

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

May 19, 2024 • 30min
Caroline Crampton
Caroline Crampton discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Caroline Crampton is the author of The Way to the Sea: The Forgotten Histories of the Thames Estuary (Granta, 2019). Her award-winning podcast, Shedunnit, is distributed by BBC Sounds. Her journalism has appeared in the New Statesman, The Times and the Guardian. An experienced broadcaster, she has appeared on BBC Two, Sky News, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4. Her new book is A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria.
The Lime Street Cutting https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/stunning-pictures-reveal-rarely-glimpsed-22659098
The adult novels of Eva Ibbotson https://shereadsnovels.com/2012/11/25/madensky-square-by-eva-ibbotson/
Beremeal flour https://baronymill.com/
The inverted story or "howdunnit" https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/inverted-detective-stories-when-you-already-know-whodunnit/
The 1944 Powell and Pressburger film A Canterbury Tale https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/powell-pressburger-kent-locations-canterbury-tale
Clumber spaniels https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/clumber-spaniel/
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May 12, 2024 • 29min
Kathryn Hughes
Kathryn Hughes discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Kathryn Hughes is the critically acclaimed author of The Victorian Governess, The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton, which was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, and the hugely acclaimed George Eliot: The Last Victorian, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography. Her new book is Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern World. Educated at Oxford University, she holds a PhD in Victorian studies. She is a visiting lecturer at several British universities and reviews regularly for The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Literary Review.
Mrs Cotman, portrait by John Sell Cotman (hanging in Norwich Castle Museum) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Mrs_John_Sell_Cotman.jpg
Frances Simpson https://cat-o-pedia.org/frances-simpson.html
The Heart of Wales railway line https://news.tfw.wales/news/heart-of-wales-railway-line-best-in-europe
The proper use of the word “disinterested” https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/eb/qa/disinterested-vs-uninterested
Linley Sambourne House https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/museums/sambourne-house
The Gas Man Cometh (1963) by Flanders and Swann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1dvAxA9ib0
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May 5, 2024 • 29min
Elaine Lin Hering
Elaine Lin Hering discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Elaine Lin Hering has been a lecturer at Harvard Law School and a Managing Partner at Triad Consulting Group. She has worked with a wide range of clients in Fortune 500 companies, including American Express, Capital One, Google, Merck, Nike, Shell and Pixar, as well as with government and non-profit organisations.
Elaine "has all the ingredients to become the next Brené Brown” - Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, co-authors of NYT Bestseller, Difficult Conversations.
Elaine’s new book is Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent and Lead with Courage, available at https://www.waterstones.com/book/unlearning-silence/elaine-lin-hering/9781529900170.
The real costs of AI https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ais-climate-impact-goes-beyond-its-emissions/
Babble hypothesis of leadership https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/leaders-talk-more-babble-hypothesis/
No-knead pizza dough https://www.seriouseats.com/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe
Social change ecosystems https://buildingmovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ecosystem-Guide-April-2022.pdf
Use of low power language is strategic https://www.yourpowerunleashed.org/blog/2023/5/21/womens-use-of-low-power-language-at-work-is-not-diminishing-but-very-strategic
Forest-bathing is healthy https://time.com/5259602/japanese-forest-bathing/
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Apr 28, 2024 • 27min
Andrew Finkel
Journalist Andrew Finkel discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Andrew Finkel has spent years reporting for media organisations including The Times, The Economist, New York Times and CNN. He has covered wars and earthquakes, market booms and busts, and in his capacity as a food critic and contributing editor for Istanbul’s Cornucopia magazine, the postmodernity of the kebab. His experiences working in the Turkish-language press prompted him to co-found P24, an association to promote freedom of expression, and the Istanbul literature house, Kiraathane. He has written a number of non-fiction titles, including Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know which was “called a succinct, readable and expert briefing on the modern country” by the Daily Telegraph and “no better introduction to today’s Turkey” by Andrew Mango. The Adventure of the Second Wife is his debut novel.
The obsession of the Ottoman sultan Abdülhamid II for Sherlock Holmes https://www.thebulwark.com/p/plagues-of-the-body-and-plagues-of-the-mind-orhan-pamuk
The art of the dramatically satisfying ending https://www.vulture.com/article/the-101-best-movie-endings-of-all-time-ranked.html
Cornucopia https://www.cornucopia.net/
The Big Green Egg https://www.biggreenegg.co.uk/
The plight of Turkish journalism https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/turkey-after-an-attempted-coup-the-journalists-nightmare
The periphery of Istanbul https://www.istanbulmeetandgreetservice.com/the-5-most-charming-small-villages-near-to-istanbul/
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Apr 21, 2024 • 30min
Bill Weir
Bill Weir discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Bill Weir is a veteran anchor, writer, producer, and host who came to CNN in 2013 after a decade of award-winning journalism at ABC News.
In 2019, he was named the network’s first Chief Climate Correspondent, drawing on his experience creating and hosting the primetime CNN Original Series “The Wonder List with Bill Weir,” now streaming on Discovery+.
His first book, Life As We Know It (Can Be) was published by Chronicle Prism in April 2024.
