Podcasts

I’ve just finished my last bit of study for my TEFL course and so I’m sitting here, in my dressing gown, wondering what to do.  I have nothing more to study; no homework, no assignments, no set reading... I didn’t realise what a comfort the TEFL stuff was when my degree finished! I’m no longer a student - for a while, at least.

So what do I do now?  How do I fill my time? While I’m pondering that, I thought I’d pick up on something I mentioned in a former post about podcasts.  So here, for all those of you who* asked, is my list of the top five podcasts you should check out:

In Our Time (BBC)

Here’s the deal: once a week, Melvyn Bragg gets a bunch of experts into a room and they talk about a subject for about forty-five minutes or so.  There’s no dumbing down, there’s no gimmicks - just the benefit of their expertise, with Melvyn to guide you through.  It shouldn’t work but it does, brilliantly, every time.  It’s impossible to listen to one of these podcasts and not come away knowing something new.

Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews (BBC)

Know to the cognoscenti as Wittertainment at its finest, this ninety minute weekly podcast edition of the good Doctors’ Radio 5 show is a must for anyone who likes films or listening in on an old married couple bickering.  Mayo is the perfect host (check out the podcast More Mayo for, not surprisingly, more Mayo, from his Radio 2 show) and Kermode an always entertaining critic.  Agree with him or not (and I mostly do) he’s always wittertaining. Hello to Jason Isaacs, love the show, Steve.

Savage Love (The Stranger)

Definitely NSFW and very definitely not for the faint hearted, Dan Savage’s weekly phone-in advice column on sex, love and relationships (mostly sex) is never less than brilliant.  Savage is warm, funny, human, empathic and, occasionally, savage - whenever I’m not sure about something, what would Dan do is a good question to ask. Almost impossible to describe, I’ve been listening to this podcast since it started - way back in 2006! I have every episode and, if I’m feeling bad about the state of my love-life, a few hours with Dan in the background normally sorts me out. (Savage also started the “It Gets Better” project on YouTube for which alone he deserves your attention.)

12 Byzantine Rulers (Lars Brownworth)

Technically no longer podcasting, this one is still around and still worth listening to.  If you thought the period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance was a dark age, this podcast is for you.  Telling the story of the eastern Roman Empire through 12 of its key emperors, Brownworth weaves a compelling and fascinating story. I fell in love with Byzantine history thanks to this podcast.

This American Life (NPR)

This is a recent one for me but I’ve quickly grown to love it.  It’s a simple premise: true stories. That’s it - often told by the people involved, sometimes funny, sometimes quirky, sometimes scary, sometimes sad. Real stories from real people.  Essential for those of us who forget, sometimes, that there’s a world out there.

So that’s it, my top five.  I could’ve included The Archers, The Word Podcast, Peter Day’s World of Business, Arts and Ideas and a special mention for Sidepodcast for those of you who are F1 fans, because they’ve been kind enough to mention my tweets a couple of times and because Christine and Mr C are brilliant. But if I’d have mentioned those, it wouldn’t have been a top five. 

*ie nobody; not a single person.  But I’m not letting that stop me.