

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

Dec 11, 2022 • 28min
Louise Hare
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.
English National Opera www.eno.org
The Friends by Rosa Guy - https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-friends/9780440226673
Flamenco https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/complicated-history-flamenco-spain-180973398/
Sambourne House https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/museums/sambourne-house
Clapham South deep level shelter https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london/clapham-south
Local libraries https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/research-and-data/health-and-wellbeing-benefits-public-libraries
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Dec 4, 2022 • 29min
250th episode: Alan Rusbridger
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.
Bone-conducting headphones https://www.soundguys.com/bone-conduction-headphones-20580/
Audio sleep masks https://www.headphonesty.com/2021/02/best-sleep-mask-with-headphones/
The music of Billy Mayerl http://www.perfessorbill.com/comps/wmayerl.shtml
Electric bikes https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/electric-bikes/article/best-electric-bikes-aJMUp0P2yY0r
Why free speech matters https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/26/free-speech-bigots-no-platform
Prospect magazine www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
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Nov 27, 2022 • 30min
Dean Jobb
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.
Jakob Dylan https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/a-wounded-jakob-dylan-bares-his-scars-in-a-new-album-20210718-p58any.html
How to pronounce Newfoundland https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/the-crime-scene/stranger-than-fiction-september-2022/
Joseph Bell https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/b/josephbell.html
Where the Cajuns came from https://www.nps.gov/jela/learn/historyculture/from-acadian-to-cajun.htm
How to tell a pearl is fake https://www.worldsultimate.net/arthur-barry.htm
The first Ponzi https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-opinion-flashback-leo-koretz-ponzi-scheme-20210305-bsqzjlztlrbg5afozquk6ccksm-story.html
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Nov 20, 2022 • 29min
Duncan Larkin
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/.
How the last-place finisher of the NYC Marathon feels in the last mile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YrlVSOB4-s
Silas Soule and Mochi https://www.colorado.com/life-chronicles-sand-creek-massacre
The concept of cognitive dissonance https://www.healthline.com/health/cognitive-dissonance-examples
Time will Reveal by DeBarge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_988-cpiG94
Keith Douglas’ poem Vergissmeinnicht https://interestingliterature.com/2017/08/a-short-analysis-of-keith-douglass-vergissmeinnicht/
The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/05/10/ambrose-bierce-one-americas-best/
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Nov 13, 2022 • 29min
Tim Hannigan
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/.
Indonesia https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1966/05/26/in-search-of-indonesia/
The 1811 British invasion of Java https://www.thehighlandersmuseum.com/?p=30029
Cornwall is one of the poorest regions in western Europe https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2016/02/real-cornwall-county-poorer-lithuania-and-hungary
The Cornish language https://omniglot.com/writing/cornish.htm
The public footpaths of England and Wales https://footpathmap.co.uk/
Eland Books https://www.travelbooks.co.uk/
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Nov 6, 2022 • 30min
Dan Schreiber
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
The science writer Ann Druyan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFebYBARdPs
The front cover of Jim Carrey’s novel https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/books/jim-carrey-memoirs-and-misinformation.html
The Cantonese word Aiyah http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/814/
Watkins Bookshop https://www.thebookseller.com/author-interviews/watkins-books-soho-london
The power of monks https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/29/football/leicester-city-buddha-monks-karma/index.html
Neil Armstrong’s favourite footstep https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/neil-armstrong-walks-on-jerusalem
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Oct 30, 2022 • 31min
Five Years
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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Oct 23, 2022 • 29min
Anna Ploszajski
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.
Materials science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_science
Into the Woods by John Yorke https://www.waterstones.com/book/into-the-woods/john-yorke/9780141978109
Ultra-swimmer Sarah Thomas https://sarahthomasswims.com/.
Trumpets can play quietly! https://www.alisonbalsom.com/
Barberette https://www.barberette.co.uk/
IFIXIT https://www.ifixit.com/
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Oct 16, 2022 • 28min
Helen Gordon
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.
Deep time https://profilebooks.com/work/notes-from-deep-time/
James Hutton https://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/edinburghs-geology/geological-pioneers/james-hutton/ and https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GeositesSiccarPoint
Campi Flegrei https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=211010
The view towards London from Farthing Downs https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/farthing-downs/visit-farthing-downs
Man in the Holocene https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Man-in-the-Holocene-by-Max-Frisch-Geoffrey-Skelton/9781564784667
Desk Set https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v13391
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Oct 9, 2022 • 28min
John King
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 https://www.john-king-author.co.uk/
The Middle Path https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhadasa
The benefits of leaving the EU https://www.john-king-author.co.uk/liberal-politics
The realities of animal slaughter https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/til-the-pigs-come-round/
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/
The so-called lowlife literature of 1930s London https://www.london-books.co.uk/
Dharma Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbAb9oqkHlQ
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