Better Known

Ivan Wise

Each week, a guest makes a series of recommendations of things which they think should be better known. Our recommendations include interesting people, places, objects, stories, experiences and ideas which our guest feels haven't had the exposure that they deserve. read less
Society & CultureSociety & Culture

Episodes

Leah Redmond Chang
Mar 24 2024
Leah Redmond Chang
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. Fake news goes back at least to the 16th century https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/fake-news-history-long-violent-214535/ 16th-century Europe was dominated by female leaders https://www.historytoday.com/archive/review/young-queens-leah-redmond-chang-review 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 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/ The story of the 16th-century French peasant Martin Guerre and his wife Bertrande https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/martin-guerre-0016613 Letter-locking https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210616-how-the-forgotten-tricks-of-letterlocking-shaped-history This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Charlie Russell
Mar 10 2024
Charlie Russell
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. 500 Acts of Kindness group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2074795452542346/ Fanny Mendelssohn https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/23/arts/music-review-fanny-mendelssohn-was-audacious-too.html The game Worldle https://thinkygames.com/reviews/worldle-a-treasure-trove-for-geography-nerds/ Improv https://www.hooplaimpro.com/improv-comedy-club-london-bridge.html 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/ Therapy https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/benefits-of-talking-therapies/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Sunny Singh
Mar 3 2024
Sunny Singh
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. Bollywood movies https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/a-bollywood-state-of-mind-a-journey-into-the-worlds-biggest-cinema-by-sunny-singh/ Backpacking https://nomadsworld.com/6-reasons-backpacking-good/ Intersectionality https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination Senegal http://hipafrica.com/features/9-reasons-visit-senegal/ Open water swimming (and adult swimming lessons) https://www.brighton.ac.uk/news/2023/is-open-water-swimming-good-for-you 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 This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Faye Begeti
Feb 11 2024
Faye Begeti
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 Our phones are not addictive https://technosapiens.substack.com/p/smartphoneaddiction 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 We don’t have unlimited mental energy https://www.dayagrant.com/blog/how-the-brain-leaks-energy 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/ A good night’s sleep starts in the morning https://hr.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1421/2023/02/A-Healthy-Nights-Sleep-Starts-the-Moment-You-Wake-Up.pdf 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/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Robert McCrum
Jan 21 2024
Robert McCrum
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. 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 The River Granta https://www.wildlifebcn.org/news/river-granta-gets-wiggle The invention of the penalty kick in football https://epicchq.com/story/william-mccrum-the-irish-inventor-of-the-penalty-kick/ Alfred the Great https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n09/tom-shippey/what-did-he-think-he-was Kindness https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-enthralled-a-generation/ Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqrzmdevQSI This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Matthew Rice
Jan 7 2024
Matthew Rice
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. Poundbury https://poundbury.co.uk/ Landmark trust https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/ Choral evensong https://www.choralevensong.org/uk/ The Grant Museum https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/grant-museum-zoology Zinnias https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-zinnias/ Silver Birch https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/silver-birch/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Richard Mills
Dec 17 2023
Richard Mills
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. Bedazzled https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/32e4e509-795e-5e0d-b70b-681f67bde3c8/bedazzled The black artists who influenced the Beatles' music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqp2h65BAs8 & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLGzRXY5Bw Deep End https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_End_(film) Disturbing the Peace by Richard Yates https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disturbing-Peace-Vintage-Classics-Richard/dp/0099518554 Dining at the Dunbar by Maurice Leitch https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/13/maurice-leitch-obituary Claire Keegan's stories and novels https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/claire-keegan This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm