Podcasts you like

[mongers]

This looks quite interesting, has David Mitchell in it as well:

Septimius Severus

Severus
Drama on 4

Starring Paterson Joseph as Severus, Adjoa Andoh as Julia his wife, and David Mitchell as the physician, this is a non-audience comedy drama with strong characters and a richly evoked atmosphere of the little told tale of the time that the United Kingdom (as we know it now) had African rulers.

Libyan born Severus, his Syrian wife Julia and their two strapping young sons Antoninus and Geta were celebrated across the empire as the perfect royal family. A symbol of the civility and harmony of Rome. So when they came to York in 209AD, many were amazed that the most powerful man in the world had chosen to call these shores "home". After all, Britannia was the centre of nothing; a troublesome backwater that had never been truly pacified; in the eyes of every cosmopolitan Roman citizen, it was the arse-end of the world. So why were they here?

Our story is told through the cloudy recollections of Severus to his Christian physician, Sammonicus , as the emperor ails in bed, the fetid smell of his bandaged gouty foot filling the air. Through his ill-tempered haze he slowly pieces together where he is, why and, most importantly, how he can hang on to his foot.

Written by Paterson Joseph (Peep Show, Noughts and Crosses, Vigil) and David Reed (Penny Dreadfuls sketch group and author of 10 comedy plays for Radio 4).

This programme was first broadcast in July 2022.

Paterson Joseph... Septimius Severus
Adjoa Andoh...Julia
David Mitchell...Sammonicus
Cyril Nri...Gaius
John Macmillan...Antoninus
Ben Scheck...Geta
Alix Dunmore..Silver Leg
David Reed...Governor Senecio

44 minutes 

[crazy canuck]

Hey Valmy, this one's got your name written all over it

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/in-our-time/id73330895?i=1000683779410

[Valmy]

Hey Valmy, this one's got your name written all over it

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/in-our-time/id73330895?i=1000683779410

Literally!

[Sheilbh]

On In Our Time - I absolutely loved the episode either before or after that on slime moulds.

My favourite In Our Times are always totally random scientific ones I knew nothing about before - like ones on echolocation or the evolution of teeth.

[mongers]

On In Our Time - I absolutely loved the episode either before or after that on slime moulds.

My favourite In Our Times are always totally random scientific ones I knew nothing about before - like ones on echolocation or the evolution of teeth.

_Misha Glenney will present 'In Our Time' from next year.

Seems like a bloody good choice, I think he'll be a worthy successor to Bragg.

[Norgy]

I wish you knew Norwegian.

My favourite is "Nervøse Tider", a literal translation is "Nervous Times". The title might suggest it is about today, it is not, but rather a fully radio theatre of the rise of fascism, "alternative" faiths and the class struggle in Norway in the 1920s and 1930s.

Made on a shoestring budget, it has the best production value of all Norwegian language podcasts.

[mongers]

A two part radio drama about the possible nature of the relationship between Shakespeare and the Earl of Southampton:

Drama on 4 - Nick Dear's Dedication

Might interest one or two here. 

[mongers]

Unalloyed joy from this, the story of a Laurel and Hardy visit to Britain in 1953:

When Laurel and Hardy spent Christmas at an English pub

In December 1953, Hollywood film stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy spent a few weeks at the Bull Inn, Bottesford, Leicestershire, while they performed a show at the nearby Nottingham Empire.

Stan's sister, Olga Healey, was the landlady. Customers and staff said the duo spent time serving behind the bar, signing autographs and chatting with regulars.

Only a 10 minutes listen.

[Syt]

A couple of months ago Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk started their podcast "Once we were Spacemen" where they talk about ... well, it's all over the place. But these are two guys who are just enjoyable to listen to. And every other show or so they have guests (so far mostly Firefly co-stars).

A few weeks ago, Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner started their "Dropping Names" podcast. Where Fillion/Tudyk are audio only and usually via zoom or similar, they have a proper studio setup with in person guests and keep dropping names. Similarly fun to listen to, of course.

Yesterday's "Once we were Spacemen" added a new sound effect to their existing repertoire for name drops. And lo and behold ... what do I see on YouTube today? Nathan and Alan on Dropping Names. Haven't listened yet, but coincidence? I think not!

[Valmy]

So I was delighted to see the recent Behind the Bastards podcast on Phil Spector, one of the most deranged, bizarre, and insane people in 1960s music. Who, if any of you recall, suddenly popped up in the news 20 years ago for having murdered a woman. So I listened to it and it was...exactly what I hoped it would be. What a bizarre and ridiculous maniac. A man so insane he terrified John Lennon.

Anyway Phil Spector was every bit as monstrous as I thought...but also kind of whimsical.

