

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

Mar 12, 2023 • 29min
Dillie Keane
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/
Greta Keller https://der-bussard.de/en/2021/05/15/greta-keller-the-viennese-diseuse/
Hester Street https://themovieisle.com/2021/09/30/film-review-hester-street-1975/
The Silver Vaults https://silvervaultslondon.com/
Christine Bovill https://christinebovill.com/index.html
The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/27/wimbledon-poisoner-book-changed-me-suburbia
André Devambez https://www.apollo-magazine.com/andre-devambez-petit-palais-paris/
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Mar 5, 2023 • 30min
Tim Richardson
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.
Little Sparta https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/homes-and-gardens/little-sparta-ian-hamilton-finlays-garden-one-scotlands-best-kept-secrets-1414642
Boiled sweets https://www.walesartsreview.org/dahl100-a-storyteller-in-the-golden-age-of-sweets/
Hackfall Gorge https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/woods/hackfall/
Guided by Voices https://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/universal-truths-and-cycles-an-appreciation-of-robert-pollard-and-gbv
Andrea del Sarto’s Last Supper https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/last-supper-in-san-salvi.html
Cigars https://trulyexperiences.com/blog/brief-history-cigars/
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Feb 26, 2023 • 29min
Kate Mosse
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.
Eunice Newton Foote https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/happy-200th-birthday-eunice-foote-hidden-climate-science-pioneer
The first ever statue to a female football player https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55884099
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
Josephine Cochrane https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/time-saving-patent-paved-way-modern-dishwasher-180967656/
14% of blue plaques are to women https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/blue-plaque-stories/women-pioneers/
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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Feb 19, 2023 • 30min
Devoney Looser
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.
The Porter sisters https://sisternovelists.com
Love on the Spectrum https://www.netflix.com/title/81265493
The Church of Stop Shopping and Reverend Billy https://revbilly.com/
The Ring Theory https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-xpm-2013-apr-07-la-oe-0407-silk-ring-theory-20130407-story.html
Roller Derby https://www.wired.com/story/womens-roller-derby-has-a-plan-for-covid-and-it-kicks-ass/
Jane Austen’s Lady Susan https://www.nybooks.com/online/2016/05/27/love-and-friendship-unserious-austen/
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Feb 12, 2023 • 28min
Kevin Jared Hosein
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.
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
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
Alternate reality games (ARGs) and transmedia storytelling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game
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/
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, and videogames as a storytelling medium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b35MVzhr7K8
Doubles https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210526-doubles-trinidads-favourite-street-food
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Feb 5, 2023 • 28min
Rosie Andrews
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.
The Mentalist https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jan/09/mentalist-box-set-review
Haggis https://www.historytoday.com/archive/historians-cookbook/history-haggis
Visiting cathedrals https://britishheritage.com/travel/best-cathedrals-england
Natural History Museum in Tring https://www.dacorum.gov.uk/home/leisure-culture/shopping-and-town-centres/tring/natural-history-museum-at-tring
CS Lewis Space Trilogy https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/cs-lewiss-space-trilogy/
Elder Futhark runes http://www.shieldmaidenssanctum.com/blog/2019/3/12/the-elder-futhark-runes-and-their-meanings
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Jan 29, 2023 • 30min
Raymond Baker
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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Jan 22, 2023 • 29min
Steve Cross
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.
NBA Basketball https://www.smallerearth.com/uk/blog/basketball-explained
Tales of the Beanworld https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/TalesOfTheBeanworld
Road House https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/09/an-undeniable-action-classic-road-house/
Plumbing https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/plumbing/plumbing-basics-ga.htm
Kinnie Zest https://www.finewinesellers.co.uk/kinnie-zest.html
McMansionhell.com https://www.madamearchitect.org/interviews/2022/10/1/kate-wagner
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Jan 15, 2023 • 29min
Kia Abdullah
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.
Yellowjackets https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-12-09/yellowjackets-showtime-juliette-lewis-christina-ricci-melanie-lynskey
Danakil Depression https://www.brilliant-ethiopia.com/regions/danakil-depression
Cultural Muslims https://theconversation.com/cultural-muslims-like-cultural-christians-are-a-silent-majority-32097
Small Kindnesses http://www.danushalameris.com/poems.html
Plain English campaign https://www.plainenglish.co.uk/
London Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpyg2Ig7wRo
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Jan 8, 2023 • 12min
Twentieth Century In Reverse
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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