

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

Aug 15, 2021 • 30min
Beaty Rubens
Beaty Rubens discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known.
A BBC Radio producer for 35 years, Beaty Rubens has collaborated with some of the great names in broadcasting, the arts and academia. Her many documentaries have focussed on the arts, history and the lives of women and children. Some high-points include working with Lyse Doucet, Katya Adler and James Naughtie, Professor Mary Beard, Professor Emma Smith and Professor Thomas Dixon, dancers Akram Khan and Marianela Nunez, poets Seamus Heaney, Alice Oswald, Sean O’Brien and Sasha Dugdale, writers Michael Morpurgo, David Almond, Shirley Hughes and Anna Pavord. She has won the radio category of the prestigious One World Media Award, the Glenfiddich Award and The BP Arts Journalism Award. In 2021 she left the BBC and now works as an independent producer and writer. Particularly happy in the Aegean, Beaty is also a passionate three-season swimmer in the Thames near where she lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and daughter.
Journey to the River Sea https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdn6dp3
Celia Pym http://celiapym.com/
Charlotte Green giggling on air https://soundcloud.com/greville-suitcase/charlotte-green-radio-4-today
Wet-Sox https://www.wetsuitwearhouse.com/wetsuits/category/worn.html
5.Rameau's Les Inde Galante - Les Sauvages - played on the cello by Christian Pierre La Marca https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2MJ-QrF90k
A beach in the SE of the Peloponnese in Greece which I am not going to name https://drinkteatravel.com/best-beaches-peloponnese-greece/
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Aug 8, 2021 • 29min
Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle discusses with Ivan both things which he thinks should be better known and a number of things which he thinks are terrible.
Alexei Sayle is a comedian and writer. He was the original MC of the Comedy Store in London when it opened in 1979 and was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He is best known for his performances in the BBC TV programmes The Young Ones, The Comic Strip and Alexei Sayle’s Stuff. He has written three novels and two volumes of autobiography: Stalin Ate My Homework and Thatcher Stole My Trousers.
The Bride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_(1985_film)
The Supergrass https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090102/
Whoops Apocalypse https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083502/
Lenin of the Rovers https://archive.org/details/leninoftherovers1-2
Socialism https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2020/01/30/socialism-understanding
Derry Girls https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jan/19/derry-girls-channel-4-the-funniest-thing-on-tv-lisa-mcgee
Motherland https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/motherland-review-bbc-b1844797.html
Louis CK https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/10/can-louis-ck-spin-his-troubles-into-art
Predator 2 https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/21/hear-me-out-why-predator-2-isnt-a-bad-movie
Movie sequels better than the original https://time.com/5353143/sequels-better-than-original/
Charles Spencer https://charles-spencer.com/about/
Carry On Columbus https://www.filmstories.co.uk/features/carry-on-columbus-and-the-failed-attempt-to-revive-a-comedy-series/
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Aug 1, 2021 • 29min
Francis Spufford
Author Francis Spufford discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.
Francis Spufford’s novel Light Perpetual has been longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. His first novel Golden Hill was published in 2016 and won the Costa First Novel Award.He is the author of five celebrated books of non-fiction. The most recent, Unapologetic, has been translated into three languages; the one before, Red Plenty, into nine. In 2007 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He teaches creative writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
The leafy hills of South London https://www.southlondonclub.co.uk/blog/2016/10/14/8-secret-leafy-getaways-to-visit-this-autumn-in-south-london
The Pilot G-Tec C4 fine-line pen https://www.penandpaper.co.uk/product/pilot-microtip-rollerball-g-tec-c4/
Crisp Green Williams pears sliced thin, and eaten with Italian blue cheese https://www.bertolli.co.uk/recipes/warm-pearblue-cheese-crostini-180506
The works of Elizabeth Knox https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/25/the-absolute-book-by-elizabeth-knox-review-an-instant-classic
The Church of England https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-defence-of-the-church-of-england
The entire genre of science fiction https://www.salon.com/1999/05/25/sfdefense/
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Jul 25, 2021 • 29min
Virginia Ironside
Virginia Ironside discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known.
Virginia Ironside started off as a temporary secretary to Shirley Williams at the Fabian Society and then worked at Vogue, followed by the Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail (as a rock columnist), Woman magazine, the Sunday Mirror, Today (as an agony columnist) and now with a column in the Oldie and the Idler. Since becoming sixty she has performed a show, Growing Old Disgracefully, all over the UK. Her website is www.virginiaironside.org
Anna Kavan https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/30/the-curious-creation-of-anna-kavan
Isle of Sheppey www.sdpt.org.uk
Hippodrome Circus, Yarmouth hippodromecircus.co.uk
A House in Bayswater www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFZlBYJ0_uY&t=43s
Anne Acheson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Acheson
Motherhood https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/sep/03/familyandrelationships.features10
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Jul 18, 2021 • 31min
Sam Gilbert
Sam Gilbert discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.
Sam Gilbert is an affiliated researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. An expert in data-driven marketing, he was employee number one and chief marketing officer at Bought By Many, an award-winning fintech start-up named as one of Wired’s hottest start-ups in Europe and ranked in the Sunday Times TechTrack100 list of the UK’s fastest growing companies. Previously, he was head of strategy and development at the data company Experian and head of consumer finance at Santander. He lives in Copenhagen.
