AarBalls

To mark the 50th episode of Aarballs, we look back on our first year of great guests. There's also the countdown of the Top 10 Most Downloaded Episodes! The moment almost nobody has been waiting for! Thanks to all the kind folk who agreed to be our guests over this year and thank you also to everyone who has given us a listen. Happy New Year! contact: aarballs2023@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See ac...

Jason Pribyl is a Chicago-based racing driver currently competing in the UK’s Formula Ford category. At only 19 years of age Jason has over a decade of racing experience. At age 7 he won his first ever kart race, and since then, has gone on to win countless championships in both karts and cars. We talk about those early go-kart beginnings, the importance of Cars the movie, and the similarities and...

Mike Warner is a Suffolk fisherman, fishmonger, food writer, and chairman of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain He talks to us about the decline of a once thriving fishing industry, its causes and possible solutions. We hear of fisherman's tales, the history of herring, and some delicious seafood recipes. You can find Mike's film Silver Darlings at https://www.apassionforseafood.com/movies...

This week we talk to Carter who has recently started working on a small county jail in Oklahoma. We hear all about what life inside an American jail is like, how he was thrown in the deep end in terms of training, and the important things he’s learnt already on the job. A lovely guy and a fascinating chat! Please send your ideas and recommendations for guests to aarballs2023@gmail.com . You can al...

An extraordinary episode this week in which we hear from “Lito”, a Ukrainian drone pilot on the front line in the war fighting the Russian invasion. We hear his extraordinary personal story of joining up, of daily life in the front line, and how all those years playing video games turned out not to be a waste of time after all. He also gives fascinating insights into Ukraine’s long-term plight, hi...

Pallavi Sethi is a Policy Fellow at the Grantham Institute, part of the London School of Economics which focuses on climate change and the environment. Her work centres around trying to combat the misinformation and lies which attempt to undermine the science of environmental crisis. We chat to Pallavi about what drives media such as The Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and The Sun to peddle lies...

Are you feeling lucky? Gabor has worked as a croupier for 11 years and talks to us about spinning the roulette wheel, the biggest wins and the biggest losses. We hear about chips and cheats, card counting, and how to ban yourself when the gambling gets too much! aarballs2023@gmail.com https://www.instagram.com/aarballs/ http://www.youtube.com/@Aarballs https://open.spotify.com/show/7tUlryttCVAetrw...

From early days with Bros, to working with many of the biggest names in music, Kate Strong worked as a make-up artist to the stars for 24 years. The list of artists she worked with is far too insanely long to list here but includes The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Dire Straits, Oasis, INXS, Billy Joel, New Kids on The Block, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Sheryl Crow and Mel Gibson (!)...

Marc Teitler is an award-winning musical theatre composer whose works include Baddies , The Grinning Man , and The Magician’s Elephant . He was kind enough to chat to us here about his journey to becoming a composer, the distortion of fairy tales, why children love darkness, disagreeing with good reviews, and working on a retro-futuristic Gepetto. He was also kind enough to let us some of his wond...

We’ve been to some far flung corners of the globe on this podcast but none have been flung further than Ascension Island, a lone rock in the middle of the Atlantic, and home to this week’s guest Kashmir, who works on the island as a conservationist. She takes us on a captivating journey from Margate to Madagascar, via the Amazon jungle, to life on one of the most remote islands in the world....

After more than 20 years working with the biggest names in whisky, Ken Grier has now set up his own company, De-Still Creative, driving a wide range of drink brands. He talks to us (ignorant novices) about all things whisky – casks, history, glasses, prices and much more. He also discusses his collaboration with some of the world’s most famous photographers, including Rankin and Annie Leibovi...

This week we chat to Gemma Simms, a frontline police sergeant of 17 years service, who is also professional genealogist with a special interest in genetic genealogy, and a tutor in adult education teaching courses in family history and DNA for genealogy. Gemma talks to us about moving to Cornwall from Surrey and the differences that brings in terms of policing. We discuss how perceptions of “skele...

Ffion Morgan is an incredibly talented artist, creating miniature replicas of houses and other amazing projects. Before listening to this week’s episode make sure you first check out her creations on her Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/ffimini/ Ffion very kindly talked to us about abandoning the bus driver plan, making rocks for Dr Who, Shackleton’s boat, big plans, and worrying about mo...

