

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

Jul 24, 2022 • 29min
Tim Lott
Tim Lott discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Tim Lott was born in Southall, West London in 1956. After a career in journalism, his first book, The Scent of Dried Roses, a memoir, was published in 1996 and won the PEN/JR Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. His first novel, White City Blue, (1999) a contemporary portrait of friendship and rivalry between a group of young single men, won the Whitbread First Novel Award. It was followed Rumours of Hurricane (2002), a portrait of working class life in Britain in the 1980’s, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award.
Tim has been teaching writing for the last ten years, as a lecturer, teacher and individual mentor. He taught for three years at the Faber Academy, then moved to Guardian Masterclasses where he teaches individually and lectures with his partners John Yorke and Will Storr, collectively known as The Story Board. He has also taught creative writing at Brunel University and lectured at the University of East Anglia, the How To Academy, the Idler Academy, and the School of Life. His online mentoring course on Memoir is at TheNovelry.com.
Alan Watts https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/alan-watts-on-the-5-most-important-lessons-of-the-21st-century-6d1734aa6cf
The Game of the Goose http://ursuladubosarsky.squarespace.com/the-game-of-the-goose
Come and See https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-come-and-see-1985
Canelés https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/caneles
Hampstead Mixed Pond https://www.mixedpondassociation.org.uk/
The Fryer’s Delight https://www.timeout.com/london/news/step-back-in-time-at-this-old-school-fish-and-chip-shop-022522
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Jul 17, 2022 • 30min
Emma Smith
Emma Smith discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford: her most recent book is Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers.
The plays of Thomas Middleton https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n23/michael-neill/old-dad-dead
New Lanark https://www.newlanark.org/
Abel Gance’s film Napoleon https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/10/napoleon-review-silent-era-epic-more-thrilling-than-ever
French 75s https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/french-75-cocktail
The Scrivener app https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
The jazz pianist Jan Johannson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Johansson_(jazz_musician)
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Jul 10, 2022 • 31min
Elisabeth Kendall
Elisabeth Kendall discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Elisabeth Kendall is Mistress-elect of Girton College, Cambridge, and Senior Research Fellow in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Pembroke College, Oxford. Her current work examines how militant jihad groups exploit cultural traditions and local dynamics. Previously, she was at the Universities of Edinburgh and Harvard, and served as Director of a UK government-sponsored Centre focused on building Arabic-based research expertise.
Elisabeth has lectured at governmental, military and scholarly institutions all around the world and is a frequent contributor to international television and print media. She also sits on a variety of international boards and is Chairman of a grass-roots NGO in eastern Yemen.
She has authored and edited several books, including ReClaiming Islamic Tradition and Twenty-First Century Jihad. She conceived of the “Essential Middle Eastern Vocabularies” series, which includes the following titles which she also authored: Diplomacy Arabic, Intelligence Arabic and Media Arabic. She is currently working on a new book called Rock Stars of Jihad. Elisabeth has spent significant time in the field, especially in Yemen.
She can be followed on Twitter https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/ElisabethKendall/videos
Craft chocolate https://www.greatbritishfoodawards.com/blog/9-british-craft-chocolate-bars-you-have-to-try
War in Yemen https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-yemen
The Great Courses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wondrium
The Lycian Way https://cultureroutesinturkey.com/the-lycian-way/
Elizabeth Welsh https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/events/elizabeth-welsh-1843-1921
Foreign languages https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40954948
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Jul 3, 2022 • 27min
Extremely Well-Known
In a change to the usual format, Ivan Wise discusses one thing which is Extremely Well-Known.
In April 1912, the world's largest ocean liner, the Titanic, sank on the fourth day of its maiden voyage. Over 1500 of its passengers and crew drowned.
For 110 years, this story has dominated our consciousness. Its mix of innovative engineering, New York high society and tragedy on the high seas has been adapted for film and television numerous times, is a text book case in the study of hubris and has been a subplot in shows as wide-ranging as Doctor Who, Downton Abbey and Family Guy. Why has this story become so well-known? And why is it that we all know about the Titanic but not about all the other maritime disasters?
As a reward for those who have listened curiously to many hundreds of choices of which they have never heard, finally here is an episode about a subject which everyone can relate to.
Archive interview extracts are taken from the 1996 Radio Netherlands documentary Titanic: A 20th Century Parable. https://archive.org/details/titanic-a-20th-century-parable
Titanic https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17631595
13 Maritime disasters more tragic than the Titanic https://www.theshipyardblog.com/13-maritime-disasters-more-tragic-than-the-titanic/
Lusitania https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/18-minutes-that-shocked-the-world
Princess Alice disaster (1878) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44800309
Wilhelm Gustloff (1945) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deadliest-disaster-sea-happened-75-years-ago-yet-its-barely-known-why-180974077/
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Jun 26, 2022 • 30min
Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Andrew Martin is a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction books, some of which have a railway theme. His 'Jim Stringer' thrillers are set on the British railways of the early 20th Century, and the latest of these is Powder Smoke https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/andrew-martin/powder-smoke/9781472154842/
His latest stand-alone novel is The Winker, about a 70s pop musician who winks at people, then kills them. https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/andrew-martin/the-winker/9781472153982/
His new book is a travelogue-cum-memoir about his native county, called Yorkshire - There and Back https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/andrew-martin/yorkshire/9781472154866/
His website is at https://jimstringernovels.com
Scarborough https://www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/scarborough/things-to-do
Robert Robinson https://transdiffusion.org/2011/10/02/robert_robinson/
Bicycle saddle bags http://www.bikeroar.com/tips/to-saddle-bag-or-not-is-this-the-best-way-to-carry-gear-on-my-bike
Walter Wilkinson http://www.punchandjudy.com/wilkinson.htm
Sparklehorse https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9745-the-sad-and-beautiful-world-of-sparklehorses-mark-linkous/
Alan Godfrey Maps https://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/
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Jun 19, 2022 • 30min
Rupal Patel
Rupal Patel discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Rupal Patel’s high-octane career has taken her from jungles and war zones to corporate boardrooms and international stages. After a thrilling career at the CIA, she earned her MBA and started her first award-winning business over ten years ago.
Called a ‘Power Woman’ by Harper's Bazaar Magazine, Rupal is a sought-after international speaker and business consultant who has spoken in front of thousands. As a sitting CEO, author, advisor, coach and mentor, Rupal helps founders, corporate executives, and next-generation change-makers cut through the noise of living and leading and make the impossible possible.
Her new book From CIA to CEO (Bonnier Books UK) provides a powerful new toolkit that reveals how the techniques of the CIA can help anyone find their voice and thrive in the world of business without conforming to stale stereotypes or dated “best practice”. With surgical insights and unique exercises, Rupal helps her audiences and clients leverage the CIA mindset to remake the rules of success and become unstoppable. Find out more about Rupal at www.rupalypatel.com.
The Raan of Kutch https://www.tripsavvy.com/great-rann-of-kutch-travel-guide-4134857
Ethiopian food https://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/10/14/ethiopian-food-primer-10-essential-dishes/
Putting yourself forward https://www.science.org/content/article/if-you-re-hesitant-apply-professional-awards-remember-it-s-worth-putting-yourself
Being interested https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/robin-ince-importance-being-interested-1585670
Neil de Grasse Tyson https://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/about/profile.php
Kouign amann https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/kouign_amann_09102
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Jun 12, 2022 • 30min
Tori Herridge
Tori Herridge discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Dr Tori Herridge is an evolutionary biologist and Daphne Jackson Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum in London.
Her research addresses big evolutionary and environmental questions using a broad range of lab and field methods, all underpinned by the rich fossil record from the Quaternary Period (aka “The Ice Age”). She is an expert on fossil elephants, particularly those species which lived in Europe during the Ice Age: mammoths and straight-tusked elephants.
She is the co-founder of TrowelBlazers, an organisation dedicated to telling the stories of pioneering women in palaeontology, geology and archaeology, and addressing gender disparity in these fields today. See trowelblazers.com
She also makes TV programmes: Ice Age: Return of the Mammoth? (Channel 4/Science Channel), Woolly Mammoth The Autopsy (Channel 4/Smithsonian), T. rex Autopsy (National Geographic), Hannibal’s Elephant Army (Channel 4/PBS), as well as the series Bone Detectives, Britain at Low Tide, and Walking Through Time for Channel 4.
