The Best History Podcasts To Listen to Now

1. Objeks & Tings

Launching on 22 June 2023 – on National Windrush Day – is a new podcast by Museumand, The National Caribbean Heritage Museum, called ‘Objeks & Tings’. Celebrating Caribbean history, heritage and culture, guests will be invited by mother-daughter duo hosts Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell to dive into the significance behind an object that represents their Caribbean heritage and explore the role it played in their British upbringing. messageheard.com

2. Dan Snow’s History Hit

This is one of the UK’s most successful history podcasts that features reports from all around the world. Host Dan Snow travels all over the country to bring listeners cutting-edge history discussions from the best experts and key witnesses. With almost a million listens each month, Snow explores the history behind past events and today’s top headlines. A history fanatic’s dream podcast that will keep you hooked on every word.

LISTEN: historyhit.com

 

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3. Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby

If classical history is more your speed, this history podcast, presented by Liv Albert (a self-described ’30-something Millennial with a penchant for cursing and a feminist attitude’), delves into Greek and Roman mythology in a casual, engaging and sarcastic style through a contemporary lens. Tune in to learn all about ancient mythology without feeling like you’re in a lecture.

LISTEN: mythsbaby.com

4. American History Hit

Keen to get clued up on American history? Can’t get enough of History Hit? Dan Snow has launched a new podcast, hosted by American TV presenter and historical professor, Don Wildman. The bi-weekly podcast delves into key events from America’s rich history, from the Declaration of Independence to the Battle of Midway and Pontiac’s Rebellion, featuring guest appearances from the likes of historian Saul David, professor of history Kathy Feeley and Dan Snow himself. This joins the platform’s other history podcasts, such as the wildly popular Dan Snow’s History Hit (see above).

LISTEN: historyhit.com

 

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5. The Rest Is History

Join historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland as they mull over critical historical events, figures and themes. Their discussions feel warm and intimate, as they include listeners by both directly addressing them and inviting and encouraging fans to take party in discussions and polls on episode topics. They create contextually relevant podcasts which include commentary on current events, and they look back in history for answers, explanations or comparisons.

LISTEN: shows.acast.com

6. You’re Dead To Me

Billed as a podcast ‘for people who don’t like history’, Greg Jenner (one of the brains behind the infamous Horrible Histories) adds delicious fun to overlooked but fascinating periods that will pique your curiosity. Each episode brings on a comedian and an expert, covering all sorts of topics, from the history of fairy tales (you won’t see The Little Mermaid in the same way), to how Victorians celebrated Christmas.

LISTEN: bbcsounds.com

 

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7. Revisionist History

The New Yorker journalist and writer Malcom Gladwell hosts this interesting podcast, re-examining overlooked moments from the past. Shining a light on the counter-intuitive narrative of historical events, listeners are left questioning whether we got the story right the first time, because sometimes the past deserves a second chance. From episodes debating why basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain chose a worse free throw form to how biologist Howard Temin doubted science’s understanding of viruses, Gladwell tackles a wide range of social injustices.

LISTEN: revisionisthistory.com

 

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8. Lore

Lore is a bi-weekly history podcast, television show and book based on dark and historical true crime stories. The critically acclaimed podcast won ‘Best History Podcast’ in 2016 with over 285 million listens, and it’s easy to see why. Host Aaron Mahnke explores the tragic events, strange creatures and bizarre stories from the past, told in a modern haunting experience. This is a podcast that isn’t for the faint-hearted with the truth being more frightening than fiction.

LISTEN: lorepodcast.com

 

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9. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History

Veteran journalist Dan Carlin brings his unconventional approach and out-of-the-box thinking and applies it in his podcast ‘Hardcore History’. Carlin questions some of the most crucial moments in history, engaging the audience by narrating in a dramatic tone with a sharp twist throughout. Majority of episodes run for approximately five hours long yet still keeps listeners on edge focusing on historical leaders, wars, nuclear proliferation and so on.

LISTEN: dancarlin.com

10. Art History at Bedtime

Calling all art lovers: this is a short podcast in support of UK charity Art History Link Up, based on original art historical texts and narrated by art historian and broadcaster Dr Bendor Grosvenor. Each episode in the series focuses on stories of the Renaissance and onwards, from the Letters of Michelangelo to Leonardo da Vinci, the soothing stories will help you drift into a relaxing (and educated) sleep.

LISTEN: podcasts.apple.com

11. American History Tellers

Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the Senator), American History Tellers digs into some of the American events and sagas that have shaped the nation. Episodes cover The Cold War, Prohibition, the California water wars, the Tulsa race massacre and much more, exploring how this history affects life in the US today.

LISTEN: wondery.com

 

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12. The History Chicks

A podcast hosted by two ‘history chicks’ who discuss the most prominent factual and fictional female characters in history. Discussing the challenges, failures and interesting facts about characters such as Charlotte Brontë, the four wives of King Henry VIII and Grace O’ Malley, it is sure to spark your interest in the several thousand years of female history.

LISTEN: thehistorychicks.com

 

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Featured Image: Photo by Museums Victoria

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Previous House Guest Episodes:

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12 Fashion Podcasts To Listen To Now

1. Down To Earth – The Hubbub Podcast

Environmental charity Hubbub recently renewed its podcast series, Down To Earth, for a second season. With new guests featured in every episode – some previous guests include climate justice activist Mikaela Loach, Mother of Pearl Creative Director Amy Powney and The Seam’s Layla Sergent – the podcast seeks to answer the question of how fashion can be made more eco-friendly. There’s also plenty of advice on how we can do our bit to make fashion work for the planet.

LISTEN: downtoearthpodcast.buzzsprout.com

2. My Life In Seven Charms

This podcast from Annoushka Ducas MBE sees the famed British jeweller sit down with a range of inspirational women, as they recount some of the pivotal moments in their life through seven charms. Annoushka, who has been collecting charms for as long as she can remember, uses the conversation to explore how charms can evoke memories and become charged with sentimental value. Previous guests have included former Lady In Waiting to Princess Margaret and best-selling author Lady Anne Glenconner, singer Sophie Ellis Bextor and British fashion designer Alice Temperley MBE.

LISTEN: spotify.com

 

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3. Farming Fashion

Created in collaboration between Farmerama Radio and Southeast and South West England Fibresheds, Farming Fashion is a three-part series that dives into the possibilities created by a regenerative fashion system. Led by conversations with farmers, processors and designers, the podcast explores the relationship between fashion and farming (and its steady decline over the last few decades).

LISTEN: farmerama.co

4. You’re Dead To Me (‘The History of High Heels’)

Tag lined as ‘the comedy podcast that takes history seriously’, You’re Dead To Me is a BBC show hosted by historian Greg Jenner and with a steady stream of knowledgeable (and hilarious) guests. Each episode, Jenner invites a comedian and a specialising historian to come on to give a summarised lesson of a topic from history. While the podcast isn’t entirely dedicated to fashion, it has an excellent episode on the history of high heels and their many uses over the years. The episode features Dr Elizabeth Semmelhack and comedian Lauren Pattison as guests, and you can even browse through all of the shoes mentioned as you listen along here.

LISTEN: bbc.co.uk

 

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5. In Conversation, A MATCHESFASHION Podcast

A podcast series from Matchesfashion.com explores the relationship between art and fashion. Running monthly as part of the brand’s Art Matches Fashion franchise, each episode will see a designer chat to an artist they admire. The inaugural episode features Laurie Simmons alongside Uruguayan designer Gabriela Hearst.

LISTEN: matchesfashion.com

6. Chanel Connects

How can we move forward in today’s turbulent world? This question lies at the heart of this podcast from Chanel, which explores what the future looks like for the arts, culture and fashion industries in the wake of the pandemic. Guests include A-list actresses Tilda Swinton and Keira Knightley, dancers Akram Khan and Tamara Rojo, designer Es Devlin and filmmaker Lulu Wang, with conversations covering topics such as changing technology and the evolving culture of celebrity.

