. How actors learn their lines https://theactorsplace.org/how-actors-memorize-lines-part-1/

3. Colons and semi-colons https://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/colonandsemi/semi

4. The pursuit of happiness https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/a_better_way_to_pursue_happiness

5. The best theatres in London https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/top-london-theatre-venues-chosen-by-you

6. You can hire theatre for your home https://www.revelsinhand.com/

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Simon Garfield discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Simon Garfield was born in London in 1960. He is the author of an appealingly diverse and unpredictable canon of non-fiction, including the bestsellers Mauve, Just My Type and On The Map. He is a trustee of Mass Observation, and is the editor of several books of diaries from the archive, including Our Hidden Lives and A Notable Woman. His recent books include Timekeepers, In Miniature, and All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopaedia.

1. The Interrogatory Mood by Padget Powell https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/nov/07/padgett-powell-interrogative-mood-review

2. The complete works of Tracy Kidder https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1981/10/08/modern-times/

3. The Albertus typeface https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/simon-garfield/albertus/9781399609258/

4. Backlisted podcast https://www.backlisted.fm/

5. Yallah Coffee bar in St Ives https://yallahcoffee.co.uk

6. New Wave - Elvis Costello’s collaboration with the Slovenian Eurovision entrants Joker Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKcxldNZYQA

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Leah Morgan discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Leah Morgan is a project engineer and science communicator working in fusion energy research. She makes science and engineering videos on her YouTube channel Leah Morgan and gives talks all about the energy of the future! You can find her at www.leahmorgan.co.uk and on TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram @LeahLoveScience.

1. Fusion energy research https://www.iaea.org/topics/fusion
2. Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell https://scientificwomen.net/women/bell-jocelyn-14
3. Melodeons https://hobgoblin.com/instruments/instrument/melodeon
4. The King of Rome https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/nostalgia/meet-derbys-king-rome-worlds-5932317
5. The dubious origins of English folk songs https://biblio.uottawa.ca/omeka1/silentfilmmusiccanada/exhibits/show/folk-music/cecil-sharp
6. The value of opportunity https://opportunitynetwork.org/about/

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Max Décharné discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Max Décharné‘s new book Teddy Boys – Post-war Britain and the First Youth Revolution is published by Profile Books on 25 January 2024. He was the drummer of the band Gallon Drunk, and has been the singer and songwriter with The Flaming Stars since 1994. An authority on the 1950s and 1960s counterculture, his other books include Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of British Slang, A Rocket in My Pocket, Hardboiled Hollywood and King’s Road: The Rise and Fall of the Hippest Street in the World. He lives in London.

1. Frank Key https://foxedquarterly.com/andrew-nixon-frank-key-hooting-yard-stories-literary-review/

2. Annette Hanshaw https://www.sandybrownjazz.co.uk/JazzRemembered/AnnetteHanshaw.html

3. Jonathan Latimer https://mysteryfile.com/Latimer/Latimer.html

4. What's On in London https://vintagemagazinecompany.co.uk/collections/whats-on-in-london

5. The Jacobites https://soundcloud.com/jacobites/i-miss-you

6. Coup de Torchon de-torchon-1981.html">http://www.frenchfilms.org/review/coup-de-torchon-1981.html

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Nigel Planer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Nigel Planer is an actor, writer and musician. He played Neil in the BBC comedy The Young Ones and Ralph Filthy in Filthy Rich & Catflap. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including original casts of Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His play, It’s Headed Straight Towards Us, is co-written with Adrian Edmondson, stars Samuel West and Rufus Hound, and is on at the Park Theatre, London. His latest book is Jeremiah Bourne in Time.

1. Myths of 20th century leftist icons https://www.theguardian.com/politics/from-the-archive-blog/2019/may/01/eugenics-founding-fathers-british-socialism-archive-1997

2. Ambedkar and Mulk Raj Anand https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2023/02/27/book-review-ambedkar-in-london-by-william-gould-santosh-dass-and-christophe-jaffrelot/

3. Jane Jacobs https://www.nybooks.com/online/2012/03/30/jane-jacobs-neocons-health-care/

4. Anselm Keifer https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/03/anselm-kiefers-beautiful-ruins

5. Nenda Neururer https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10130242/

6. Learning languages https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2022/04/29/learning-language-changes-your-brain/

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Danell Jones discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Danell Jones is a writer with a PhD in literature from Columbia University. She is the author of The Virginia Woolf Writers Workshop; the poetry collection Desert Elegy; and An African in Imperial London, which won the High Plains Book Award for Nonfiction. Her newest book is The Girl Prince: Virginia Woolf, Race, and the Dreadnought Hoax.

1. Julia Margaret Cameron’s Photographs of Alamayou, Prince of Abyssinia https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1394113/d%C3%A8jatch-al%C3%A1mayou--b%C3%A1sha-f%C3%A9lika-photograph-cameron-julia-margaret/

2. Britons Through Negro Spectacles, by A.B.C. Merriman-Labor https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447069/britons-through-negro-spectacles-by-merriman-labor-abc/9780241559741

3. Public libraries https://www.neh.gov/article/complicated-role-modern-public-library

4. Sophie Stone performing All the World’s A Stage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbIOZZy54EM

5. California Highway 395 https://californiathroughmylens.com/highway-395-roadtrip/

6. London Calling by Una Marson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6xyJxC_yl4

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Angus Jackson discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Angus Jackson is a screen and stage director and writer. For the screen he has directed the feature length film Elmina’s Kitchen for the BBC for which he was nominated for a BAFTA as best new director. For The Royal Shakespeare Company he has directed Oppenheimer, Don Quixote, Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. He wrote and directed Secret Cinema Presents Casino Royale in London and Shanghai in collaboration with Eon Productions.

1. Changing Lanes https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/changing-lanes-2002

2. Shostakovich’s 2nd piano concerto https://www.bso.org/works/piano-concerto-no-2-shostakovich

3. Coriolanus https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/22/politicians-people-coriolanus-rsc-shakespeare

4. Special v general relativity http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-general-relativity-and-special-relativity/

5. Movies based on ancient myths https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/aug/31/features.review87

6. Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards https://www.drawright.com/theory

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Cathi Unsworth discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Cathi Unsworth is a novelist, writer and editor who lives and works in London. She began her career on the legendary music weekly Sounds at the age of 19. Her novels include The Not Knowing, Weirdo and That Old Black Magic. She is currently teaching novel writing for Curtis Brown Creative's online platform. Her latest book is Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth.

1. The magazine Fortean Times of-recommendation-fortean-times.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-fortean-times.html
2. Discovering London's secrets by going for long walks walking-tours.co.uk/secret-london/introduction.htm">https://www.london-walking-tours.co.uk/secret-london/introduction.htm
3. The noir writer Derek Raymond https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/doors-closing-slowly-derek-raymonds-factory-novels/
4. The pop artist Pauline Boty boty-overlooked.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/obituaries/pauline-boty-overlooked.html
5. The publishers London Books books.co.uk/">https://www.london-books.co.uk/
6. The musician Tim Smith https://thequietus.com/articles/31719-tim-smith-cardiacs-strange-world

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Doreen Cunningham is an Irish-British writer born in Wales. After studying engineering she worked briefly in climate related research at NERC and in storm modelling at Newcastle University, before turning to journalism. She worked for the BBC World Service as a international news presenter, editor, producer and reporter, for twenty years. She won the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award 2020, was shortlisted for the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writers Award 2021, and longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for writing on Global Conservation, for Soundings, her first book.

1. Composting toilets https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/dec/09/no-flush-movement-composting-toilet-clean-water-waste-fertiliser-eco-revolution

2. Earhart the grey whale https://www.pugetsoundexpress.com/10-gray-whale-sounders-have-returned/

3. Indigenous languages https://en.unesco.org/courier/2019-1/indigenous-languages-knowledge-and-hope

4. Travel-sickness remedy https://www.rivieratravel.co.uk/blog/12-ways-banish-seasickness

5. Regrowing spring onions https://www.allrecipes.com/article/save-money-diy-fresh-green-onions/

6. Take Me To Church by Sinéad O'Connor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMzY_KQIKjU&pp=ygUlVGFrZSBNZSBUbyBDaHVyY2ggYnkgU2luw6lhZCBPJ0Nvbm5vcg%3D%3D

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Becky Smethurst discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Becky Smethurst is a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. She is the star of astronomy-themed You Tube channel Dr Becky. Her current research is trying to answer the question, “How do galaxies and black holes evolve together?” Her latest book is A Brief History of Black Holes.

1. Black holes are neither “black” nor “holes” https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/dr-becky-smethurst/a-brief-history-of-black-holes/9781529086706

2. Annie Jump Cannon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Jump_Cannon

3. The same algorithm that identifies stars also identifies individual whale sharks https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/star-mapping-algorithms-track-endangered-animals

4. The dark sky sights of the UK https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/best-dark-sky-sites-uk

5. You can measure the speed of light with a microwave https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/science/physics-and-astronomy/physics/measure-the-speed-light-your-microwave

6. The "black hole of Calcutta" prison is where black holes get their name from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta

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DanRam discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

DanRam travels the globe as an Event MC & Speaker at over 100 events a year. Hosting changemakers like President Barack Obama, billionaire founders Sir Richard Branson and Reid Hoffman, F1 champion Nico Rosberg, Grammy-winning artists and celebrities, he works on 4 continents from college campuses to parliaments to in-house corporate innovation days for Fortune 500 companies to the biggest tech conferences in the world. His passion is to inspire people with his motto “Start Now Start Simple” in building a future we all want to live in.

1. How to survive a charging wild lion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=829YuVH1dg8

2. Why introverts make better professional speakers https://www.givepowerfulpresentations.com/blog/3-reasons-why-introverts-make-great-public-speakers-pt-1

3. A superpower I can give you – adaptability https://blog.lumen.com/adaptability-embracing-the-new-superpower/

4. My 5G morning routine morning-habits-to-help-you-be-happier-more-productive.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/18/psychologists-morning-habits-to-help-you-be-happier-more-productive.html

5. Why MCs are more important to an event than speakers https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-reasons-hire-professional-emcee-mc-event-host-amy-mcwhirter/

6. The soul stirring music of Gospel Music legend Kirk Franklin telegram.com/entertainment/article272178398.html">https://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/article272178398.html

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Helen Batten discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Helen Batten is an author and psychotherapist. Her non-fiction books delve into the historical worlds of circuses, nuns, a family of redheaded sisters and Victorian music hall and opera. After reading history at Cambridge, she trained as a journalist, and worked in television producing and directing documentaries for the BBC. She now works as an integrative psychotherapist and couples counsellor in private practice in London. Helen is currently working on a book about a murder, magic and sacred music in Renaissance Italy. Her books are Confessions of a Showman, Sisters of the East End, The Scarlet Sisters, and The Improbable Adventures of Miss Emily Soldene.

