Rebeca Ramos is a Venezuela-born architect and designer. Her international body of work includes of multi-disciplinary projects recognised for their design quality, cultural relevance and technological innovation. She led the design and delivery of the multi-award winning Maggie’s Leeds; as well as the strategic definition of Google’s largest urban Campus based in California.
Rebeca founded Studio RARE inn 2021 as the culmination of 16+ years of international practice in architecture, media and the arts. Blending creative disciplines, RARE leverages emerging technologies to re-imagine how we create, develop and experience places, environments and cultural artefacts. The aim is to create meaningful projects with lasting impact, using international thought leadership and innovation to enhance the unique spirit of local contexts and cultures.

She was the first and youngest appointed female Project Leader at Heatherwick Studio, and first Latin-American woman to fill the position in 2015. She has been featured in Bloomberg UK and Business Insider, with  projects reviewed and acclaimed in the international design press.

1. Home television series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(2020_TV_series)

2. Tribal storytelling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_in_Venezuela

3. The art of repair https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/aug/22/back-for-good-the-fine-art-of-repairing-broken-things

4. The artistic, cultural and architectural history of Venezuela https://www.admiddleeast.com/architecture-interiors/homes/gio-pontis-planchart-villa-in-venuzuala-is-an-icon-of-mid-century-modern-design

5. Emotional language https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/learn-nonviolent-communication/feelings/

6. The Timeless Way of Building https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/rtf-architectural-reviews/a4713-book-in-focus-the-timeless-way-of-building-by-christopher-alexander/

Subhadra Das discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Subhadra Das is a researcher and storyteller who looks at the relationship between science and society. She specialises in the history and philosophy of science, particularly the history of scientific racism and eugenics, and what those histories mean for our lives today. For nine years, she was Curator of the Science Collections at University College London, and also Researcher in Critical Eugenics at the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation. She has written and presented podcasts, curated museum exhibitions, done stand-up comedy and regularly appears on radio and tv. Her first book, (Un)Civilised: 10 Lies That Made The West comes out in May 2023.

1. Francis Galton https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/2015/10/22/francis-galton-and-the-history-of-eugenics-at-ucl/

2. Alok Vaid Menon https://www.instagram.com/alokvmenon

3. Alabama 3 https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/apr/04/artsfeatures.popandrock

4. Gaudy Night https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/an-overlooked-novel-from-1935-by-the-godmother-of-feminist-detective-fiction

5. Pocket https://getpocket.com/

6. The Muppet Movie https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-muppet-movie-1979

Historian David O Stewart discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

A recovering lawyer and proud graduate of Curtis High School on Staten Island, David Stewart has published five books of history and four historical novels. His most recent nonfiction work, George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father, has won several awards and was a finalist for Mount Vernon’s George Washington Prize.  His most recent novel, The New Land, was inspired by family stories his mother told, and is the first of a trilogy. He lives in Maryland with his wife of 48 years, Nancy; they have three children and five grandchildren. His website is www.davidostewart.com.

His non-fiction books include The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution, Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy, Madison’s Gift:  Five Partnerships that Built America, and American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America.

His fiction books include The Lincoln Deception, The Paris Deception and The Babe Ruth Deception.

1. George Washington’s political skills https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_political_evolution

2. Philip Noel-Baker https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/231/Philip-Noel-Baker

3. The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/allison-symes-book-review-the-daughter-of-time-by-josephine-tey/

4. The Valle de los Caidos monument https://makespain.com/listing/valle-de-los-caidos/

5. The battles of Louisbourg in 1745 and 1758 https://www.thoughtco.com/french-indian-war-siege-of-louisbourg-2360795

6. The 1868 impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/impeachment/impeachment-johnson.htm

Novelist Lavie Tidhar discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Lavie Tidhar was born just ten miles from Armageddon and grew up on a kibbutz in northern Israel. He has since made his home in London, where he is currently a Visiting Professor and Writer in Residence at Richmond University. He won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize for Best British Fiction, was twice longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger Award and the Rome Prize. He co-wrote Art and War: Poetry, Pulp and Politics in Israeli Fiction, and is a columnist for the Washington Post. His latest novel is Maror, published by Head of Zeus.

1. Joseph Grimaldi’s grave https://londonist.com/london/videos/grimaldi-s-cave

2. Bislama http://www.pentecostisland.net/languages/bislama/guide.htm

3. Marek Hlasko http://cosmopolitanreview.com/killing-the-second-dog/

4. Rarg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EGIG-Sq5-c

5. Castro Mojito https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/beer-mojito

6. The Israeli Mafia https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/a-field-guide-to-israeli-organized-crime

Roma Agrawal discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Roma Agrawal MBE is a structural engineer and author with a physics degree.

She has designed bridges, skyscrapers and sculptures with signature architects. She spent six years working on The Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe, and designed the foundations and the ‘Spire’.

In addition to winning industry awards, she has been featured on BBC World News, BBC Daily Politics, TEDx, The Evening Standard, The Sunday Times, Guardian, The Telegraph, Independent, Cosmopolitan and Stylist Magazines. She was the only woman featured on Channel 4’s documentary on the Shard, The Tallest Tower. Her books include Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures and How Was That Built?

1. Bharata Natyam https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-dance/classical/bharatnatyam.html
2. Emily Warren Roebling https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2014/06/emily-warren-roebling.html
3. Foundations of structures https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-01-mn-55439-story.html
4. ICSI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracytoplasmic_sperm_injection
5. Chaat https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/chaat/
6. The science of knitting and crochet https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/science/math-physics-knitting-matsumoto.html

Tim Lott discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Tim Lott was born in Southall, West London in 1956. After a career in journalism, his first book, The Scent of Dried Roses, a memoir, was published in 1996 and won the PEN/JR Ackerley Prize for Autobiography.  His first novel, White City Blue, (1999) a contemporary portrait of friendship and rivalry between a group of young single men, won the Whitbread First Novel Award. It was followed by Rumours of a Hurricane (2002), a portrait of working class life in Britain in the 1980’s, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award.

Tim has been teaching writing for the last ten years, as a lecturer, teacher and individual mentor. He taught for three years at the Faber Academy, then moved to Guardian Masterclasses where he teaches individually and lectures with his partners John Yorke and Will Storr, collectively known as The Story Board. He has also taught creative writing at Brunel University and lectured at the University of East Anglia, the How To Academy, the Idler Academy, and the School of Life. His online mentoring course on Memoir is at TheNovelry.com.

1. Alan Watts https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/alan-watts-on-the-5-most-important-lessons-of-the-21st-century-6d1734aa6cf

2. The Game of the Goose http://ursuladubosarsky.squarespace.com/the-game-of-the-goose

3. Come and See https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-come-and-see-1985

4. Canelés https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/caneles

5. Hampstead Mixed Pond https://www.mixedpondassociation.org.uk/

6. The Fryer’s Delight https://www.timeout.com/london/news/step-back-in-time-at-this-old-school-fish-and-chip-shop-022522

Emma Smith discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford: her most recent book is Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers.

1. The plays of Thomas Middleton https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n23/michael-neill/old-dad-dead
2. New Lanark https://www.newlanark.org/
3. Abel Gance’s film Napoleon https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/10/napoleon-review-silent-era-epic-more-thrilling-than-ever
4. French 75s https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/french-75-cocktail
5. The Scrivener app https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
6. The jazz pianist Jan Johannson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Johansson_(jazz_musician)

Elisabeth Kendall discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Elisabeth Kendall is Mistress-elect of Girton College, Cambridge, and Senior Research Fellow in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Pembroke College, Oxford. Her current work examines how militant jihad groups exploit cultural traditions and local dynamics. Previously, she was at the Universities of Edinburgh and Harvard, and served as Director of a UK government-sponsored Centre focused on building Arabic-based research expertise. 

Elisabeth has lectured at governmental, military and scholarly institutions all around the world and is a frequent contributor to international television and print media. She also sits on a variety of international boards and is Chairman of a grass-roots NGO in eastern Yemen.

She has authored and edited several books, including Reclaiming Islamic Tradition and Twenty-First Century Jihad. She conceived of the “Essential Middle Eastern Vocabularies” series, which includes the following titles which she also authored: Diplomacy Arabic, Intelligence Arabic and Media Arabic. She is currently working on a new book called Rock Stars of Jihad. Elisabeth has spent significant time in the field, especially in Yemen.

She can be followed on Twitter https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/ElisabethKendall/videos

1. Craft chocolate https://www.greatbritishfoodawards.com/blog/9-british-craft-chocolate-bars-you-have-to-try

2. War in Yemen https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-yemen

3. The Great Courses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wondrium

4. The Lycian Way https://cultureroutesinturkey.com/the-lycian-way/

5. Elizabeth Welsh https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/events/elizabeth-welsh-1843-1921

6. Foreign languages https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40954948

In a change to the usual format, Ivan Wise discusses one thing which is Extremely Well-Known.

In April 1912, the world’s largest ocean liner, the Titanic, sank on the fourth day of its maiden voyage. Over 1500 of its passengers and crew drowned.

For 110 years, this story has dominated our consciousness. Its mix of innovative engineering, New York high society and tragedy on the high seas has been adapted for film and television numerous times, is a text book case in the study of hubris and has been a subplot in shows as wide-ranging as Doctor Who, Downton Abbey and Family Guy. Why has this story become so well-known? And why is it that we all know about the Titanic but not about all the other maritime disasters?

As a reward for those who have listened curiously to many hundreds of choices of which they have never heard, finally here is an episode about a subject which everyone can relate to.

Archive interview extracts are taken from the 1996 Radio Netherlands documentary Titanic: A 20th Century Parable.

Titanic https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17631595
13 Maritime disasters more tragic than the Titanic https://www.theshipyardblog.com/13-maritime-disasters-more-tragic-than-the-titanic/
Lusitania (1915) https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/18-minutes-that-shocked-the-world
Princess Alice disaster (1878) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44800309
Wilhelm Gustloff (1945) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deadliest-disaster-sea-happened-75-years-ago-yet-its-barely-known-why-180974077/

Andrew Martin discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Andrew Martin is a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction books, some of which have a railway theme. His ‘Jim Stringer’ thrillers are set on the British railways of the early 20th Century, and the latest of these is Powder Smoke.

His latest stand-alone novel is The Winker, about a 70s pop musician who winks at people, then kills them. 

His new book is a travelogue-cum-memoir about his native county, called Yorkshire – There and Back.

1. Scarborough https://www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/scarborough/things-to-do

2. Robert Robinson https://transdiffusion.org/2011/10/02/robert_robinson/

3. Bicycle saddle bags http://www.bikeroar.com/tips/to-saddle-bag-or-not-is-this-the-best-way-to-carry-gear-on-my-bike

4. Walter Wilkinson http://www.punchandjudy.com/wilkinson.htm

5. Sparklehorse https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9745-the-sad-and-beautiful-world-of-sparklehorses-mark-linkous/

6. Alan Godfrey Maps https://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/