Better Known

Sasha Butler discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Sasha Butler is a Birmingham based writer. Her first novel, The Marriage Contract (Salt, 2025), was shortlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize 2022 and the Bath Novel Award 2022, under the former title As Soft as Dreams. In addition to novels, she occasionally writes short stories. Her short story ‘Map of an Affair’ features in Floodgate Press’ anthology, Night Time Economy (September 2024). The Marriage Contract is available at https://www.saltpublishing.com/products/the-marriage-contract-9781784633608 The decline of the skirret https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/82232/sium-sisarum/details The Great Comet of 1577 https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/12/111/2021/ Levina Teerlinc https://artherstory.net/levina-teerlinc/ Handshakes have not always been used as a greeting gesture https://academic.oup.com/past/article/267/1/48/7716082 The fleet that set out with the Golden Hinde (formerly called The Pelican), the Elizabethan ship that circumnavigated the earth https://www.goldenhinde.co.uk/discover/the-circumnavigation-1577-1580 Baddesley Clinton https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/warwickshire/baddesley-clinton This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Doug Lemov, a former teacher and school principal, shares groundbreaking insights on effective teaching techniques. He emphasizes the importance of background knowledge, defining learning as a change in long-term memory. Doug passionately advocates for joyful vocabulary instruction and warns against the myth of learning styles. He discusses the declining engagement with classics like 'Lord of the Flies,' highlighting their value in building persistence and understanding. Through reading aloud, he stresses the social aspect of literature, fostering deeper connections with students.

Sudhir Hazareesingh discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Professor Sudhir Hazareesingh was born in Mauritius. He is a Fellow of the British Academy a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol College, His books include The Legend of Napoleon (Granta, 2004), In the Shadow of the General (OUP, 2012) and How the French Think (Allen Lane, 2015). He won the Prix du Mémorial d’Ajaccio and the Prix de la Fondation Napoléon for the first of these, a Prix d’Histoire du Sénat for the second, and the Grand Prix du Livre d’Idées for the third. In 2020, he became a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.C.S.K.), the highest honour of the Republic of Mauritius. His biography, Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture (Allen Lane, 2020) won the 2021 Wolfson History Prize, with the judges describing it as an ‘erudite and elegant biography of a courageous leader which tells a gripping story with a message that resonates strongly in our own time’. His latest book is Daring to Be Free, described in the New Statesman as “An absorbing and revelatory history of black resistance to the transatlantic trade … a marvel of historical analysis and research.” It is available now. The resistance of the enslaved https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/book-of-the-day/2025/10/the-liberating-power-of-vodou The American academic and film-maker Henry Louis Gates jr https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/10/henry-louis-gates-jr-black-box-writing-race-arrested-beers-with-obama The Victor Hugo museum in Paris https://www.maisonsvictorhugo.paris.fr/en Swimming in the river Seine in Paris in August https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gk7nk35l2o The Sandhamn Murders https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/02/08/netflixs-best-new-crime-show-is-here-and-no-critics-have-seen-it-the-are-murders/ The Mauritian painter Vaco Baissac https://mauritiusarts.com/artist/vaco-baissac/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Ana Schnabl discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Ana Schnabl is a Slovenian writer and editor. She writes for several Slovenian media outlets and is a monthly columnist for the Guardian. Her collection of short stories Razvezani (Beletrina, 2017) met with critical acclaim. Three years later Schnabl published her first novel Masterpiece (Mojstrovina, Beletrina, 2020). Her second novel Flood Tide (Plima, Beletrina, 2022) was nominated for the Slovenian Kresnik Award. Her third novel September (Beletrina, 2024) won the Kresnik Award in 2025. Dog Behaviour: I’ve got two dogs, and it took me longer than I’d like to admit to figure out what they were actually saying. The Concept of Universal Basic Income: I suspect that for a lot of people, Universal Basic Income sounds like a fantasy dreamt up by the lazy and the work-shy—a clever way to dodge the nine-to-five. In reality, it’s nothing of the sort. Mina Mazzini: Known simply as Mina, she was nothing short of a force of nature—Italy’s greatest voice and legend. Her vocal range was outrageous and her stage presence magnetic. Jellyfish: I grew up spending summers on the Slovene coast, where most beach conversations about jellyfish revolved around how nasty they are. I think it’s time to give them a bit of a rebrand. Lojze Kovačič's The Newcomers: I know I sound like a total boomer saying this, but The Newcomers really is a masterpiece—a towering work of autofiction, written decades before “autofiction” was even a buzzword on Goodreads. Yugoslavia: I’m not yugonostalgic—I was simply born too late to have any real experience of living there. But I am a defender of some of the genuinely progressive ideas and policies that Yugoslavia introduced and managed to sustain. This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Adam Lind discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Through living on a narrowboat on the British waterways, Adam Lind has unexpectedly built a large online community of over 900,000 loyal and engaged like-minded souls who enjoy soaking up his passion to live a life of meaning. Adam has appeared on Channel 4’s Narrow Escapes and has been featured in publications including The New York Post, Business Insider, The Sun, and others. His new book is Floating Home: Lessons from a life less ordinary, which is available at https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/floating-home-9781526683526/. The importance of human connection The fear mongering and segregation of the news You can have control over your thoughts You don’t need a lot of money to travel Adversity can be a gift Comparison is the thief of joy This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Food critic Andrew Turvil discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Described by The Independent as one of the UK’s ‘arbiters of taste’, Andrew Turvil is the former editor of The Good Food Guide, AA Restaurant Guide and Which? Pub Guide. As a freelance restaurant critic, writer, and editor, he