Jordan Prosser discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jordan Prosser is a writer, filmmaker and performer from Victoria, Australia. He is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, and his short films and screenplays have won multiple international accolades. His short story Eleuterio Cabrera’s Beautiful Game won the Peter Carey Short Story Award in 2022 and was published in Meanjin. Big Time is his debut novel.

1. The Philippines. I had the privilege of traveling to and working in the Philippines a number of times throughout the 2010s. It’s one of my favourite places on earth, but I feel like, very generally speaking, it doesn’t loom as large in the Western consciousness as it could or rightly ought to. Not merely in terms of its travel destinations, but its food, its cultural output – everything!
2. Ivan Sen. Perhaps my favourite Australian filmmaker, helmer of Mystery Road and Goldstone and their multiple spin-off TV series, which are just as good and as specific to the Australian outback as Scand-noirs are to their cultures and landscapes.
3. Wikipedia’s ‘Timeline of the far future’ and ‘Ultimate fate of the universe’ pages. Every year has its own dedicated Wikipedia page, including years in the future. Around the 24th century, you get taken to the ‘Timeline of the far future’ page, then the ‘Ultimate fate of the universe’ page, which lists the myriad ways in which life on earth and the universe as a whole might one day perish. Basically, you can surf Wikipedia to the very end of time.
4. Andy Shauf. For my money, one of the best singer-songwriters of our generation, and something of a folk genius in the lineage of the Donovans and Nick Drakes of the world. His 2015 album The Bearer of Bad News is a modern-day Nebraska.
5. How LLMs actually work. Which is to say: they are statistical models based on pattern recognition and predictability, powered by tremendous amounts of data and processing power. Big tech marketing has seduced so many into seeing them as quasi-mystical entities, when really, they’re glorified spreadsheets.
6. Eggnog. Probably the finest beverage on earth, but when you mention it, in Australia at least, people become mystified and their eyes immediately glaze over. I inherited my recipe from my (American) mother and make it every year at Christmas.

Michel-Yves Bolloré discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Michel-Yves Bolloré is an engineer and entrepreneur whose career spans industrial innovation and philanthropic investment in education. A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieur de Toulouse and Paris-Dauphine University (Master of Science and Doctorate in Business Administration), he began his career in the family business, managing the Bolloré Group’s industrial division from 1981 to 1990. In 1990, he founded France Essor, an industrial group that led major ventures in mechanical engineering, and steel manufacturing.

Since relocating to London in 2011, he has focused on educational and cultural projects. He founded several schools, including The Laurels in London and Les Vignes in France. He is also a Knight of the Legion of Honor. His new book, co-written with Olivier Bonnassies, is God, Science, the Evidence.

1. Sometimes major discoveries result from human errors, but in that case two errors are frequently better than one

2. Isabella of Spain’s decision to finance the Christopher Colombus project

3. The Middle Ages, incorrectly called “Dark Age”, has seen many crucial inventions which opened the door to a prosperous Renaissance Epoch: Example: invention of glasses, industrialization of paper manufacturing, creation of universities.

4. US scientists believe more frequently in the existence of God than people think.

5. Nature is more finely tuned than we think: an example with squirrels which luckily have a bad memory and a bad sight.

6. The origin of the word Palestine

Simon Hall discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Simon Hall studied history at Sheffield and Cambridge, and held a Fox International Fellowship at Yale, before moving to the University of Leeds, where he is currently Professor of Modern History. His previous books include 1956: The World in Revolt and Ten Days in Harlem: Fidel Castro and the Making of the 1960s. His new book is Three Revolutions.

1. King Cnut and the tide https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-king-cnut-canute-who-was-he/
2. Hungarian paprika https://www.timeout.com/budapest/restaurants/hungary-paprika-cuisine-history
3. Nixon’s love of bowling https://www.messynessychic.com/2015/08/19/bowling-with-mr-president-beneath-the-white-house/
4. Simon of the Desert https://larsenonfilm.com/simon-of-the-desert
5. Bridlington south beach https://www.eastridingcoastandcountryside.co.uk/places-to-visit/find-a-place/place/?entry=bridlington_south_beach
6. Martin Luther King’s sense of humour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZw6iT_gcL8

Kasim Ali discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Kasim Aliwas born and raised in Alum Rock, Birmingham, where he spent the first eighteen years of his life, at which point he left to study a degree in English. Over the years, he has lived in London, Nottingham, and Newcastle, but still thinks of Birmingham as the place he’s from. He has had a short story long-listed for the B4ME story, has written fiction for BBC Radio 4, and has a column at The Bookseller. Currently, he works as an editor in publishing. Good Intentions was his first novel, Who Will Remain his second.