1. Carlo Gesualdo https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/19/prince-of-darkness

2. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Relationships https://www.gottman.com/blog/the-four-horsemen-recognizing-criticism-contempt-defensiveness-and-stonewalling/

3. Emily Soldene https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/emily-soldene-who-was-life-facts-actress-writer-rebel/

4. How to have a good death https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sisters-East-End-Helen-Batten

5. Homing by Jon Day https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/07/homing-jon-day-review-pigeons

6. The Gladstone Arms https://www.thegladpub.co.uk/

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Andrew Pontzen discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Andrew Pontzen is a cosmologist and a Professor at University College London. He is currently principal investigator on the ERC-funded GMGalaxies project, and co-director of UCL's Cosmoparticle Initiative. Previously he held a Royal Society University Research fellowship and, before that, junior fellowships in Oxford and Cambridge. His latest book is The Universe in a Box.

1. Simulations and the role they play in science and society https://original.newsbreak.com/@massachusetts-updates-1665615/3107758662878-decoding-the-universe-the-role-of-computer-simulations-in-cosmology

2. Beatrice Hill Tinsley beatrice-tinsley-astronomer.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/obituaries/overlooked-beatrice-tinsley-astronomer.html

3. Hugh Everett https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hugh-everett-biography/

4. There are in the order of 200 billion terrestrial planets in our galaxy https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/what-is-an-exoplanet/planet-types/terrestrial/

5. Bayesian probability https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2016/06/bayesian-statistics-beginners-simple-english/

6. Sierpinski triangle 2-1.html">https://fractalfoundation.org/OFC/OFC-2-1.html

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Jonathan Sayer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jonathan Sayer is an award-winning comedy playwright and screenwriter; he is the co-author of The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, and many more. He is a writer, performer and Creative Director of Mischief Comedy. His work has been performed internationally in forty-six territories including The West End and Broadway. His new book is Nowhere to Run: The ridiculous life of a semi-professional football club chairman. More information is at https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455269/nowhere-to-run-by-sayer-jonathan/9781787636897

1. Ashton United and non-league football https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/10/non-league-football-season-ticket-sales-ashton-united-jonathan-sayer

2. The virtues of growing your own veg https://urbanrootsgardenmarket.ca/the-top-5-benefits-of-growing-your-own-vegetables/

3. JG Farrell https://www.bookforum.com/print/1203/at-his-death-1979-j-g-farrell-was-called-his-generation-s-greatest-historical-novelist-does-the-claim-hold-up-2017

4. Dunning Kruger effect https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/dunning-kruger-effect

5. Twisted Wheel https://www.fredperry.com/subculture/articles/twisted-wheel-pl

6. Al Lubel https://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/a/34098/al_lubel/review

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Thomas Curran discsses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Thomas Curran is a professor of psychology at the London School of Economics and author of a landmark study that the BBC hailed as “the first to compare perfectionism across generations.” His TED Talk on perfectionism has received more than three million views. His research has been featured in media ranging from the Harvard Business Review to New Scientist to CNN and he has appeared on numerous television and radio programs. His new book is The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough, which is available at https://www.amazon.com/Perfection-Trap-Embracing-Power-Enough/dp/1982149531/.

1. Perfectionism is not high standards https://www.thementalfitnesscompany.com/perfectionism-or-high-standards/

2. It does not make us more successful https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-successful-people-rarely-perfectionists-john-mclachlan-2f

3. Perfectionism has many faces https://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/manyfaces

4. It is rising rapidly among young people https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2018/01/perfectionism-young-people

5. Perfectionism is nature and nurture https://thedaily.case.edu/perfectionism-is-a-mix-of-nature-nurture-says-psychologys-amy-przeworski/

6. The antidote to perfectionism is self-acceptance https://www.kindfulbody.com/blog/self-compassion-antidote-perfectionism

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Anna Katharina Schaffner discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Anna Katharina Schaffner is a cultural historian and professional burnout coach. Her books include The Art of Self-Improvement: Ten Timeless Truths, Exhaustion: A History and the novel The Truth about Julia. Anna writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and Psychology Today.

1. Feelings of exhaustion are nothing new https://aeon.co/ideas/why-exhaustion-is-not-unique-to-our-overstimulated-age

2. We are not our thoughts exhaustion-coach.com/post/what-s-so-great-about-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy">https://www.the-exhaustion-coach.com/post/what-s-so-great-about-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy

3. Mind metaphors matter https://psyche.co/ideas/youre-not-a-computer-youre-a-tiny-stone-in-a-beautiful-mosaic

4. We are profoundly shaped by stories about ourselves https://ideas.ted.com/the-two-kinds-of-stories-we-tell-about-ourselves/

5. ‘Dead man’s goals’ are not enough for creating sustainable behavioural change https://joshuanhook.com/2018/02/04/turn-around-your-dead-mans-goals/

6. Only Lovers Left Alive https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/20/only-lovers-left-alive-review

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Ivan Wise adopts six quiz show formats and asks himself some searching questions. He uses Family Friends to try and work out if we all think of the same extinct bird, American prison and canyon, He adopts Uiversity Challenge to try and answer the text of Padgett Powell's The Interrogative Mood - A Novel? in which every sentence is a question. He employs Who Wants to be a Millionaire to consider the exact wording of King Henry II's request about Thomas Beckett.

1. Wilhelm Gustloff https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deadliest-disaster-sea-happened-75-years-ago-yet-its-barely-known-why-180974077/

2. Charlton Athletic v Huddersfield, 1957 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Athletic_F.C._7%E2%80%936_Huddersfield_Town_A.F.C.

3. Ignaz Semmelweis https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/01/12/375663920/the-doctor-who-championed-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives

4. Manuscripts destroyed by fire https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/ralph-ellisons-slow-burning-art

5. Spanish flu https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic

6. Charborough Wall http://www.charborough.co.uk/

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David Robson discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

David Robson is an award-winning science writer based in London. His latest book, The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life (Canongate/Henry Holt), was a Financial Times Best Book of 2022 and won the British Psychological Society Book Award in 2023. His was previously a features editor at New Scientist and a senior journalist at the BBC, and he writes regularly for the Guardian, the Observer, and the Psychologist. Find out more at www.davidrobson.me.

1. How the nocebo effect makes us sick https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150210-can-you-think-yourself-to-death

2. Why speaking in the third person makes us smarter https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230411-illeism-the-ancient-trick-to-help-you-think-more-wisely

3. How to escape the illusion of knowledge: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220812-the-illusion-of-knowledge-that-makes-people-overconfident

4. Reframing fatigue can boost your workouts: https://psyche.co/ideas/physical-fatigue-is-in-the-brain-as-much-as-in-the-body

5. Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/hiding-in-plain-sight-natalia-ginzburgs-masterpiece

6. Love Soup https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/feb/12/love-soup-box-set-review

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Hana Ayoob discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Hana Ayoob is a science communicator and illustrator using art and events to explore the world around us. She speaks at a range of events from science festivals to comedy nights, produces illustrations for books and other projects, and provides training and consulting for universities and other organisations.

1. Honey badgers https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63407/11-fierce-facts-about-honey-badger

2. Leonardo Da Vinci (the man rather than the myth) https://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/08/world/europe/leonardo-da-vinci-life/index.html

3. Singapore https://www.timeout.com/singapore/things-to-do/9-hidden-gems-you-never-knew-existed-in-singapore

4. How to draw anything by Scriberia https://info.scriberia.com/free-chapter-howtodrawanything

5. How useless the human sinuses are sinuses-the-mysterious-holes-in-our-heads-2006jul16-story.html">https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-sinuses-the-mysterious-holes-in-our-heads-2006jul16-story.html

6. Henna https://stepfeed.com/8-things-you-didn-t-know-about-henna-4526

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Lewis Dartnell discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Professor Lewis Dartnell is a research scientist, presenter and author based in London. He graduated from Oxford University with a First Class degree in Biological Sciences and completed his PhD at University College London in 2007. He now holds the Professorship in Science Communication at the University of Westminster. His research is in the field of astrobiology and the search for microbial life on Mars. He has also held a STFC Science in Society Fellowship and is very active in delivering live events at schools and science festivals, working as a scientific consultant for the media, and have appeared in numerous TV documentaries and radio shows. He has won several awards for his science writing and outreach work and regularly freelances for newspapers and magazine articles. He has also published five books: The Knowledge was the Sunday Times ‘New Thinking’ Book of the Year and international bestseller, and Origins: How the Earth Made Us is a Sunday Times top History book of 2019. Being Human: How our Biology shaped World History is now out.

1. Dave Gingery and his lathe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._Gingery

2. SODIS https://www.sodis.ch/methode/index_EN.html

3. How voting in the US southern states follows a 75-million-year-old seafloor https://www.history.co.uk/article/how-earth-shaped-human-history-interview-with-lewis-dartnell-about-origins

4. Link between a defunct gene in human DNA and the emergence of the Mafia https://www.newscientist.com/podcasts/199-being-human-lewis-dartnell-on-how-our-biology-shapes-our-actions/

5. How tropical diseases helped bring about the union between England and Scotland https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/scotland-and-darien/

6. Titan and possibility of two biospheres https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/28jun_titanocean

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Oliver Burkeman discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Oliver Burkeman is the author of the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller Four Thousand Weeks, about embracing limitation and finally getting round to what counts, along with The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done. For many years he wrote a popular column for the Guardian, 'This Column Will Change Your Life'. In his email newsletter The Imperfectionist, he writes about productivity, mortality, the power of limits and building a meaningful life in an age of distraction. He lives in the North York Moors.

1. The Zettelkasten https://zenkit.com/en/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-the-zettelkasten-method/

2. Death: The End of Self-Improvement by Joan Tollifson death-the-end-of-self-improvement.html">https://www.joantollifson.com/book-death-the-end-of-self-improvement.html

3. The fact that everyone is just winging it https://www.theguardian.com/news/oliver-burkeman-s-blog/2014/may/21/everyone-is-totally-just-winging-it

4. Rosedale Chimney Bank and Spaunton Moor https://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walk-1921-description

5. "Ought implies can" https://platofootnote.wordpress.com/2016/06/13/ought-implies-can-or-does-it/

6. This Jungian Life https://thisjungianlife.com/

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Rachel Nuwer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Rachel Nuwer is an award-winning freelance science journalist and author who regularly contributes to the New York Times, Scientific American and National Geographic. Her first book, Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking, took her to a dozen countries to investigate the multi-billion dollar illegal wildlife trade. Her new book, I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World, delves into the history, science, politics and culture of MDMA. She lives in Brooklyn.