The Goldilocks Earth https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-host-bill-weir-plans-to-hold-bidens-feet-to-the-fire-on-climate-change
Humanity’s role models will be beavers, camels and gentoo penguins https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/16/climate/life-as-we-know-it-book-bill-weir/index.html
We need thoughtful YIMBYs https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/23/us/climate-crisis-earth-day-weir-letter/index.html
The home of the future will come with much thicker walls https://www.builderonline.com/products/building-construction-materials/cnn-report-examines-alternative-way-to-build-homes
The new industrial revolution https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2024/02/05/clean-revolution-weir-pkg.cnn
Veggie burgers can do more environmental harm than a steak https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/03/us/climate-crisis-cattle-amp-grazing/index.html
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Apr 14, 2024 • 29min
Chioma Okereke
Chioma Okereke discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Born in Nigeria, Chioma Okereke grew up in London and studied law at UCL. She started her writing career as a performance poet before turning her hand to prose. Her debut novel, Bitter Leaf (Virago), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and her short story, Trompette De La Mort, received First Runner Up in the Costa Short Story Award. Her new novel is Water Baby.
Jamaica Kincaid https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2022/04/07/jamaica-kincaids-rope-of-live-wires/
Cadaqués https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/cadaques
PRP (platelet rich plasma) https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/platelet-rich-plasma-injections
Raye https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/raye-escapism-21st-century-blues-interview-1234671381/
Tiger nuts https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772753X23003325
Andre Brink https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/08/andre-brink
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Apr 7, 2024 • 30min
Ash Bhardwaj
Ash Bhardwaj discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Ash Bhardwaj is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and keynote speaker, whose work explores the intersection of travel, current affairs and human behaviour. He has reported from around the world for outlets including the BBC, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and Condé Nast Traveller. Before travel writing, Ash was a ski instructor, science teacher and wannabe cowboy. He is an officer in the British Army Reserve, and a lecturer in travel journalism at City, University of London. Why We Travel is his first book.
Great Polynesian Migration https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/encounters/polynesian-voyaging
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
Ukraine (as a place, not just a site of war) https://theculturetrip.com/europe/ukraine/articles/the-top-20-attractions-in-ukraine
Turning grief into hope https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/new-zealand/my-mother-died-of-cancer-new-zealand-turned-my-grief/
How beliefs and behaviours work https://iulianionescu.com/blog/how-our-beliefs-and-values-shape-our-behavior/
Psychogeography https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/psychogeography
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Mar 31, 2024 • 31min
Anthony Daniels
Anthony Daniels discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Anthony Daniels was born in London in 1949. He retired from medical practice except for medico-legal work in 2005. He has written several books, including an account of a journey across Africa by public transport, and under his pseudonym, Theodore Dalrymple, has written many essays for publications such as City Journal, some of which were collected in Life at the Bottom (2001), which has been translated into several languages. His new book is Buried But Not Quite Dead: Forgotten Writers of Père Lachaise. He divides his time between England and France.
The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2007/nov/01/thearsonistsstillburnsbrig
The Hospital Poems by WE Henley https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1931720414002025
A Mother Peeling Apples by Pieter de Hooch https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-woman-peeling-apples-209233
Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne-Melchior_de_Vog%C3%BC%C3%A9
That Le Corbusier was a fascist https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32546182
That the poor are disproportionately the victims of crime https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/apr/18/socialexclusion.crime
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Mar 24, 2024 • 30min
Leah Redmond Chang
Historian Leah Redmond Chang discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Leah Redmond Chang is a former Associate Professor of French and Director of the French Literature Programme at George Washington University, and was most recently a Senior Research Associate at University College London. She is the author of two previous books: Into Print: The Production of Female Authorship in Early Modern France and Portraits of the Queen Mother: Polemics, Panegyrics, Letters, winner of the Josephine Roberts Award from the International Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. She lives with her husband and three children, and divides her time between Washington, DC and London.
Fake news goes back at least to the 16th century https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/fake-news-history-long-violent-214535/
16th-century Europe was dominated by female leaders https://www.historytoday.com/archive/review/young-queens-leah-redmond-chang-review
The Renaissance Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2022/03/this-italian-artist-became-the-first-female-superstar-of-the-renaissance
The teenaged queen consort of Spain, Elisabeth de Valois https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2018/06/11/book-review-elizabeth-de-valois-queen-of-spain-and-the-court-of-philip-ii-by-martha-walker-freer/
The story of the 16th-century French peasant Martin Guerre and his wife Bertrande https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/martin-guerre-0016613
Letter-locking https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210616-how-the-forgotten-tricks-of-letterlocking-shaped-history
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Mar 17, 2024 • 30min
Alice Loxton
Historian Alice Loxton discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Alice Loxton is a 28 year old history broadcaster and writer with over two million followers on social media (@history_alice). She has appeared on many channels including Sky Arts, Channel 5, BBC News and History Hit, and has worked with a wide array of organisations to bring history to mainstream audiences, including Christie’s, Meta, The National Trust, 10 Downing Street, The Royal Collection Trust, The National Portrait Gallery and The National Gallery. UPROAR! Satire, Scandal and Printmaking in Georgian London is Alice’s first book. Her second book, Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives, comes out in August 2024.
James Gillray https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v23/n12/peter-campbell/at-tate-britain
The fact that Napoleon wasn’t short https://www.history.com/news/napoleon-complex-short
Landmark Trust https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/may/12/how-a-derelict-scottish-tower-was-turned-into-a-sumptuous-retreat
The French House, Soho https://www.timeout.com/london/bars-and-pubs/french-house
Parish churches https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/days-out/britains-most-beautiful-churches
The London Library https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v13/n18/john-sutherland/sod-off-readers
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