1. Tar directed and written by Todd Field https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/11/tar-review-cate-blanchett-is-perfect-lead-in-delirious-sensual-drama
2. The Incarnations by Susan Barker https://savidgereads.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/the-incarnations-susan-barker/
3. The Leftovers TV show, 2014-2017, Damon Lindelof creator, based on book by Tom Perrotta https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/believe-in-the-power-of-hbos-the-leftovers
4. Scrambled eggs – simple version (plus ‘smoked bread’)
5. Ex.Re – album of Elena Tonra, lead singer of band Daughter https://hearingaidmagazine.com/exre-album-review
6. Disney Plus, Devil Wears Prada, trailer button is cerulean scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rDTRuCOs9g

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

Sally Smith spent all her working life as a barrister and later KC in the Inner Temple. After writing a biography of the Edwardian barrister Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC, she retired from the bar to write full time. A Case of Mice and Murder, her first novel, was inspired by the historic surroundings of the Inner Temple in which she still lives and works and was the first in a series starring the reluctant sleuth Sir Gabriel Ward KC. A Case of Mice and Murder was longlisted for the 2025 CWA Whodunnit and Historical Daggers. Her new novel is A Case of Life and Limb.

1. The Temple (Inner and Middle) and its round church, off Fleet Street London.  https://www.templechurch.com/royal-charter/the-inns

2. The mysterious ‘Roman‘ Bath (built  1612) Strand Lane London, next to disused Aldwych Underground Station  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths,_Strand_Lane

3. By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept by Elizabeth Smart https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v13/n04/julian-symons/urgent

4. I capture the castle written 1949 by Dodie Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrGtmuTP_7k

5. The Hawstead Panels in Christchurch Mansion Museum, Ipswich. (Also called Lady Drury’s closet’) https://ipswich.cimuseums.org.uk/visit/christchurch-mansion/

6. The Glandford Shell Museum https://www.shellmuseum.org.uk/

Hal LaCroix discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Hal LaCroix lives outside Boston with his wife, Elahna. He has worked as a journalist at newspapers in New England, a reporter and editor at Harvard Medical School, a conservation writer for non-profits and an instructor at Boston University. Here and Beyond is his first novel. You can read a review.

1. Senator Charles Sumner. Sumner was a mid-19^th century senator with laser focus on one issue: slavery. Grew up in a racially diverse neighborhood on edge of Beacon Hill. His father was an abolitionist. Sumner saw how blacks were treated decently during his time in France, then represented a child in a Boston school discrimination case (lost). He had a profound impact on Lincoln, pushing him to expand rights of African Americans after emancipation. Sumner became epic villain in Confederacy, where souvenir canes commemorated the beating were hot items.

2. Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mt. Fuji. Fuji is sacred, a symbol of Japan. The most well-known Hokusai print is Fuji dwarfed by the Great Wave off Kanagawa. The 36 mostly long-range views, all around the compass, provide a wraparound view of Japanese life in 1831.

3. Exoplanets. More than 5,000 have been confirmed so far, out of hundreds of billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy. Until the 1990s no one even knew if there were any planets outside our solar system!

4. Wingspan. This is a board game about birds that my wife and I are a bit obsessed with. Each player has a board with forest, grassland and water habitats. Plus, dice and cards and food and eggs and hundreds of cards, each with a beautiful drawing of a bird.

5. Boston Cream Pie and Boston Cream Donuts. My grandfather used to bring cakes and pies when he visited us on Cape Cod. He’d pull up in his Oldsmobile Cutlass with all these white boxes tied with string from Montilio’s bakery.

6. We Need a Global, Unifying Mission. We live on a planet with 8.2 billion people and the vast majority of us just know our neighborhood, our route back and forth to work. But on the spinning ark ship in Here and Beyond, the entire world is visible within the sphere. You look up and see buildings upside down, people upside down.