Anyway it is great and horrifying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PeDoL9RU0o&t=0s

So the next series was another guy connected to 1960s music...Jimmy Savile. Who the fuck is that? So I thought I would listen and find out...

So...holy shit. There is another Jeffrey Epstein? Like possibly even more evil?

And he was on some show called Top of the Pops in the UK so he was only sort of connected the 1960s music. He wasn't a musical guy at all so no wonder I didn't know much about him.

So crazy that there is a British Jeffrey Epstein that I had never previously heard of and Prince Andrew somehow survived being closely connected to him only to get busted through being connected to Jeffrey Epstein...or maybe the American Jimmy Saville.

That was an incredible story. Like I know Behind the Bastards isn't a history show and they don't get everything right but wow.

[Syt]

I'm still like 4 or 5 years behind on my catch up with Behind the Bastards

I think there were languish threads about Jimmy Saville, actually.

[Valmy]

I'm still like 4 or 5 years behind on my catch up with Behind the Bastards

I think there were languish threads about Jimmy Saville, actually.

Probably with all the crazy shit that has been going on I must have forgotten.

[Syt]

It happens.

I like Behind the Bastards a lot, but I often need to take breaks from it because it's often just so depressing

[Valmy]

It happens.

I like Behind the Bastards a lot, but I often need to take breaks from it because it's often just so depressing

Well the fact that this Savile guy ran all these childrens hospitals through charity so he could sexually molest all the kids and everybody let him do it for decades was...um...I guess it never registered it was quite that depraved.

[Sheilbh]

Oh God - it's horrendous. Yeah I think Jimmy Savile is probably even more evil. The allegations against him - especially within institutional settings like hospitals, hospitals for the severely disabled, mental health institutions - are horrifying. I don't think there's any real reason to doubt those allegations given what we know to be true. I think he was profoundly evil.

I'm not sure I'd describe Prince Andrew as closely connected to Savile though. Like Andrew went to stay with Epstein, spent time with him. Savile lived in a caravan or a flat in Leeds. From my understanding, he didn't really have any "friends". He didn't spend time with people in a social way. It was always about him doing things to form connections that would make him more and more untouchable both from fame and charity work - from local police and politicians to the BBC, NHS, celebrities, national politicians and royals. Savile "knew" the royals and senior politicians but by all accounts no-one really "knew" him - he was always on, he was always playing his public persona. So unlike Epstein I don't think Savile was ever hosting or that there was any sort of "network" around him - I think basically the world was people he would abuse or have power over or people he'd fawn over and present his philanthropic side to in order to gain fame and a sense of untouchability to enable more abuse.

But there were absolutely other similar offenders. The revelations about Savile led to a huge number of police investigations into historic child sexual abuse allegations. They uncovered other national treasure celebrities had been serial abusers such as Rolf Harris (of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport", "Two Little Boys" and a cover of "Waltzing Matilda" fame) or Sir Cyril Smith long-standing Liberal MP (and former council leader) for Rochdale who was a serial abuser of boys in reformatory schools (Borstals). There were some other DJs and TV figures too - particularly within the BBC (there's a fantastic LRB essay on the BBC in this).

It then degenerates. So as well as having Epstein before Epstein, we also had something like QAnon before QAnon. A lot of the allegations ended up focusing on prominent public figures, mainly in politics, who were or were believed to be gay (former Tory Prime Minister Ted Heath, ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor, Christian soft rocker Cliff Richards) or were Jewish, or both (former Tory politician Leon Brittan). A lot of allegations came from one person and were extraordinarily lurid. He was alleging satanic cults, sexual abuse and child sacrifices by generally Tory politicians and former senior military figures (as I say generally Jewish or believed to be gay) in Westminster flats. A lot of fairly unsubstantiated allegations were repeated under parliamentary privilege by some Labour MPs (including future Labour Deputy Leader, Tom Watson). And the police were basically giving a running commentary on allegations so there were TV cameras ready when they raided Cliff Richards' and Harvey Proctor's homes (this is where some of the recent reporting restrictions came from).

After several years, those allegations were found to be false and he ended up being prosecuted. It started to turn when Harvey Proctor basically spoke publicly and his basic line was "I'm gay. I'm not a child murderer and I'm not a paedophile" - no evidence was ever found against him. In the end all of those men were completely exonerated and won very significant payouts from the police for leaking to the press that they'd been accused of being part of child sexual abuse rings and murder. There was not child sexual abuse and possible satanic sacrifice ring at the top of 70s British politics run by gay and Jewish Tories. In the course of their investigation into the guy making those allegations it turned out he was in fact in possession of child sexual abuse material and appears to have been a serial offender himself.