1. MDMA has been used by therapists since the 1970s https://www.amazon.com/Feel-Love-Quest-Connection-Fractured/dp/1635579570/

2. Most health problems and deaths attributed to MDMA are the result of prohibition https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61734334

3. Composting is a really easy way to support the environment https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/essays-culture/compost-new-york-city-zero-waste/

4. Trophy hunting contributes to conservation in Africa https://www.biographic.com/africas-conservation-conundrum/

5. Arresting poachers won't solve the problem of illegal wildlife trade https://www.amazon.com/Poached-Inside-World-Wildlife-Trafficking/dp/0306825503

6. Rabbits are incredible pets and should be kept indoors http://allaboutrabbitsrescue.org/rabbits-101/

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Jack Ashby discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jack Ashby is the Assistant Director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. His zoological focus is on the mammals of Australia, but his work more broadly centres on engaging people with the natural world, chiefly through museums, and exploring the colonial biases that museums often exhibit. His books, Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals and Animal Kingdon: A Natural History in 100 Objects combine these scientific and social stories.

From 2022-23 he was an Art Fund Headley Fellow. He is a trustee of the Natural Sciences Collections Association, an Honorary Research Fellow in UCL Science and Technology Studies, and formerly sat on the Council of the Society for the History of Natural History.

1. Platypuses https://www.amazon.co.uk/Platypus-Matters-Extraordinary-Australian-Mammals/dp/0008431477/

2. Ali from Sarawak https://theconversation.com/i-am-ali-wallace-the-malay-assistant-of-alfred-russel-wallace-an-excerpt-85738

3. Biases in natural history museum displays male-than-female-specimens-in-natural-history-collections.html">https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/october/more-male-than-female-specimens-in-natural-history-collections.html

4. Stockholm’s Biologiskamuseet https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/biologiska-museet

5. Tasmanian devils https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/tasmanian-devil

6. Gran Paradiso National Park https://www.cicerone.co.uk/five-ways-to-enjoy-italys-gran-paradiso-national-park

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Christian Donlan discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Chris Donlan is a writer and journalist. He was born in Los Angeles and now lives in Brighton with his family. His first book, The Unmapped Mind, was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley prize.

1. Ellen Raskin https://www.eurogamer.net/something-solid-in-a-world-of-liars-the-tattooed-potato-and-the-most-haunted-address-in-new-york-city
2. HP https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/minds-behind-the-brain-stanley-finger/1101398997
3. William Marlow https://artuk.org/discover/artists/marlow-william-17401813
4. I and My Chimney, a short story by Herman Melville h.htm">https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2694/2694-h/2694-h.htm
5. LA Dept of Water and Power building https://waterandpower.org/museum/Construction_of_the_GOB.html
6. Hubert Julian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/the-black-eagle-of-harlem-95208344/

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Kate Harford discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Rev. Kate Harford serves as University Chaplain at Oxford Brookes University, and the European vocations adviser for the Metropolitan Community Churches as well as a recovering bookseller and keen amateur flautist. She's currently studying for a master's degree at the Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education and has a particular interest in queer and disabled theologies with an emphasis on mental health and neurodiversity.

1. Metropolitan Community Church https://www.mccchurch.org/

2. Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch https://www.denofgeek.com/books/an-introduction-to-the-rivers-of-london-series/

3. The Story Museum, Oxford https://www.storymuseum.org.uk/

4. ADHD in girls and women https://chadd.org/for-adults/women-and-girls/

5. Valerie Coleman https://www.vcolemanmusic.com/

6. The Anchoress https://iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com/

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Jeremy Musson discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jeremy Musson is an author of many books on the country house and historic buildings and related subjects, How to Read A Country House, English Ruins, The Drawing Room, Up and Down: Stairs the history of the country house servant, and a contributor or contributing editor to many more, including with Prof Sir David Cannadine, The Country House: Past, Present and Future.

Born in London in 1965, he grew up in London and Surrey, and after a law degree, at University College, London, and an M Phil in renaissance history, at the Warburg Institute, he worked for the Victorian Society as an architectural adviser, before moving to the National Trust, in East Anglia, as a junior curator. From 1995, he worked for Country Life magazine, as architectural writer and then architectural editor.

Since 2007, he has been an independent author, expert and consultant, advising on the care of numerous historic buildings, including St Paul’s Cathedral, Bevis Marks Synagogue, Red House, Chartwell - Churchill’s country home - and Oxburgh Hall and Hardwick Hall, as well as advising on a number of new architectural projects in sensitive contexts. An occasional television presenter on architectural subjects, he was the presenter and co-writer of the two BBC 2 series of The Curious House Guest.

A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, he also teaches for the University of Cambridge, the University of Buckingham and New York University (London programmes). He sits on the FAC for Ely Cathedral, is a trustee of the Historic Houses Foundation, and is chair of the Hall Bequest Trust. He is also a former Trustee of the Stowe House Preservation Trust and the Pevsner Book Trust. He is married with two grown up daughters, has lived in Cambridge since 1993, and is an active member of the Champion of the Thames Rowing Club in Cambridge.

1. Stanway https://www.stanwayfountain.co.uk/

2. The Dennis Severs House https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jul/25/dennis-severs-house-recreates-his-eccentric-tours-based-on-found-tapes

3. The churchyard garden, Little St Mary’s Church in Cambridge https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/little-st-marys-churchyard

4. The Compton Mortuary Chapel https://www.wattsgallery.org.uk/visit/explore-our-site/watts-cemetery-chapel

5. Homes Sweet Homes by Osbert Lancaster https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/osbert-lancaster

6. Friendships by Mark Girouard https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-writer-who-goes-where-historians-dont-dare/

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Richard Fisher discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Richard Fisher is the author of The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time, a senior journalist for BBC.com and an honorary research associate at University College London. He tweets @rifish and writes the newsletter The Long View: A Field Guide.

1. Kent Cochrane patient-kc-was-kent-cochrane-the-hippocampus-makes-memories-personal.html">https://slate.com/technology/2014/04/amnesia-patient-kc-was-kent-cochrane-the-hippocampus-makes-memories-personal.html

2. Hutton’s Unconformity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esqxYO5vsEI

3. The Future Library https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220630-the-norwegian-library-with-unreadable-books

4. The sublime https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221205-the-upsides-of-feeling-small

5. Google Earthview https://earth.google.com/web/

6. The U-shaped happiness curve https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-020-00797-z

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Fiona Bae discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Fiona Bae is the author of a book Make Break Remix: The Rise of K-style by Thames & Hudson, which was featured in the Financial Times, Guardian, Monocle Radio, Wallpaper magazine, British Vogue, and Le Figaro among others. Fiona was born and raised in Korea and is proud of her heritage and passionate about promoting her country and culture. Following graduation from Seoul’s Yonsei University, she has lived around the world, including stints at the UN in New York and four years in Hong Kong, and now resides in London. Fiona has her own consultancy that looks to bridge Korean culture and the rest of the world by supporting multinational companies and brands to enter Korea and promoting Korean artists, designers and architects internationally. She handles communications for Frieze Seoul, represented the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and worked with museum M+ in Hong Kong. She is now also helping Thames & Hudson to discover more book ideas related to Korea. When not evangelising about Korea, she spends her time with her husband George, a twelfth-generation gin distiller, and her son Jun. Fiona and George are developing a Korean gin together.

1. Rise of the K-style https://www.wallpaper.com/art/make-break-remix-korean-culture-book
2. Korean aesthetics review.com/essays/mak-and-bium-imperfection-and-emptiness-in-korean-aethetics">https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/mak-and-bium-imperfection-and-emptiness-in-korean-aethetics
3. Illegality of getting a tattoo in Korea https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjb5dd/why-does-south-korea-ban-tattooing
4. Korea has the world's lowest fertility rate https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1163341684/south-korea-fertility-rate
5. The history of gin-making https://www.masterofmalt.com/distilleries/thames-distillers-branded-gin-distillery/
6. Coronet Theatre https://www.thecoronettheatre.com/

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Historian Mark Jones discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Mark William Jones is Assistant Professor in History at University College Dublin. He is among the leading English language historians of modern Germany and a recognized authority on the history of the Weimar Republic. He has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time and Irish radio’s Talking History. Mark was educated at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Tübingen, and Cambridge University. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and has held visiting fellowships at the Free University of Berlin and Bielefeld University. He will speak at the Hay Festival in 2023. Advance praise for his book, 1923. The Forgotten Crisis in the Year of Hitler’s Beerhall Putsch describes it as ‘gripping’ (Alexander Watson), ‘fascinating’ (Katja Hoyer), ‘masterful’ (Robert Kershaw), and ‘scary’ (Peter Fritzsche).

1. The deportation of Jews from Munich in Autumn 1923 https://www.jta.org/archive/jews-deported-from-bavaria-by-hundreds

2. Model Railway Museum in Hamburg https://mechtraveller.com/2019/11/review-miniatur-wunderland-in-hamburg/

3. Rommel in 1942 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportpalast_speech

4. German grunge rock bands https://www.annenmaykantereit.com/

5. The island of Rügen https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-rugen-islands-germany/

6. Victor Klemperer’s book the Language of the Third Reich https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1998/12/03/destiny-in-any-case/

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Peggy Orenstein discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Peggy Orenstein is the author of the national bestseller Unraveling: What I Learned While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater. Her other books include the New York Times bestsellers Boys & Sex, Girls & Sex, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Waiting for Daisy and the classic Schoolgirls.

1. How (and why) to Shear Sheep https://www.iamcountryside.com/sheep/how-to-shear-a-sheep/

2. That you can tell the history of the world through color https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/the-colourful-history-behind-the-science-of-colour/

3. Women’s needlework is radically political https://medium.com/the-establishment/crafts-long-history-in-radical-protest-movements-8300f59a3e54

4. The two questions that undermine creativity https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210513-the-anxiety-that-limits-your-creative-genius

5. Sing to your elders https://gospelmusichymnsing.com/operation-sing-again/

6. The Jewish homesteading movement of North Dakota https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/188059776.pdf

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David Pickard discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

David Pickard studied Music at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, before starting his career as Company Manager of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Following this, David worked at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park and was the Assistant Director for the Japan Festival (1991) before becoming Sir John Drummond’s deputy at the European Arts Festival. In 1993 he was appointed Chief Executive of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment where he significantly increased the orchestra’s artistic reputation and international profile, helping to establish the OAE as the pre-eminent period-instrument orchestra in the world.

In 2001 he was made General Director of Glyndebourne Festival where during his tenure he created an extensive digital programme including online streaming, big-screen and cinema relays and broadened the company’s audience base through specially priced performances for young people and a pioneering education programme.

In November 2015, David took up the role of Director of the BBC Proms. Since then he has introduced a number of initiatives, all in support of the Proms’ central mission: to bring ‘the best of classical music to the widest possible audience.’ These have included an innovative series called ‘Proms at…’ exploring music in new spaces, both in London and around the UK. He has introduced greater diversity among the composers, conductors and soloists showcased by the Proms - both in gender and ethnicity - and has also made youth music-making and youth audiences a major focus. He has expanded the range of genres explored in the festival to include gaming music, contemporary jazz, world music and, in 2018, a twenty minute animated light show projected onto the external and internal façades of the Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by a new work for orchestra and chorus by Anna Meredith.

