Delayed Gratification co-founders Rob Orchard and Marcus Webb discuss with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Rob Orchard and Marcus Webb are co-founders of Delayed Gratification, the world’s first Slow Journalism magazine, launched in 2011. Delayed Gratification revisits events after the dust has settled and makes a virtue of being “Last to Breaking News.”
Rob and Marcus have been named Independent Editors of the Year three times by the British Society of Magazine Editors. Prior to launching the magazine, both Rob and Marcus worked for Time Out and have written for Esquire, Time and the Guardian.
Delayed Gratification has been profiled by media organisations including the New Yorker, the Telegraph, the Economist, El Mundo and Die Zeit. The pair have spoken about Slow Journalism on ABC, PBS, the BBC and Sky News as well as in an influential Tedx talk.
Along with Delayed Gratification’s art director Christian, Rob and Marcus are co-authors of An Answer For Everything, the critically acclaimed book of infographics published by Bloomsbury. Their new book Misc., a compendium of delightfully random facts discovered in 13 years of research for the magazine, was published by Bloomsbury in October 2024.
1. Drowning people pulled from the Thames used to be treated with tobacco enemas https://bcmj.org/special-feature/special-feature-tobacco-smoke-enemas
2. Andre Agassi used Boris Becker’s tongue to win tennis matches https://www.businessinsider.com/andre-agassi-beat-boris-becker-watching-tongue-serves-2021-4
3. Life on Mars sounds horrible https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2845199/
4. Movie star Hedy Lamarr is the unsung heroine of Bluetooth https://www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/02/28/hedy-lamarr-the-incredible-mind-behind-secure-wi-fi-gps-bluetooth/
5. One hardy entomologist set himself the task of being bitten by as many insects as possible, and recorded the experiences in lyrical prose https://www.chemistryworld.com/careers/the-man-who-gets-stung-by-insects/2500173.article
6. Many of the very worst films ever released have made more than half a billion dollars at the box office https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films
Better Known 