West Highland Line: https://www.scotrail.co.uk/scotland-by-rail/great-scenic-rail-journeys/west-highland-line-glasgow-oban-and-fort-williammallaig
AnswerThePublic.com: https://answerthepublic.com/
Danish Summerhouses: https://www.howtoliveindenmark.com/podcasts/danish-summerhouse-dollhouse-expect-youre-invited-danish-summer-home/
The Zuckerberg Files: https://zuckerbergfiles.org/
Judith Shklar's Liberalism of Fear: https://philpapers.org/archive/SHKTLO.pdf
Novels of Magnus Mills: https://www.bloomsbury.com/author/magnus-mills
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Jul 11, 2021 • 30min
Michael Wood
Michael Wood discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.
Michael Wood is Professor in Public History at the University of Manchester. He is the author of several highly praised books on English history including In Search of the Dark Ages, Domesday, and In Search of England. He has made well over one hundred documentary films, among them Art of the Western World, In Search of the Trojan War, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, Conquistadors and The Story of India – all of which were accompanied by bestselling books.
Du Fu https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/10/08/du-fu-li-bai-poems/
Tamil Nadu landscape and culture https://theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles/tamil-nadus-landscapes-and-ancient-poetry/
Debate on Universal Human Rights in Valladolid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valladolid_debate
Hadrian the African https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/hadrian-clerk-libya-african-who-anglo-saxon-england/
Sven Lindqvist https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/22/sven-lindqvist-life-in-writing
Ethos https://www.duvarenglish.com/ethos-has-put-us-all-in-the-therapists-office-and-asked-us-to-speak-article-55126
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Jul 4, 2021 • 31min
Helen Thompson
Helen Thompson discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known.
Helen Thompson is Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University. She is a columnist for the New Statesman and a regular contributor to the podcast Talking Politics.
Arnold Bennett’s Clayhanger https://reading19001950.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/clayhanger-by-arnold-bennett-1910-2/
The Hoo Peninsula https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/things-to-do/discover-the-hoo-peninsula-7181064
Battlestar Galactica (the Ronald Moore version https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series))
Dolly Parton’s My Tennessee Mountain Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG2kL4ojylk
St Vitale, Ravenna https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/medieval-europe-islamic-world/v/justinian-and-his-attendants-6th-century-ravenna
Gregor von Rezzori’s The snows of yesteryear https://notevenpast.org/snows-yesteryear-2008/
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Jun 27, 2021 • 30min
Dominic Sandbrook
Dominic Sandbrook discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.
Dominic Sandbrook is the author of eight books of modern history, and is best known for his books on Britain since the 1950s.
The first volume, Never Had It So Good, covers the late 1950s and early 1960s. The second book, White Heat, looks at Britain in the heyday of the 1960s, and was later used as the background for a BBC drama. The third and fourth volumes, State of Emergency and Seasons in the Sun, cover the 1970s, and were adapted for television as the BBC documentary series The 70s. The fifth volume, Who Dares Wins, covers the early 1980s, including the first Thatcher administration, the Falklands War, the New Romantics, the birth of home computers and the tragic decline of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
His new book series Adventures in Time, aimed at young readers, focuses on the six wives of Henry VIII and the Second World War.
He has a weekly podcast, The Rest is History, with his fellow historian Tom Holland.
The Weather Islands of Sweden https://www.vastsverige.com/en/tanum/produkter/the-weather-islands/
The Good Soldier https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/07/fiction.julianbarnes
The Byzantine Empire https://www.livescience.com/42158-history-of-the-byzantine-empire.html
Stan Cullis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Cullis
Bridgnorth https://www.mccartneys.co.uk/pages/bridgnorth-area-guide
The Dark is Rising sequence https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/dec/08/season-s-readings-the-dark-is-rising
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Jun 20, 2021 • 30min
John Kampfner
John Kampfner discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.
John Kampfner is an award-winning author, broadcaster, commentator and cultural leader. His book Why The Germans Do It Better is Guardian, Economist and New Statesman Book of the Year and Waterstones Best Books of 2020. Find out more at www.jkampfner.net.
People playing cricket in Chicago www.iplcc.com
Cornwall's links with Mexico https://www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk/travel-inspiration/other/mexico-the-cornish-connection/
Insect-based cuisine https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-insect-dishes-in-the-world
The impact of climate change in the Russian Arctic https://www.ft.com/content/d855d522-cefc-11e9-99a4-b5ded7a7fe3f
Marine le Pen’s gay acolytes https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-39641822
German football fans drinking and smoking on the terraces https://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/dec/11/sport.worldcup20061
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Jun 13, 2021 • 30min
Oliver Sears
Oliver Sears discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known.
Oliver Sears is a London-born Dublin-based art dealer & gallery owner. He is son of a Holocaust survivor & founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland. Formerly a trustee of Holocaust Education Trust Ireland, he is a frequent contributor to radio and newspapers including RTÉ and The Irish Times. He tells his family story ‘The Objects of Love’ through a collection of precious objects, documents and photographs, powerful mementoes that survived the war and describe individual lives under Nazi occupation. This was presented for the 2019 annual Kristallnacht lecture at Trinity College Dublin. In collaboration with Trinity College Dublin and Holocaust Awareness Ireland, Oliver was in conversation with both Lenny Abrahamson and Daniel Mendelsohn in two separate events in the series Why Talk About the Holocaust?
Derek Mahon https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nz1m/derek-mahon-the-poetry-nonsense
The Trouble with Physics by Lee Smolin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIEorqJCQ2k
The piece written just before the really famous one. Three extraordinary pieces of music: Mozart Piano Concerto 20, the first aria of the Queen of the Night in the Magic Flute and Beethoven Piano Concerto 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71AgofmDSjs
Krowki https://ifood.tv/european/krowki/about
Giorgio Perlasca https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-giorgio-perlasca-1541233.html
Helen Frankenthaler https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/helen-frankenthaler-1114
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