1. Women composers https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/great-women-composers/

2. Lorenz Hart https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2002/08/15/he-took-manhattan/

3. Digital meat thermometer of-meat-thermometers.html">https://www.aarp.org/home-family/your-home/info-2022/importance-of-meat-thermometers.html

4. I, An Actor by Nigel Planer and Christopher Douglas http://thedabbler.co.uk/2012/10/1p-book-review-i-an-actor-by-nicholas-craig/

5. Franconian Switzerland https://www.thecrowdedplanet.com/visit-franconian-switzerland/

6. Piano duets ins-and-outs-of-piano-duets.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/06/arts/the-ins-and-outs-of-piano-duets.html

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Simon Parkin discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Simon Parkin is a contributing writer for the New Yorker, and a critic for the Observer newspaper. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and the author of three books. His most recent, The Island of Extraordinary Captives, about the Hutchinson internment camp on the Isle of Man, is a New York Times recommended read, and winner of the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize. He previously wrote A Game of Birds and Wolves and Death by Video Game.

1. Bertha Bracey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09DF0zeuFXM
2. A cure for insomnia https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/14/finally-a-cure-for-insomnia
3. Webster’s Second Edition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster%27s_Dictionary
4. Mikado arcade https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/12/30/inside-game-center-mikado-one-of-the-best-arcades-in-japan
5. Fact checkers https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-art-of-fact-checking
6. War games https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-deadly-war-game-of-the-battle-of-the-atlantic/

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Dale Salwak discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dale Salwak is Professor of English and American literature at Southern California’s Citrus College. He was educated at Purdue University (B.A.) and the University of Southern California (M.A., Ph.D.) under a National Defense Education Act competitive fellowship program. His 28 books include Living with a Writer (2004), Teaching Life: Letters from a Life in Literature (2008), Writers and Their Mothers (2018), The Life of the Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne (2023), as well as studies of Kingsley Amis, John Braine, A. J. Cronin, Philip Larkin, Barbara Pym, Carl Sandburg, Anne Tyler, and John Wain, and the forthcoming Writers and Their Teachers (2023). He is a recipient of Purdue University’s Distinguished Alumni Award as well as a research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is also a frequent contributor to the (London) Times Higher Education Magazine and the Times Educational Supplement.

1. The writer’s secret life https://nicolebianchi.com/hobbies-of-famous-writers/

2. Importance of solitude https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2017/08/05/7-science-backed-reasons-you-should-spend-more-time-alone/?sh=351850f81b7e

3. The spirit of place https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/23/biography

4. The value of teachers https://online.merrimack.edu/importance-of-teachers/

5. The natural world 40228457.html">https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40228457.html

6. The importance of the classics of literature https://joseardila93.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/literature-other-aspects-of-society-i-find-interesting/

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Naoíse Mac Sweeney discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Naoíse Mac Sweeney is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. She previously held posts at Cambridge and Leicester Universities, and has won numerous academic awards for her work on classical antiquity and myths both in the UK and the EU. Her previous book was shortlisted for major awards, and she has appeared on Thinking Allowed on BBC Radio 4 and was a reporter on BBC4's Digging for Britain TV series with Alice Roberts. Her new book is The West: A New History of an Old Idea, which is available at https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/285724/naoise-mac-sweeney.

1. Al-Kindi https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/al-kind/

2. Tullia D’Aragona https://projectvox.org/tullia-daragona-c-1505-1556/

3. Phyllis Wheatley https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/how-phillis-wheatley-was-recovered-through-history

4. Mary Fisher https://www.friendsjournal.org/mary-fisher/

5. Juan Latino https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/latino-juan-c-1518-c-1594/

6. Hans Joachim Winkelmann https://www.theflorentine.net/2015/06/25/johann-joachim-winckelmann/

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Amit Katwala discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Amit Katwala is a journalist and author, based in London. He is a writer and editor at WIRED magazine, and has written three books. The latest, Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession and the Birth of the Lie Detector blends true crime, science and history in 1920s San Francisco and 1930s Chicago. He also co-hosts the All Consuming podcast on BBC Radio 4.

Planet X https://www.wired.co.uk/article/search-for-planet-nine-planet-x-solar-system

1. The truth about the lie detector https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/720693/tremors-in-the-blood-by-amit-katwala/

2. Katalin Kariko https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mrna-coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-biontech

3. Fritesauce https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/desert-island-dips/id1303459662

4. WIRED magazine https://www.wired.co.uk/subscribe

5. Pre-Columbian America https://www.amazon.co.uk/1491-Revelations-Americas-Columbus-Vintage/dp/1400032059

6. Blocksite https://blocksite.co/

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Dillie Keane discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dillie Keane is a performer and songwriter best known as one third of the satirical trio, Fascinating Aïda. Of late, she has taken to blogging about ecological issues having been a doom-mongering greenie for many decades. Her ecoblog, shityoudontneed.blog, aims to persuade people to change their planet-damaging habits in an entertaining way.

Dillie has been awarded two doctorates for her contribution to the gaiety of nations. Well, the citations didn’t exactly say that, but she can’t think why else she might have got them.

And in spite of all efforts to kill it off several times, Fascinating Aïda is still going after 40 years. The indomitable trio are planning yet another tour which starts in September this year. https://www.fascinatingaida.co.uk/tour-dates/

1. Greta Keller bussard.de/en/2021/05/15/greta-keller-the-viennese-diseuse/">https://der-bussard.de/en/2021/05/15/greta-keller-the-viennese-diseuse/

2. Hester Street https://themovieisle.com/2021/09/30/film-review-hester-street-1975/

3. The Silver Vaults https://silvervaultslondon.com/

4. Christine Bovill https://christinebovill.com/index.html

5. The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/27/wimbledon-poisoner-book-changed-me-suburbia

6. André Devambez magazine.com/andre-devambez-petit-palais-paris/">https://www.apollo-magazine.com/andre-devambez-petit-palais-paris/

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Tim Richardson discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Tim Richardson is an historian and critic specialising in landscape design and art. He is the author of more than 20 books on landscape and garden subjects including Arcadian Friends: The Invention of the English Landscape Garden, The New English Garden and Sissinghurst: The Dream Garden. He began his career at Country Life magazine as gardens editor (where he was also theatre critic for 23 years), was subsequently editor of the award-winning (but short-lived) New Eden magazine and landscape editor at Wallpaper. He is a garden columnist on the Daily Telegraph and is currently art critic at The Idler. He lectures at institutions around the world and has taught landscape history at post-graduate level for several years; his course on English landscape history is currently available online via Oxford University. Tim is a published poet and founder-director (from 2012) of the Chelsea Fringe Festival, the independent not-for-profit alternative gardens festival. He lives in London.

1. Little Sparta https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/homes-and-gardens/little-sparta-ian-hamilton-finlays-garden-one-scotlands-best-kept-secrets-1414642

2. Boiled sweets https://www.walesartsreview.org/dahl100-a-storyteller-in-the-golden-age-of-sweets/

3. Hackfall Gorge https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/woods/hackfall/

4. Guided by Voices https://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/universal-truths-and-cycles-an-appreciation-of-robert-pollard-and-gbv

5. Andrea del Sarto’s Last Supper supper-in-san-salvi.html">https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/last-supper-in-san-salvi.html

6. Cigars https://trulyexperiences.com/blog/brief-history-cigars/

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Kate Mosse is the author of nine novels & short story collections, including the No 1 bestselling The Joubert Family Chronicles, The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears – as well as the multimillion selling Languedoc Trilogy – Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel – and No 1 bestselling Gothic fiction including The Winter Ghosts and The Taxidermist’s Daughter, which she adapted for the stage for 2022. Her books have been translated into 38 languages and published in more than 40 countries. Her latest book, part detective story, part family history and part dictionary of 1000 women missing from history - Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World - will publish in October 2022. She has also written three others works of non-fiction – including An Extra Pair of Hands (Wellcome Collection, 2021) – four plays, contributed essays and introductions to classic novels and collections. Her novel for Quick Reads, The Black Mountain, came out in April 2022 and she’s one of twelve writers contributing a story to a new Miss Marple Collection of Short Stories – Marple – publishing in September 2022.

Kate is currently preparing a theatre tour for Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries for Spring 2023 and working on the third novel in The Joubert Family Chronicles, a historical crime thriller set in 17th century France, Tenerife and South Africa for publication in July 2023.

1. Eunice Newton Foote https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/happy-200th-birthday-eunice-foote-hidden-climate-science-pioneer

2. The first ever statue to a female football player https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55884099

3. There are more statues in Edinburgh to animals than to women https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/campaign-seeks-change-fact-edinburgh-statues-animals-women-58867

4. Josephine Cochrane https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/time-saving-patent-paved-way-modern-dishwasher-180967656/

5. 14% of blue plaques are to women heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/blue-plaque-stories/women-pioneers/">https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/blue-plaque-stories/women-pioneers/

6. Women were only allowed to receive degrees in 1919 https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/womens-history/visible-in-stone/university/

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Devoney Looser discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Devoney Looser, Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, is the author or editor of ten books, including Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës, The Making of Jane Austen, and The Daily Jane Austen: A Year of Quotes. Looser, a Guggenheim Fellow and an NEH Public Scholar, has published essays in The Atlantic, New York Times, Salon, Slate, TLS, and The Washington Post. Her series of 24 30-minute lectures on Austen is available through The Great Courses and Audible. In addition to being a quirky Janeite book nerd, she’s played roller derby under the name Stone Cold Jane Austen. Find out more at http://Devoney.com.

1. The Porter sisters https://sisternovelists.com

2. Love on the Spectrum https://www.netflix.com/title/81265493

3. The Church of Stop Shopping and Reverend Billy https://revbilly.com/

4. The Ring Theory xpm-2013-apr-07-la-oe-0407-silk-ring-theory-20130407-story.html">https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-xpm-2013-apr-07-la-oe-0407-silk-ring-theory-20130407-story.html

5. Roller Derby https://www.wired.com/story/womens-roller-derby-has-a-plan-for-covid-and-it-kicks-ass/

6. Jane Austen’s Lady Susan https://www.nybooks.com/online/2016/05/27/love-and-friendship-unserious-austen/

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Kevin Jared Hosein discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Kevin Jared Hosein is a Caribbean novelist. He has also worked as a secondary school Biology teacher for over a decade. He was named overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2018, and was the Caribbean regional winner in 2015. He has published two books: The Repenters and The Beast of Kukuyo. The latter received a CODE Burt Award for Caribbean Young Adult Literature, and both had been longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. His writings, poetry, fiction and non-fiction, have been published in numerous anthologies and outlets including Granta.com, Lightspeed Magazine, Moko, Wasafiri and adda. He lives in Trinidad and Tobago. His new novel is Hungry Ghosts, which is available at https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/hungry-ghosts-kevin-jared-hosein/7073687?ean=9781526644480.

