Nigel Planer

Nigel Planer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Nigel Planer is an actor, writer and musician. He played Neil in the BBC comedy The Young Ones and Ralph Filthy in Filthy Rich & Catflap. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including original casts of Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His play, It’s Headed Straight Towards Us, is co-written with Adrian Edmondson, stars Samuel West and Rufus Hound, and is on at the Park Theatre, London. His latest book is Jeremiah Bourne in Time.

1. Myths of 20^th century leftist icons https://www.theguardian.com/politics/from-the-archive-blog/2019/may/01/eugenics-founding-fathers-british-socialism-archive-1997

2. Ambedkar and Mulk Raj Anand https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2023/02/27/book-review-ambedkar-in-london-by-william-gould-santosh-dass-and-christophe-jaffrelot/

3. Jane Jacobs https://www.nybooks.com/online/2012/03/30/jane-jacobs-neocons-health-care/

4. Anselm Keifer https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/03/anselm-kiefers-beautiful-ruins

5. Nenda Neururer https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10130242/

6. Learning languages https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2022/04/29/learning-language-changes-your-brain/

Danell Jones

Danell Jones discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Danell Jones is a writer with a PhD in literature from Columbia University. She is the author of The Virginia Woolf Writers Workshop; the poetry collection Desert Elegy; and An African in Imperial London, which won the High Plains Book Award for Nonfiction. Her newest book is The Girl Prince: Virginia Woolf, Race, and the Dreadnought Hoax.

1. Julia Margaret Cameron’s Photographs of Alamayou, Prince of Abyssinia https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1394113/d%C3%A8jatch-al%C3%A1mayou–b%C3%A1sha-f%C3%A9lika-photograph-cameron-julia-margaret/

2. Britons Through Negro Spectacles, by A.B.C. Merriman-Labor https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447069/britons-through-negro-spectacles-by-merriman-labor-abc/9780241559741

3. Public libraries https://www.neh.gov/article/complicated-role-modern-public-library

4. Sophie Stone performing All the World’s A Stage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbIOZZy54EM

5. California Highway 395 https://californiathroughmylens.com/highway-395-roadtrip/

6. London Calling by Una Marson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6xyJxC_yl4

Angus Jackson

Angus Jackson discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Angus Jackson is a screen and stage director and writer. For the screen he has directed the feature length film Elmina’s Kitchen for the BBC for which he was nominated for a BAFTA as best new director. For The Royal Shakespeare Company he has directed Oppenheimer, Don Quixote, Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. He wrote and directed Secret Cinema Presents Casino Royale in London and Shanghai in collaboration with Eon Productions.

1. Changing Lanes https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/changing-lanes-2002

2. Shostakovich’s 2nd piano concerto https://www.bso.org/works/piano-concerto-no-2-shostakovich

3. Coriolanus https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/22/politicians-people-coriolanus-rsc-shakespeare

4. Special v general relativity http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-general-relativity-and-special-relativity/

5. Movies based on ancient myths https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/aug/31/features.review87

6. Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards https://www.drawright.com/theory

Cathi Unsworth

Cathi Unsworth discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Cathi Unsworth is a novelist, writer and editor who lives and works in London. She began her career on the legendary music weekly Sounds at the age of 19. Her novels include The Not Knowing, Weirdo and That Old Black Magic. She is currently teaching novel writing for Curtis Brown Creative’s online platform. Her latest book is Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth.

1. The magazine Fortean Times https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-fortean-times.html

2. Discovering London’s secrets by going for long walks https://www.london-walking-tours.co.uk/secret-london/introduction.htm

3. The noir writer Derek Raymond https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/doors-closing-slowly-derek-raymonds-factory-novels/

4. The pop artist Pauline Boty https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/obituaries/pauline-boty-overlooked.html

5. The publishers London Books https://www.london-books.co.uk/

6. The musician Tim Smith https://thequietus.com/articles/31719-tim-smith-cardiacs-strange-world

Doreen Cunningham

Photo by Joanna Szymkiewicz

Doreen Cunningham is an Irish-British writer born in Wales. After studying engineering she worked briefly in climate related research at NERC and in storm modelling at Newcastle University, before turning to journalism. She worked for the BBC World Service as a international news presenter, editor, producer and reporter, for twenty years. She won the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award 2020, was shortlisted for the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writers Award 2021, and longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for writing on Global Conservation, for Soundings, her first book.

