It has been 84 years (yes, the meme) but we have finally made it to the Easter holidays.
Now that travel restrictions are looser again, there are podcasts out there that can help generate some travel wanderlust and inspiration. The guide DK Eyewitness has just released a special episode featuring all of their travel recommendations for 2022. I also recommend Alan Carr’s “Life’s A Beach”, simply because it consists of interesting anecdotes with interesting people about places you might not have visited yet.
If you are travelling around the country over the next two weeks, I would recommend quickly checking whether first there is a local travel podcast that can help accompany your trip. Usually, you won’t be disappointed. Such examples include Explore with Visit Bradford, which gives an overview of the local area with expert guides, or Woodland Walks (by The Woodland Trust), where you learn about woods all around the country and the people who help to preserve them for the general public.
Another good travel podcast is Tipsy Tourism, where Chelsea Dickenson and James Robinson have a couple of drinks and then tour a famous attraction to give you their honest opinion (and trust me, they are honest). Recent episodes have included heading abroad to the Acropolis in Athens as well as them trying to find the secret bar in M&M World (rather them doing this than me).
For younger ears, Activity Quest by Fun Kids gives recommendations of places to go or things to do at home. A recent episode looks at the mysteries of Stonehenge and features a guide of how to make your own sundial. There’s also Armchair Adventures, where you are encouraged to use your imagination to take you to far flung destinations. It’s a nice alternative to being stuck in traffic on the M5.
NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK
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- A new series of Changes with Annie Macmanus has properly kicked off, with two episodes already out. One is with the music producer Mark Ronson and the other is with the TV legend Scarlett Moffatt.
- The environment series Sounds Like A Plan has just debuted a new series, starting with an interview with climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins MBE, who created the Warming Stripes graphic.
- A new series of The Failing Writers Podcast is out this week, a podcast that celebrates the highs and lows of writing and getting into publishing through the eyes of several friends. Upcoming guests include Emma Kennedy and Jeremy Dyson, with this series looking at how to turn your idea into a TV series.
- Comedian Desiree Burch is on The Divorce Social, a podcast all about breakups, talking about the Netflix Show ‘Too Hot To Handle.’
- Rosie Wilby’s Breakup Monologues has released a new series, with a recent episode featuring the podcaster and activist Sangeeta Pillai, journalist Rachel Thompson and poet Victoria Richards.
Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead
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Battleground: The Falklands War – To coincide with the 40th anniversary of The Falklands War, this new history podcast presented by the military historian Patrick Bishop and former war correspondent Saul David is focusing on the conflict. To mark the anniversary of key events, episodes will be released in real time, looking at how each event was a turning point. The ambition of the series is not just to look at war, but to put the war within context and to look at the political and human consequences.
If you’re interested in this topic, the BBC has also released a series called My Moment in History, presented by former Royal Marine and broadcaster JJ Chalmers. It aims to tell less well known stories of the conflict from the perspectives of those involved.
NearlyWeds – Sophie Habboo and Jamie Laing are about to get married, so they’ve made this podcast tracking the highs and the stressful, expensive lows of the preparation stage leading up to their wedding. The chemistry between them on audio is great (as you would expect, considering that they are about to get married), but the series never goes down a route of being too
“People think it is a honeymoon period the entire time. Actually, it is not a honeymoon period the entire time,” says Jamie.
Black Ballad Presents: The Survival Guide – A new series of the fantastic motherhood podcast brought to you by Black Ballad, which is a lifestyle platform that discusses issues and topics through the perspectives of Black British women.
Presented by Jendella Benson. Two episodes are out so far. One episode is about raising a child within an intercultural or interracial household and the second is about sex after motherhood, with Nana-Adwoa, Carina, Endy and Natalie from Black Mums Upfront. Upcoming episodes include a chat with Jamelia and Dr Beverly Tatum Daniel.
Untold Killing – The informative and necessary award-winning podcast retells the history of the Bosnian genocide in 1995, where more than 8000 Bosniak-Muslims were murdered on European soil. “What do you think it takes for someone to start seeing their neighbour or their childhood friend as the enemy,” asks host Aleksandra Bilić, “to the point where they would do anything to eliminate the threat?”
When she was a child, Bilić fled from Bosnia during the war and moved to the UK. In the second series, she explores the story of how a peaceful municipality called Prijedor ended up being the location of torture and concentration camps. This is a fact based and informative series, featuring journalists that reported on the ground at the time and brought to you by Message Heard and Remembering Srebrenica, reminding you that division and hatred can result in terrifying consequences.
Before we go, we’ve seen podcasts become television shows, but have you heard of a television show becoming a podcast that ends up becoming a television show again? Louis Theroux was thrown into podcasting as a result of the lockdown. It resulted in Grounded with Louis Theroux, where the documentary maker interviewed people that he found naturally interesting. The series was so popular that BBC Two has commissioned a TV series based on the podcast, starting with an interview with Stormzy. My head hurts!
Speaking of Theroux, an episode of the critically acclaimed series Things Fell Apart with John Ronson has released a special episode featuring a chat with Louis.
