

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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 21, 2023 • 30min
Jeremy Musson
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.
Stanway https://www.stanwayfountain.co.uk/
The Dennis Severs House https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jul/25/dennis-severs-house-recreates-his-eccentric-tours-based-on-found-tapes
The churchyard garden, Little St Mary’s Church in Cambridge https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/little-st-marys-churchyard
The Compton Mortuary Chapel https://www.wattsgallery.org.uk/visit/explore-our-site/watts-cemetery-chapel
Homes Sweet Homes by Osbert Lancaster https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/osbert-lancaster
Friendships by Mark Girouard https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-writer-who-goes-where-historians-dont-dare/
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May 14, 2023 • 28min
Richard Fisher
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.
Kent Cochrane https://slate.com/technology/2014/04/amnesia-patient-kc-was-kent-cochrane-the-hippocampus-makes-memories-personal.html
Hutton’s Unconformity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esqxYO5vsEI
The Future Library https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220630-the-norwegian-library-with-unreadable-books
The sublime https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221205-the-upsides-of-feeling-small
Google Earthview https://earth.google.com/web/
The U-shaped happiness curve https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-020-00797-z
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May 7, 2023 • 28min
Fiona Bae
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.
Rise of the K-style https://www.wallpaper.com/art/make-break-remix-korean-culture-book
Korean aesthetics https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/mak-and-bium-imperfection-and-emptiness-in-korean-aethetics
Illegality of getting a tattoo in Korea https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjb5dd/why-does-south-korea-ban-tattooing
Korea has the world's lowest fertility rate https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1163341684/south-korea-fertility-rate
The history of gin-making https://www.masterofmalt.com/distilleries/thames-distillers-branded-gin-distillery/
Coronet Theatre https://www.thecoronettheatre.com/
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Apr 30, 2023 • 30min
Mark Jones
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).
The deportation of Jews from Munich in Autumn 1923 https://www.jta.org/archive/jews-deported-from-bavaria-by-hundreds
Model Railway Museum in Hamburg https://mechtraveller.com/2019/11/review-miniatur-wunderland-in-hamburg/
Rommel in 1942 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportpalast_speech
German grunge rock bands https://www.annenmaykantereit.com/
The island of Rügen https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-rugen-islands-germany/
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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Apr 23, 2023 • 28min
Peggy Orenstein
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.
How (and why) to Shear Sheep https://www.iamcountryside.com/sheep/how-to-shear-a-sheep/
That you can tell the history of the world through color https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/the-colourful-history-behind-the-science-of-colour/
Women’s needlework is radically political https://medium.com/the-establishment/crafts-long-history-in-radical-protest-movements-8300f59a3e54
The two questions that undermine creativity https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210513-the-anxiety-that-limits-your-creative-genius
Sing to your elders https://gospelmusichymnsing.com/operation-sing-again/
The Jewish homesteading movement of North Dakota https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/188059776.pdf
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Apr 16, 2023 • 29min
David Pickard
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.
Women composers https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/great-women-composers/
Lorenz Hart https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2002/08/15/he-took-manhattan/
Digital meat thermometer https://www.aarp.org/home-family/your-home/info-2022/importance-of-meat-thermometers.html
I, An Actor by Nigel Planer and Christopher Douglas http://thedabbler.co.uk/2012/10/1p-book-review-i-an-actor-by-nicholas-craig/
Franconian Switzerland https://www.thecrowdedplanet.com/visit-franconian-switzerland/
Piano duets https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/06/arts/the-ins-and-outs-of-piano-duets.html
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Apr 9, 2023 • 30min
Simon Parkin
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.
Bertha Bracey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09DF0zeuFXM
A cure for insomnia https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/14/finally-a-cure-for-insomnia
Webster’s Second Edition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster%27s_Dictionary
Mikado arcade https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/12/30/inside-game-center-mikado-one-of-the-best-arcades-in-japan
Fact checkers https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-art-of-fact-checking
War games https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-deadly-war-game-of-the-battle-of-the-atlantic/
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Apr 2, 2023 • 30min
Dale Salwak
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.
The writer’s secret life https://nicolebianchi.com/hobbies-of-famous-writers/
Importance of solitude https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2017/08/05/7-science-backed-reasons-you-should-spend-more-time-alone/?sh=351850f81b7e
The spirit of place https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/23/biography
The value of teachers https://online.merrimack.edu/importance-of-teachers/
The natural world https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40228457.html
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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Mar 26, 2023 • 30min
Naoise Mac Sweeney
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.
Al-Kindi https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/al-kind/
Tullia D’Aragona https://projectvox.org/tullia-daragona-c-1505-1556/
Phyllis Wheatley https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/how-phillis-wheatley-was-recovered-through-history
Mary Fisher https://www.friendsjournal.org/mary-fisher/
Juan Latino https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/latino-juan-c-1518-c-1594/
Hans Joachim Winkelmann https://www.theflorentine.net/2015/06/25/johann-joachim-winckelmann/
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Mar 19, 2023 • 28min
Amit Katwala
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
The truth about the lie detector https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/720693/tremors-in-the-blood-by-amit-katwala/
Katalin Kariko https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mrna-coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-biontech
Fritesauce https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/desert-island-dips/id1303459662
WIRED magazine https://www.wired.co.uk/subscribe
Pre-Columbian America https://www.amazon.co.uk/1491-Revelations-Americas-Columbus-Vintage/dp/1400032059
Blocksite https://blocksite.co/
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