Episode summary: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great Roman military disaster of 9 AD when Germanic tribes under Arminius ambushed and destroyed three legions under Varus. According to Suetonius, emperor Augustus hit his head against the wall when he heard the news, calling on Varus to give him...
Episode summary: We talk to Shahin Vallee, former economics advisor to Emmanuel Macron, about the state of the Macron presidency: from the gilets jaunes to the pensions protests, from dealing with Merkel to facing off with Putin, and from now to the next presidential election in 2022. Did Macron sav...
Episode summary: In this episode, David and Rosemary look at their automations surrounding capture and review. Between Shortcuts and web based automations, Drafts and URL schemes there’s plenty you can automate.
Episode summary: WATER – Laurie Taylor explores the cultural life of a natural substance. Sophie Watson, Professor of Sociology at the Open University, considers the taken for granted-ness of this vital fluid and the everyday connections it forges amongst human beings. They’re joined by Benjamin J....
Episode summary: Could we really fix gridlock in the Senate by creating new states? Malcolm revisits the “Divide and Conquer” episode from Season 3 in an interview on Deep Background with Noah Feldman, the newest podcast from Pushkin Industries. “Divide and Conquer” covered Texas’s right to divide i...
Episode summary: The story of how “Who Let The Dogs Out” ended up stuck in all of our brains goes back decades and spans continents. It tells us something about inspiration, and how creativity spreads, and about whether an idea can ever really belong to just one person. About ten years ago, Ben Sist...
Episode summary: The black belt test at Studio Naga is a 48-hour ordeal with no sleep. By the second night, students are running on pure adrenaline when they arrive to an unknown location blindfolded in the dark. Then, it’s time to fight.
Episode summary: The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts. Help support this show and the network that makes it possible by making a donation today. Make your mark at Radiotopia.fm/donate A note on shownotes. In a perfect world, you...
Episode summary: We all know that you should never smile at a crocodile, but rumour has it that alligators are great perambulators – at least that’s what a booklet about Florida’s wildlife claimed. Tim Harford speaks to John Hutchinson, Professor of evolutionary bio-mechanics to see whether he could...
Episode summary: We talk about two countries going through dramatic democratic change: Ireland, where Sinn Féin came top of the vote in last weekend’s general election, and Italy, where the Sardines are the latest movement trying to shake up the system. What does the Irish vote tell us about the col...