1. The origin story of the inflatable tube man http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/12/03/roman_mars_99_invisible_the_origin_story_of_the_inflatable_man.html

2. The man who built a temple in the sea https://www.guardian.co.tt/article/sewdass-sadhu-the-man-who-built-the-temple-in-the-sea-6.2.1129526.60ba2c4ac5

3. Alternate reality games (ARGs) and transmedia storytelling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game

4. The Scenic Simpsons Instagram gallery https://metro.co.uk/2017/01/25/any-self-respecting-simpsons-fan-needs-to-follow-this-beautiful-instagram-feed-scenic-simpsons-6405954/

5. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, and videogames as a storytelling medium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b35MVzhr7K8

6. Doubles https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210526-doubles-trinidads-favourite-street-food

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Rosie Andrews discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Rosie Andrews was born and grew up in Liverpool, the third of twelve children. She studied history at Cambridge before becoming an English teacher. She lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and daughter. The Leviathan is her debut novel.

1. The Mentalist https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jan/09/mentalist-box-set-review

2. Haggis https://www.historytoday.com/archive/historians-cookbook/history-haggis

3. Visiting cathedrals https://britishheritage.com/travel/best-cathedrals-england

4. Natural History Museum in Tring https://www.dacorum.gov.uk/home/leisure-culture/shopping-and-town-centres/tring/natural-history-museum-at-tring

5. CS Lewis Space Trilogy https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/cs-lewiss-space-trilogy/

6. Elder Futhark runes http://www.shieldmaidenssanctum.com/blog/2019/3/12/the-elder-futhark-runes-and-their-meanings

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Raymond Baker discusses with Ivan six aspects of financial secrecy which should be better known.

Raymond Baker is the Founding President of Global Financial Integrity and the author of Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System, published by John Wiley & Sons and cited by the Financial Times as one of the “best business books of 2005.”

He has for many years been an internationally respected authority on corruption, money laundering, growth, and foreign policy issues, particularly as they concern emerging market and developing countries and impact western economic and foreign interests. He has written and spoken extensively, testified often before legislative committees in the United States, Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, been quoted worldwide, and has commented frequently on television and radio in the the United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia on legislative matters and policy questions, including appearances on ABC News’ Nightline, Al Jazeera, BBC, Bloomberg TV, the CBS Evening News, CNN, NPR, PBS, and Four Corners (ABC1 in Australia), among others.

His latest book is Invisible Trillions: How Financial Secrecy Is Imperiling Capitalism and Democracy and the Way to Renew Our Broken System, which you can buy at https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Trillions-Imperiling-Capitalism-Democracyand-ebook/dp/B09YDT98PY

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Steve Cross discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Steve Cross helps experts to become the most fun, engaging and effective versions of themselves. He's a comedian and trainer and has previously failed at careers in science, museums, charities, education and universities. Steve runs Science Showoff events across the country and can be heard on his messy Dungeons and Dragons podcast, Chaotic Adequate. His website is drstevecross.com.

1. NBA Basketball https://www.smallerearth.com/uk/blog/basketball-explained

2. Tales of the Beanworld https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/TalesOfTheBeanworld

3. Road House https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/09/an-undeniable-action-classic-road-house/

4. Plumbing basics-ga.htm">https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/plumbing/plumbing-basics-ga.htm

5. Kinnie Zest zest.html">https://www.finewinesellers.co.uk/kinnie-zest.html

6. McMansionhell.com https://www.madamearchitect.org/interviews/2022/10/1/kate-wagner

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Kia Abdullah discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known.

Kia Abdullah is a bestselling author and travel writer. Her novels include Take It Back, a Guardian and Telegraph thriller of the year; Truth Be Told, which was shortlisted for the Diverse Book Awards; and Next of Kin, which was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award and won the Diverse Book Awards in 2022. Kia has also been selected for The Times Crime Club. Her latest novel is Those People Next Door.

Kia has written for The New York Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times, The Times and the BBC, and is the founder of Asian Booklist, a non-profit that advocates for diversity in publishing and helps readers discover new books by British Asian authors.

For more information about Kia and her writing, visit her website at kiaabdullah.com, or follow her at @KiaAbdullah on Instagram and Twitter.

1. Yellowjackets https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-12-09/yellowjackets-showtime-juliette-lewis-christina-ricci-melanie-lynskey

2. Danakil Depression ethiopia.com/regions/danakil-depression">https://www.brilliant-ethiopia.com/regions/danakil-depression

3. Cultural Muslims https://theconversation.com/cultural-muslims-like-cultural-christians-are-a-silent-majority-32097

4. Small Kindnesses http://www.danushalameris.com/poems.html

5. Plain English campaign https://www.plainenglish.co.uk/

6. London Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpyg2Ig7wRo

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Do you ever have trouble remembering PIN numbers? Ivan Wise teaches you how: all you have to do is remember a hundred facts about the twentieth century and the exact year in which they happened.

Dolly the sheep https://dolly.roslin.ed.ac.uk/facts/the-life-of-dolly/index.html

Bob Beamon's long jump https://vault.si.com/vault/1968/10/28/the-long-long-jump

The climbing of Mount Everest https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/conquering-everest-22118304/

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Alexandra Popoff is a former Moscow journalist and Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow. She is an expert on Russian literature and cultural history and the author of five literary biographies, including the award-winning Sophia Tolstoy and Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century. Her book The Wives became a Wall Street Journal best non-fiction title for 2012. Popoff’s biography of Vasily Grossman won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for biography, Saskatchewan Nonfiction Award, became a finalist in the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards, and was long-listed for the 2019 Cundill History Prize. Her new book, a biography of Ayn Rand, will be published by Yale University Press (Jewish Lives) in 2024. Popoff has written articles and reviews for The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Literary Hub, The Globe and Mail, National Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Tablet Magazine. You can find out more at http://russianliteratureandbiography.com/.

1. Immigration as an opportunity for a new beginning https://hbr.org/2021/08/research-why-immigrants-are-more-likely-to-become-entrepreneurs

2. Moving to Saskatoon https://www.britannica.com/place/Saskatoon-Saskatchewan

3. Biographies of lesser-known people https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alexandra-popoff/wives/

4. The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin’s Russia by Tim Tzouliadis review-Tzouliadis-The-Forsaken-3197333.php">https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Nonfiction-review-Tzouliadis-The-Forsaken-3197333.php

5. The idea of outlawing war https://wagingnonviolence.org/2018/07/hidden-success-kellogg-briand-peace-pact/

6. The Parable of Talents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_talents_or_minas

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Ivan Wise discusses Christmas music that should be better known.

Christmas is our most sturdily conservative tradition, and this December you will hear once again the same music that you have heard every other Christmas. The usual suspects dominate playlists in shopping malls, on radio stations and at parties. But how did we end up with this apparently immovable canon of Christmas songs? And what other Christmas music is out there that we should be listening to instead? George Ratcliffe Woodward, lyricist of Ding Dong Merrily on High, gets a rap makeover, Nikolai Gogol’s short story Christmas Eve inspired operas by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov and Tom Lehrer arrives to throw some cynical scorn over the Christmas schmaltz.

Past Three O’Clock https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/past_three_a_clock.htm A Night in Bethlehem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=047wQ3vgFos Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxJRmhiOx80 December - Tchaikovsky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFRtTRUz6XA Vakula the Smith - Tchaikovsky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC5GQdslXmw Christmas Eve – Rimsky-Korsakov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSpJmUBkXyM Weihnachtsbaum – Franz Lizst https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56v4vlGUPxA March of the gnomes – Vladimir Rebikov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmvDaclogK4 Werther – Jules Massenet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9LQi1BBF2c A Christmas Song – Tom Lehrer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtZR3lJobjw Christmas Presents in Heaven – Solomon Burke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0DUCV-09RI Second Christmas Concerto - Michele Corette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9yygcNIIWI

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Francis Hamel discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.

Francis Hamel is a British painter based in the UK with studios in Oxfordshire and Le Marche, Italy. He is known for landscapes and portraits as well as finely structured paintings of trees and flowers, paintings of the circus and theatre. In 2019 the V&A held an exhibition of his portraits, a monograph of his work was published in the same year.

Born in 1963 and trained at The Ruskin School, Oxford Francis Hamel has lived and worked in the William Kent designed gardens of Rousham in Oxfordshire for more than twenty years. The house, gardens and wider landscape are a constant source of inspiration. His work is held in public and private collections all over the world. Find out more at https://www.jmlondon.com/artists/francis-hamel/ and https://francishamel.com.

1. Drawing as a form of therapy https://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/drawing-as-therapy/

2. Jane Dowling dowling.htm">http://www.chappelgalleries.co.uk/exhibitions/jane-dowling/jane-dowling.htm

3. John Cowper Powys https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1985/03/28/life-in-the-head/

4. Le Marche https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/top-experiences-italy-le-marche

5. Bitter Cherries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_cerasus

6. Rousham Gardens in the winter https://rousham.org/

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Louise Hare discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Louise Hare is a London-based writer and has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. Originally from Warrington, the capital is the inspiration for much of her work, including This Lovely City and Miss Aldridge Regrets.

This Lovely City was featured on the inaugural BBC TWO TV book club show, Between the Covers, and was shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. Louise was selected for the Observer Top 10 Best Debut Novelists list in 2020, securing her place as an author to watch. Miss Aldridge Regrets is her second novel.

1. English National Opera www.eno.org
2. The Friends by Rosa Guy - https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-friends/9780440226673
3. Flamenco https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/complicated-history-flamenco-spain-180973398/
4. Sambourne House https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/museums/sambourne-house
5. Clapham South deep level shelter https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london/clapham-south
6. Local libraries https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/research-and-data/health-and-wellbeing-benefits-public-libraries

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For the 250th episode, Alan Rusbridger discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Alan Rusbridger was Editor in Chief of the Guardian from 1995-2015. He is currently editor of Prospect Magazine and Chair of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Until 2021 he was Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

During his time at the Guardian, both he and the paper won numerous awards, including the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Journalism. The Guardian grew from a printed paper with a circulation of 400,000 to a leading digital news organisation with 150m browsers a month around the world. He launched now-profitable editions in Australia and the US as well as a membership scheme which now has 1m Guardian readers paying for content.

He was born in Zambia, was educated at Cambridge and lives in London. He is the co-author of the BBC drama, Fields of Gold. He is a keen amateur musician and the author of Play it Again. His memoir of journalism and its future, Breaking News, was published in 2018. He is a member of the Facebook Oversight Board. His latest book, News and How to Use it, was published in 2020.