As always, our overly reductive episode titles do not do our guest justice - for Claudia Hammond is not ONLY an award-winning broadcaster who presents All in the Mind on BBC Radio 4 covering psychology, neuroscience & mental health AND the weekly global health show Health Check on BBC World Service,.but she is also the author of numerous fascinating books (see links below) in which she shares...

In addition to having gone to the same school as Aarballs Podcast's very own Aar and Bailles, Richard Fuller's main achievement is to have become the MP for North Bedfordshire and the current Chairman of the Conservative Party. He was very kind in giving up his time to talk to us about how and why he moved into politics, bringing US-style campaigning strategies to Bedford, his cross-bench work wit...

Nyaradzo Hoto is an original member of Akashinga, an all-women anti-poaching team in Zimbabwe She explains to us the fantastic positive impact the team has had, not only on massively reducing poaching but also in the broader context of empowering women in a traditionally male-dominated society. She also tells of her two favourite species and the best ways to survive if you encounter elephants, lio...

From the Appalachian Mountains, Madelaine moved from starting off in science and agriculture to setting up her own wedding floristry company in Durham, North Carolina. She talks to us about some of the most memorable displays she's designed, the escalating scale of American weddings, and why she now yearns for dark snug English rooms. You can check out Madelaine's incredible work at https://www.mo...

After becoming a nun in (the then shabby) Notting Hill, Anne became a teacher, working mostly in challenging schools in London’s East End. Joining the St Hilda Community, a group pursuing the ordination of women as priests, Ann was present at the eventual success of the movement when the first women were ordained at Bristol Cathedral in 1994. Three years later, Ann became a priest herself, has sin...

The Aarballs Award for Best Job Title 2024 goes to Chantel who works as a Stoat Detection Dog Handler on the Orkney Islands. Chantel tells us how she broke into conservation working with newts at Froglife, before taking on the dream job of combatting invasive species in the far northern island of Orkney. We hear about life on this remote archipelago and of Skye her fabulous working dog.  Plea...

Ex-soldier and expedition leader Rory talks to us of the perils of RAF trousers, joining the army at 18 and rising from the ranks to become an officer, cuddling toffs on the moors, running expeditions for young people in Asia, Africa and South America, his experiences of living in Borneo, the camaraderie born of leeches and ticks, and dodging roos at dawn. Please help us grow by following on Insta...

Top good egg Lizzie Simmonds talks to us about her incredible achievements in fund raising, through marathon and ultra-marathon running and epic walks often while dressed as a rhino! We also hear of Lizzie’s other work for charity and worthy causes and about an extraordinarily altruistic decision she made. To support Liz on her latest epic feat of fundraising please visit https://www.justgiving.co...

Diogo talks to us about getting started in Dave Stewart’s kitchen, the correct music for penis-shaped pasta, prising royalties out of Italy, being urban (but not that urban), forays into gangsta rap with Spoonface, recording orchestras in Budapest and Prague, the pecking order of composing, marrying into rock royalty, and hanging out with some Beatles, doing backing vocals for U2, and failing at w...

Sacha Harding talks about breaking into professional rugby, the highs and lows of his career and the skills gained from sport that have been useful in establishing his physical training company. We also talk about how the sport of rugby has or hasn’t changed, both in terms of its surrounding culture and in the way the game is played. We also hear his thoughts on who should captain the British Lion...

Jane Lloyd talks about rising from runner to be a top award-winning TV producer. She chats about working with documentary-maker Asif Kapadia, trying to hide Roger Moore, being pestered by U2 and The Coors, supermodel seaweed, Noemi Campbell being lovely, accidents in remote Portugal,  working with Taylor Swift, chasing Madonna down a beach in a golf buggy, and the Bulgarian New York. Please a...

For 15 years Luke's English Podcast has been helping people from around the globe learn English, and currently has over 1,000 episodes. The talent Luke has for teaching English in a funny and engaging manner is reflected in the huge number of devoted followers he has around the world; at the time of recording this in early May 2024, his YouTube channel has 1.13 million subscribers. Luke talks to u...