It hasn\u2019t been a typical year and it certainly won\u2019t be a typical Olympic Games. Tokyo 2020 kicked off (without any spectators) on Friday and the competition will be dominating the TV schedules for the next fortnight. Despite the eight hour time difference, a lot of sporting action takes place conveniently in the late morning or early afternoon here (including a lot of the athletics and gymnastics).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a number of podcasts following the sporting action. The BBC\u2019s Olympics Daily<\/strong><\/a> podcast will be providing you the latest sporting highlights. Relay: The Team GB podcast<\/strong><\/a> features interviews with hotly tipped British athletes, so you get to know them a little bit better before you see them compete on television. You\u2019ll get insight into athlete diets and the amount of preparations the commentators have to do before race day (spoiler: many commentators carry paper files full of crib sheets for each athlete).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Olympic Channel have partnered up with Bridgestone for a special series<\/strong><\/a> featuring interviews between Daley Thompson and other celebrated Olympians, such as heptathlete Denise Lewis and the rower Dame Katherine Grainger. The series launches on July 29th and will be available to listen via the Olympic Channel<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>podcast feed. Meanwhile the BBC World Service have got their own interview series called On The Podium<\/strong><\/a>, but with more of a global focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, The Athletic\u2019s Offside Rule has a spin-off Olympics edition<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>running throughout the competition, covering the women\u2019s football tournament. And for some London 2012 memories and reflections, listen out for Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill on the latest episode of Desert Island Discs<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GUESTS ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have listened to a great guest on a podcast, let us know by filling in <\/strong>this form<\/strong><\/a> and it might get featured in an upcoming newsletter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want your podcast featured, or you have a great recommendation, all you need to do is fill in this <\/strong>simple form<\/strong><\/a> and might get featured in a future newsletter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rest is History<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>This history podcast by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook has been a breath of fresh air because of the casual, informative way they look at momentous events in our history. Now the popular historians have recorded a three-part special<\/a> looking at the people that have been immortalised in some of our most popular statues, recorded live from nearby the statues themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a time when the role of statues have been so fiercely debated, it is interesting to hear more details about those who have been depicted at popular tourist hotspots, so you can make up your mind about whether they should still be there. They also provide their own views, in a lighthearted feature called \u201cKeep or Cancel.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Very Modern Quests<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>Audible have been releasing a string of impressive presenter-led podcasts in recent months, from Dotty\u2019s Hashbag Trashbag<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>to Clara Amfo and Amber Butchart\u2019s Fashioned<\/strong><\/a>, which looks at the history of modern Britain through fashion trends and the clothes we have worn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now My Dad Wrote A Porno\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>Alice Levine is fronting her own series, where she plays the narrator in a highly enjoyable choose-your-own-adventure show. Special guests are thrown into real-life role-playing situations, having to improvise with the comedian Emma Sidi. These situations are set very much in the real world, with Greg James trying to renegotiate a tenancy agreement, Rose Matafeo going through the high and lows of meeting the parents whilst Joe Lycett is dragged (against his will) on a stag do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A masterstroke is that the guest has no idea what is about to happen before the quest starts, so you can really feel their nerves throughout. Like other Audible podcasts, you need to be a paid subscriber to listen, but it does not take up one of your \u2018credits.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spotify Podcast of the Week – <\/strong>The Rugby Pod<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>Yet another event in what’s shaping up to be a truly packed Summer of Sport, the Lions Tour, kicks off this weekend and the Rugby Pod will be your accompaniment to the tests over the next few weeks. The show is hosted by Andy Goode, Jim Hamilton and Andy Rowe and is now part of The Ringer network of podcasts. The latest episode is a first hand account of what it’s really like to play on the Lions Tour from legend John Bentley who was part of the 1997 squad that took part in arguably the most iconic Lions Tour of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have You Heard George\u2019s Podcast?<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>The Peabody and British Podcast Award-winning podcast by the spoken word artist George The Poet has returned for a third series this week. A strength of the podcast is not only George\u2019s storytelling and heart (which radiates through), it is also the attention to detail given to the sounds you hear. Never resting on its laurels, this time the series has been recorded mostly at Abbey Road Studios, with George\u2019s voice this time accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra. This is an obvious thing to say if you have heard his series before, but make sure you listen through your headphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NeutrinoWatch<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>This experimental podcast changes every single time that you listen to it. Yep, you heard me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are seven episodes of this partly fictional podcast, created by Martin Zaltz Austwick (known for his work on Maddie\u2019s Sound Explorers<\/strong><\/a> and Answer Me This<\/strong><\/a>) and Jeff Emtman (Here Be Monsters<\/strong><\/a>). The audio changes every single day within each one, thanks to some nifty code contained within. You have to delete each episode on your device to get the new audio, one episode containing a song that has 573,440 possible variations, depending on the day you hear. It makes me wonder whether coding could be a benefit to other podcasts in the future, helping them feel more timely or personalised. Could a news podcast contain news or weather dependent on your exact location? That would be handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re still looking out for something to listen to, let\u2019s have a look at a couple of British Podcast Awards<\/strong><\/a> winners (powered by Amazon Music).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Real Dictators<\/strong><\/a>, who won the Best Arts & Culture Podcast (supported by Create Podcasts) <\/strong>award, was praised for its storytelling and narration. The series looks at the lives of despotic and authoritarian leaders. Most recently, it has launched a new series looking at the rise and fall of Libya\u2019s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi<\/a>, who died in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Intelligence<\/strong><\/a>, which won the Best Daily Podcast <\/strong>(and is part of the Best Network <\/strong>winner too) have released an episode looking at Netflix\u2019s underwhelming<\/a> quarterly results and why Liverpool has lost its UNESCO World Heritage<\/a> status.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It hasn\u2019t been a typical year and it certainly won\u2019t be a typical Olympic Games. Tokyo 2020 kicked off (without any spectators) on Friday and the competition will be dominating the TV schedules for the next fortnight. Despite the eight hour time difference, a lot of sporting action takes place conveniently in the late morning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n