1. Composting toilets https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/dec/09/no-flush-movement-composting-toilet-clean-water-waste-fertiliser-eco-revolution

2. Earhart the grey whale https://www.pugetsoundexpress.com/10-gray-whale-sounders-have-returned/

3. Indigenous languages https://en.unesco.org/courier/2019-1/indigenous-languages-knowledge-and-hope

4. Travel-sickness remedy https://www.rivieratravel.co.uk/blog/12-ways-banish-seasickness

5. Regrowing spring onions https://www.allrecipes.com/article/save-money-diy-fresh-green-onions/

6. Take Me To Church by Sinéad O’Connor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMzY_KQIKjU&pp=ygUlVGFrZSBNZSBUbyBDaHVyY2ggYnkgU2luw6lhZCBPJ0Nvbm5vcg%3D%3D

Becky Smethurst

Becky Smethurst discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr Becky Smethurst is a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. She is the star of astronomy-themed You Tube channel Dr Becky. Her current research is trying to answer the question, “How do galaxies and black holes evolve together?” Her latest book is A Brief History of Black Holes.

1. Black holes are neither “black” nor “holes” www.panmacmillan.com/authors/dr-becky-smethurst/a-brief-history-of-black-holes/9781529086706

2. Annie Jump Cannon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Jump_Cannon

3. The same algorithm that identifies stars also identifies individual whale sharks

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/star-mapping-algorithms-track-endangered-animals

4. The dark sky sights of the UK https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/best-dark-sky-sites-uk

5. You can measure the speed of light with a microwave https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/science/physics-and-astronomy/physics/measure-the-speed-light-your-microwave

6. The “black hole of Calcutta” prison is where black holes get their name from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta

DanRam

DanRam discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

DanRam travels the globe as an Event MC & Speaker at over 100 events a year. Hosting changemakers like President Barack Obama, billionaire founders Sir Richard Branson and Reid Hoffman, F1 champion Nico Rosberg, Grammy-winning artists and celebrities, he works on 4 continents from college campuses to parliaments to in-house corporate innovation days for Fortune 500 companies to the biggest tech conferences in the world. His passion is to inspire people with his motto “Start Now Start Simple” in building a future we all want to live in.

1. How to survive a charging wild lion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=829YuVH1dg8

2. Why introverts make better professional speakers https://www.givepowerfulpresentations.com/blog/3-reasons-why-introverts-make-great-public-speakers-pt-1

3. A superpower I can give you – adaptability https://blog.lumen.com/adaptability-embracing-the-new-superpower/

4. My 5G morning routine https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/18/psychologists-morning-habits-to-help-you-be-happier-more-productive.html

5. Why MCs are more important to an event than speakers https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-reasons-hire-professional-emcee-mc-event-host-amy-mcwhirter/

6. The soul stirring music of Gospel Music legend Kirk Franklin https://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/article272178398.html

Helen Batten

Helen Batten discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Helen Batten is an author and psychotherapist. Her non-fiction books delve into the historical worlds of circuses, nuns, a family of redheaded sisters and Victorian music hall and opera. After reading history at Cambridge, she trained as a journalist, and worked in television producing and directing documentaries for the BBC. She now works as an integrative psychotherapist and couples counsellor in private practice in London. Helen is currently working on a book about a murder, magic and sacred music in Renaissance Italy. Her books are Confessions of a Showman, Sisters of the East End, The Scarlet Sisters, and The Improbable Adventures of Miss Emily Soldene.

1. Carlo Gesualdo https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/19/prince-of-darkness

2. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Relationships https://www.gottman.com/blog/the-four-horsemen-recognizing-criticism-contempt-defensiveness-and-stonewalling/

3. Emily Soldene https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/emily-soldene-who-was-life-facts-actress-writer-rebel/

4. How to have a good death https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sisters-East-End-Helen-Batten

5. Homing by Jon Day https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/07/homing-jon-day-review-pigeons

6. The Gladstone Arms https://www.thegladpub.co.uk/

Andrew Pontzen

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

Andrew Pontzen is a cosmologist and a Professor at University College London. He is currently principal investigator on the ERC-funded GMGalaxies project, and co-director of UCL’s Cosmoparticle Initiative. Previously he held a Royal Society University Research fellowship and, before that, junior fellowships in Oxford and Cambridge. His latest book is The Universe in a Box.

1. Simulations and the role they play in science and society https://original.newsbreak.com/@massachusetts-updates-1665615/3107758662878-decoding-the-universe-the-role-of-computer-simulations-in-cosmology

2. Beatrice Hill Tinsley https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/obituaries/overlooked-beatrice-tinsley-astronomer.html

3. Hugh Everett https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hugh-everett-biography/

4. There are in the order of 200 billion terrestrial planets in our galaxy https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/what-is-an-exoplanet/planet-types/terrestrial/

5. Bayesian probability https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2016/06/bayesian-statistics-beginners-simple-english/

6. Sierpinski triangle https://fractalfoundation.org/OFC/OFC-2-1.html

Jonathan Sayer

Photo by Colin Thomas

Jonathan Sayer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jonathan Sayer is an award-winning comedy playwright and screenwriter; he is the co-author of The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, and many more. He is a writer, performer and Creative Director of Mischief Comedy. His work has been performed internationally in forty-six territories including The West End and Broadway. His new book is Nowhere to Run: The ridiculous life of a semi-professional football club chairman.