A really good listen - my current top three podcasts
My last podcast recommendations were back in February, so it’s definitely time to direct your ears towards this terrific trio, each of which is as diverse as it is absorbing.
First up is
Seriously
The overarching aim of this wide-reaching and invitingly eclectic documentary podcast from Radio 4 is to “tell interesting stories a little sideways”.
Well, I can certainly vouch for the interesting bit, and although I’ve still only scratched the surface of the available episodes (there are two new ones every week and only so many hours that period that I have time to listen), I can also confirm that each one I’ve heard has been revealing, fascinating and thought-provoking.
From the story behind the creation of the Code Red protocol that has saved the lives of hundreds of people with catastrophic bleeding injuries, to an examination of the future of Facebook.
From spending time with the virus hunters who dedicate their lives to understanding and extinguishing new pathogens, to the group of strangers whose lives became intertwined as a result of the government’s scheme to get all rough sleepers off the streets during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
From wondering how design would be impacted if everyone in the world was was disabled, to challenging the negativity bias that pervades our perception of that world.
See what I mean about eclectic?
Each episode is topped and tailed by presenter Rhianna Dillon, but the stories are presented by different people and in different styles. So if there’s one that’s not to your taste, there will be plenty of others that are.
Whatever your interests I guarantee you’ll find something to pique and satisfy them in this top-notch podcast’s catalogue.
Revisionist History
If, on the other hand, you’re not a fan of the presenting style of Malcolm Gladwell, then you should probably skip over this recommendation and head straight to the next one.
The English-born Canadian journalist has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1996, is the author of several best-selling books including The Tipping Point and Blink, and has been named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine.
If all of that makes him sound dry and earnest, he is neither (well, maybe a little earnest, but in an engaging way. He’s pretty good at sweeping you up into his earnestness).
In his Revisionist History podcast, Gladwell invites us to follow him as he explores moments, events, people and even songs from the past, re-examining their stories and challenging us to consider whether we might have got them wrong.
If there is a more fascinating mind or impassioned, informed and informative guide to those journeys of discovery, I’d like to know who that is.
Thanks to him I’ve learned about a friendship between a Prime Minister and a professor that changed the course of World War II, how a senior expert in the US Intelligence Agency turned out to have fooled everyone, including her own family, why there are two different types of chutzpah, and the story of a Van Gough still life painting that reveals the true value of the things we treasure.
Whatever episode from the wildly diverse selection of this ridiculously informative podcast you land on, I bet you’ll learn something you didn’t know. And what could be more entertaining and satisfying than that?
How To Fail with Elizabeth Day
Another successful author and journalist, Elizabeth Day, is, amongst other things, a columnist for and regular contributor to The Mail on Sunday You Magazine. She is also the host of this popular podcast where she chats to her guests about the things in their lives that haven’t gone according to plan and what they’ve learnt from their failures.
Her wide-ranging interviewees combined with her warm, intelligent, probing questions, mean that the conversations and what they reveal, are always enlightening and entertaining (who knew that best-selling novelist Marian Keyes failed to get into journalism college).
And, of course, the perfect remainder and reassurance that whilst things will inevitably go wrong in life, we can pick ourselves up from our failures and totter, even stride, onwards.
What podcasts are you listening to and loving? I’d love to know and try them out!
Other posts you’ll enjoy
Some more of my podcast recommendations
TED talks you’ll love listening to and watching
The TV shows that got me through lockdown
