Better Known

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 crick...

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 Tra...

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 g...

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,...

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 live...

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 askin...

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 se...

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 app...

Economist Tim Harford discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Tim Harford is an economist, journalist and broadcaster. He is author of How To Make the World Add Up, The Data Detective, Messy, and the million-selling The Undercover Economist. Tim is a senior columnist at the Financial Times, and the presenter of BBC Radio’s More or Less, How To Vaccinate The World, an...

Actor and impressionist Jon Glover discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Jon Glover most recently appeared in the play Maggie and Ted, written by Michael McManus, about Ted Heath and Margaret Thatcher, providing forty voices, including Michael Heseltine, who attended one of the performances. He was previously a presenter on Playschool, impressionist on Radio 4’s We...

Hilma Wolitzer discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Hilma Wolitzer is a recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and a Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award. She has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, New York University, Columbia University, and the Bread Loaf...

Ananyo Bhattacharya discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Ananyo Bhattacharya is a science writer who has worked at the Economist and Nature. Before journalism, he was a medical researcher at the Burnham Institute in San Diego, California. He holds a degree in physics from the University of Oxford and a PhD in protein crystallography from Imperial College London. H...

Matthew Parris discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Matthew Parris is a columnist for The Times and presents Great Lives on BBC Radio Four. He was a Conservative MP from 1979 to 1986 and was a Parliamentary Sketchwriter for the Times for nearly fourteen years. He has been Columnist of the year at the British Press Awards. His books include Fracture: Stories of how...

Professor Catherine Whistler discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. An art historian and curator, Catherine Whistler is Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Fellow of St John’s College, and a Professor of the History of European Art, University of Oxford. Born in Dublin, where she studied History of Art at UCD, she maintains strong links with Ireland and...

Technology writer Charles Arthur discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Charles Arthur's latest book, his third, is Social Warming, which looks at how and why social media has such a dramatically polarising effect on politics, journalism and societies around the world, even in countries where usage is low. His previous two books were on hacking (Cyber Wars, 2016) an...

Paul Willetts discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Paul Willetts is the author of five much-praised nonfiction books: Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia; North Soho 999; Members Only; Rendezvous at the Russian Tea Rooms; and King Con. The third of these was turned into a big-budget British movie. Entitled The Look of Love (2013), it starred Steve Coogan, who described...

Musician Barb Jungr discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Barb Jungr is an award-winning international performer, recording artist and writer. She is best known for her interpretations and recordings of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Jacques Brel. With performances across four continents and fifteen solo album recordings she appeared on Talking Bob Dylan Blues: A Tr...

Alexandra Pringle discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Alexandra Pringle was Editor-in-Chief of Bloomsbury Publishing for 20 years and she is now Executive Publisher. Her authors include Margaret Atwood, Richard Ford, Esther Freud, Elizabeth Gilbert, Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, Colum McCann, Ann Patchett, George Saunders, Kamila Shamsie, Patti Smith and Barba...

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Rory Cellan-Jones has been a reporter for the BBC for thirty years, covering business and technology stories for much of that time. He joined the BBC as a researcher on Look North in 1981, moving to London to work as a producer in the TV Newsroom and on Newsnight. At the beginning...

James Plunkett discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. James Plunkett has spent his career thinking laterally about the complicated relationships between individuals and the state. First as an advisor to Gordon Brown, then a leading economic researcher and writer, and then in the charity sector, helping people struggling at the front-line of economic change. James co...

Kehinde Andrews discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Kehinde Andrews is Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University. Kehinde is an academic, activist and author whose books include The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World (2021), Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century (2018) and Resisting Racism: R...

Kerry Shale discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Kerry Shale’s theatre appearances include Frost/Nixon, His Girl Friday, The Normal Heart and six self-written solo shows. Television work includes The Sandman (Netflix: 2022), Dr. Who and The Trip. Films include Angel Has Fallen, Little Shop of Horrors and Yentl. For BBC radio, he has recently read Jack London’s Cal...

Rosita Boland discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Rosita Boland was born in County Clare in 1965 and lives in Dublin where she is Senior Features Writer at the Irish Times. She has published two collections of poems, Muscle Creek and Dissecting the Heart. She has travelled extensively, most recently in South East Asia and her travel books include Sea Legs: Hitch...

David Benedict discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. David Benedict is a culture critic and broadcaster. He read drama at Hull University, spent ten years as an actor, singer and director and was artistic director of the U.K.’s national lesbian and gay theatre company, Gay Sweatshop. He joined The Independent in 1993, becoming a daily arts columnist and associate e...

Beaty Rubens discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. A BBC Radio producer for 35 years, Beaty Rubens has collaborated with some of the great names in broadcasting, the arts and academia. Her many documentaries have focussed on the arts, history and the lives of women and children. Some high-points include working with Lyse Doucet, Katya Adler and James Naughtie, Pro...