1. Bone-conducting headphones https://www.soundguys.com/bone-conduction-headphones-20580/

2. Audio sleep masks https://www.headphonesty.com/2021/02/best-sleep-mask-with-headphones/

3. The music of Billy Mayerl http://www.perfessorbill.com/comps/wmayerl.shtml

4. Electric bikes https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/electric-bikes/article/best-electric-bikes-aJMUp0P2yY0r

5. Why free speech matters https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/26/free-speech-bigots-no-platform

6. Prospect magazine www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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True crime writer Dean Jobb discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dean Jobb is award-winning true crime writer and a professor in the School of Journalism, Writing & Publishing at the University of King’s College in Halifax, where he teaches in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction program. His latest book, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer (Algonquin Books), won the inaugural CrimeCon Clue Award for True Crime Book of the Year in 2022 and was longlisted for the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. His previous book, Empire of Deception (Algonquin Books), was the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year, won the Crime Writers of Canada Award for best true crime book, and was a finalist for Canada's Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for nonfiction. Learn more about his work at https://www.deanjobb.com.

1. Jakob Dylan wounded-jakob-dylan-bares-his-scars-in-a-new-album-20210718-p58any.html">https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/a-wounded-jakob-dylan-bares-his-scars-in-a-new-album-20210718-p58any.html

2. How to pronounce Newfoundland https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/the-crime-scene/stranger-than-fiction-september-2022/

3. Joseph Bell https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/b/josephbell.html

4. Where the Cajuns came from acadian-to-cajun.htm">https://www.nps.gov/jela/learn/historyculture/from-acadian-to-cajun.htm

5. How to tell a pearl is fake barry.htm">https://www.worldsultimate.net/arthur-barry.htm

6. The first Ponzi opinion-flashback-leo-koretz-ponzi-scheme-20210305-bsqzjlztlrbg5afozquk6ccksm-story.html">https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-opinion-flashback-leo-koretz-ponzi-scheme-20210305-bsqzjlztlrbg5afozquk6ccksm-story.html

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Duncan Larkin discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Duncan Larkin has covered the sport of running for more than a decade. He’s a certified Army Master Fitness Trainer and was a top-300 American marathoner back in 2006. He has won the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race and the Mohawk-Hudson Marathon. His first books include Run Simple and The Thirty-Minute Runner. Duncan writes about fitness for Outside Magazine, Competitor Magazine, Runner’s World, ESPN, and Running Times. Find out more at https://roadsmillslaps.tumblr.com/ and at https://www.instagram.com/dunlar/.

1. How the last-place finisher of the NYC Marathon feels in the last mile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YrlVSOB4-s

2. Silas Soule and Mochi https://www.colorado.com/life-chronicles-sand-creek-massacre

3. The concept of cognitive dissonance https://www.healthline.com/health/cognitive-dissonance-examples

4. Time will Reveal by DeBarge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_988-cpiG94

5. Keith Douglas’ poem Vergissmeinnicht https://interestingliterature.com/2017/08/a-short-analysis-of-keith-douglass-vergissmeinnicht/

6. The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/05/10/ambrose-bierce-one-americas-best/

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Travel writer Tim Hannigan discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Tim Hannigan was born and brought up in the far west of Cornwall, but he now lives in Ireland. After leaving school he trained as a chef. He later studied journalism and began his writing career as a journalist and guidebook writer, based in Indonesia. He is the author of a number of nonfiction books, including Murder in the Hindu Kush, which was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize, and Raffles and the British Invasion of Java, which won the John Brooks Award. His most recent book is The Travel Writing Tribe, about a quest to answer the trickiest questions about the travel genre. His next book, The Granite Kingdom, is an exploration of his own homeland, Cornwall, and is due out in May 2023. Find out more at https://timhannigan.com/.

1. Indonesia https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1966/05/26/in-search-of-indonesia/

2. The 1811 British invasion of Java https://www.thehighlandersmuseum.com/?p=30029

3. Cornwall is one of the poorest regions in western Europe https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2016/02/real-cornwall-county-poorer-lithuania-and-hungary

4. The Cornish language https://omniglot.com/writing/cornish.htm

5. The public footpaths of England and Wales https://footpathmap.co.uk/

6. Eland Books https://www.travelbooks.co.uk/

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Dan Schreiber discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dan Schreiber is a writer, stand-up comedian, TV presenter, producer and podcaster. He is co-host of the UK’s most streamed podcast, No Such Thing As A Fish, which has had over 350 million downloads and has played to sell-out audiences in iconic venues such as the London Palladium and the Sydney Opera House. Dan is also a member of the 'QI Elves' and co-creator of the Rose d’Or award-winning BBC Radio 4 panel show The Museum of Curiosity. His new book, The Theory of Everything Else, is available at https://harpercollins.co.uk/pages/thetheoryofeverythingelse

1. The science writer Ann Druyan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFebYBARdPs

2. The front cover of Jim Carrey’s novel carrey-memoirs-and-misinformation.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/books/jim-carrey-memoirs-and-misinformation.html

3. The Cantonese word Aiyah http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/814/

4. Watkins Bookshop https://www.thebookseller.com/author-interviews/watkins-books-soho-london

5. The power of monks https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/29/football/leicester-city-buddha-monks-karma/index.html

6. Neil Armstrong’s favourite footstep https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/neil-armstrong-walks-on-jerusalem

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Five years after the first episode of Better Known, Ivan Wise talks again to previous guests Richard Elwes, Wasfi Kani and Kerry Shale. They discuss previous choices that they agree (and disagree with) and new choices which they think should be better known.

Richard Elwes is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Leeds, where he has taught courses on Geometry, Number Theory, Algebraic Topology, Combinatorics, Logic, History of Maths and Computational Mathematics. Find out more at www.richardelwes.co.uk.

Wasfi Kani is the founder of Grange Park Opera. Wasfi Kani is an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA and St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She received a CBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list for services to music. She received an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2002 for her work in bringing her second opera company, Pimlico Opera, into prisons. Find out more at www.grangeparkopera.co.uk.

Kerry Shale’s theatre appearances include Frost/Nixon, His Girl Friday, The Normal Heart and six self-written solo shows. Television work includes The Sandman, Dr. Who and The Trip. Films include Batgirl and Angel Has Fallen. For BBC radio, he has won three Sony Awards for acting and writing. His latest play, an adaptation of Yentl The Yeshiva Boy, will be broadcast early in 2023. He co-presents the podcast Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/is-it-rolling-bob-talking-dylan/id1437321669. Find out more at www.kerryshale.com.

Mark Sykes and the exhumed coffin http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/7617968.stm

The Minoan civilisation https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/08/13/knossos-fakes-facts-and-mystery/

Steven Appleby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Appleby

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Anna Ploszajski discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known.

Dr Anna Ploszajski is an award-winning materials scientist, comedian and storyteller based in London. She’s a materials generalist, equally fascinated by metals, plastics, ceramics, glasses and substances from the natural world. Anna channels her passion for storytelling about materials through writing, podcasting, presenting and training scientists and engineers in the art of storytelling. Her first book, Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making, is out now. In her spare time, Anna plays the trumpet in a funk and soul covers band and is an ultra-endurance open water swimmer. Find out more at www.annaploszajski.com.

1. Materials science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_science

2. Into the Woods by John Yorke https://www.waterstones.com/book/into-the-woods/john-yorke/9780141978109

3. Ultra-swimmer Sarah Thomas https://sarahthomasswims.com/.

4. Trumpets can play quietly! https://www.alisonbalsom.com/

5. Barberette https://www.barberette.co.uk/

6. IFIXIT https://www.ifixit.com/

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Helen Gordon discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Helen Gordon’s books include Notes from Deep Time (Profile), Landfall (Penguin) and, with Travis Elborough, Being a Writer (Frances Lincoln). She has written about nature, science, art and books for various newspapers and magazines including the Economist’s 1843 magazine, the Guardian, the TLS, Apollo and Wired UK. A former Granta magazine editor, she currently teaches creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire.

1. Deep time https://profilebooks.com/work/notes-from-deep-time/

2. James Hutton https://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/edinburghs-geology/geological-pioneers/james-hutton/ and https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GeositesSiccarPoint

3. Campi Flegrei https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=211010

4. The view towards London from Farthing Downs https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/farthing-downs/visit-farthing-downs

5. Man in the Holocene https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Man-in-the-Holocene-by-Max-Frisch-Geoffrey-Skelton/9781564784667

6. Desk Set https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v13391

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Novelist John King discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

John King is the author of nine novels with a tenth (London Country) to be published in 2023. His debut The Football Factory was turned into a film starring Danny Dyer and Dudley Sutton, while his most recent (Slaughterhouse Prayer) is being developed for television. His first novella The Beasts Of Brussels appeared as one-third of The Seal Club in 2020 along with work by Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner. The second of a proposed trilogy (Seal Club 2: The View From Poacher’s Hill) is due in 2023. John co-owns London Books, edits the London Classics fiction list, publishes and edits the small-press fiction journal Verbal and co-runs the Human Punk nights at London’s 100 Club. He has also written articles and reviews for the likes of the New Statesman in the UK, la Repubblica in Italy and Le Monde in France. You can find out more at king-author.co.uk/">https://www.john-king-author.co.uk/

1. The Middle Path https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhadasa

2. The benefits of leaving the EU king-author.co.uk/liberal-politics">https://www.john-king-author.co.uk/liberal-politics

3. The realities of animal slaughter https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/til-the-pigs-come-round/

4. Drinking beer in public houses is good for our health https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/the-moon-under-water/

5. The so-called lowlife literature of 1930s London books.co.uk/">https://www.london-books.co.uk/

6. Dharma Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbAb9oqkHlQ

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Economist Anton Muscatelli discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow since 2009. An economist, his research interests are monetary economics, central bank independence, fiscal policy, international finance and macroeconomics.

Sir Anton was Chair (2016-21) of the First Minister’s Standing Council on Europe, a non-political group providing expert advice to Scottish ministers on Scotland’s relationship with the EU. He was a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers 2015-21, and subsequently advised them on the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. He is a member of the advisory group for Sir Paul Nurse’s Review of the UK’s Research, Development and Innovation Organisational Landscape. From 2017-20 he was Chair of the Russell Group of UK research-intensive universities. He has been a special adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on fiscal and monetary policy, and he has advised the European Commission and the World Bank. He holds an honorary degree from McGill University in Canada.

1. The life of James McCune Smith https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH24115&type=P&o=&start=0&max=20&l=

2. The importance of central bank independence https://www.ft.com/content/c233c60e-7d88-465a-9b8b-c35b6a5ca339 (paywall)

3. Cooking with fresh (Apulian) artichokes https://personalpuglia.com/2012/11/27/an-abundance-of-artichokes-food-itlay/

4. Sostiene Pereira by Antonio Tabucchi https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/nov/21/pereira-maintains-tabucchi-review

5. The game of Maniglia/Manille https://www.pagat.com/manille/mariglia.html

6. Basilica of St Nicholas in Bari https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_San_Nicola

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Novelist Kamila Shamsie discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Kamila Shamsie was born and grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. Her novel, Home Fire, won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018. It was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017, shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel Award, and won the London Hellenic Prize. She is the author of six previous novels including Burnt Shadows, shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and A God in Every Stone, shortlisted for the Women’s Bailey’s Prize and the Walter Scott Prize. Her work has been translated into over 30 languages. Kamila Shamsie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelist in 2013. She is professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester and lives in London. Her new novel is Best of Friends, which is available at https://www.waterstones.com/book/best-of-friends/kamila-shamsie/9781526657862.

Kamila Shamsie is in conversation with Nesrine Malik at London’s Southbank Centre on Wednesday 28th September. Tickets are available at https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/literature-poetry/kamila-shamsie-best-friends?eventId=907048.

1. The Peshawar Museum https://aboutkp.kp.gov.pk/page/peshawar_museaum

2. Women’s cricket https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-womens-cricket-from-englands-greens-to-the-world-stage-132904

3. How to dress on scorchingly hot days https://www.gearpatrol.com/style/a736579/how-to-dress-cool-through-hot-weather/

4. The Pakistan floods floods.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/world/asia/pakistan-floods.html

5. Ada I and II of Caria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_of_Caria

6. City walks https://www.ft.com/content/9d190dfe-97d5-4a9a-b8a3-8019589e9cee

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Philip Ball discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Philip Ball is a freelance writer and broadcaster and worked previously for over 20 years as an editor for Nature. He writes regularly in the scientific and popular media and has authored many books on the interactions of the sciences, the arts, and the wider culture, including H2O: A Biography of Water, Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour, The Music Instinct and Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything. His book Critical Mass won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. Philip is a presenter of Science Stories, the BBC Radio 4 series on the history of science, and is the 2022 recipient of the Royal Society’s Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal for contributions to the history, philosophy or social functions of science. He trained as a chemist at the University of Oxford, and as a physicist at the University of Bristol. His latest book is The Book of Minds (2022), a survey of the varieties of mind that do and might exist. Find out more at www.philipball.co.uk.

1. Our genome is not a blueprint for us https://aeon.co/essays/our-genome-is-not-a-blueprint-for-making-humans-at-all

2. Emmy Noether https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxmDphojQUU

3. Glenn Branca https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/14/glenn-branca-dead-guitarist-composer

4. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1997/07/17/paradise-in-a-dream/

5. What mercury feels like https://www.quora.com/What-does-mercury-feel-like

6. The deceptive cadence https://www.aaronkrerowicz.com/beatles-blog/the-beatles-use-of-deceptive-cadences

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Travel writer Tharik Hussain discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Tharik Hussain in an author and travel writer whose work often serves to counter popular and authorised narratives. His debut book, Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe, was nominated for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year award and the Baillie Gifford Prize in Non Fiction, and named a Book of the Year in the New Statesman, Prospect Magazine and the Times Literary Supplement. Hussain is also a Lonely Planet author who has written for the BBC, National Geographic and The Guardian. He developed Britain’s first Muslim heritage trails in Woking, Surrey and is a Fellow at the University of Groningen’s Centre for Religion and Heritage.

You can find out more about Tharik's work at https://linktr.ee/TharikHussain and www.tharikhussain.co.uk

You can find out more about the Muslim heritage trails: EM-WMHT-WokingTrail.pdf">https://www.everydaymuslim.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/01Trail-EM-WMHT-WokingTrail.pdf and EM-WMHT-MuhCemWalk.pdf">https://www.everydaymuslim.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/02Trail-EM-WMHT-MuhCemWalk.pdf

1. Offa's Dinar https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/gold-dinar-of-king-offa
2. The Shah Jahan Mosque https://shahjahanmosque.org.uk/
3. Twelve centuries of European Jewish-Muslim co existence https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2019/1105/Where-an-ancient-Jewish-Muslim-coexistence-endures
4. Indigenous European Muslim culture https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/forgotten-muslims-southeastern-europe
5. There is an official 'Arabic' EU language https://airmalta.com/en-gb/blog/malta/the-fascinating-history-of-the-maltese-language
6. The oldest mosque in the US https://www.salaamgateway.com/story/five-historic-mosques-of-america-you-shouldnt-miss

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Rebecca Struthers discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Rebecca Struthers is an independent watchmaker and time historian.

The co-founder of multi-award-winning workshop Struthers Watchmakers, in her practice, she specialises in the continuation of historic watchmaking techniques to restore old and craft new artisan timepieces.

A real time doctor, Rebecca is the first watchmaker in British history to earn a PhD in horology.

Rebecca is a Trustee of the Museum of Timekeeping (UK), a Fellow of British Horological Institute, a Sustainable Skills Ambassador for the Association of Heritage Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an Academy Member of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève - considered the Oscars of the watchmaking world.

Her book, Hands of Time, explores the human history of time told through the objects we’ve invented to measure. It will be published in May 2023.

Find out more at https://strutherswatchmakers.co.uk.

1. John Wilter https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196974

2. Benjamin Banneker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Banneker

3. The Museum of Timekeeping https://www.museumoftimekeeping.org.uk/

4. Staffordshire Moorlands https://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/visitor-information/staffordshire-moorlands-tourist-information-centre-p677411

5. The Radium Girls moore.com/the-radium-girls">https://www.kate-moore.com/the-radium-girls

6. Dogs can tell the time https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/canine-corner/201911/can-dogs-smell-time

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Rebeca Ramos discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Rebeca Ramos is a Venezuela-born architect and designer. Her international body of work includes of multi-disciplinary projects recognised for their design quality, cultural relevance and technological innovation. She led the design and delivery of the multi-award winning Maggie's Leeds; as well as the strategic definition of Google's largest urban Campus based in California.

Rebeca founded Studio RARE inn 2021 as the culmination of 16+ years of international practice in architecture, media and the arts. Blending creative disciplines, RARE leverages emerging technologies to re-imagine how we create, develop and experience places, environments and cultural artefacts.

She was the first and youngest appointed female Project Leader at Heatherwick Studio, and first Latin-American woman to fill the position in 2015. She has been featured in Bloomberg UK and Business Insider, with projects reviewed and acclaimed in the international design press.

1. Home television series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(2020_TV_series)
2. Tribal storytelling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_in_Venezuela
3. The art of repair https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/aug/22/back-for-good-the-fine-art-of-repairing-broken-things
4. The artistic, cultural and architectural history of Venezuela https://www.admiddleeast.com/architecture-interiors/homes/gio-pontis-planchart-villa-in-venuzuala-is-an-icon-of-mid-century-modern-design
5. Emotional language https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/learn-nonviolent-communication/feelings/
6. The Timeless Way of Building thinkingthefuture.com/rtf-architectural-reviews/a4713-book-in-focus-the-timeless-way-of-building-by-christopher-alexander/">https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/rtf-architectural-reviews/a4713-book-in-focus-the-timeless-way-of-building-by-christopher-alexander/

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Subhadra Das discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Subhadra Das is a researcher and storyteller who looks at the relationship between science and society. She specialises in the history and philosophy of science, particularly the history of scientific racism and eugenics, and what those histories mean for our lives today. For nine years, she was Curator of the Science Collections at University College London, and also Researcher in Critical Eugenics at the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation. She has written and presented podcasts, curated museum exhibitions, done stand-up comedy and regularly appears on radio and TV. Her first book, (Un)Civilised: 10 Lies That Made The West comes out in May 2023. For more information, go to https://www.waterstones.com/book/un-civilised/subhadra-das/9781399704359%C2%A0

1. Francis Galton https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/2015/10/22/francis-galton-and-the-history-of-eugenics-at-ucl/
2. Alok Vaid Menon https://www.instagram.com/alokvmenon
3. Alabama 3 https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/apr/04/artsfeatures.popandrock
4. Gaudy Night https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/an-overlooked-novel-from-1935-by-the-godmother-of-feminist-detective-fiction
5. Pocket https://getpocket.com/
6. The Muppet Movie https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-muppet-movie-1979

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Historian David O Stewart discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

A recovering lawyer and proud graduate of Curtis High School on Staten Island, David Stewart has published five books of history and four historical novels. His most recent nonfiction work, George Washington: The Political Rise of America's Founding Father, has won several awards and was a finalist for Mount Vernon’s George Washington Prize. His most recent novel, The New Land, was inspired by family stories his mother told, and is the first of a trilogy. He lives in Maryland with his wife of 48 years, Nancy; they have three children and five grandchildren. His website is www.davidostewart.com.

His non-fiction books include The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution, Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy, Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships that Built America, and American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America.

His fiction books include The Lincoln Deception, The Paris Deception and The Babe Ruth Deception.

1. George Washington’s political skills https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_political_evolution

2. Philip Noel-Baker https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/231/Philip-Noel-Baker

3. The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/allison-symes-book-review-the-daughter-of-time-by-josephine-tey/

4. The Valle de los Caidos monument https://makespain.com/listing/valle-de-los-caidos/

5. The battles of Louisbourg in 1745 and 1758 https://www.thoughtco.com/french-indian-war-siege-of-louisbourg-2360795

6. The 1868 impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson johnson.htm">https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/impeachment/impeachment-johnson.htm

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Novelist Lavie Tidhar discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Lavie Tidhar was born just ten miles from Armageddon and grew up on a kibbutz in northern Israel. He has since made his home in London, where he is currently a Visiting Professor and Writer in Residence at Richmond University. He won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize for Best British Fiction, was twice longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger Award and the Rome Prize. He co-wrote Art and War: Poetry, Pulp and Politics in Israeli Fiction, and is a columnist for the Washington Post. His latest novel is Maror, published by Head of Zeus, which is available at https://www.waterstones.com/book/maror/lavie-tidhar/9781838931353.

1. Joseph Grimaldi’s grave https://londonist.com/london/videos/grimaldi-s-cave

2. Bislama http://www.pentecostisland.net/languages/bislama/guide.htm

3. Marek Hlasko http://cosmopolitanreview.com/killing-the-second-dog/

4. Rarg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EGIG-Sq5-c

5. Castro Mojito https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/beer-mojito

6. The Israeli Mafia https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/a-field-guide-to-israeli-organized-crime

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Roma Agrawal discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Roma Agrawal MBE is a structural engineer and author with a physics degree.

She has designed bridges, skyscrapers and sculptures with signature architects. She spent six years working on The Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe, and designed the foundations and the ‘Spire’.

In addition to winning industry awards, she has been featured on BBC World News, BBC Daily Politics, TEDx, The Evening Standard, The Sunday Times, Guardian, The Telegraph, Independent, Cosmopolitan and Stylist Magazines. She was the only woman featured on Channel 4's documentary on the Shard, The Tallest Tower. Her books include Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures and How Was That Built?

