podcasts
The world’s greatest podcast: Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History reviewed
It’s well known that you should never meet your heroes because they will only disappoint you. Less commonly said, but…
Inane, modish and safe: The White Pube podcast reviewed
The White Pube started life as an influential art blog, written by Zarina Muhammad and Gabrielle de la Puente. The…
Enjoyably bad-tempered: The Lock In with Jeremy Paxman reviewed
‘I used to be Mr Nasty! That was good! Mr Nasty was easy!’ Jeremy Paxman bellows at Michael Palin on…
Boldly going where hundreds have gone before: Brave New Planet podcast reviewed
Since technology is developing at such light-speed pace, why does it feel so strangely slow? There is a sense that…
The shocking story of Charles and Mary Lamb: Slightly Foxed podcast reviewed
The Slightly Foxed podcast, like the quarterly and old bookshop of the same name, is almost muskily lovely. It’s the…
A cautionary tale about how democracy can subvert itself: Bunga Bunga reviewed
Italy has long captivated romantics from rainy, dreary, orderly northern Europe. Goethe, Stendhal, Keats and Shelley all flocked to Italy…
Tacky and incomprehensible: The Sandman audiobook reviewed
Listening to the tacky and incomprehensible audio-adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel seriesSandman, I couldn’t stop thinking about the 19th-century…
A podcast about the literary canon that actually deepens your knowledge (sort of)
While most of life’s pleasures can be shared, reading is lonely. It’s more than possible for six friends to enjoy…
Wholesome, intimate and suspiciously vague: The Michelle Obama Podcast reviewed
Back in March, I made a long-odds bet that Michelle Obama would be the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nominee. I knew…
The Michelle Obama Podcast is wholesome, intimate and suspiciously vague
Back in March, I made a long-odds bet that Michelle Obama would be the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nominee. I knew…
Hats (and knickers) off to the hosts: The Naked Podcast reviewed
I spent half an hour this week listening to a woman make a plaster cast of her vulva. Kat Harbourne,…
Louis Theroux’s podcast reveals a master at work
I always want to know more about Louis Theroux, which is odd, since I’ve seen so much of him already.…
The best podcasts for all your corona-gardening needs
The American diet was probably at its healthiest in the second world war. Fearing interruption to supply chains, Washington launched…
Why haven’t podcasts cracked the recipe for audio drama?
In Beeb-dominated Britain, the commercial triumph of podcasting — epitomised by Spotify’s recent £100 million deals with Joe Rogan and…
Is Bannon back?
Has the Trump campaign finally grown desperate enough to bring back Steve Bannon? The double whammy of the COVID-19 pandemic…
From Hogarth to Mardi Gras: the best art podcasts
If you study History of Art, people generally assume you’re a nice, conscientious, plummy-voiced girl. Sometimes, people are right. It…
The power of cheap music: pop podcast round-up
Noël Coward was so right that his words have become a cliché: it is indeed extraordinary how potent cheap music…
The problem with mystery podcasts like Wind of Change
Did the US secretly write a power ballad in order to bring down the Soviet Union? That’s the question behind…
The Literary Disco podcast made me want to throw my laptop at the wall
One of the stranger things that happened in the period just before lockdown was the sudden disappearance of audiences from…
The author who made a living measuring the legs of lice
Wilhelm Nero Pilate Barbellion, real name Bruce Frederick Cummings, earned his living measuring the legs of lice in the Natural…
The importance of sadism in writing a great screenplay
How do you tell a great story? According to Craig Mazin, you have to be a sadist. ‘As a writer,…
I've lost patience with podcasts and their presenters
‘To be recognised and accepted by a peregrine,’ wrote J.A. Baker in 1967, ‘you must wear the same clothes, travel…
The genius of Joe Rogan
Last month, just before coronavirus conquered the airwaves entirely, millions of Americans gave up two hours to hear a professor…
How to succeed in sculpture (without being a man)
Whee-ooh-whee ya-ya-yang skrittle-skrittle skreeeek… Is it a space pod bearing aliens from Mars? No, it’s a podcast featuring aliens from…
Ill-disciplined and self-indulgent: The Guilty Feminist podcast reviewed
With theatres shut, radio must lighten the darkness. The Guilty Feminist is a wildly popular podcast performed by Deborah Frances-White…
