Better Known

Alexei Sayle discusses with Ivan both things which he thinks should be better known and a number of things which he thinks are terrible. Alexei Sayle is a comedian and writer. He was the original MC of the Comedy Store in London when it opened in 1979 and was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He is best known for his performances in the BBC TV programmes The Youn...

Author Francis Spufford discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Francis Spufford’s novel Light Perpetual has been longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. His first novel Golden Hill was published in 2016 and won the Costa First Novel Award. He is the author of five celebrated books of non-fiction. The most recent, Unapologetic, has been translated into three languages;...

Virginia Ironside discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Virginia Ironside started off as a temporary secretary to Shirley Williams at the Fabian Society and then worked at Vogue, followed by the Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail (as a rock columnist), Woman magazine, the Sunday Mirror, Today (as an agony columnist) and now with a column in the Oldie and the Idler....

Sam Gilbert discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Sam Gilbert is an affiliated researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. An expert in data-driven marketing, he was employee number one and chief marketing officer at Bought By Many, an award-winning fintech start-up named as one of Wired’s hottest start-ups in Europe and ra...

Michael Wood discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Michael Wood is Professor in Public History at the University of Manchester. He is the author of several highly praised books on English history including In Search of the Dark Ages, Domesday, and In Search of England. He has made well over one hundred documentary films, among them Art of the Western World, In Sear...

Helen Thompson discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Helen Thompson is Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University. She is a columnist for the New Statesman and a regular contributor to the podcast Talking Politics. Arnold Bennett’s Clayhanger https://reading19001950.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/clayhanger-by-arnold-bennett-1910-2/ The Hoo Peninsula https:/...

Dominic Sandbrook discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Dominic Sandbrook is the author of eight books of modern history, and is best known for his books on Britain since the 1950s. The first volume, Never Had It So Good, covers the late 1950s and early 1960s. The second book, White Heat, looks at Britain in the heyday of the 1960s, and was later used as the backgr...

John Kampfner discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. John Kampfner is an award-winning author, broadcaster, commentator and cultural leader. His book Why The Germans Do It Better is Guardian, Economist and New Statesman Book of the Year and Waterstones Best Books of 2020. Find out more at www.jkampfner.net. People playing cricket in Chicago www.iplcc.com Cornwall's...

Oliver Sears discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Oliver Sears is a London-born Dublin-based art dealer & gallery owner. He is son of a Holocaust survivor & founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland. Formerly a trustee of Holocaust Education Trust Ireland, he is a frequent contributor to radio and newspapers including RTÉ and The Irish Times. He tells his fa...

Novelist Meg Rosoff discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Meg Rosoff was born in Boston, educated at Harvard and St Martin’s College of Art, and has lived in London since 1989. Her first novel, How I Live Now, sold more than a million copies worldwide and was made into a feature film starring Saoirse Ronan. She has won or been shortlisted for 24 international book...

Comedian Rosie Wilby discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Rosie Wilby is an award-winning comedian who has appeared on BBC Radio 4 programmes including Woman's Hour and Four Thought. Her first book Is Monogamy Dead? was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2018 and followed a trilogy of solo shows investigating the psychology of love and relationships. Rosi...

Novelist Rosa Rankin-Gee discusses six things which she thinks should be better known. Rosa Rankin-Gee is the author of two novels: The Last Kings of Sark, which won Shakespeare & Company’s Paris Literary Prize, and Dreamland, set in a near-future Margate, which has just come out with Scribner. She once tried to stop Brexit with 600 croissants. Insulated Mugs https://cheeki.com/blogs/news/8-re...

Former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Alexandra Shulman was editor in chief of British Vogue, the longest serving editor in the history of the magazine. Her new book is Clothes and other things that matter. https://www.waterstones.com/book/clothes-and-other-things-that-matter/alexandra-shulman/9781788401999 Passion Flower caps...

David Runciman discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. This episode was recorded the day before the local elections. Professor David Runciman was Head of the University of Cambridge's Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) from 2014 to 2018. His research interests are in twentieth century political thought, particularly ideas of democracy and crisis...

To celebrate 1000 Better Known choices, Ivan invites past guests to discuss their One in a Thousand, the choice which above all deserves to be better known. People: Caroline Eden discusses Sanmao Places: Eleanor Fitzsimons discusses the Sheep’s Head Peninsula and Barbara Scully discusses Southern Spain Objects: Lindsay Johns discusses the books of Alex LaGuma Stories: Christopher Fowler discusses...

Tracey Follows discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Tracey Follows is a futurist and author of The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st-Century Technology? She is the CEO of Futuremade, a futures consultancy advising global brands and specialising in the application of foresight to boost business. Charles Wareing Bardsley's Dictionary of English and Wels...

Felicity Hayes-McCoy discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Felicity Hayes-McCoy, bestselling author of The Library at the Edge of The World, was born in Dublin, Ireland. She studied literature at UCD before training as an actress in London. Her work as a writer ranges from TV, radio drama and documentary, to screenplays, memoir, journalism and children's books. He...

Dawood Gustave discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Dawood Gustave is the founder of Reluctantly Brave and a global leader in bringing gamechanging imaginative thinking into the heart of businesses. He grew up on a council estate in Peckham in south London. Aged sixteen, he left school and home, spending the next 16 years finding a range of ways to survive and mak...

Armand D’Angour discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Armand D’Angour is a Professor of Classics at the University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor at Jesus College, Oxford. He is the author of numerous articles and chapters on the literature and culture of ancient Greece, and (as a former professional cellist) has conducted innovative research into reconstructing a...

Sarah Carey discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Sarah Carey is a broadcaster, columnist and regular contributor Irish and international media. She is a columnist for The Irish Independent and has previously written for The Sunday Independent, The Irish Times and The Sunday Times. For six years she presented the critically praised Talking Point on Newstalk. Sarah...

Samira Shackle discusses with Ivan six things which she thinks should be better known. Samira Shackle is a freelance writer and reporter based in London. She is the editor of the New Humanist magazine, and a regular contributor to the Guardian Long Read. Her first book, Karachi Vice, is a work of narrative nonfiction telling the story of five ordinary citizens of Pakistan's largest city. Private c...

Sam Bowman discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Sam Bowman is director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics, Portland. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, a Non-Executive Director of the drug policy think tank Volteface, and Founder of the Entrepreneurs Network. He was previously Executive Director of the Ad...

Terence Blacker discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Terence Blacker is a songwriter, singer and author who has sung and read at festivals, clubs and theatres in the UK, Europe and America. He was already an established author when he started writing and performing his songs in 2009. His musical storytelling – offbeat, funny songs capturing the lives of modern-day...

Will Hutton discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Will Hutton is co-chair of The Purposeful Company. He was Principal of Hertford College, University of Oxford from 2011 to 2020, and Chair of the Big Innovation Centre, an initiative from the Work Foundation. He was chief executive of the Work Foundation from 2000 to 2008. He was formerly editor-in-chief for The Obs...

Writer Deborah Moggach discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Deborah Moggach has written 21 novels, including Tulip Fever and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, both of which were made into movies. She has adapted many of my own and others' work, including the BAFTA-nominated Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley, and The Diary of Anne Frank. Her latest novel is The Car...