Let’s look at some British travel podcasts giving a bit of travel inspiration.
Where To Go, by DK Eyewitness, has an episode on ‘Wild Great Britain,’ where hosts James Atkinson and Lucy Richards are joined by the wildlife biologist Lizzie Daly. Ramblings, presented by Clare Balding, features walks in some of the most beautiful places in the British countryside, with recent episodes featuring walks in Orkney and Warwickshire.
Walk This Way is a podcast exploring the long distance paths throughout the UK, with a new series exploring the Gloucestershire Way. Condé Nast Traveler’s Women Who Travel features an interview with the celebrated ornithologist Mya Rose Craig on the best place to spot birds. Meanwhile, Simon Calder’s Independent Travel Podcast is out daily, with the latest travel news shared in under seven minutes.
And as millions of us travel across the country for a short break, Dan Snow’s History Hit is about to start his own. In an upcoming mini-series he will guide you through 10,000 years of modern English history from the different sights he encounters on his trip. Listen out for it in the middle of May and follow updates on @thehistoryguy.
As we are now in the Easter Holidays, we’ve rounded up some of the best and most thought provoking guests in British podcasting since the start of the year. You can find them in the section below.
NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK
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- Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye is on a special edition of The Problem with Jon Stewart podcast, looking at satire within the US and the UK and the downfall of Boris Johnson: “We do have a very rightwing press at the moment,” says Hislop. “They have shifted to the right and they have become less representative I think of the electorate, but more representative of this rump of a Conservative Party which we have left.”
- Greta Gerwig was on Dua Lipa: At Your Service talking about her phenomenal career. “A lot of my writing when I was younger was writing that I never showed anyone. If you are a boy who wrote a lot, people might say ‘well, you might want to be a writer.’ If you were girl who wrote a lot, they say ‘well why won’t you have this diary with a lock and key?’”
- Paul Mescal is on Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster this week, where he hinted about his recent break-up after saying that he picks up smoking when something bad happens: “I’m smoking again. Read into that what you will.”
- Jon Ronson was on Jon Snow’s Snowcast talking about conspiracy theories, the allure of Trump and the next US Presidential Election: “It is the Democrats to lose and my god they are capable of losing it.”
- Davina McCall was a guest on The Diary of A CEO with Steven Bartlett. The former Big Brother host talks about the importance of asking what you want: “Never just sit down and wait. I’ve never sat down and thought ‘I’m just going to stay here and wait for something to happen to me. I have no shame in emailing the head of a TV company and going ‘have you thought about this?’”
Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead
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Killing Victoria – A fact that might be useful for a pub quiz: Queen Victoria survived seven assassination attempts over the course of her 63-year reign.
This new series presented by Dr Bob Nicholson, an expert on Victorian England, delves into the motives behind her attackers. Not much was known about her attackers, but luckily for Nicholson, the Victorians were great at record keeping everything from police reports to old newspapers, so he delves into the archives. “When I found out about these men, it was not what I expected,” he said.
Jack Whitehall’s Safe Space – A new series of the Audible series where the comedian Jack Whitehall asks guests to recount embarrassing situations that they’ve been in. Whitehall’s career has thrived on awkward situations, such as Travels with My Father on Netflix, so this is the perfect territory for him, with Whitehall reacting to these stories with his trademark sharp wit.
Guests so far include the presenter Mo Gilligan and Mae Martin and the presenter Jamie Laing. Just so you know, you need to be an Audible subscriber to listen to this podcast, but this podcast does not use up any of your ‘credits.’
One Decision – A great politics and world affairs podcast looking at the reasons behind key decisions that shape our lives, presented by journalist Julia Macfarlane and Sir Richard Dearlove, the former Chief of MI6.
Each episode tries to make sense of a big policy decision that may have been made behind closed doors, thanks to a team of insiders and experts. One recent episode looks at the possible overreliance on China as the supplier of chips found in all of our devices. “At a time of hostility you could be vulnerable to the destruction of those things that you need, or perhaps even more cleverly the erosion of their ability to function” says Dearlove.
UTOPIA Talks – Hosted by the DJ and broadcaster Jaguar, our final podcast explores the experiences of women, non-binary and trans people working within the UK dance music scene. It coincides with a damning new report explored the gender disparity and sexual harassment within the male dominated industry.
So many of the stories are shocking, emphasising the importance of safeguarding. “I have friends and I have people that love me, and I am not as alone as the industry has made me feel,” says DJ Priya. “That’s really how I got through it.”
Thank you as always for reading (and listening). Have a fantastic Easter Sunday.
We’ll be back next Sunday with another podcast newsletter.