LISTEN: chanel.com

 

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7. Fashion Fix

This BBC podcast looks at the increasingly prescient issue of sustainability in fashion. Host and model Charli Howard meets the trailblazers on a mission to change the industry, such as the founder of eco-friendly activewear brand TALA Grace Beverley, vegan fashion champion Evanna Lynch and sustainable costume designer Sinéad Kidao. She also talks to fellow model and Extinction Rebellion campaigner Daisy Lowe, hears about life in a garment factory in Bangladesh, and explores the body positivity movement.

LISTEN: bbc.co.uk

 

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8. The Business of Fashion Podcast

Known for being one of the most reliable sources for fashion news, The Business of Fashion tackles the big issues facing the industry today. Its podcast is hosted by CEO Imran Ahmed, featuring interviews with some of the biggest names in fashion including Stella McCartney, Paul Smith and Kim Jones, the artistic director of Dior Men. Expect in-depth conversations, covering topics like racial inequality, mixing politics and fashion, and the rise and fall of Topshop.

LISTEN: podcasts.apple.com

 

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9. Fashion No Filter

Journalists Camille Charriere and Monica Ainley give a behind the scenes look at how the fashion industry operates in their podcast Fashion No Filter. Each episode looks at a subject inherent to the fashion industry – whether that’s circular economy, Danish style or individuality in the era of social media. Previous guests have included model Arizona Muse, influencers Pernille Teisbaek and Bryan Boy, and French designer Alexandre de Betak.

LISTEN: play.acast.com

 

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10. What Were You Thinking?

A kind of Desert Island Discs for the fashion world, this podcast sees an array of celebrity guests telling designer Henry Holland their life stories through their wardrobes. Paul Smith reminisces on his first ever collection at Fashion Week, Pixie Geldof discusses growing up in the public eye and Alexa Chung reflects on her Glastonbury outfits, with funny anecdotes and moving stories featuring in every episode. The podcast was launched in partnership with resale platform Vestaire Collective, highlighting the idea that clothes tell stories – hence encouraging us to cherish our pre-existing pieces.

LISTEN: open.spotify.com

 

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11. Dressed: The History of Fashion

‘With over 7 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common. Every day we all get dressed,’ it says, in the introduction of Dressed: The History of Fashion. This podcast looks at the social and cultural history of the clothes we wear, from the pin-back button to fashion’s love affair with the rose symbol. Bridgerton fans, don’t miss the ‘Bridgerton or Bust’ episode from a few years back, which takes a deep dive into the costumes from the wildly popular Netflix show.

LISTEN: podcasts.apple.com

 

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12. A Different Tweed

The fashion world’s equivalent to Inside The Actors Studio, interview podcast series A Different Tweed looks at the actual craft of creating clothing. Host Bronwyn Cosgrave hears from leading professionals from all over the world, including 14-time Emmy nominated costume designer Lou Eyerich, founder of Paris-based label Koché Christelle Kocher and jewellery designer Annoushka Ducas.

LISTEN: podcasts.apple.com

 

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Featured image: Farming Fashion

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Best Podcasts About The Environment

Rewilding The World

Imagine a world in which we live among apex predators – from bears to wolves – without fear. This could be the future of our planet, according to rewilding experts, and it could be the solution to some of our urgent climate change issues. This new podcast by Ben Goldsmith, conservationist and philanthropist behind the Conservation Collective, talks to the leaders and minds backing the world’s major rewilding projects. Catch the first five episodes here.  

Farming Fashion

If you’re looking for a quick environmental fix, the three-part Farming Fashion podcast could be the one for you. Created by Farmerama Radio with Southeast England and South West England Fibershed, Farming Fashion  dives into the possibilities created by a regenerative fashion system, led by conversations with key players like farmers, processors and designers. farmerama.co

 

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Happy Place x Earthrise

In this episode of Happy Place, Fearne Cotton speaks to Alice Aedy and twin brothers Jack and Finn Harries, who together started Earthrise (a storytelling platform on climate change). The episode covers how the twins swerved from being YouTube stars to activists, eco-anxiety, humanitarian crises, and how buying a bamboo toothbrush won’t lead to the change you’ve been told it will. It’s an inspiring listen that will put the fire in your belly to fight for change. podcasts.apple.com

Stories Of Our Times

How did we manage to understand the complexities of the climate crisis, and yet still seem to be on the edge of disaster? The Times‘ podcast, Stories of Our Times, has an insightful episode called ‘A Brief History of the Climate Crisis’, which summarises our 165 year-long history fighting climate change: where we’ve gone wrong, the politics, and how this legacy impacts the decisions we make about the earth today. spotify.com

BBC Earth

Get up close and personal with jewelled beetles in the Namib Desert, fly with eagles in Rajasthan and descend to the depths of the ocean with the BBC Earth podcast. Each week, the BBC Earth team gathers together a collection of immersive stories about our planet and the creatures and landscapes in it, with episodes covering topics like extinction, mysticism and what the natural world can teach us about teamwork. podcasts.apple.com

 

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Call Of The Wild

In Call Of The Wild, actor, presenter and WWF ambassador Cel Spellman examines how we can make a difference in the fight to save our planet. In each episode, he meets a figure from the worlds of either sport or entertainment, alongside a wildlife expert – guests have included Steve Backshall, Sir David Attenborough and Georgia May Jagger. Cel hasn’t made any new episodes in a while, but there is plenty of backlog to delve into. wwf.org.uk

 

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Sustainable(ish): The Podcast

Keen to help save the world, but exhausted at the idea? In Sustainable(ish): The Podcast, author and speaker Jen Gale explains how small tweaks can make all the difference. It’s full of practical advice on everything from children’s clothing to composting, with advice from experts in the industry. podcasts.apple.com

 

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Wardrobe Crisis

Can de-growth save fashion? Is veganism the answer? Can we imagine the end of capitalism? These are the kind of questions being explored in Wardrobe Crisis, a sustainable fashion podcast hosted by Clare Press, who was Vogue’s first sustainability editor. Each week, she interviews guests from all over the world about the big issues facing the fashion industry. Aja Barber discusses ethical fashion change, Anya Hindmarch talks about single-use plastic, Sinead Burke tells us about fashion activism, and much more. As podcasts about the environment go, this one is guaranteed to get you thinking. spotify.com

 

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Sustainable Minimalists

Mum and author Stephanie Seferian’s podcast is targeted at overwhelmed parents who struggle to incorporate sustainable practices into their busy lives. Stephanie believes sustainability and minimalism are intrinsically intertwined, and applies these principles to topics surrounding parenting – from how to create an eco-friendly, decluttered home to bringing up healthy children. podcasts.apple.com

The Ethical Conversations Podcast

Launched during lockdown, The Ethical Conversations Podcast sees host Jess Rigg talking all things sustainable and ethical – from slow fashion to affordable veganism. She chats to Karma founder Elsa Bernadotte about combatting food waste, Hurr founder Victoria Prew about renting clothes and V for your Viv founder Katie Yara Diasti about how to have a sustainable period. spotify.com

 

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Sustainable Jungle

Born from the Sustainable Jungle blog, this podcast bills itself as a ‘mission driven show’ featuring engaging conversations with people working to protect the planet. Instead of focusing on the negatives, the Sustainable Jungle podcast aims to inspire and encourage its listeners, covering topics such as edible upcycling and the importance of butterflies. podcasts.apple.com

 

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In Conversation With Legendary Photographer Dafydd Jones 

Dafydd Jones’s photographs of Oxford’s ‘bright young things’ catapulted him to fame and earned him a global reputation for capturing the essence of a riotous world of upper-class decadence during the Thatcher era. Tina Brown was quick to scoop Dafydd up when she was editor of Tatler, and on Episode 114 of our Break Out Culture podcast, he talks about his new book England: The Last Hurrah and describes what it was like to break into a world that revolved around glamorous parties in stately homes and annual events like the Oxbridge May Balls and the Fourth of June at Eton.

His satirical but beautiful black and white photographs lend an elegiac nostalgic quality to what Tina Brown describes in her introduction to the book as ‘whimsey and frolicky romance’. Dafydd captured some of the most iconic images of our age, including a lonely, hunted Diana Spencer facing a barrage of press photographers at the Sandown Park race meeting in March 1981.