Finger limes https://www.riverford.co.uk/organic-fruit-veg-and-salad/fruit/finger-limes
Shropshire https://www.investinshropshire.co.uk/relocate-to-shropshire/shropshire-at-a-glance/fascinating-facts/
Trowelblazers https://trowelblazers.com/
The lost diversity of elephants https://theecologist.org/2016/jan/22/last-time-earth-was-hot-britain-was-land-hippos-and-elephants
Diana Wynne Jones https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0404/In-appreciation-of-Diana-Wynne-Jones
The Ice Age wasn’t always cold https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/hasnt-earth-warmed-and-cooled-naturally-throughout-history
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Jun 5, 2022 • 30min
Benjamin Myers
Novelist Benjamin Myers discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Benjamin Myers was born in Durham in 1976. His latest novel is The Perfect Golden Circle. His novel The Gallows Pole received a Roger Deakin Award and won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. Beastings won the Portico Prize for Literature and Pig Iron won the Gordon Burn Prize, while Richard was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. He has also published poetry, crime novels and short fiction, while his journalism has appeared in publications including, among others, The Guardian, New Statesman, Caught by the River and New Scientist. He lives in the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire.
Mini https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p05nrklh/inside-story-mini
Reunion by Fred Uhlman https://theexiledsoul.com/2019/07/14/book-review-reunion-by-fred-uhlman/
You Suffer by Napalm Death https://www.metalsucks.net/2016/06/07/happens-slow-napalm-deaths-suffer/
Glenda Jackson https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jul/26/glenda-jackson-interview-i-am-an-antisocial-socialist
Soundcloud rap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_rap
Hedgehogs https://ptes.org/get-informed/facts-figures/hedgehog/
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May 29, 2022 • 30min
Catriona Seth
Catriona Seth discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Catriona Seth FBA is the Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She was brought up in the UK, in Switzerland, in Venezuela and in Belgium. Before becoming a university academic, she worked as a translator and interpreter, as a management consultant and as a schoolteacher. She has published widely, mainly in French, on 18th-century literature and culture. Her objects of research have included Marie-Antoinette, smallpox inoculation, women's life-writing, Germaine de Staël and André Chénier.
Bilingualism https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160811-the-amazing-benefits-of-being-bilingual
Loose-leaf Assam tea https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/what-is-assam-tea-and-what-are-its-benefits/photostory/69684080.cms
Auctions https://www.esprit-de-france.com/en/news/visit-auction-house-paris
Sleeper trains https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/feb/06/10-best-sleeper-trains-in-europe-night-trains
Concert halls for chamber music https://www.ucl.ac.uk/chamber-music/cmc-socials/metropoles-finest-chamber-music-venues
The life and works of Katherine Read https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/entertainment/2642310/katherine-read/
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May 22, 2022 • 30min
Neil Brand
Neil Brand discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Neil Brand has been a silent film accompanist for over 30 years, regularly in London at the Barbican and BFI National Film Theatres, throughout the UK and at film festivals and special events around the world, including Australia, New Zealand (three times), America, Israel, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, and, in Italy, the Bologna, Aosta, Bergamo and Pordenone festivals where he has inaugurated the School of Music and Image to teach up-and-coming young pianists about silent film accompaniment.
Neil now has a very fruitful relationship with the BBC Symphony Orchestra which has resulted in London performances of his acclaimed orchestral score for Hitchcock’s silent Blackmail, the BBCSO / Barbican commission to score Asquith’s silent Underground and Chaplin's Easy Street. He followed these successes with two through-scored radio adaptations, The Wind in the Willows (Audio Drama Award Nominated) and A Christmas Carol for Orchestra, Choir and Actors commissioned by Radios 3 and 4 – all of these works orchestrated and conducted by maestro Timothy Brock.
Neil is also a prolific radio playwright including Sony- and Tinniswood- nominated dramas Stan (which he adapted for BBC TV) and Getting the Joke, as well as establishing the regular live-recorded musical series The Big Broadcast. He has twice toured nationally with Paul Merton as well as appearing in, and supplying music for, Paul’s silent film-related TV documentaries.
Neil is a TV presenter on BBC4 with his hugely successful series Sound of Cinema, The Music that Made the Movies and Sound of Song, is a regular presenter on Radio 4's Film Programme, a Fellow of Aberystwyth University and a Visiting Professor of the Royal College of Music and is considered one of the finest improvising piano accompanists in the world.
Richard Rodney Bennett https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/dec/26/sir-richard-rodney-bennett
Sheridan Le Fanu https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/28/sheridan-le-fanu-two-centuries-birth-vampire-ghost-stories
The musical of the Mystery of Edwin Drood https://www.broadwayworld.com/reviews/The-Mystery-of-Edwin-Drood
Satie House https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/museums-and-heritage-sites/maisons-satie/
Radio Drama https://bookriot.com/history-of-the-radio-drama/
Rango https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rango-2011
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