
Better Known
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.
Latest episodes

Nov 26, 2023 • 30min
Martin Knight
Martin Knight discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Martin Knight is a British author. He has written autobiographies with footballers George Best, Dave Mackay, Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke also Alan Longmuir founder member of the Bay City Rollers.
In addition he has authored true crime titles and novels. His latest book Justice Killer is released in November 2023. His collaboration with ex-criminal Ronnie Field Nefarious will be published by Harper Collins in 2024.
Bird identification apps https://birda.org/best-birdwatching-apps-uk/
Letter writing https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/26/from-me-with-love-lost-art-letter-writing
Non-league and lower league football https://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/23260993.support-non-league-football/
The Small Faces https://medium.com/the-riff/the-tragic-story-of-the-small-faces-8830946625b9
The Footage Detectives https://www.tptvencore.co.uk/Playlist/Footage-Detectives?id=1ce12be2-3de3-4c50-a784-a8ceb1083fb0
Hastings https://www.ellieandco.co.uk/2022/02/7-secret-highlights-of-a-weekend-in-hastings-east-sussex.html
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Nov 19, 2023 • 28min
300th episode: Henry Lewis
To mark the 300th episode of Better Known, actor Henry Lewis discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Henry Lewis is a power house creative: writer, actor, director and puzzle genius. He is the Artistic Director of Mischief and writes, produces and performs for the company. His work with Mischief includes: The Play that Goes Wrong (Broadway, West End, UK & International Tours), Peter Pan Goes Wrong (BBC1, West End & UK Tours), The Comedy About A Bank Robbery (West End & UK Tour), The Goes Wrong Show (BBC1 & Amazon), Magic Goes Wrong (created with magicians Penn & Teller, West End), Groan Ups (West End), Mischief Movie Night (West End & UK Tour). Henry's work has earned him five Olivier Nominations including a win for Best New Comedy for The Play that Goes Wrong, and his writing has been performed in over thirty countries worldwide. His new book is The Museum Heist, available at https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-museum-heist/henry-lewis/9781408728499.
Royal Institution www.rigb.org
I am Mother https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-genre-string-20190620-story.html
Paxos https://www.greektravel.com/greekislands/paxos/
John Duffin https://www.johnduffin.co.uk/
Tony’s Chocolate https://tonyschocolonely.com/uk/en
The Mystery Agency https://themysteryagency.com/
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Nov 12, 2023 • 30min
Lucy Eaton
Lucy Eaton discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Lucy Eaton’s theatre credits include: The Duchess of Malfi (Old Vic), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Trafalgar Studios), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Southwark Playhouse), Daisy Pulls it Off (Park Theatre), Khadija is 18 (Finborough Theatre) and Almost, Maine (Park Theatre).
TV credits include BBC1's lockdown smash comedy Staged, alongside David Tennant and Michael Sheen, and Netflix US’ Murder Maps.
Alongside her acting, Lucy co-runs Go People, a production company specialising in uplifting escapism on an intimate scale. She is also Founding Director of Revels in Hand, an internationally renowned luxury events service that offers world class theatre productions in clients’ private homes. Revels in Hand has been featured in Tatler, The Guardian, Forbes, The Telegraph and Vogue.
Greek food https://greekreporter.com/2012/03/05/top-10-strange-greek-foods-you-may-like-or-not/
How actors learn their lines https://theactorsplace.org/how-actors-memorize-lines-part-1/
Colons and semi-colons https://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/colonandsemi/semi
The pursuit of happiness https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/a_better_way_to_pursue_happiness
The best theatres in London https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/top-london-theatre-venues-chosen-by-you
You can hire theatre for your home https://www.revelsinhand.com/
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Nov 5, 2023 • 29min
Simon Garfield
Simon Garfield discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Simon Garfield was born in London in 1960. He is the author of an appealingly diverse and unpredictable canon of non-fiction, including the bestsellers Mauve, Just My Type and On The Map. He is a trustee of Mass Observation, and is the editor of several books of diaries from the archive, including Our Hidden Lives and A Notable Woman. His recent books include Timekeepers, In Miniature, and All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopaedia.
The Interrogatory Mood by Padget Powell https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/nov/07/padgett-powell-interrogative-mood-review
The complete works of Tracy Kidder https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1981/10/08/modern-times/
The Albertus typeface https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/simon-garfield/albertus/9781399609258/
Backlisted podcast https://www.backlisted.fm/
Yallah Coffee bar in St Ives https://yallahcoffee.co.uk
New Wave - Elvis Costello’s collaboration with the Slovenian Eurovision entrants Joker Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKcxldNZYQA
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Oct 29, 2023 • 30min
Leah Morgan
Leah Morgan discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Leah Morgan is a project engineer and science communicator working in fusion energy research. She makes science and engineering videos on her YouTube channel Leah Morgan and gives talks all about the energy of the future! You can find her at www.leahmorgan.co.uk and on TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram @LeahLoveScience.