Inside Dafydd’s New Book, England: The Last Hurrah

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Listen to Episode 114 below to hear what it was really like for Dafydd to attend those uproarious parties, then go home to his family and hang his dinner jacket up in the yard to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke. Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline. Unmissable listening. 

An exhibition of Dafydd’s photographs is now running at The Centre for British Photography on 49 Jermyn Street, London until the beginning of June. britishphotography.org 

England: The Last Hurrah, £30, accartbooks.com 

Featured image: Photograph of Dafydd Jones by Jillian Edelstein 2022.

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Break Out Culture Podcast

EPISODE 112: The Art of Collecting, With Guy Salter, Tomasz Starzewski & Nazy Vassegh

We’re talking about the burgeoning opportunities for new and established collectors of beautiful rare objects, looking forward to London Craft Week (8–14 May 2023), with Guy Salter, the fair’s founder.

Now in its ninth year and dubbed ‘the most luxurious craft fair in the world’, the fair spreads right across the capital, incorporating Acton and Park Royal as Creative Enterprise Zones for the first time. There will be exciting events and exhibitions celebrating the Coronation and London Craft Week will also showcase the work of over 700 artists, designers and makers from across the world and include four international pavilions from Austria, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan.

We also talk to Nazy Vassegh, founder of the boutique art platform Eye of the Collector. The third edition of The Eye of the Collector fair is running from 17–20 May at Two Temple Place, the majestic 1892 Neo-Gothic building, commissioned by William Waldorf Astor, on London’s Strand. Of the 120 works for sale, many will be of museum quality or by huge names including Frank Auerbach, Barbara Hepworth and Bridget Riley, but there will also be 60 new works, aiming to shine a light on emerging artists and designers and overlooked talent. 

Our third guest is celebrated couturier and interior designer Tomasz Starzewski, who’s now collaborating with the specialist ceramics and craft auctioneers Maak to curate an installation of exquisite pieces from the collection of the late Victoria Lady de Rothschild. The installation is open until September at Ascott House in Buckinghamshire, the home Lady de Rothschild shared for over a decade with her husband Sir Evelyn. Victoria Lady de Rothschild designed Ascott House, alongside Renzo Mongiardino, and it’s now the beautiful setting for 118 carefully chosen and placed objects that she collected on her travels for over 20 years. They will be displayed throughout the house until September when Maak will auction them.

EPISODE 111: Creating Superstars: Geoffrey Marsh on David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane and Dave Robinson on Bob Marley’s Legend

We talk to Geoff Marsh, one of the curators of a new exhibition about the 1973 album Aladdin Sane, and to Dave Robinson, aka ‘Robbo’, legendary co-founder of Stiff Records. 

Geoff tells us how the late photographer Brian Duffy created the lightning flash image of David Bowie. That album cover has gone on to remain one of the world’s three most instantly recognisable images – the other two are John Pasche’s Hot Lips logo for the Rolling Stones and Hipgnosis’s cover for Dark Side of the Moon.

Aladdin Sane: 50 Years, which runs at Southbank until 28 May, celebrates the anniversary of this important cultural icon. Accompanying the exhibition are talks, live music, two nights of joyous club music and poetry.

Meanwhile, Dave Robinson, who created hits for Madness, Tracey Ullman, Elvis Costello, Ian Drury, The Pogues and many more, regales us with tales of being in America as Jimi Hendrix’s tour manager and putting together Bob Marley’s greatest hits to create Legend, the best-selling reggae album of all time. 

You can hear Dave telling his highly entertaining and improbable but true stories on his tour, We Came, We Saw, We Left – The Horse Speaks, which he’s taking around the country until 15 May. 

An extraordinary opportunity to listen to this conversation about the music that has survived half a century and continues to influence and inspire millions worldwide.

EPISODE 110: Souls Grown Deep and Berlusconi the Musical: with Curator Raina Lampkins-Fielder and Producer Francesca Moody

We’re talking to curator Raina Lampkins-Fielder about ‘Souls Grown Deep Like the Rivers’, the ground-breaking exhibition at the Royal Academy, showcasing the collective creativity of Black artists from the American South. Most of these powerful works, many made from reclaimed materials, have never been seen outside America’s so-called ‘Black Belt’ that encompasses Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, a region associated with slavery and racial oppression. This is any eye-opening exhibition representing the triumph of artistic expression and hope over appalling discrimination and persecution.

On a much lighter note, we also talk to Francesca Moody, the award-winning producer of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, about her new venture Berlusconi the Musical, on for a short run at Southwark Playhouse. It’s guaranteed to be a highly entertaining tragi-comic rollercoaster about Silvio Berlusconi’s life as a media tycoon, politician and Italian Prime Minister, a life extraordinary enough to defy belief.

EPISODE 109: Why Invest In A Print? With Helen Rosslyn, Director of the London Original Print Fair

The London Original Print Fair is London’s longest running art fair, now in its 38th year. This year, it runs at Somerset House from 30 March till 2 April, and brings together over 40 top international print dealers, publishers and studios, spanning six centuries of printmaking.

We talk to Helen Rosslyn, who’s been director of the Fair since 1987. She explains why prints are so much more than mere copies, and therefore such popular and safe investments. With knowledge and enthusiasm, she walks us through this year’s show, with all its exciting highlights, from works by David Shrigley and Tracey Emin to those by Royal Academicians and Old Masters like Dürer and Hogarth.

One of this year’s highlights is a Special Tribute Exhibition in honour of Andrew Edmunds, print dealer and famed restaurateur and a founding committee member of the fair. Andrew sadly died last autumn but to honour him his son Milo and art historian Tom Clayton, have curated a personal collection of his 18th century prints by the artist and satirist James Gilray, including some works that have never been seen in public before as well as some impressions of his best-known prints.

Tune in to know exactly how to find your way around the fair and what to look for.

EPISODE 108: Grenfell: The Play Shining A Light On The Truth

On this week’s episode we’re celebrating the power of ‘activist culture’ and the critically acclaimed play, ‘Grenfell: System Failure’. The play follows on from ‘Grenfell: Value Engineering’ and is based entirely on the words of those involved in last year’s final phase of the inquiry into the tragic and avoidable fire that killed 72 people.  

The play has been performed at The Playground Theatre and The Tabernacle, both almost within a stone’s throw of Grenfell Tower, and is now at the new Marylebone Theatre for a final week. To discuss it with us are Anthony Biggs, Artistic Director at The Playground Theatre, and Nicolas Kent, who directed the play and co-edited the transcripts with Richard Norton-Taylor.

This is a brilliantly illuminating play on a tragic, complex subject and a superb example of how culture at its best can make sense of a mass of data, allowing audiences to access the most significant evidence and make their own minds up as to how this terrible fire happened. Every single word is taken from the inquiry and the reality is undoubtedly as shocking than anything anyone could make up. It’s a dramatic often hard-to-believe account of heinous buck-passing and systematic failure, which meant numerous urgent safety warnings were simply brushed aside or ignored. Tune in to hear how this play has moved the dial in terms of public and private responses to this lamentable tragedy.

EPISODE 107: David Hockney: Full Immersion, with Richard Slaney of Lightroom

On this week’s episode we’re talking about the exciting new exhibition of David Hockney’s work, ‘Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away)’. It’s the first show to be staged at Lightroom, a brand new, vast space in London’s Kings Cross that uses revolutionary technology to create something entirely different.  The show has been four years in the making, and Lightroom’s CEO Richard Slaney is on the podcast to tell us all about what to expect.

The immersive show is made up of ‘chapters’ and throughout you hear Hockney’s voice, giving unprecedented access into his imagination and artistic process. This is the first time that a living artist’s work has been exhibited in this way and so it’s not to be missed. It runs until 4 June. Tune in to find out more.

EPISODE 106: Celebrating P.G. Wodehouse and Women: with writer William Humble, actor Robert Daws and director Jude Kelly

On this week’s podcast we’re celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March and also talking about the great P.G. Wodehouse with William Humble, who has written a new one-man play, called Wodehouse in Wonderland, a one-man show, touring Britain until the end of April. It stars Robert Daws, also on the podcast, as Wodehouse. 