Peter Lamont discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Peter Lamont is Professor of History and Theory of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. He has written about a variety of curious topics such as magic, belief, wonder and critical thinking. He is also a former professional magician and an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle. His new book is Radical Thinking.

1. The Radical Road https://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/history-blogs/edinburghs-radical-road-its-history-its-uncertain-future/

2. Encyclopaedia Britannica (2nd edition) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Second_Edition

3. Daniel Dunglas Home https://www.otislibrarynorwich.org/2024/01/04/daniel-dunglas-home/

4. The original Self-help book https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v26/n04/peter-mandler/gold-out-of-straw

5. Alternative points of view https://ajehrenberg.medium.com/the-importance-of-alternative-perspectives-cac0f447737b

6. The past https://www.mooc.org/blog/why-is-it-important-to-study-history

Sarah Stein Lubrano discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano holds a PhD from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. Her thinking often reaches the public through the Sense and Solidarity Initiative and the Future Narratives Lab. She was previously the Head of Content at The School of Life, tutored in prisons and wrote obituaries. She regularly appears on public radio and a variety of podcasts. Her latest book is Don’t Talk About Politics.

1. Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/reading-a-novel-set-entirely-in-slack
2. The game Billionaires and Guillotines https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745398808/billionaires-and-guillotines/
3. Looking at other people’s algorithms https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-algorithms/
4. The play Sancho and Me by Paterson Joseph https://www.sanchoproductions.co.uk/
5. The band Japanese house https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Japanese_House
6. Cooperation Town https://cooperation.town/

Sarah Dunant discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Sarah Dunant studied history at Newnham College, Cambridge from where she went on to become a writer, broadcaster, teacher and critic. She has written twelve novels, four of which have been short-listed for awards, and edited two books of essays. She is an accredited lecturer with The Arts Society, lecturing on Italian history and renaissance art, has taught renaissance studies at Washington University, St Louis and creative writing at University of Oxford Brookes. Her new novel is The Marchesa.

1. The Discovery of the Laocoon, 1^st century roman sculpture in Rome in 1506. One of those fluke stories history throws up that just gets richer and richer the more you dig (literally) into it.

2. Erich Maria Remarque. He was a 17-year-old soldier in World War One, who goes on to to write the most famous novel on war. He ends up in Switzerland with a Hollywood film star wife, Paulette Goddard.

3. The Last Supper by Plautilla Nelli. In the museum of Santa Maria Novella – a great church in Florence, there is a painting of the Last Supper done in the 1560s, by a nun who spent her whole life in a convent in Florence, who was entirely self-taught as a painter

4. Newark Park. It started as a Tudor hunting lodge. It was donated to the National Trust in 1949 and, in a state of decay, was then saved by an American, Bob Parsons.

5. Sailing to Philadelphia by Mark Knopfler. This is like listening to a short story by John Carver. American poet and master of realism and creating worlds within a couple of pages.

6. Machiavelli’s Farm House. This is the place where Machiavelli went after he lost his job as a diplomat in Florence and was sent into exile in 1512.

AE Gauntlett discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

AE Gauntlett completed an MA in English Literature at King’s College London in 2010. He then went on to find success as a literary agent with Peters Fraser and Dunlop, earning himself a prestigious Shooting Star nomination from The Bookseller in 2017. The Stranger at the Wedding, written secretly as he represented the work of his numerous bestselling authors, marks Gauntlett’s literary debut.

1. How the Dutch traded Manhattan for nutmeg https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/island-traded-for-manhattan
2. The Nightmovers: Japanese service to help people disappear. https://www.bbc.co.uk/worklife/article/20200903-the-companies-that-help-people-vanish
3. The moment the Porsche 911 was almost killed off https://turo.com/blog/gearheads/how-the-porsche-911-almost-died/
4. Jean Purdy, British embryologist, pioneer of IVF with Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/history/blog/2025/reclaiming-jean-purdys-legacy/
5. The Lake Bodom Murders https://vocal.media/history/the-lake-bodom-murders-finland-s-unsolved-mystery
6. How to get published/ what literary agents really want to see in a submission letter https://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/2025/04/what-agents-are-really-looking-for/