Are you beach pod ready? Five podcasts to take on your travels.
Seriously… podcast presenter Rhianna Dhillon recommends five poolside podcasts to keep the brain active and engaged as you enjoy (or perhaps, endure) the summer holidays.
At Seriously… we showcase the best of human stories. Our documentaries can be witty, tragic or incredibly moving, and sometimes all three. It can be so easy to get caught up in our own little bubbles and Seriously… provides an escape from that by giving us a window into the experiences of others. There truly is something for everybody in the series but the stories that resonate most with me are the ones about people we should have heard of but perhaps haven’t. For example, the lives of author Zora Neale Hurston and avant-garde musician Arthur Russell are ones that spark intrigue and further discussion. The documentaries themselves are always beautifully told, sometimes ethereal and peppered with gems that stay with you. I'm very fortunate to get to hear all these stories first, and if you haven't heard them I do recommend you download them now, but of course there are plenty more podcasts I am keen to catch up with on my summer holiday. Here are five of my favourites.
You Must Remember This
In a world obsessed with the lavish and lascivious lives of film stars, this podcast turns the rumour mill on its head by focussing on the lives of actors, actresses and infamous personalities from decades past. The Golden Era of Hollywood it seems, was even more rife with love affairs and scandals than today, all of which are interrogated and explored at length by host and creator, Karina Longworth. The amount of research and dedication put into unpicking the gossip from the facts and building a whole picture of someone’s life is second to none. Karina Longworth paints us a cinematic world, purely through audio, educating us on the films from the 20th Century, as much as the Hollywood darlings. There’s an excellent series on Dead Blondes, a great Six Degrees of Joan Crawford season, and Charles Manson’s Hollywood is horrifying and compulsive.
The Why Factor
This is a podcast that not only explores your burning queries but also answers questions you didn’t even know you had. It’s charming and personal, giving just enough information to satiate your thirst for knowledge, but also leaving you to interpret how this new theory might affect your own life. Highlights include episodes on smiling, the female orgasm, and the question that as a presenter, I try not to think about too much, “Why do some people crave the limelight?”. The answers are always intelligent and informative, piquing your curiosity and presenting unusual slants on our everyday actions.
The Guilty Feminist
For me, this is like the ultimate echo chamber - the podcast for 21st Century feminists whose actions might not always match their principles. Presented in front of a live audience by comedian Deborah Frances-White with special guests each week, this podcast delves into labels and stereotypes, from the seemingly flippant - shoes - to the potentially damaging - hysteria. As well as being empowering, it makes you question your decisions, your words and your general outlook on life, without being judgemental. The ‘stand up’ section is great, where the audience is regaled with (un)feminist anecdotes, but it’s the lively debates which often get me nodding along sagely. It’s entertaining and quirky and as Deborah repeatedly qualifies, it’s okay to fantasise about Jon Hamm from time to time, instead of thinking up ways to narrow the pay gap. It is called the GUILTY Feminist, after all.
More or Less: Behind the Stats
Everybody likes to sound intelligent from time to time and I can recommend More or Less: Behind the Stats to ramp up your reputation as a fount of knowledge. Often taking inspiration from recent news headlines, this podcast makes sense of the figures, facts and rumours floating about the ether, through punchy and bite-sized reports. I appreciate the no-frills, myth-busting approach to the huge range of stories and suppositions covered and after listening to just a few episodes, you can profess to be practically an expert on prime numbers, Sweden’s skewed gender ratio, Labour’s manifesto and pregnancy due dates. A perfect podcast for those eager to impress friends with pertinent nuggets of information.
No Such Thing as a Fish
If you're a fan of utterly useless and random facts, or occasionally fabrications purporting to be facts, this is the podcast for you. Presented by the researchers from QI, we're invited to delight in the latest bizarre facts from around the world. The old-school radio format is particularly appealing - the idea that by being a listener, you’re part of the gang. This involves laughing at nerdy in-jokes, waiting for the perfect pun (there are at least three an episode) and sharing in the hosts’ hunger and enthusiasm for weird truths. You might not leave with a sense of having learned anything vital but you will have some excellent trivia to show off in the pub.