In Britain Wodehouse is feted and loved for his quintessentially English comic characters Jeeves and Wooster, but he was enormously famous in America too, where the play is set, for being a talented Broadway lyricist, contributing to 25 hit musicals, including ‘Anything Goes’.

William and Robert reveal less known fascinating sides to Wodehouse’s character, shedding light on his notorious Berlin broadcasts, which were manipulated by the Nazis for their propaganda and caused him great shame.  

We also talk to Jude Kelly about the WOW Festival (Women of the World Festival) now in its 13th year and taking place at London’s Southbank between 10 and 12 March.  Jude set up the Festival in 2010 to celebrate the achievements of women and girls and confront global gender injustice, and it now it takes place in 30 countries.  Jude gives us the highlights of the London festival including a special screening of the play Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer, followed by a discussion, and appearances by the American writer Roxanne Gay and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

EPISODE 105: Standing at the Sky’s Edge, with Artistic Director Rob Hastie

This week we’re talking about the award-winning musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which finally transferred from Sheffield to The Olivier at London’s National Theatre. It’s based on the music and lyrics of songwriter, guitarist and producer Richard Hawley who’s known both as a solo artist and for his work with the bands Pulp and The Longpigs. He collaborated with the award-winning playwright, lyricist and theatre-maker Chris Bush who deftly wove Richard Hawley’s music into this compelling story.

The musical tells the story of one flat in Park Hill, Sheffield’s notorious brutalist housing project and moves from the early sixties, when Park Hill first opened, to today. Chris Bush intertwines three tales of the characters who lived there: an idealistic young couple seeing Park Hill as a step up, three asylum seekers escaping the Liberian war and finally a young middle-class woman from London fleeing a broken heart.  

It’s directed by Rob Hastie the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres and he tells us about how this extraordinary project came about and why what happened to Park Hill is so symbolic of recent British history, from post-war socialist optimism, via the decline of our major industries, to today’s attempts to regenerate our cities. It’s had rave reviews, and if you like Richard Hawley’s poetic music, you’re in for an absolute treat. It’s fast-becoming the most talked-about play, so listen in to find out more.

EPISODE 104: This Year’s Best Movies, with Krish Majumdar, Chair of BAFTA

As the BAFTA winners are revealed on Sunday 19 February at a ceremony hosted by Richard E. Grant and Alison Hammond, we talk to the Chair of BAFTA, and a producer himself,  Krish Majumdar. He runs us through the process of picking winners – quite a task when 214 were nominated for the Best Film Award alone. Krish gives us the lowdown on the top nominations from All Quiet on the Western Front, with an astonishing 14 nominations, to The Banshees of Ineshirin, Living, Tár, Aftersun and many more.

He also tells us about the prestigious EE Rising Star Award, celebrating its 18th year, and the only award at BAFTAs voted for by the British public. The nominees this year are Naomi Ackie, Sheila Atim, Aimee Lou Wood  Daryl McCormack and Emma Mackey, who won the award.

Krish’s enthusiasm for cinema as a treasured part of our culture is infectious. Anyone who likes movies or wants to feel inspired about what to see next should listen in and then head straight out to the cinema.

EPISODE 103: Confessions of a posh broadcaster, with Ed Stourton

On this week’s episode, we’re delighted to be chatting with the eminent broadcaster and much-loved presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme for ten years, Ed Stourton. Having worked in radio and television for 40 years, Ed’s now written a memoir called ‘Confessions: A Life Re-Examined’. He tells us about looking back on his life, a process which he has referred to as a ‘reawokening’, re-assessing it in the light of today’s prevailing culture. 

When he was sacked suddenly from Today, it was assumed it was because he was too posh, and now he puts the record straight.  He is a delightful story and regales us with tales from his time as a student at Cambridge, becoming a newscaster and the perils of broadcasting live. He also describes having to reappraise his time at Ampleforth after the sex scandals emerged. Finally, he talks movingly and candidly about living with cancer and how his life has been made richer and happier by his faith.

EPISODE 102: Tragic Consequences: Director Dominic Cooke on his production of Medea starring Sophie Okonedo – and a tribute to Kit Hesketh-Harvey

The acclaimed theatre, television and film director, Dominic Cooke, chats to us about his new production of Euripides’s classic tragedy, Medea, starring Oscar-nominated Sophie Okonedo as Medea, spurned wife of Jason, hellbent on brutal and bloody revenge. Dominic explains why all the male parts are being played by Ben Daniels and tells us why he decided to stage it at Soho Place, the first new purpose built theatre in the West End for 50 years. The play runs at Soho Place from 10 February to 22 April 2023.

Most people will know the devastating, bloody climax to the story, and Dominic tells us why he wanted to direct such a harrowing play and elaborates on what Sophie Okonedo brings to the role.

We finish this episode with a tribute to Kit Hesketh-Harvey, the brilliant, wickedly funny entertainer, writer who has died suddenly. Kit and McConnel, his regular cabaret act with musician James McConnel, has been delighting and outraging audiences here and abroad for many years. As our guest twice, we celebrate Kit’s extraordinary career and treat you to a clip of him talking to Ed and me about the joys – and importance – of pantomime and playing King Rat in Dick Whittington.

EPISODE 101: What are museums for? Esme Ward, director of the transformed Manchester Museum, has the answers

If anyone can persuade you how crucial a museum can be to the wellbeing of a city, it’s this week’s guest Esme Ward. In 2018 she was the first woman to be appointed as director of Manchester Museum, which re-opens on the 18 February after a £15 million overhaul. Esme is on a mission to make the 130-year-old museum more ‘inclusive, caring and imaginative’. The highlight is a new South Asia Gallery, in partnership with the British Museum, which is the first permanent gallery in the UK dedicated to the communities, experiences and histories of the South Asian diaspora.  

The South Asia Gallery has been co-curated by 30 different community leaders, artists, historians, journalists and musicians of South Asian heritage and Esme passionately believes that its new immersive exhibits at the museum will give the community a strong sense of belonging – indeed there is a new Belonging Gallery.

As debate rumbles on about the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece, Esme talks convincingly about the multiple benefits of sending back some of their ceremonial items to Aboriginal groups, and the museum now boasts its first ever Curator of Indigenous Perspectives.

Esme’s conviction of a museum’s power to spread a sense of well-being, alleviate loneliness and to act as a vibrant, unifying, cultural hub for the entire city is inspiring. With infectious enthusiasm, Esme will eradicate any lingering doubt anyone might have about culture’s role in making society a better place.

EPISODE 100: The Dalai Lama and hope for 2023, with Josef O’Connor

We’re celebrating our 100th episode of Break Out Culture by talking about hope to Josef O’Connor, the young Irish-born artist and curator who’s on a mission to use art to spread a sense of optimism globally.  

In October 2020 Josef launched CIRCA (the Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts) as a platform to showcase digital art with a purpose in the public sphere, starting with Piccadilly Circus’s famous lights screen. 

Every night at 20:23 throughout 2023, Piccadilly Circus, and other screens around the world, will show newly commissioned work by artists on the subject of hope. The film will change every month. January’s film is slightly longer, at three and a half minutes, because it contains a recorded message from the His Holiness the Dalai Lama– which you too can hear by tuning into the podcast. He talks about the oneness of humanity in turbulent times and a three-minute animated film has been made with CIRCA to accompany his message.

£150 buys you a screen print of ‘The Art of Hope’ by the Dalai Lama till the end of 2023 and proceeds go to Tibet Hope Centre and to the #CIRCAeconomy. What we also discover on the podcast is that subscribers to CIRCA will receive an original framed print monthly for just £1,000 a year. 

Listen in to find out how Josef O’Connor is radically changing the way art can be distributed and hear about the success he’s had so far, working with artists ranging from Ai Weiwei and David Hockney to Patti Smith and Yoko Ono.

EPISODE 99: We Are Family: psychotherapist Julia Samuel and her daughters Emily and Sophie

Happy New Year and welcome back to Break Out Culture. Given it’s January and we’re all trying to give ourselves a fresh start, we’re kicking the year off with a free therapy session, talking to Julia Samuel MBE, acclaimed psychotherapist, grief counsellor and author. In the wake of her popular podcast Grief Works, Julia launched Therapy Works last September, with her two psychotherapist daughters, Emily and Sophie. It’s already essential listening for anyone interested in finding ways of facing and dealing with life’s daily struggles, whatever they are.

The podcast’s guests have included Helena Bonham Carter, Alastair Campbell, Minnie Driver, Kate Ferdinand and Richard E. Grant, along with a range of lesser-known people and all display remarkable honesty as they discuss the issues they’re tackling, ranging from divorce, domestic violence, step-parenting, sexual abuse and miscarriage to addiction, sexuality, identity, grief, a life-changing accident, toxic masculinity and war. It’s fascinating hearing Julia, Sophie and Emily discuss their different approaches to tackling their guest’s difficulties. It’s a reminder that however insurmountable the obstacles in our lives seem, there are ways of dealing with them.

EPISODE 98: Mandela the Musical, with Kwame Kwei-Armah

This is our last podcast of the year so we’re going out on a high by talking to Kwame Kwei-Armah, Artistic Director at The Young Vic, about staging the world premiere of ‘Mandela the Musical, set to become the most talked about show of the next few weeks. Mandela is played by Michael Luwoye, who played both the title role and Aaron Burr in Hamilton.  Winnie Mandela is played by Scottish actor Danielle Fiamanya who played Elsa in Frozen.

The musical has been staged with the full cooperation of Mandela’s family so listen to Kwame tell the story of how it came about and why he took the plunge to shape this well-known resistance story as a musical. It covers the 30 years from the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 to Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. 

We’ll be back on air again on Sunday 15 January but meanwhile, thank you to all our listeners for staying with us over the last three years and we wish you all a very happy Christmas.

EPISODE 97: Christina Makris on restaurants with great art collections

This week we’re celebrating the festive season by talking to Christina Makris about fabulous places to eat out. Christina, an art and wine writer, a doctor of philosophy, an art collector and a philanthropist, has scoured the world to find the best combination of art and food. She’s travelled to 100 cities over six continents and come up with a list of 24 – all collated in a beautiful new illustrated book called Aesthetic Dining, The Art Restaurant Around the World. She’s dedicated a section of the book to talking to artists, alongside Tim Marlow of The Design Museum, where you can read what artists like Ai Weiwei Anthony Gormley, Conrad Shawcross, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, David Hockney, Maggi Hambling, Julian Schnabel, Michael Craig-Martin, Peter Blake and Tracey Emin think about food.  

We talk to Christina as she’s about to have lunch at The Gunton Arms in Norfolk, owned by the art collector turned restaurateur Ivor Braka. She describes the art there and the glorious, enticing atmosphere, which guaranteed The Gunton Arms made it into the book.  

The London restaurants are Langans, The Ivy, Mr. Chow, Scott’s, Hix, Sketch and the members’ club Groucho, now owned by Hauser & Wirth. This is a riveting listen about the best combinations of art and food across the globe from Sydney and Cairo to Zurich and Tuscany and we discuss everything from Peter Langan’s legacy in London to her favourite spots to eat from La Colombe d’Or in Saint-Paul de Vence in Provence to Kronenhalle in Zurich.

EPISODE 96: Britain’s Most Beautiful Building: with Norman Foster and Stephen Bayley

This week we’re talking to Britain’s most revered architect, Lord Foster, and to the design guru and co-founder of the Design Museum, Stephen Bayley, about their quest to put beauty back at the heart of contemporary building. The registered charity, the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust, which Stephen chairs, staged its first ever Building Beauty Awards on Monday 21 November at the Stirling Prize winning Bloomberg building in the City – which Norman Foster designed. We discuss the winners across four categories: building, engineering, public spaces and little gems, the last designed to cheer residents and bring pride to a built neighbourhood. 

This is a rare chance to hear two such prominent figures from the world of architecture and design discuss what constitutes beauty in new building today. Building beauty reaps rich award – the winners received £10,000, the joint biggest prize in architecture and a Portland stone rhodium-plated trophy created by the jeweller Theo Fennell – who was also one of the judges.  

Tune in to find out who the winners of the prize were and to hear about the first Royal Fine Art Commission Trust International Building Beauty Prize at World Architecture Festival in Lisbon next week. 

EPISODE 95: Picture Perfect Christmas Theatre at The National Gallery & The Globe with Hannah Khalil, Clare Arouche and Francesca Reid

This week we’re talking to Clare Arouche, Head of Hospitality and Events at The National Gallery, about an exciting festive initiative to stage a play inside the gallery called ‘Picture Perfect Christmas’. The play is inspired by one of the Gallery’s paintings, a  17^th Century Dutch Old Master ‘A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle’ by Hendrick Avercamp. It’s directed by Francesca Reid of Boo Productions, who tells us how she’s re-imagined the skating scene as a delightful, immersive, upbeat show for the family.

We also talk to Writer in Residence at The Globe, Hannah Khalil, about adapting Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Fir Tree’ in the open air, complete with puppets, carol singing and tree decorating, directed by the Globe’s Artistic Director Michelle Terry. Hannah goes on to tell us about her other play there, ‘Hakawatis:  Women of the Arabian Nights’, her take on the story of Scheherazade.

We also fill you in on this year’s offerings of ‘A Christmas Carol’ at The Old Vic with Owen Teale and the RSC with Ade Edmonson, and there’s also a fun new play at its heart by Piers Torday, Wind in the Wilton’s, at Wilton’s Music Hall.

EPISODE 94: Photographs that change the world with Maryam Eisler, Mahaneela and Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti

This episode we’re looking at how photography has the power to change attitudes and is increasingly blurring the lines between fashion and art. We talk to two young photographers, Mahaneela and Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti, exhibiting at The New Black Vanguard, which runs at the Saatchi Gallery till late January. The exhibition is curated by writer, critic and editor, Antwaun Sargent, is sponsored by Burberry and focuses on fashion portraiture that celebrates black culture. 

We chat to Maryam Eisler, the Iranian-born photographer whose exhibition If Only These Walls Could Talk is at the Alon Zakaim Fine Art Gallery on Cork Street. Her photographs are set in the gorgeous, world-famous hotel Nord-Pinus in Arles in the South of France, which she’s used as a beautiful and glamorous setting to celebrate the beauty and sensuality of the female form.

We discuss both exhibitions and have a fascinating conversation about the responsibility that photographers feel to document political shifts and current affairs and celebrate the power photography has, particularly via social media, to shift perceptions and ultimately change the world.

EPISODE 93: The Art of Sarah Biffin with Alison Lapper, Philip Mould and Ellie Smith

Today we’re talking about Sarah Biffin, the Victorian artist who became a successful miniaturist and portraitist, after overcoming being born without arms. We talk to gallerist Philip Mould and curator/researcher Ellie Smith about the exhibition of her work at Philip Mould’s gallery on Pall Mall.  It’s called Without Hands and runs till mid-December.

Also on the podcast is the artist Alison Lapper, who was born 180 years later than Sarah Biffin, with exactly the same condition. She too paints by mouth and was an advisor on Without Hands. Alison famously became the focus of an enormous amount of public attention in 2005 when her friend Marc Quinn sculpted her pregnant for Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.  

Alison tells of her own challenges of becoming a successful artist and sheds light on just how courageous and determined Sarah Biffin must have been to go from being a fairground attraction, as documented by Charles Dickens, to being a well-respected society portrait artist and miniaturist. Alison also describes just what an extraordinary feat it was for Sarah to paint feathers, for which she was known, of such exquisite delicacy, using only her mouth and shoulder. Listen in to find out more about this fascinating and inspiring breakthrough exhibition.

EPISODE 92: Poetry: A Friend For Life, with poet Pelé Cox and mental health campaigner Rachel Kelly

This week we talk to the poet Pelé Cox and best-selling author Rachel Kelly about the power of poetry to comfort and support us. Rachel’s new book, You’ll Never Walk Alone: Poems for Life’s Ups and Downs is far more than an anthology – it’s a practical guide to how to use poetry as a tool to help us cope with our daily lives. 

Rachel Kelly is a tireless mental health campaigner, following the success of her memoir Black Rainbow. Black Rainbow was about depression and how reading poetry helped her to recover. She’s remained a passionate advocate for the therapeutic power of poetry ever since. Pelé Cox is a poet, poet, dramaturgist and literature tutor and was one of the first poets to be accepted onto Andrew Motion’s Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. She’s been Poet in Residence at the Tate and Royal Academy of Arts, among other institutions. She’s also made a widely acclaimed film about Keats starring Damian Lewis and Nicholas Rowe.

Listen in to a fascinating conversation about what poetry can bring to all our lives and to hear how Rachel constructed her book to cover every season so there are poems to help in the depths of winter gloom and others to celebrate the joys of summer.

EPISODE 91: Artist in Residence: Reopening Leighton House with Curator Daniel Robbins and Artist Shahrzad Ghaffari

This week we’re talking about two of London’s most magnificent Victorian houses, Leighton House and Sambourne House in Holland Park.  Leighton House, studio-home of the eminent Victorian artist Frederic Lord Leighton, has just reopened after an £8 million redevelopment along with nearby Sambourne House, the family home of Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne.  

We talk to Daniel Robbins, Senior Curator of both houses and to the Iranian artist Shahrzad Ghaffari, who’s hand-painted an 11-foot high textured mural around the curved wall of Leighton House’s brand new helical staircase.  Shahrzad tells us that her mural is inspired by the 13th Century poet Rumi and, with its bright turquoise motifs which echo the tiles in the Arab Hall, the work represents the present and future of the house, continuing to deepen our knowledge of and understanding of eastern culture.

A new exhibition space in Leighton House is now showcasing the work of the Holland Park Circle of artists, to which Lord Leighton belonged, while the new basement has a display of Leighton’s exquisite drawings – there are 700 belonging to the house. You can see Leighton’s studio exactly as it would have been, as well as the Arab Hall and the other public areas, full of mosaics, tiles, pottery and artefacts which he brought back from his travels in Egypt, Turkey and Syria.    

Walking into Sambourne House is to be fully immersed in a Victorian family home while Leighton House is now a lively destination and gathering point with a new café overlooking the garden. Both are well worth a visit so listen in to hear about what’s in store at both of these great historic homes.

EPISODE 90: Celebrating the glories of Cezanne with Natalia Sidlina and Michael Raymond

This week Ed and I are celebrating our hundredth episode together since starting as Lockdown Culture in April 2020. We’re also celebrating Cezanne, one of the world’s most popular but enigmatic artists. A new show The EY Exhibition: Cezanne at Tate Modern has opened with 22 works never seen in the UK before, including some dazzling still lives that he’s loved for the world over. We talk to Natalia Sidlina, who’s worked at Tate Modern as Curator of International Art since 2016, and Assistant Curator Michael Raymond. 

Natalia and Michael throw light on Cezanne’s early life in Paris, why he hid Paul, his beloved son and his mother, Marie-Hortense, from his father and why he gained such a reputation for being a taciturn loner. Unpicking the myths that have grown up around him, they explain why his work is of such enduring importance and revered and sought after by major artists from Gauguin and Monet to Matisse and Picasso. It’s a wonderful exhibition and Natalia and Michael persuade us why this is an unmissable chance to see so many of his best-loved paintings together, from his landscapes of Mont-San-Victoire and iconic apples to his bathers, that proved to have such an influence of generations of artists to come.

EPISODE 89: Opera and dance take on Peaky Blinders, Football and It’s a Wonderful Life

This week we’re talking about the exciting opera and dance coming up in time for Christmas. Annilese Miskimmon, Artistic Director at ENO (English National Opera), tells us about re-imagining Frank Capra’s enduring and much-loved 1946 Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life as an opera, which opens on 25 November at the Coliseum. Adapted by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, George Bailey, the down-on-his-luck banker so memorably played by James Stewart in the film, is played by Frederick Ballentine but Clarence the Guardian Angel now becomes Clara, played by soprano Danielle de Niese. Other than the gender swap, the opera is otherwise remarkably faithful to the beloved film and certain to be a festive treat. 

In the world of dance, Rambert is already wowing audiences with its adaptation of Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, which opened at the Birmingham Hippodrome and is now on tour and in London at Troubador Wembley Park until 6 November. We’re thrilled to be talking to the creator, writer and Executive Producer of Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight, alongside Helen Shute of Ballet Rambert. We find out that Steven’s always loved ballet and so it was a natural progression to ask him to adapt his multi-award-winning series into a dance theatre show.

Tune in to hear how the opera and dance worlds are bursting with innovation and new ideas, including the first ever football opera Gods of the Game at the Theatre in the Woods at Grange Park Opera, complete with a chorus made up entirely of footy fans who’ve been trained to sing.

EPISODE 88: New Perspectives on Lucian Freud, with his friend and assistant David Dawson and curator Dr. Daniel Herrmann

This December marks the centenary of the artist Lucian Freud’s birth. To celebrate, the National Gallery has gathered around 60 of his works, spanning seven decades, from all over the world to mount New Perspectives, an important exhibition that encompasses the best of his work from the early 1940’s till his death in 2011. The show is a magnificent tour-de-force and on this week’s podcast we’re delighted to be in conversation with curator Dr. Daniel Herrmann about what New Perspectives reveals about Freud’s art and character, so often overshadowed by our preconceptions.  

We’re also thrilled to be talking to the artist and photographer, David Dawson, Freud’s long-term friend, confidant and assistant. From 6 October, Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert in Bury Street St. James is exhibiting some of Freud’s rarely seen drawings, etchings and metal etching plates, alongside some of David’s never-before-seen photographs, many of them taken in the days leading up to and immediately after Freud’s death. The photographs present an intimate, gentle and affectionate portrait of the artist and David talks movingly of Freud’s last days and his tender relationship with his mother as well as his friendship with other major artists and the subjects of his paintings. Thanks to Daniel and David, we gain a real insight into Lucian Freud’s personality as well as his paintings and working methods. Between them, Daniel and David provide an invaluable introduction to these two exhibitions that are not to be missed.

EPISODE 87: Books in a Bomb Shelter: KC Philippe Sands and Sofiya Chelyak on the Lviv Book Forum

Autumn is the time for literary festivals, including the mighty 10-day Cheltenham Literature Festival, London’s South Bank, the small but beautifully formed Cliveden and many more including Bridport, Petworth, Stratford, Henley, Harrogate, North Cornwall, Braemar and more. But this week we’re going to war-torn Ukraine to feature the Lviv Book Forum, in collaboration with Hay Festival, which runs in a bomb shelter between 6 and 9 October. We talk to the courageous and undaunted Programme Director, Sofiya Chelyak, and to the human rights KC, Philippe Sands, celebrated author of East West Street, The Ratline and a new book The Last Colony. Philippe will be attending the extraordinary festival alongside Henry Marsh, Misha Glenny, Margaret Atwood, Yuval Noah Harari, Elif Shafak and Margaret MacMillan.  

It’s actually the 29th edition of the Lviv Book Forum, Ukraine’s biggest literary festival, but given the war it’s had to be shrunk and with Hay’s support, it’s defiantly going ahead with just 40 writers. As its digital partner for the first time, Hay will broadcast the conversations free in English, Ukrainian and Spanish. Sofiya describes the festival as running ‘in defiance of the evil that seeks to squash their freedom,’ and so we applaud and admire its efforts to keep these vital conversations alive and deepen our understanding of this little known, vast and complex country.

EPISODE 86: Dr. Nick Merriman on how a community museum bagged the biggest museum prize in the world

This week we discover why in July, The Horniman, a small museum in Forest Hill, South London, won the hugely coveted Art Fund Museum of the Year Award. We talk to Dr. Nick Merriman, who’s been Chief Executive and Director of Content there since 2018. Nick’s a widely published expert on museum studies and was director of the Manchester Museum since 2006, increasing visitor numbers to 450,000 a year. He’s also been Chair of the International Council of Museums UK and Chair of the University Museums Group, amongst many other illustrious appointments.  

We find out what attracted him to this small but perfectly formed gem of a museum with its beautiful, extensive gardens overlooking London. He tells us about the museum’s history, dating back to 1890 and founded by tea merchant Frederick Horniman, originally in his private home. In 1901 it reopened as a purpose-built museum with its signature tower, that still houses the museum today. The collections are gloriously quirky, comprising an aquarium, a mini farm, a butterfly house and around 350,000 objects including a big range of stuffed animals, musical instruments and numerous anthropological artefacts and curios.  For any of our listeners who’ve not yet been, there is something here for everyone – gorgeous garden walks, loads of imaginative, interactive fun for kids and enough fascinating exhibits to keep adults fascinated for hours. We love it.

EPISODE 85: Tristram Hunt, Champion of Creativity at the V&A

Break Out Culture is back, and we kick off the autumn season by talking about one of the most important issues of our time – creativity, or the lack of it, in our education system. Tristram Hunt has been director of the Victoria and Albert Museum since 2017 and is a historian, broadcaster and journalist with several books under his belt, as well as having served as a Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Education. He’s now on a mission to ensure that the V&A champions design and creativity for everyone, believing that creative and design skills amongst children and young people are drastically diminishing. With his roles in education and politics as well as at the V&A, no-one’s better placed to lead this important national debate. So, tune in to learn about how the V&A is redressing the balance.  There’s a a specially commissioned film, Creativity: It’s What Makes Us, and three new sites, Young V&A, opening in Bethnal Green next year, V&A East Storehouse and V&A East Museum. Plus he tells us about the forthcoming exhibitions from Hallyu! The Korean Wave to Chanel, set to be next year’s blockbuster.

Listen next: House Guest Podcast by C&TH

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Raina Lampkins-Fielder On Curating Souls Grown Deep Like The Rivers At The RA

‘This really is a groundbreaking show,’ says Charlotte Metcalf on our latest episode of Break Out Culture. Now on at the RA, Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers is an exploration of Black artwork from the American Deep South. All of the exhibition’s works have been loaned by the Souls Grown Deep foundation from Atlanta, Georgia in the US – a collection formed by the late writer, curator and art collector William S Arnett, who was dedicated to the preservation and documentation of African American art from the Deep South. The name of the foundation – and of the exhibition – derives from a 1921 Langston Hughes poem, and the foundation aims to place the collections in museums around the world, returning the proceeds to the communities of origin.

Joe Light, Blue River Mountain, 1988. Enamel on wood, 81.3 x 121.9 cm. Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Atlanta. © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2022. (Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio)

‘I’ve been to the show, not knowing at all what to expect, and the first room alone blew me away with the power of the imagery, much of it made from recycled and found materials like old rags, clothing, scrap metal, rusty tools, old paint tins, driftwood and found materials like animal bones and feathers. What’s astonishing is the beauty and spirit that emerge,’ says Charlotte in Episode 110 of Break Out Culture, commenting that the first room ‘elicits a very visceral response’.

‘I really wanted that first room to be in a way an introduction to the various concerns materially thematically between the various artists coming from the South,’ says Raina Lampkins-Fielder, curator of Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers. ‘Obviously, they weren’t all friends and they didn’t all know each other. But there are definite familial and creative connections that one can find between the artists in the first room. It’s a wonderful visual feast when you enter that space.’

Ronald Lockett, Sarah Lockett’s Roses, 1997. Tin, nails, and enamel on wood, 129.5 x 123.2 x 3.8 cm. Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Atlanta. © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2022. (Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio)

Raina later adds: ‘Obviously the artists are looking at themes that have affected them personally, and so there are certainly many works, subjects and materials that are used that really reverberate with the South’s painful history: the history of enslaving people, of lynching and the Jim Crow era. But at the same time, allowing oneself to create really is an act of freedom. There’s a joy that runs through this exhibition – the joy of creation.’

Hear more about Raina’s curation process in Episode 110 of C&TH‘s Break Out Culture podcast, or find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

VISIT

Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South runs from 17 March–18 June 2023. 

The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD

royalacademy.org.uk

Featured image: Lonnie Holley, Keeping a Record of It (Harmful Music), 1986. Salvaged phonograph top, phonograph record, animal skull, 34.9 x 40 cm. Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Atlanta. © 2023 Lonnie Holley / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London. (Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio)

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LISTEN

What Is The London Original Print Fair?

Now in its 38th year, the London Original Print Fair is London‘s longest running art fair – extraordinary to think given the amount of art fairs that are in London now. This year, the art fair is running at Somerset House from 30 March–2 April, and brings together over 40 top international print dealers, publishers and studios, spanning six centuries of printmaking. Visitors can expect to see pieces by artists from Jura to Rembrandt to Picasso, and its exciting highlights from the likes of David Shrigley and Tracey Emin to those by Royal Academicians and Old Masters like Dürer and Hogarth.

This week, Charlotte Metcalf and Ed Vaizey welcome Helen Rosslyn, Director of the London Original Print Fair, onto the Break Out Culture podcast, chatting all things prints, this year’s show, and its Special Tribute Exhibition in honour of the late Andrew Edmunds.

But Why Invest In An Art Print?

‘It takes a while to understand what a print is, but once you do it, it’s endless fascination because you can always go on and on comparing different impressions of the same print, and it becomes an absolute obsession,’ says Helen. ‘That’s what I love about prints: you never ever tire of them. You could always get one better. By the same token, there’s always a good place to start, because they’re relatively inexpensive if you’re prepared to go for a later impression, printed after the artists lifetime. You can get really affordable prints.’

MORE: Tune into Break Out Culture on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to learn everything there is to know about collecting art prints ahead of visiting the fair this weekend.

VISIT: London Original Print Fair, 30 March–2 April. Somerset House (Strand, London WC2R 1LA). Tickets are £18 (concession £16). somersethouse.org.uk

Featured image: David Hockney, Red Flowers & Green Leaves, Separate, May 1988, Raw Editions, courtesy of Somerset House.

The post Why Invest In An Art Print? Delving Into London Original Print Fair appeared first on Country and Town House.

The Best Feel-Good Podcasts To Lift Your Mood

The Travel Diaries

Holly Rubenstein’s travel podcast is guaranteed to draw a smile out of you, as she chats to different high profile travellers about the seven ‘chapters’ of their life’s travel diaries. Think seminal experiences, early memories, hidden gems and bucket list experiences from the likes of Stanley Tucci, Sir Michael Palin and Rick Stein. With the latest season kicking off in March 2023, expect to hear more from James Martin, Nick Knowles and Angela Hartnett. thetraveldiariespodcast.com

My Dad Wrote A Porno

This award-winning podcast needs no introduction. Hosts James Cooper, Alice Levine and Jamie Morton take listeners through Rocky Flintstone’s (Jamie’s dad’s) amateur erotic – and simultaneously comical – novels alongside hilarious commentary and the odd guest appearance from the likes of Emma Thompson and George Ezra. We guarantee your stomach will ache from laughing too much. mydadwroteaporno.com

 

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That Peter Crouch Podcast

You don’t have to be a football fanatic to enjoy this feel-good podcast. That Peter Crouch Podcast racked up an impressive 12 million downloads across 2019 according to Radio Today, and it’s easy to see why. Despite being a football-dedicated show, Crouch’s hilarious anecdotes combined with comedic commentary from journalist Tom Fordyce and radio presenter Chris Stark grants universal appeal. Expect insider insight into life as a professional footballer, and more importantly, a whole lot of laughs. bbc.co.uk

The Guilty Feminist

‘I’m a feminist but… one time I went on a women’s rights march, and I popped into a department store to use the loo, and I got distracted trying out face cream. And when I came out the march was gone.’

Join comedian Deborah Frances-White as she explores the complex (and often hypocritical) world of feminism – from sexuality to not having kids – live on stage with an array of special guests including Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Scarlett Curtis. guiltyfeminist.com

 

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Sh**ged Married Annoyed 

For a relatable podcast with guaranteed laughs, Sh**ged Married Annoyed is your go-to. Together comedian Chris Ramsay and his wife, author and presenter Rosie discuss the trials and tribulations of everyday life, from the joys of parenting to the complexities of relationships, always with a dose of laughter and positivity. Even their jingle – which they claim they couldn’t settle on – is hilarious. Experience it for yourself at podcasts.apple.com

Table Manners

She might be an award-winning singer-songwriter but Jessie Ware has become quite the podcaster. Ever since launching Table Manners with her fabulous mum and co-host Lennie, the podcast has grown from strength to strength resulting in a line-up of live shows and even their very own cookbook. Combining an impressive array of special guests (David Schwimmer, Mark Ronson and Ed Sheeran to name a few), a very special mother-daughter relationship, and plenty of good food and wine (including Lennie’s famous Chicken Soup & Matzo Balls), Table Manners is a guaranteed weekly feel-good treat for the ears (and the stomach). play.acast.com

 

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Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything

‘Katherine Ryan can’t help telling everybody everything’. The UK-based Canadian comedian has been popping up on our TV screens, featuring in the likes of 8 Out of 10 Cats, BBC’s Live at The Apollo, and even her own Netflix show Katherine Ryan: In Trouble. Now, she’s taking over the podcast world. Expect funny anecdotes, some real-life talk, and plenty of sass from the Queen of comedy. podcasts.apple.com

 

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How To Fail

If there’s a podcast guaranteed to make you feel good, it’s Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail, the podcast which ‘celebrates the things that haven’t gone right’. A wholly uplifting and heartening listen, Day speaks with the likes of Tom Kerridge, Fearne Cotton and Lily Allen to discuss what each guest has learned from their past failures. spotify.com

 

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The post The Best Feel-Good Podcasts To Lift Your Mood appeared first on Country and Town House.

The Best True Crime Podcasts

Serial

True Crime podcasts tend to fall into two categories when it comes to format. There are long-form deep-dives and weekly shows that touch on a number of cases or crimes. The former can be binged like your favourite Netflix show, immersing you in a (pretty horrifying) world for as long as you can stomach it without coming up for air. Serial series one aired in 2014, and can be held pretty much solely responsible for kick-starting the true crime podcast tidal wave. A spinoff of This American Life, the first season dives into the murder of Hae Min Lee and the potential guilt or innocence of her convicted murderer Adnan Syed. Serial is so impactful, this first season recently resulted in a reopening of Hae Min Lee’s case and an overturn in the conviction. Season 2 then focussed on Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl an American soldier charged with desertion after being held by the Taliban for five years, and season 3 explores cases within the Justice Center Complex in Cleveland.

LISTEN: Serial is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, and on the website. serialpodcast.org

The Coldest Case In Laramie

New to the true crime podcast roster, from the creators of Serial, The Coldest Case In Laramie zooms in on an unsolved murder case. Laramie, Wyoming, 1985: 22-year-old Shelli Wiley is found stabbed to death in her flat, which was then set on fire. Two arrests later, the police can only find dead ends. That is until 2016, when a police officer is arrested – but charges, again, are quickly dropped. New York Times reporter Kim Barker hosts, with the podcast idea developing in lockdown when Barker refamiliarised herself with the case, having first heard of it as a teenager when the case initially unfolded.

LISTEN: The Coldest Case In Laramie is available to listen to on all the major podcast streaming sites. nytimes.com

The Doorstep Murder

A limited series initially of six episodes, The Doorstep Murder is a BBC Sounds podcast presented by Fiona Walker delving into the murder of Alistair Wilson, one of Scotland’s most baffling unsolved cases. Two follow-up episodes have also been published in the wake: one featuring Alistair’s son, Andrew, discussing his father’s murder for the first time; and another exploring the police’s new proposed motive for the murder.

LISTEN: The Doorstep Murder is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts, BBC Sounds, and Spotify. bbc.co.uk

My Favorite Murder

It’s murder, but with a smile. This writer’s favourite of the murder-y bunch, this long-running true crime podcast is fronted by the hilarious and likeable duo Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff. Each week they pick a murder each (although some weeks it’s a building collapse or air disaster for some light relief) and tell each other (and us, the listener) the story with a good dollop of humour and charm. Sure, a few of the facts are muddled (that’s what corrections corner is for), but they have a much more victim-sensitive approach than many others and have managed to build one of the most positive, all-inclusive fan communities in the podcast world.

LISTEN: My Favourite Murder is available to listen to on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Wondery. myfavoritemurder.com

The Dropout

If you like your listening with less murder, this could be the true crime podcast for you. ABC’s award-winning podcast, The Dropout, has since been adapted into a limited series by Disney, starring Amanda Seyfried in the leading role. Delving into the backstory of Elizabeth Holmes – founder of Theranos who became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire in 2015 – the series was originally published in early 2019 with six episodes around 40 minutes long, featuring interviews with former employees, investors and patients, as well as portions of deposition tapes. Then in 2021, when Elizabeth was on trial, the show returned for a second season, The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial.

LISTEN: The Dropout is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. abcaudio.com

Red Handed

One of the biggest British true crime podcasts out there, Red Handed is presented by two friends Hannah and Suruthi, who each week dive into one case for a detailed overview of what happened, and how. If you can stomach all the gory details, this well-researched murder-pod is the one for you.

LISTEN: Red Handed is available to listen to on Spotify. redhandedpodcast.com

Lady Killers

Lucy Worsley’s BBC Sounds podcast investigates the crimes of Victorian women, analysing them from a contemporary feminist perspective. Each of the 10 episodes (which are just under 30 minutes long) focuses on a different crime, from poisonings to axe murders. Perfect for fans of the BBC’s You’re Dead To Me.

LISTEN: Lady Killers is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts, BBC Sounds and Spotify. bbc.co.uk

Criminal

Rather than focusing solely on murder cases, Criminal (which has been running since before Serial first aired) is a weekly dive into a specific element of the criminal justice system, made accessible through an engaging first person story, beautifully told by radio host Phoebe Judge (known for her incredibly soothing voice). From tax evaders to plane hijackers, there is a platform for all, with light-hearted stories mixed among incredible two-or-three-episode series telling unbelievable intertwined tales of murder and mayhem. One that springs to mind (everytime there is a noise overhead) tells of a woman who discovered a man had been living in her attic unnoticed for months.

LISTEN: Criminal is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. thisiscriminal.com

Sweet Bobby

From Tortoise Media, Sweet Bobby was a live investigation when the podcast was initially released, exploring the relationship between Bobby and Kirat, a successful marketer who also has a weekly slot on a local radio show. Presented by Alexi Mostrous, Tortoise’s investigations editor, and featuring a range of interviews, Sweet Bobby is tricky to explain without spoilers – a truly mind-boggling true crime podcast. But trust us: it’s seriously addictive, throwing some of our UK laws (or lack thereof) into question.

LISTEN: Sweet Bobby is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. tortoisemedia.com

Dirty John

If you prefer a one-story deep dive, there are plenty of good ones to choose from, including Dr Death, S-Town and Teachers Pet, all of which are well worth a listen. But Dirty John is one of the best, telling the story of Debra Newell, who was duped by coercive con artist John Meehanis. If you didn’t make it through the TV series (this podcast came first and is better), give this a go instead. The plot twists and turns are almost too unbelievable to work on screen, but told through a series of interviews, the podcast captivates the listener, while bringing to light the difficult-to-cover and important topic of coercive control and domestic abuse.

LISTEN: Dirty John is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts, Audible and Spotify. podcasts.apple.com

Death in Ice Valley

From BBC World Service, Death in Ice Valley investigates a Norwegian cold murder case – involving an unidentified body – which has remained unsolved for almost half a century. Spearheaded by Norwegian investigative journalist Marit Higraff, the podcast was released in 2018, following Higraff’s extensive research into the case.

LISTEN: Death in Ice Valley is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. bbc.co.uk

Featured image: Dev Abhiram on Unsplash

The post The Best True Crime Podcasts appeared first on Country and Town House.