Fusion energy research https://www.iaea.org/topics/fusion
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell https://scientificwomen.net/women/bell-jocelyn-14
Melodeons https://hobgoblin.com/instruments/instrument/melodeon
The King of Rome https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/nostalgia/meet-derbys-king-rome-worlds-5932317
The dubious origins of English folk songs https://biblio.uottawa.ca/omeka1/silentfilmmusiccanada/exhibits/show/folk-music/cecil-sharp
The value of opportunity https://opportunitynetwork.org/about/
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Oct 22, 2023 • 29min
Max Décharné
Max Décharné discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Max Décharné‘s new book Teddy Boys – Post-war Britain and the First Youth Revolution is published by Profile Books on 25 January 2024. He was the drummer of the band Gallon Drunk, and has been the singer and songwriter with The Flaming Stars since 1994. An authority on the 1950s and 1960s counterculture, his other books include Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of British Slang, A Rocket in My Pocket, Hardboiled Hollywood and King’s Road: The Rise and Fall of the Hippest Street in the World. He lives in London.
Frank Key https://foxedquarterly.com/andrew-nixon-frank-key-hooting-yard-stories-literary-review/
Annette Hanshaw https://www.sandybrownjazz.co.uk/JazzRemembered/AnnetteHanshaw.html
Jonathan Latimer https://mysteryfile.com/Latimer/Latimer.html
What's On in London https://vintagemagazinecompany.co.uk/collections/whats-on-in-london
The Jacobites https://soundcloud.com/jacobites/i-miss-you
Coup de Torchon http://www.frenchfilms.org/review/coup-de-torchon-1981.html
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Oct 15, 2023 • 30min
Nigel Planer
Nigel Planer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Nigel Planer is an actor, writer and musician. He played Neil in the BBC comedy The Young Ones and Ralph Filthy in Filthy Rich & Catflap. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including original casts of Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His play, It’s Headed Straight Towards Us, is co-written with Adrian Edmondson, stars Samuel West and Rufus Hound, and is on at the Park Theatre, London. His latest book is Jeremiah Bourne in Time.
Myths of 20th century leftist icons https://www.theguardian.com/politics/from-the-archive-blog/2019/may/01/eugenics-founding-fathers-british-socialism-archive-1997
Ambedkar and Mulk Raj Anand https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2023/02/27/book-review-ambedkar-in-london-by-william-gould-santosh-dass-and-christophe-jaffrelot/
Jane Jacobs https://www.nybooks.com/online/2012/03/30/jane-jacobs-neocons-health-care/
Anselm Keifer https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/03/anselm-kiefers-beautiful-ruins
Nenda Neururer https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10130242/
Learning languages https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2022/04/29/learning-language-changes-your-brain/
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Oct 8, 2023 • 30min
Danell Jones
Danell Jones discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Danell Jones is a writer with a PhD in literature from Columbia University. She is the author of The Virginia Woolf Writers Workshop; the poetry collection Desert Elegy; and An African in Imperial London, which won the High Plains Book Award for Nonfiction. Her newest book is The Girl Prince: Virginia Woolf, Race, and the Dreadnought Hoax.
Julia Margaret Cameron’s Photographs of Alamayou, Prince of Abyssinia https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1394113/d%C3%A8jatch-al%C3%A1mayou--b%C3%A1sha-f%C3%A9lika-photograph-cameron-julia-margaret/
Britons Through Negro Spectacles, by A.B.C. Merriman-Labor https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447069/britons-through-negro-spectacles-by-merriman-labor-abc/9780241559741
Public libraries https://www.neh.gov/article/complicated-role-modern-public-library
Sophie Stone performing All the World’s A Stage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbIOZZy54EM
California Highway 395 https://californiathroughmylens.com/highway-395-roadtrip/
London Calling by Una Marson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6xyJxC_yl4
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Oct 1, 2023 • 29min
Angus Jackson
Angus Jackson discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Angus Jackson is a screen and stage director and writer. For the screen he has directed the feature length film Elmina’s Kitchen for the BBC for which he was nominated for a BAFTA as best new director. For The Royal Shakespeare Company he has directed Oppenheimer, Don Quixote, Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. He wrote and directed Secret Cinema Presents Casino Royale in London and Shanghai in collaboration with Eon Productions.
Changing Lanes https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/changing-lanes-2002
Shostakovich’s 2nd piano concerto https://www.bso.org/works/piano-concerto-no-2-shostakovich
Coriolanus https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/22/politicians-people-coriolanus-rsc-shakespeare
Special v general relativity http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-general-relativity-and-special-relativity/
Movies based on ancient myths https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/aug/31/features.review87
Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards https://www.drawright.com/theory
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Sep 24, 2023 • 30min
Cathi Unsworth
Cathi Unsworth discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Cathi Unsworth is a novelist, writer and editor who lives and works in London. She began her career on the legendary music weekly Sounds at the age of 19. Her novels include The Not Knowing, Weirdo and That Old Black Magic. She is currently teaching novel writing for Curtis Brown Creative's online platform. Her latest book is Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth.
The magazine Fortean Times https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-fortean-times.html
Discovering London's secrets by going for long walks https://www.london-walking-tours.co.uk/secret-london/introduction.htm
The noir writer Derek Raymond https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/doors-closing-slowly-derek-raymonds-factory-novels/
The pop artist Pauline Boty https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/obituaries/pauline-boty-overlooked.html
The publishers London Books https://www.london-books.co.uk/
The musician Tim Smith https://thequietus.com/articles/31719-tim-smith-cardiacs-strange-world
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