I know the weather assumes that it isn’t, but trust me on this, it is August.
Let’s have a quick look at some podcasts that do walking tours in original or enlightening ways. The Ladies Who London podcast is presented by two qualified London Blue Badge tourist guides, Alex and Emily. Episodes include a history of the mail train that ran underground in Clerkenwell and a tribute to Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which made bells for The Houses of Parliament and the London 2012 Olympics.
Meanwhile Fun Kids Family Walks provide handy podcast walking tours around the City of London if you are out with the kids. In a nice twist, you’re told to pause and play as you take a specific route, just like when you are on a tour in a museum. The Tipsy Tourism podcast does what it says on the tin by having both of the guests, James and Chelsea, visit popular attractions after a couple of drinks. There’s Portmeirion … with a Port and Harrods … with a WKD, but the podcast is not about being obnoxious or a nuisance whilst being tipsy at these attractions, it is more about being frank and honest about whether these attractions are good or not.
If you’re stuck on things to do out and about this month, why not go to a live podcast show at Udderbelly Festival. Scroll down to the bottom of this email for more details.
STAR NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK
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- Simon Amstell is on Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster this week.
- Josh Widdicombe joins Alan Davies on Seven Pillars, a podcast where guests reveal their seven pillars of wisdom: the things that enrich and keep them going.
- Jen Carney, the author and illustrator of the book The Accidental Diary of B.U.G. introduces us to the stories of Biscuitville (a world where everything is made out of biscuits) on Puffin Podcast: Mission Imagination.
- Springwatch presenter Megan McCubbin [EPISODE OUT SATURDAY?] is the latest guest on A Life More Wild, a podcast where you follow someone on one of their favourite walks. In the episode you accompany her in the New Forest as she spots butterflies and tawny owls.
- Gabby Logan’s Mid•Point this week features comedian Mark Watson as the special guest this week, who talked about the dilemma of using personal struggles as source for comedy material.
- Anita Harris, singer and star from the Carry On films was on The Panto Podcast talking about her life and career.
- Nish Kumar talks about his fondness for The Beatles in Your Own Personal Beatles, in particular his love for the Beatles Anthology.
Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead
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Conversations with Annalisa Barbieri – Self-help guides have always been popular in podcasting, but few feature conversations with psychotherapists and specialists on why people experience these issues in the first place.
This excellent self-funded podcast, by journalist and broadcaster Annalisa Barbieri, consists of just that. She asks an expert about their work, asking all of the questions you might have if you ever met them yourself. Such conversations include one with Jo Stubley, a consultant psychiatrist, about all of the ways we can experience trauma and how it can have a long term effect. There’s an exploration of the teenage brain with adolescent psychotherapist Rachel Melville-Thomas, helping you understand what changes in the brain.
Not only does it leave you with practical advice, it also helps reduce stigma in approaching an expert if you ever encounter an issue.
She Said, They Said – Alex Woolhouse and Shivani Dave are the hosts of this fantastic, fresh and insightful new podcast by Mermaids, a charity that supports transgender, gender diverse and non-binary youth. Each episode features both the presenters and a guest reflecting on the week’s news and trans issues, but with a lightness that allows them to chat about other things that come up along the way. And with such great chemistry between Woolhouse and Dave, you don’t mind when they do. In fact, it is one of the podcast’s strengths when they go down such rabbit holes.
At a time when trans and non-binary issues a common talking point on the news (and on Twitter), amplifying the right voices are all the more important. This podcast helps to ensure that.
Atlantic: A Scottish Story – You might not be that familiar with St Kilda, a cluster of islands located in the far Outer Hebrides. It was once home to one of the most resilient and self-sufficient communities in the Europe, having to handle a remote way of life whilst also frequently battling extreme and unpredictable weather.
This new eight part musical drama, a partnership between musical theatre Noisemaker and The Big Light Network, shines a light on the people who lived there and the factors that resulted in the island’s abandonment at the start of the 1930s. Credit to them for providing a slice of history in an interesting and engaging form.
It’s The Economy – In previous newsletters we have featured handy explainer podcasts on global conflicts and philosophy (even a philosophy explainer aimed at kids!).
Now there’s this handy podcast, hosted by Nicola Walton, explaining the economic laws that impact all of our lives, using the simplest words possible. It means you actually understand the concepts you hear in news stories all the time, from stories about interest rates to GDP. It doesn’t mean that you’ll be flicking open the Financial Times and making big risks in the stock market any time soon, but it will make you feel more aware of stories that might, in the long run, affect how you spend your money.
It is a relief to see podcasting events get back up and running again, now that lockdown restrictions are starting to ease. Podcasting events have been, and will continue to be, hugely important in helping podcasts grow. Underbelly Festival, which this year takes place from Cavendish Square in London, is hosting a number of special podcast shows this and next month.
It starts with Rosie Wilby’s The Breakup Monologues, which is taking place *checks watch* TODAY at 5pm, with guests Maisie Adam and Felicity Ward. The next event is Fun Kids Science Weekly – Live on the 27th August, with lots of wild and ridiculous experiments for the little ones to see onstage.
Other events include A Gay and a NonGay, Drunk Women Solving Crime and cult favourite Have a Word with Dan Nightingale and Adam Rowe. For more details just head to their website.