1. Bharata Natyam https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-dance/classical/bharatnatyam.html

2. Emily Warren Roebling warren-roebling.html">https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2014/06/emily-warren-roebling.html

3. Foundations of structures xpm-1998-jun-01-mn-55439-story.html">https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-01-mn-55439-story.html

4. ICSI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracytoplasmic_sperm_injection

5. Chaat https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/chaat/

6. The science of knitting and crochet physics-knitting-matsumoto.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/science/math-physics-knitting-matsumoto.html

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Tim Lott discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Tim Lott was born in Southall, West London in 1956. After a career in journalism, his first book, The Scent of Dried Roses, a memoir, was published in 1996 and won the PEN/JR Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. His first novel, White City Blue, (1999) a contemporary portrait of friendship and rivalry between a group of young single men, won the Whitbread First Novel Award. It was followed Rumours of Hurricane (2002), a portrait of working class life in Britain in the 1980’s, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award.

Tim has been teaching writing for the last ten years, as a lecturer, teacher and individual mentor. He taught for three years at the Faber Academy, then moved to Guardian Masterclasses where he teaches individually and lectures with his partners John Yorke and Will Storr, collectively known as The Story Board. He has also taught creative writing at Brunel University and lectured at the University of East Anglia, the How To Academy, the Idler Academy, and the School of Life. His online mentoring course on Memoir is at TheNovelry.com.

1. Alan Watts https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/alan-watts-on-the-5-most-important-lessons-of-the-21st-century-6d1734aa6cf
2. The Game of the Goose http://ursuladubosarsky.squarespace.com/the-game-of-the-goose
3. Come and See https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-come-and-see-1985
4. Canelés https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/caneles
5. Hampstead Mixed Pond https://www.mixedpondassociation.org.uk/
6. The Fryer’s Delight https://www.timeout.com/london/news/step-back-in-time-at-this-old-school-fish-and-chip-shop-022522

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Emma Smith discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford: her most recent book is Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers.

1. The plays of Thomas Middleton https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n23/michael-neill/old-dad-dead
2. New Lanark https://www.newlanark.org/
3. Abel Gance’s film Napoleon https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/10/napoleon-review-silent-era-epic-more-thrilling-than-ever
4. French 75s https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/french-75-cocktail
5. The Scrivener app https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
6. The jazz pianist Jan Johannson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Johansson_(jazz_musician)

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Elisabeth Kendall discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Elisabeth Kendall is Mistress-elect of Girton College, Cambridge, and Senior Research Fellow in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Pembroke College, Oxford. Her current work examines how militant jihad groups exploit cultural traditions and local dynamics. Previously, she was at the Universities of Edinburgh and Harvard, and served as Director of a UK government-sponsored Centre focused on building Arabic-based research expertise.

Elisabeth has lectured at governmental, military and scholarly institutions all around the world and is a frequent contributor to international television and print media. She also sits on a variety of international boards and is Chairman of a grass-roots NGO in eastern Yemen.

She has authored and edited several books, including ReClaiming Islamic Tradition and Twenty-First Century Jihad. She conceived of the “Essential Middle Eastern Vocabularies” series, which includes the following titles which she also authored: Diplomacy Arabic, Intelligence Arabic and Media Arabic. She is currently working on a new book called Rock Stars of Jihad. Elisabeth has spent significant time in the field, especially in Yemen.

She can be followed on Twitter https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/ElisabethKendall/videos

1. Craft chocolate https://www.greatbritishfoodawards.com/blog/9-british-craft-chocolate-bars-you-have-to-try
2. War in Yemen https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-yemen
3. The Great Courses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wondrium
4. The Lycian Way https://cultureroutesinturkey.com/the-lycian-way/
5. Elizabeth Welsh https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/events/elizabeth-welsh-1843-1921
6. Foreign languages https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40954948

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In a change to the usual format, Ivan Wise discusses one thing which is Extremely Well-Known.

In April 1912, the world's largest ocean liner, the Titanic, sank on the fourth day of its maiden voyage. Over 1500 of its passengers and crew drowned.

For 110 years, this story has dominated our consciousness. Its mix of innovative engineering, New York high society and tragedy on the high seas has been adapted for film and television numerous times, is a text book case in the study of hubris and has been a subplot in shows as wide-ranging as Doctor Who, Downton Abbey and Family Guy. Why has this story become so well-known? And why is it that we all know about the Titanic but not about all the other maritime disasters?

As a reward for those who have listened curiously to many hundreds of choices of which they have never heard, finally here is an episode about a subject which everyone can relate to.

Archive interview extracts are taken from the 1996 Radio Netherlands documentary Titanic: A 20th Century Parable. https://archive.org/details/titanic-a-20th-century-parable

Titanic https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17631595 13 Maritime disasters more tragic than the Titanic https://www.theshipyardblog.com/13-maritime-disasters-more-tragic-than-the-titanic/ Lusitania https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/18-minutes-that-shocked-the-world Princess Alice disaster (1878) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44800309 Wilhelm Gustloff (1945) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deadliest-disaster-sea-happened-75-years-ago-yet-its-barely-known-why-180974077/

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Andrew Martin discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Andrew Martin is a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction books, some of which have a railway theme. His 'Jim Stringer' thrillers are set on the British railways of the early 20th Century, and the latest of these is Powder Smoke https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/andrew-martin/powder-smoke/9781472154842/

His latest stand-alone novel is The Winker, about a 70s pop musician who winks at people, then kills them. https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/andrew-martin/the-winker/9781472153982/

His new book is a travelogue-cum-memoir about his native county, called Yorkshire - There and Back https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/andrew-martin/yorkshire/9781472154866/

His website is at https://jimstringernovels.com

1. Scarborough https://www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/scarborough/things-to-do

2. Robert Robinson https://transdiffusion.org/2011/10/02/robert_robinson/

3. Bicycle saddle bags http://www.bikeroar.com/tips/to-saddle-bag-or-not-is-this-the-best-way-to-carry-gear-on-my-bike

4. Walter Wilkinson http://www.punchandjudy.com/wilkinson.htm

5. Sparklehorse https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9745-the-sad-and-beautiful-world-of-sparklehorses-mark-linkous/

6. Alan Godfrey Maps https://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/

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Rupal Patel discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Rupal Patel’s high-octane career has taken her from jungles and war zones to corporate boardrooms and international stages. After a thrilling career at the CIA, she earned her MBA and started her first award-winning business over ten years ago.

Called a ‘Power Woman’ by Harper's Bazaar Magazine, Rupal is a sought-after international speaker and business consultant who has spoken in front of thousands. As a sitting CEO, author, advisor, coach and mentor, Rupal helps founders, corporate executives, and next-generation change-makers cut through the noise of living and leading and make the impossible possible.

Her new book From CIA to CEO (Bonnier Books UK) provides a powerful new toolkit that reveals how the techniques of the CIA can help anyone find their voice and thrive in the world of business without conforming to stale stereotypes or dated “best practice”. With surgical insights and unique exercises, Rupal helps her audiences and clients leverage the CIA mindset to remake the rules of success and become unstoppable. Find out more about Rupal at www.rupalypatel.com.

1. The Raan of Kutch https://www.tripsavvy.com/great-rann-of-kutch-travel-guide-4134857
2. Ethiopian food https://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/10/14/ethiopian-food-primer-10-essential-dishes/
3. Putting yourself forward https://www.science.org/content/article/if-you-re-hesitant-apply-professional-awards-remember-it-s-worth-putting-yourself
4. Being interested https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/robin-ince-importance-being-interested-1585670
5. Neil de Grasse Tyson https://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/about/profile.php
6. Kouign amann https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/kouign_amann_09102

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Tori Herridge discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Tori Herridge is an evolutionary biologist and Daphne Jackson Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum in London.

Her research addresses big evolutionary and environmental questions using a broad range of lab and field methods, all underpinned by the rich fossil record from the Quaternary Period (aka “The Ice Age”). She is an expert on fossil elephants, particularly those species which lived in Europe during the Ice Age: mammoths and straight-tusked elephants.

She is the co-founder of TrowelBlazers, an organisation dedicated to telling the stories of pioneering women in palaeontology, geology and archaeology, and addressing gender disparity in these fields today. See trowelblazers.com

She also makes TV programmes: Ice Age: Return of the Mammoth? (Channel 4/Science Channel), Woolly Mammoth The Autopsy (Channel 4/Smithsonian), T. rex Autopsy (National Geographic), Hannibal’s Elephant Army (Channel 4/PBS), as well as the series Bone Detectives, Britain at Low Tide, and Walking Through Time for Channel 4.

1. Finger limes https://www.riverford.co.uk/organic-fruit-veg-and-salad/fruit/finger-limes
2. Shropshire https://www.investinshropshire.co.uk/relocate-to-shropshire/shropshire-at-a-glance/fascinating-facts/
3. Trowelblazers https://trowelblazers.com/
4. The lost diversity of elephants https://theecologist.org/2016/jan/22/last-time-earth-was-hot-britain-was-land-hippos-and-elephants
5. Diana Wynne Jones https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0404/In-appreciation-of-Diana-Wynne-Jones
6. The Ice Age wasn’t always cold https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/hasnt-earth-warmed-and-cooled-naturally-throughout-history

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Novelist Benjamin Myers discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Benjamin Myers was born in Durham in 1976. His latest novel is The Perfect Golden Circle. His novel The Gallows Pole received a Roger Deakin Award and won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. Beastings won the Portico Prize for Literature and Pig Iron won the Gordon Burn Prize, while Richard was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. He has also published poetry, crime novels and short fiction, while his journalism has appeared in publications including, among others, The Guardian, New Statesman, Caught by the River and New Scientist. He lives in the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire.

1. Mini https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p05nrklh/inside-story-mini
2. Reunion by Fred Uhlman https://theexiledsoul.com/2019/07/14/book-review-reunion-by-fred-uhlman/
3. You Suffer by Napalm Death https://www.metalsucks.net/2016/06/07/happens-slow-napalm-deaths-suffer/
4. Glenda Jackson https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jul/26/glenda-jackson-interview-i-am-an-antisocial-socialist
5. Soundcloud rap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_rap
6. Hedgehogs https://ptes.org/get-informed/facts-figures/hedgehog/

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Catriona Seth discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Catriona Seth FBA is the Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She was brought up in the UK, in Switzerland, in Venezuela and in Belgium. Before becoming a university academic, she worked as a translator and interpreter, as a management consultant and as a schoolteacher. She has published widely, mainly in French, on 18th-century literature and culture. Her objects of research have included Marie-Antoinette, smallpox inoculation, women's life-writing, Germaine de Staël and André Chénier.

1. Bilingualism https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160811-the-amazing-benefits-of-being-bilingual
2. Loose-leaf Assam tea https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/what-is-assam-tea-and-what-are-its-benefits/photostory/69684080.cms
3. Auctions de-france.com/en/news/visit-auction-house-paris">https://www.esprit-de-france.com/en/news/visit-auction-house-paris
4. Sleeper trains https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/feb/06/10-best-sleeper-trains-in-europe-night-trains
5. Concert halls for chamber music https://www.ucl.ac.uk/chamber-music/cmc-socials/metropoles-finest-chamber-music-venues
6. The life and works of Katherine Read https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/entertainment/2642310/katherine-read/

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