has spent his career writing about pubs and restaurants, and, undeterred, bought a pub in 2015 and ran it for 10 years. Blood, Sweat & Asparagus Spears is his first book and is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Sweat-Asparagus-Spears-Restaurant/dp/1783969113. Prior to the 1990s, very few chefs were household names. Very few people could reel off a list of chefs, but by the end of the decade many were TV stars and known to millions – Gary Rhodes, Jamie Oliver et al. There was less emphasis on the ingredients used in restaurants prior to the 1990s and the consumption of organic food in the UK had barely got going. Fashionable restaurants of the past were revived in the 1990s and gained new leases of life During the 1990s the English language finally started to gain ground in the fine dining sector. Prior to the 1990s ‘posh’ food meant French food Asian food in the UK took a great leap forward during the 1990s The 1990s saw a proliferation of new foodie terms: nose to tail, fusion, Pacific rim and molecular gastronomy. This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Andy Reid discusses with Ivan six films chosen by previous guests which he thinks should not, after all, be better known. With apologies to Daria Lavelle, Steve Cross, Neil Brand, Tom Newman, Adam Higginbotham and Sam Sedgman. Andy Reid is the founder of Buddy Up, a mentoring charity for young people across south London and Surrey. He has worked in the youth sector for over 20 years delivering programmes and training throughout the UK. You can find out more at https://buddyupcharity.org/. What Dreams May Come https://www.cinemasight.com/resurfaced-what-dreams-may-come-1998/ Roadhouse https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/road-house-1989 Rango https://rachelsreviews.net/2015/01/12/rango-movie-review/ Multiplicity https://christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/pre2000/rvu-mult.html Sorcerer https://hollywood-elsewhere.com/again-why-sorcerer-failed/ The Peacemaker https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/peacemakerhowe.htm This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Matt Greene discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Matt Greene is an author, teacher, former screenwriter, and stay-at-home dad. His first novel, Ostrich, won a Betty Trask Award and his memoir Jew(ish) was described by Booker-shortlisted author Nadifa Mohamed as ‘wonderful’ and ‘acerbically funny’. He teaches critical and creative writing in South London, where he lives with his partner and two sons. His new book is The Definitions, which is at https://evewhite.co.uk/books/the-definitions/. Purple Mountains https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/review-purple-mountains-858339/ What killed the studio sitcom https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/26/the-last-laugh-is-the-television-sitcom-really-dead A Village After Dark https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/05/21/a-village-after-dark Speech Act Theory https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-theory-1691986 Two Jews, Three Opinions https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/one-jew-two-opinions/ Wierzbicka vs Wittgenstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Wierzbicka This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Danny Scott discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Danny Scott grew up in an East Midlands mining village, serving his apprenticeship as an engineer on leaving school, before moving to London in the 1980s. After a job in counter (industrial) espionage, he became a private investigator, then a painter and decorator, then an engineer again, before becoming a journalist and interviewing people like Sir Paul McCartney, Mikhail Gorbachev, Usain Bolt and Dave Hill from Slade. He lives in Essex with his wife and their young son. His memoir, The Undisputed King of Selston (John Murray), was published in June 2025. It is available at https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-undisputed-king-of-selston-danny-scott/7836018?ean=9781399816793. How to hang a door https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tizE31oU4Co Children of the Stones was the best kids’ telly show ever made https://thedeadpixels.squarespace.com/articles/2015/8/10/children-of-the-stones-cult-tv-series-review Getting pregnant isn’t as easy as you think https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/06/young-infertile-four-years-forty-negative-tests-ivf What the miners did for us https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240703-coal-mining-created-community-and-culture-can-clean-energy-do-the-same Skegness is beautiful https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/skegness-things-to-do-which-4420027 These days, there’s no room for the working class. Except at the bottom. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/23/class-barriers-journalism-working-class-liverpudlian-journalist This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Alan Green grew up on the north coast of Cornwall and now lives in south London. As an environmental science graduate, he remains passionate about protecting and preserving the natural world. Alan spent nearly three decades at a Magic Circle law firm in the City of London, where he led a copy-editing team. A committed daily runner for over 35 years, Alan combines his love of nature with a commitment to wellbeing in all aspects of life. Sound Advice is his debut book, available at https://www.saltpublishing.com/products/sound-advice-9781784633585. Our Sun is only 20 galactic years old The band Midnight Oil once asked, “How can we dance when our earth is turning?” The literal answer takes us from the Earth spinning at jet speed, to the Sun circling the Milky Way, to our galaxy itself hurtling through an expanding cosmos. Ivan Wise has blue eyes. I have blue eyes. We may be related… We both have blue eyes — and they may trace back to a single ancestor, 6,000–10,000 years ago. Unlike brown eyes, blue eyes aren’t due to pigment but to the scattering of light, as with a blue sky. You may not be as old as you feel. Our bodies are in perpetual renewal. Some cells live days, others last a lifetime. On average, our cells are only 7–10 years old — meaning we are all, in a sense, younger than our birthday-cake candles may suggest. Yews, and why you often find them in churchyards. Step into a churchyard and you may find a yew that’s older than the church itself. These trees have stood as markers of sacred ground since before Christianity. Our world without fungi wouldn’t function. From decomposing matter to building vast underground “wood-wide webs”, fungi are indispensable recyclers and collaborators. Morgans don’t have wooden chassis. There’s a persistent myth that Morgan sports cars have wooden chassis. Not true: their chassis are steel or aluminium. This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm