

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

Feb 13, 2022 • 29min
Gaia Vince
Gaia Vince discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Gaia Vince is a science writer and broadcaster interested in the interplay between humans and the planetary environment. She is a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at University College London in the Anthropocene Institute. She has held senior editorial posts at Nature and New Scientist, and her writing has featured in newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, The Times and Scientific American. She also writes and presents science programmes for radio and television. In 2015, she became the first woman to win the Royal Society Science Book of the Year Prize solo for her debut, Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made.
She is author of Transcendence: how humans evolved through fire, language, beauty & time and Adventures in the Anthropocene: a journey to the heart of the planet we made. Her next book Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval is published in 2022.
Hungarian sour cherry soup https://www.thespruceeats.com/hungarian-sour-cherry-soup-meggy-leves-recipe-1136687
Mangosteen https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mangosteen
Friedensreich Hundertwasser https://hundertwasser.com/en
The Secret History of Writing https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/the-secret-history-of-writing-bbc4-documentary-review-lydia-wilson-655347
Heath Robinson https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/robinson_william_heath.shtml
Cassawary https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/fall-2021/articles/meet-the-cassowary-a-bird-with-claws-rivaling-freddy-krueger-s
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Feb 6, 2022 • 28min
Travis Elborough
Travis Elborough discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Described by The Guardian as “one of Britain’s finest pop culture historians”, Travis Elborough has been a freelance writer, author, broadcaster and cultural commentator for two decades now. Elborough’s books include Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, The Long-Player Goodbye, a hymn to vinyl records that inspired the BBC4 documentary When Albums Ruled the World, in which he also appeared, and A Walk in the Park, a loving exploration of public parks and green space. His latest, Through the Looking Glasses: The Spectacular Life of Spectacles, was published in July 2021 to immediate acclaim, saluted as "fascinating" by The Observer, while New Statesman stated, "It will make you look at specs with fresh eyes."
He has also collaborated on the popular and award-winning series of Unexpected Atlases with the cartographers Alan Horsfield and Martin Brown, the most recent of which, Atlas of Vanishing Places, appeared in November 2021.
The American Friend https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3866-the-american-friend-little-lies-and-big-disasters
The Colonnade Bar http://thecolonnadebrighton.co.uk/
The New York Novels of Dawn Powell https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/03/21/queen-of-the-golden-age/
A Secret Wish by Propaganda https://www.classicpopmag.com/2018/03/propaganda-a-secret-wish-review/
Waiting by Fun Boy Three https://www.allmusic.com/album/waiting-mw0000057846
Birkenhead Park https://birkenhead-park.org.uk/birkenhead-parks-conception-and-opening/
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Jan 30, 2022 • 28min
Peter Oborne
Journalist Peter Oborne discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Peter Oborne is a former political commentator of the Spectator, the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. He now writes about politics for Open Democracy and Middle East Eye. He is the author of The Assault on Truth, The Triumph of the Political Class, and The Rise of Political Lying as well as a biography of the cricketer Basil D’Oliveira. He was voted Columnist of the Year at the Press Awards in 2013. His website is https://boris-johnson-lies.com/.
The episode features a clip from The Death of Liberalism with Lord Paddy Ashdown by the Legatum Institute (22/6/15) and A Marriage of Convenience by Somerset Maugham, read by Daniel Weyman (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b093pfrf).
Benefits of an afternoon nap https://www.forbes.com/sites/nomanazish/2021/06/23/should-you-be-taking-afternoon-naps-heres-what-the-sleep-experts-say/
Mohenjo Daro https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/mohenjo-daro
Paddy Ashdown https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/22/paddy-lord-ashdown-obituary
The virtue of listening https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/the-virtue-of-listening.31549
Fixers https://en.ejo.ch/ethics-quality/fixers-the-unsung-heroes-of-international-news-reporting
Somerset Maugham https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1990/02/01/maughams-half-half/
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Jan 23, 2022 • 29min
Rob Doyle
Rob Doyle discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Rob Doyle is the author of four internationally acclaimed books: Autobibliography, Threshold, This Is the Ritual and Here Are the Young Men, which has been adapted for film. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Observer, TLS and Dublin Review among other publications, and he edited the anthologies The Other Irish Tradition and In This Skull Hotel Where I Never Sleep. His work has been translated into several languages.
Coriolanus (2011) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/22/coriolanus-film-review-ralph-fiennes
Four Tet’s Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2uzbATYxs9V8YQi5lf89WG?si=27dff54c2f194322&nd=1
The train journey from Dublin to Rosslare Harbour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin%E2%80%93Rosslare_railway_line
Last Evenings on Earth, the story collection by Roberto Bolaño https://roughghosts.com/2016/07/25/poets-artists-and-other-lost-souls-last-evenings-on-earth-by-roberto-bolano/
Anthropoid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r136kTbmOTw
Super Hot video game https://superhotgame.com
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Jan 16, 2022 • 28min
Catharine Arnold
Historian Catharine Arnold discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Catharine Arnold is a popular historian and television presenter specialising in dark themes. Her most recent book is Pandemic 1918, the Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History. Her other books include the acclaimed London Quartet. These include: Necropolis, London and its Dead, ‘entertainment of the most garish and exquisite kind,’ Peter Ackroyd, The Times. The Independent also rated Necropolis one of its Top Ten History Books in 2010. Her first novel, Lost Time, won a Betty Trask award.
Daisies https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/may/30/new-dvd-releases-daisies-czech
Masha by Mara Kay https://shinynewbooks.co.uk/the-youngest-lady-in-waiting-by-mara-kay
Bilgewater by Jane Gardam https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jane-gardam/bilgewater/
George Barker’s poetry https://mypoeticside.com/poets/george-barker-poems
Ronald Frame https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/13078532.Ronald_Frame_blows_the_dust_off_a_Dickens_heroine/
It’s Never Too Late https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Never_Too_Late_(1956_film)
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Jan 9, 2022 • 29min
Robin Baker
Robin Baker discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Robin is head curator of the BFI National Archive - one of the world’s largest and most important collections of film and television – where he leads the team responsible for developing and interpreting the national collection. He has written and directed two short films and wrote the play Elephant and Castle for BBC Radio 4, starring Rory Kinnear and Olivia Colman. Robin has been attacked by cobras on two occasions.
Follow Robin on Twitter @robinalexbaker and on Instagram @robinbakerbfi
BFI website: www.bfi.org.uk
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead: https://dauntbookspublishing.co.uk/book/who-was-changed-and-who-was-dead/
Cretan pottery: http://www.cretanethnologymuseum.gr/imke/html/en/104.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_pottery
Kanchenjungha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRmpWEGM3ZI
Geraldene Holt’s Cakes https://prospectbooks.co.uk/products-page/current-titles/geraldene-holts-cakes/
Early colour films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqpp5ipMU_s
Spring 1938/Easter Sunday https://oliverlewisinfo.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/spring-1938-bertolt-brecht/ and https://open.spotify.com/track/0iCZWjglUB3cr0xXX56wQ2?si=677012daa31b4a97
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Jan 2, 2022 • 30min
Jessica Nordell
Jessica Nordell discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Jessica Nordell is a science and culture journalist whose writing has appeared in the Atlantic, the New York Times, the New Republic and many other publications. A former writer for public radio and producer for American Public Media, she graduated from Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The End of Bias: A Beginning is her first book.
Notes on a Foreign Country by Suzy Hansen https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-shattering-and-a-shame-on-suzy-hansens-notes-on-a-foreign-country/
Somewhere in the Unknown World by Kao Kalia Yang https://harvardreview.org/book-review/somewhere-in-the-unknown-world/
Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/peter-balakian/black-dog-of-fate/
Amaud Jamaul Johnson https://www.cortlandreview.com/issue-87/esteban-rodriguez-reviews-imperial-liquor-amaud-jamaul-johnson/
The skills to navigate difficult emotions https://www.gottman.com/blog/6stepstomindfullydealwithdifficultemotions/
The fact that biased behaviour and organisations can change https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/02/the-end-of-bias-by-jessica-nordell-review-how-to-remove-your-blinkers
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Dec 26, 2021 • 29min
Edafe Onerhime
Edafe Onerhime discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Edafe Onerhime is a specialist in making an impact with data. Her motto: Data + Design + Culture. She lives in Glasgow with her wife and cat. She works as an Executive Director - Data Architecture Governance Lead at JP Morgan Chase. She believes in opening doors and building longer tables, not walls. She can be found asking questions like: How does data shape and is shaped by our culture and beliefs? How does this affect the data products and technologies that we use every day? Can we decolonise data or is it simply holding up a mirror to our real selves?
Africanfuturism https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/article/afrofuturism-africanfuturism-and-the-language-of-black-speculative-literature/
Meaning of names https://www.csescienceeditor.org/article/african-names-guide-editors/
Associations of the colour red https://study.com/academy/lesson/color-meanings-in-different-cultures.html
Short hair https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/58psLDd9GGWf5SQKSLmmdjD/why-is-black-hair-so-political
Found family https://www.glaad.org/amp/importance-of-found-families-lgbtq-youth
Patterns https://medium.com/patterns-matter/why-patterns-matter-e3abc8794465
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Dec 18, 2021 • 30min
200th episode: Anthony Horowitz
For the 200th episode, Anthony Horowitz discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Anthony Horowitz is one of the most prolific and successful writers working in the UK – and is unique for working across so many media. Anthony is a born polymath; juggling writing books, TV series, films, plays and journalism. Anthony has written over 50 books including the bestselling teen spy series Alex Rider, which is estimated to have sold 21 million copies worldwide.
Anthony is also an acclaimed writer for adults and was commissioned to write two new Sherlock Holmes novels The House of Silk and Moriarty. He was commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate to write continuation novels for James Bond with Trigger Mortis and Forever and Day.
Anthony’s award-winning novel Magpie Murders was released in 2016 to critical acclaim and has just been filmed with Lesley Manville in the lead role. The sequel - Moonflower Murders - is optioned to follow. His new series featuring Detective Hawthorne and a sidekick called Anthony Horowitz has three books so far: The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death and A Line to Kill.
Anthony is responsible for creating and writing some of the UK’s most beloved and successful television series including Midsomer Murders and he is the writer and creator of award-winning drama series Foyle’s War.
Paul Spooner https://cabaret.co.uk/artists/paul-spooner/
Miliaris Taverna https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g6765453-d6856813-Reviews-Miliaras-Latsida_Lasithi_Prefecture_Crete.html
The novels of Ian Fleming https://lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v24/n17/john-lanchester/bond-in-torment
Ollantaytambo https://www.lonelyplanet.com/peru/cuzco-and-the-sacred-valley/ollantaytambo
Special Operations Executive https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/SOE#
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T http://www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/bluray/f/5000_fingers_of_dr_t_br.html
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Dec 12, 2021 • 30min
David Mills
Comedian David Mills discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.
Award-winning comic David Mills is known for his sharp and hilarious take on contemporary culture and politics. His signature razor wit has been seen onstage in New York, LA, San Francisco, London and across the UK. He has opened for comedy icons Margaret Cho, Scott Capurro and Ed Byrne. As an actor, he appeared in Florence Foster Jenkins with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, Patrick Melrose with Benedict Cumberbatch and Mandy with Diane Morgan. 'David Mills is headed for the big time. Most definitely one to watch.' Time Out
Follow David on Twitter and Instagram @DavidMillsDept
Check out his regular e-newsletter: QUALITY TIME https://bit.ly/3HWcwuO
Goldsmiths' Fair https://www.goldsmithsfair.co.uk
Say Amen Somebody https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/say-amen-somebody-1983
Features Highway To Heaven by The O'Neal Twins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUmSffTrgBY
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/08/five-star-billionaire-tash-aw-review
Train to Busan https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/30/train-to-busan-review-nonstop-thrill-ride-zombies
Ain't Misbehavin' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE8_MxJCsqg
Conspirituality podcast https://conspirituality.net/about/
This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm


