Getting Better Acquainted

In GBA 302 we get better acquainted with Nicole Henriksen. She talks about stripping, making comedy, making theatre, flyering and other forms of work and performance, being vulnerable and open in a world that discourages these qualities, living with anxiety and being a robot in human skin. I also go into some detail about my own journey through understanding my mental health covering self diagnosi...

This Getting Better Acquainted Extra features 3 stories I told at Spark London about various kinds of adulthood and various ways that I've grown up and grown out over the years. Content Note: Some references to trauma and discussion of sex, sexuality and substance use. Mentioned: Spark London: http://stories.co.uk/ The Family Tree: http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/ What About the Men? Mansplainin...

In GBA 301 we get better acquainted with Dr Nira Chamberlain. He talks about the history of black mathematicians, his personal journey from being a child told by his careers adviser that he couldn't be a mathematician to getting a PHD in maths and becoming the first black mathematician to be included in the Who's Who, how the women from Hidden Figures could have been his role-models, the real worl...

To celebrate the 300th episode of GBA I'm putting out a season of 3 special episodes, which ends with today's GBA Extra. Most of today's episode was produced, performed and arranged by Martin Zaltz Austwick: http://www.martinzaltzaustwick.com/ The sample used in today's episode was taken from GBA 38 Karl James: https://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-38-karl-james Help more people get b...

To celebrate the 300th episode of GBA I'm putting out a season of 3 special episodes, which continues with today's conversation. In many ways this feels like a regular GBA episode and is a good example for new listeners of what the show is usually like. It's also a conversation with someone who it's taken 299 episodes to persuade to come on as a guest. Part of the motivation for that is encourage...

To celebrate the 300th episode of GBA I'm putting out a season of 3 special episodes, starting with today's Episode 1 Revisited which is in some ways a conversation between two different versions of me, the 2011 Dave and the 2017 Dave. This episode contains the original audio from Episode 1 with a new commentary and reflection on that material. Episode 1 focused on introducing me, featuring audio...

In part 2 of this two part GBA special we join my 93 year old dad on the second day of a two day trip to some of the places where he grew up. My dad had wanted to take this trip for a while and me and my little sister (technically my half sister) managed to arrange to take him in February 2017. My 12 year old niece is the last member of the team on this roadtrip adventure. In this episode we visit...

In part 1 of this two part GBA special we join my 93 year old dad on a two day trip to some of the places where he grew up. My dad had wanted to take this trip for a while and me and my little sister (technically my half sister) managed to arrange to take him in February 2017. My 12 year old niece is the last member of the team on this roadtrip adventure. In this episode we travel from London to m...

In GBA 298 we get better acquainted with Juliet Meyers and the flipping rescue dog that ruined her life, otherwise known as Homer. We talk dogs, wolves, comedy, dogs, storytelling, dogs and more dogs as we swap dog stories and consider the complexities of getting a dog and the love and anxiety dogs can bring to dog owners. Juliet plugs: Her show Juliet Meyers - This Flipping Rescue Dog Has Ruined...

In GBA 297 we get better acquainted with Andre. He talks about transformation and change in his life and work. Our conversation covers education, dialogue, theology, writing, psychology, acting and so much more. He shares the "origin story" of how he exchanged his adopted name for the original one on his birth certificate, how he became a Priest finally (after being rejected first time round) only...

In GBA 296 we get better acquainted with Susie. She talks about financial systems, international trade, the influence of empire, Adam Smith, comedy, walking tours of capitalism, dualism, class, Simon Amstell, awkwardness and so much more. It's a fun and awkward conversation about a whole range of really big topics containing a description of meeting me where I give the most On Brand first impressi...

In GBA 295 we get better acquainted with Joseph. He talks about acting, anti-bullying advocacy, impostor syndrome, sexuality, vulnerability, social commentary and so much more. We also spend a good chunk of the beginning of our conversation talking about activism and action within the current political climate, which includes a potted history of my own (pretty inactive) activism, the rise of moder...

In GBA 294 we get better acquainted with Charmian. She talks about finding your feet at unexpected moments, talking to your past selves, wanting to be a centaur, school reports as first reviews, complicated families, how bullies bring out her inner vigilante and so much more. Charmian plugs: Soixante Mirth: http://charmianhughes.co.uk/ at the Brighton Fringe 7,8,14,15 May 8.20pm Blue Man: https://...

In GBA 293 we get better acquainted with Kobi. He talks about being excellent to each other, making and listening to podcasts, what he didn't get from further education, moving from chemical engineering to digital marketing consultancy, learning languages and music, coming to terms with Brexit and mortality and so much more. Kobi plugs: Flixwatcher: http://flixwatcher.tv/ Kobestarr Digital: http:/...

In GBA 292 we get better acquainted with Elle. She talks about being "the most boring kind of twin", the stories behind dead teeth, talking to Hugh Grant about hand cramp, being expelled from school, being the class clown, working in TV, radio and podcasting, the pros and cons of confrontation and openness and so much more. We swap stories of complicated school lives, discuss how passing exams can...

This Getting Better Acquainted Extra is a true story I told at Spark London about how getting nominated for the British Podcast Awards sent me into a spiral of anxiety and depression as I found myself flashing back to a horrible experience I had at a school talent show when I was 15. Content Note: bullying, reference to suicide Mentioned: Spark London: http://stories.co.uk/ British Podcast Awards:...

In GBA 291 we get better acquainted with Andrew. We talk about history, culture, politics, education, learning to understand your privilege, the history of genocide and ethnic cleansing, who Belle should have ended up with at the end of Beauty and the Beast, being conscious of language and word choices, Power Rangers, the influence of fear on cultural development, why I hate the Lego Batman movie...

This Getting Better Acquainted Extra features two stories told at Spark London nights and one told at a storytelling event I hosted in Warwick. Plus a new song. Mentioned: Spark London: http://stories.co.uk/ Next Brixton Night: 3rd April https://www.facebook.com/events/1891953977747487/ Next Hackney Night: April 10th https://www.facebook.com/events/263159014125695/ The new song is called Isthmus a...

In GBA 290 we get better acquainted with Hamja Ahsan. He talks about his forthcoming book Shy Radicals, the zine festival DIY Cultures that he curates for, the successful campaign to free his brother Talha Ahsan, society as a teen movie, being bullied at school, mental health issues, male suicide, the history of state crimes, imprisonment, extradition and internment and so much more. Content note:...

In GBA 289 we get better acquainted with Shane Solanki. We talk about identity, belonging, sustainability, masculinity, storytelling, time, science, art, connection, pain, love, change and lots more. It's a really wide ranging conversation which is both very theoretical and very personal, recorded on a sunny spring Saturday morning on a balcony overlooking a canal in Hackney Wick. Content note: me...

This is the second episode of a new strand of GBA called GBA Replayed which showcases some of the conversations recorded in the early years of Getting Better Acquainted. Part of the reason for me re-releasing this episode is that Elspeth has a cause that she would like people to know about which is highlighted in the introduction. Register For Ruby: http://www.registerforruby.com/ Ruby desperately...

This is the first episode of a new strand of GBA called GBA Replayed which showcases some of the conversations recorded in the early years of Getting Better Acquainted. As mentioned in the intro, Sam did came back on for follow up conversation a couple of years later: https://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-128-sam-2 __________________ In GBA 18 we get better acquainted with Sam. She ta...

In GBA 288 we get better acquainted with Peta Lily We talk about making performance from our personal lives, dark clowns and red nose clowns, creating solo shows, gender, identity, movement, memory, memoir, mime, physical theatre, bodies and lots more. Content note: bereavement, breast cancer She plugs: Her workshops: http://www.petalily.com/ Her shows: https://www.facebook.com/Peta-Lily-Shows-301...

This Getting Better Acquainted Extra starts with a story I told at a Spark London night about mental heath in November 2016 and then jumps to Feb 2017 to continue the story. It's all about therapy, mental health, diagnosis and the relationship between the personal and the political. Mentioned Spark London: http://stories.co.uk/ Hackney Night: https://www.facebook.com/events/1362423493814282/ Spark...

In GBA 287 we get better acquainted with Sophie Bailey who makes The Edtech Podcast, a podcast that gets behind the personalities in global education innovation and edtech. We talk about how she came to make a podcast that explores the intersection and conversation between education and technology, working in TV development, independent book publishing and event planning, growing up on the Isle of...