Bunch of Apes Podcast

I first became aware of Algis Kuliukas on twitter. Twitter can be a place where you need to exercise a little caution when it comes to the understanding of prehistory it seems. So when I heard him discussing the wading hypothesis I wanted to know more, but must confess to being a bit sceptic. Was this Pseudoscience? Was I going to hear about how we were all mermaids? I'm no expert of course, but on reflection. I'm going to say no to both. In this episode, Algis explains the wading hypothesis and how perhaps a waterside lifestyle and adaptability led to the evolution of bipedality; his work and phD 'A wading component in the origin of hominid bipedality?' His journey as an academic in human evolution, including his quest to find out why so many of his peers were not giving 'The wading hypothesis' any validity. We also talked about his new book on one of his inspirations, Elaine Morgan, who sounds like an incredibly impressive person and Algis explained some of the counter-arguments to the wading hypothesis. I am of course, no expert in any of this. Yet I couldn't help finding myself convinced. At least that this idea was at least worth consideration and not something to be lumped in with Pseudo-science and Aliens building the pyramids. It did hurt that Algis was a engaging, fun and extremely knowledgeable guest. I do of course welcome any to a right of reply on the subject. You can find more on Algis and his work here http://www.riverapes.com/ And his new book 'Elaine Morgan ~ 100 Years Towards Origins' is available at on amazon and kindle. Please leave us nice reviews, like and share. It really helps and we want to hear from you with suggestions, feedback, links or contacts for guests. Email bunchofapes@gmail.com or find us on facebook and twiiter.

In this episode I was totally humbled to be able to talk to such a great guest in the form of Chris Stringer. Chris is the lead in Human Origins and the National History Museum here in the UK, has an extraordinarily comprehensive background in Prehistory and has published more books then I have done podcast episodes. Excitingly, as we were emailing back and forth to arrange a time to record, Chris let slip that a press embargo on some very current and ground breaking research was being lifted that day at 4pm. We recorded at 3, so technically....we had it first! Admittedly it has now been out for a few days now the podcast is being released....but still: A bunch of apes exclusive, revealing how the earliest Homo-sapiens in Europe were breeding with Neanderthals 45000 years ago AND, some strong hints that it may have been a simple case of interbreeding and absorbing the Neanderthal genome in certain areas of Europe that led to their mysterious demise. Before Chris got into this, I spoke to him about his role at the museum and some of the changes of perspective he has had in his vast career so far, as well as the trials and tribulations of sharing prehistory over twitter and being a social media presence. We discussed the out of Africa vs multi-regional hypothesis, and the origins of our closest cousins The Neanderthals. There was so much incredible info packed into this episode I have had to listen back twice to even begin to absorb it all. Hopefully you will do the same and enjoy listening to Chris as much as I did. You can find Chris on twitter @ChrisStringer65 where he regularly shares fascinating articles, news and his own perspectives. For any of his many publications, head to any good online book store.

The Prehistory guys are Rupert Soskin and Michael Bott. They are the filmakers behind the fantastic film hit 'Standing with stones,' a wonderfully perceptive, well researched and celebratory look around the megaliths of Britain which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq4xM8TLWc0&t=2917s I was delighted to be able to chat with them about making the film, the podcast and British prehistory. In this episode, we got the dirt on Haribo and Marlboro binges during filming, some amazing moments at Calanais during a full moon and whether they would date another species of hominid. Turns out, they are both well up for it.......I may be paraphrasing.....a lot. I was also lucky enough to discuss Prehistory and how the deep dive often changes the overall picture, how certain pictures and ideas have been unfairly weighted in the past and lots more fascinating stuff from two guys who are now officially heroes and inspirations of mine. You can find out more about The Prehistory Guys here https://theprehistoryguys.uk/ Please like, share and subscribe and leave any positive reviews if you have the time. It really helps and I really appreciate it. You can contact me about the show with questions, ideas or if you want to be a guest at bunchofapes@gmail.com.

It's the 150th anniversary of Darwin's descent of man and I was delighted to sit down with Jeremy DeSilva who has recently edited and written the preface for a book entitled 'A most interesting problem: what Darwin's descent of man got right and wrong about human evolution.' The book is a veritable whose who of eminent experts in human prehistory and evolution, with each contributor hand picked to tackle a chapter from The Descent of Man that fits their area of specialism. Jeremy is a Paleoanthropologist from specializing in the locomotion of the first apes (hominoids) and early human ancestors (hominins). He is also a great sport for putting up with many of my ridiculous questions! As always, it was a real pleasure and privilege to talk to and learn from someone with so much knowledge elements of the human story. We discussed the book and his contribution, as well as brief outline of some of the areas where Darwin was spookily on point and others where he let himself down quite a bit. We also spoke about his fascinating work on the evolution of the human foot hominin and hominid bi-pedalism and various other wonderful tangents such as prehistoric bunions and a healed Australopithecus bone that shows the level of social care and support they may have been capable of.

In a previous episode with Briana Pobiner, she recommended a book called The Creative Spark by Agustin Fuentes. It got it the next day on Audible. It was fantastic. I contacted Agustin and somehow convinced him to talk to me on the podcast. Agustín Fuentes is an American primatologist and biological anthropologist at Princeton University and formerly the chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. He has written several books including the awesome Creative Spark and his most recent work [next on my list] Why we Believe. In this episode we spoke about his work as a primatologist, the incredible and often surprisingly sophisticated social skills of primates and Apes. This conversation escalated to me babbling on about memories of an orangutan fiddling with himself in front of me and my nan....... so we moved on. We discussed The Creative Spark and how it is the imagination, the ability to create something that didn't exist from things that do, that separates us from other species. Once again, the discussion moved towards the importance of Neuro-diversity in our species in what was a thoroughly enjoyable and fun conversation with someone with some really important and well studied ideas on our pre-historical journey. To follow Agustin and find out more about his work you can find him on twitter @anthrofuentes and his books are available at all good online retailers.

In this episode I chatted to James Trevor Jackson, lecturer at the university of technology and applied sciences in Salalah, in Oman. After rather ludicrously getting his name wrong.....not a great start for any podcast host.....and Trevor taking it very well....I had to know more about living and working in Oman. Trevor has lectrued in 7 countries across the world and is currently working on a book entitled 'Shame and Shaming in the Twenty-First Century,' of which the first two chapters are focused on the evolution of shame, with an eye towards how the adaptive trait of feeling shame, as well as shaming others, impacts us today. Trevor discussed his work with me and spoke in fantastic details and depth about the subject of shame related to human evolution. Drawing comparisons with primates and looking at exceptions, looking back into early hominins and the development of human social structures and how shame facilitated some of these developments. It was a really interesting and thought provoking conversation for me and I hope Trevor will come back again to talk more on the subject. To find out more about his work in this area head to www.shameandshaming.com To get in touch about episodes, ask questions, make suggestions and be a guest, get in touch at bunchofapes@gmail.com. To watch this on youtube head to https://youtu.be/CnQuy2_fwGU Please like, share, comment and subscribe. It really helps and I appreciate it.

In this episode I got to chat with James Dilley, Dr of Archaeology, experimental archaeologist, life long flintknapper, prehistorical tool expert and creator of AncientCraft. Ancient craft provides replica prehistoric artefacts, living history demonstrations, workshops and consultation for museums and media. I have about half the items they sell on my Christmas list! Since I last spoke to him, James has completed his Doctorate in archaeology and we discuss his research into the use of antler as a spear tip by Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals in North west Europe during the late Paleolithic 40000 to 30000 years ago, to prevent breaking spear shafts, at the in Europe when the climate would have made tree's scare and wood precious. I ask him about his journey into flintknapping and the reasons he stuck with, which were not as mystically inciting and grounding as I thought! This lead onto the story of developing AnceintCraft and how he got to now being one of the go to people whenever TV and museums are needing some prehistoric demonstrations. Always a pleasure to talk to him, fascinating and I learnt loads. Plus left wanting more and more replicas from him. To find out more about what James does, or to buy some fantastic prehistoric tool replicas and other great ornamental items, head to www.ancientcraft.co.uk Or to catch his channel on youtube head click here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYm9MSTbHiF7P_hjElRoWQ To watch this podcast as a video on youtube and see early human [although James isn't in his prehistoric gear unfortunately] and Neanderthal man interacting , click here! https://youtu.be/sf81DMoM_Ws Please like, share subscribe. Catch us on itunes and best of all leave a great review. Perhaps write the bad one's on paper to refer back to at a later date... although love to hear from people with ideas, guests or stories to tell in the world of Prehistory. Email is bunchofapes@gmail.com

In this episode I am joined by Naturalist and Thought Leader Bernie Taylor, author of Before Orion: Finding the face of the hero. Bernie talks to me about his work researching the Altamira caves in Spain, where some of the earliest Homo-sapien cave art has been found. He explains the idea that the stories told in ancient history by the Sumerians and Ancient Greeks, where taken from stories being told tens of thousands of years ago and recorded in places such as Altamira. We discuss the evolution of abstract thought and art in Humans, how this may have impacted our species and the role art or more specifically, Artistic thinkers played in our prehistoric story. Then the conversations takes an intriguing tangent into a discussion on the value of Neuro-diversity in our species. An area that ties in with my full time job supporting Neuro-diverse children and young people and their families. We then tied this into Bernie's work and some ideas around Neuro-types in the past and how today's productivity driven society has perhaps left less room for visual thinkers with what are now considered 'Disorder's such as Dyslexia. Bernie has some big ideas, which I love! There are some connections that are admittedly a bit of a leap from my perspective and I did try to challenge these, but he clearly has tons of expertise, experience and knowledge to back his ideas up. I really enjoyed the conversation and I hope you do to. To check out his work head to https://beforeorion.com/ To watch this conversation check out the youtube channel https://youtu.be/ArEnkTpjqpc

In this first episode of the relaunch, I am joined by Briana Pobiner, research Scientist and Museum Educator at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Briana studied Evolutionary Anthropology and has researched into meat eating developments in early Hominins such as Homo Erectus. She has been on the podcast before and for more information from her regarding her work on the early human diet and meat eating, take a listen to this episode from back in 2018. https://soundcloud.com/bunchofapes/the-evolution-of-the-human-diet-with-briana-pobiner In this new episode, we chatted about how she is finding lockdown and how she keeps busy with remote projects. We took a stroll out of Africa with Homo-erectus and asked did they hunt, store food, where they more like Humans or apes? I found out about Isotopes and how they help us understand early human diets far better then archaeological finds that are difficult to find and analyse from so far back in the past. We clear up some myths that the Human diet is 'supposed to be' all meat and no carb, as some diet influencers unfortunately may try to lead you to believe. Briana talked about cross species cultural exchange possibilities and then saw for herself, some cross species genetic transfer possiblities....in my bloody brow ridge. So I got revenge by asking her some hard hitting questions like could the human race adapt to a diet of just Doritos and would she go inter-species with a Neanderthal if she was single! Lots of fun and I, as always learnt loads. Briana is a real expert with a skill and passion for making her filed understandable and accessible to all. You can find out more about the Human Oranges [Origins] programme here: https://humanorigins.si.edu/ and you can watch the episode on youtube here: https://youtu.be/2JnlJy-4tKw Please like, comment, share and subscribe. It all really helps! If you like to reach me to give feedback or be a guest, email me at bunchofapes@gmail.com

Welcome to the Bunch of Apes re:launch! This time with the focus concentrated on Human Pre-History. Hello, I'm the host Sam Harris, a layman with a passion and a bit of chat [or at the least, enthusiasm to chat]. For the Bunch of Apes podcast, I get to meet and chat with some fantastic guests with huge insights and experience in the area of Human Pre History. In this shorter episode, I will tell you about the podcast, some of the guests lined up for the coming weeks and a bit of background as to why I am putting this project together..... in short.....it's totally selfish! I get to learn about a subject I love but came to late in life. I do promise to try and make it entertaining and education for all. Those with a passing interest like me, to those undertaking studies or with their own expertise. We are always looking for more guests so please get in touch bunchofapes@gmail.com Plus you can watch recordings of each show on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlx3aKLfuNo And find the podcast on itunes, just search bunchofapes! Or like the facebook page to keep up to date..... it's bunchofapes again of course.

We are joined once again by Health & Fitness expert I James Buckingham of Precision Fitness Performance. In this episode we discuss the details of intermittent fasting and host Sam Harris realises he missing breakfast doesn't count, does his best to get another expert to say Vegan's are crazy [with a little bit more success this time] and James gives some fascinating insight and expertise into how fasting can benefit the body. We also look in depth at how to make your training specific to the sport you do or the goals you want to achieve, with some particular attention to rugby and martial arts but plenty in there for those who just want to get fit and healthy. James even tells us how to assess your own fast twitch and slow twitch muscle make up. A really interesting and helpful episode for anyone wanting to find out more about nutrition and training, with plenty of laughs along the way.

In this episode Bunch of Apes regular and host Sam Harris's Brazilian Jujitsu coach Andy Costello joins us for a catch up. Starting with an update on both of their attempts at stand up comedy, Sam's desperate ploys a using children's light entertainer type approaches to get a clap and ignoring all Andy's advice to keep it short, stick to what you know and tell actual funny jokes.... We test Andy's integrity with the fantastic [or at least Sam thinks it is] game 'Moral Compass.' Plus we Love Island and how to make the show even more tortuous for the fame hungry contestants. Andy asks, what percentage of Love Island contestants would go down on an elderly person to stay on the show? Finally, Andy gives us some insight into his approach to diet and weight loss, using his recent success with one of his student as an example. A really fun episode to make and Andy was on top form. The bloke is hilarious.

Briana Pobiner is a paleoanthropologist whose research centers on the evolution of human diet (with a focus on meat-eating), but has included topics as diverse as human cannibalism and chimpanzee carnivore. She leads the Human Origins project at the Smithsonian in Washington DC and is a total expert in her area. This was an incredibly fascinating episode for anyone into the human story. In this episode we made the most of Briana's expertise to pick her brains about the involvement of eating meat in Human Evolution, host Sam asks if turning Vegan can make you de-evolve....it can't. We learn how scavenging for meat may have been our early ancestors most effective way to survive and how Briana's research led her into following Lions around the plains to see if they had finished their main course. We broke the entire course of Human history into a week and discovered that Homo-Sapiens turned up really late on Sat evening, took the house over and then trashed it. Plus we look at the evidence for people eating each other way before any crashed Argentinean rugby teams.

Recorded a month or so ago, we are joined by Experimental archeologist and stone-age living expert James Dilley to give us a run down of all the top stories from Archeology. Plus, about an hour in, host Sam drags James into a fanciful love story between a human hard up for a same species relationship [played by James], and a young Neanderthal maiden whose a bit of a looker. It gets weird.

Recorded a few weeks back before Exeter Chiefs run up to Twickernam I joined regular guest, England and Cheifs prop forward Harry Williams in his garden [in case some of the background noises are confusing - definitely some seagulls on their at some point...]. Harry is still carrying an injury and as per usual we don't exactly cover much rugby related stuff. We do go hard in the paint on Bear Gryll's The Island and how host Sam Harris think's he would do on it, Made in Chelsea, negative people that may include some therapeutic offloading on Harry's part, the best weapon to use in medieval times, Jesus - Wizard? Again. The usual blend of nonsense, sense, sense of humour and lack of common sense from to chaps with rugby based sensibilities. Go on, take a listen. You know it makes sense.

Daniel Strauss, World class Brazilian Jujitsu competitor with one of our favourite nicknames is back. The Raspberry Ape rejoins the Bunch of Apes, fresh from his recent success in major grappling team tournament Quintet. We chat about Quintet as an event and Daniels match Vs one of the greatest of all time, Sakuraba. We also discuss the greatest Jujitsu match of all time, Roger Gracie Vs Buchecha and what it's like to roll with arguably the greatest jujitsu player of all time. Then....... we go a little off piste. With an in-depth look into the pitfalls of the modern toilet and the barbaric process of using tissue to clean off a hazardous substance. We try to establish if the aggressive angle has any purpose and why it can't be updated and try to start a campaign to bring toilet design into the 21st century. Then your host Sam Harris, goes all super-villain, creating a tournament which pits Dan in fights to the death against various animals. Dan, an animal lover, does his best to bring his strong analytical skills to the arena and gives us a breakdown of how he would get on. Another informative and fun filled episode which includes the quote - 'I think I would just keep punching the cow in the eye until it was dead.'

Bunch of Apes is joined by James Buckinghamq, owner of Precision fitness Performance, a 24/7 gym based in Exeter and s (South west UK). James is an expert in Fitness and Nutrition and has an online book available called 'The Leaner living book' available on the PfP website. In this episode James and Sam discuss approaches to training, strength and specificity, is steady state cardio good for the mind and the importance of periodic training with attention to rest periods. James breaks down his approach to nutrition and 'eating as we were designed to eat.' Sam takes up the challenge of something with hoofs for breakfast, wings for lunch and something that swims in the sea for dinner and they discuss how the evolution of the human body should influence how we approach food.

James Dilley is back to join host Sam Harris for another round up of the latest and biggest headlines from the world of the past. This week, both James and Sam unfortunately pick stories from Chine, leading to some terrible pronunciation attempts and we find out if either of them would drink 2000 year old white liquid. There are some hard hitting questions for James: given Sam's prominent brow ridge and flat nose, does what percentage Neanderthal DNA would he estimate? If he was a lonely homo-sapien who stumbled across an attractive Neanderthal, would he? This leads into a discussion on the idea of inter species breeding in the stone age and plenty more tales and pondering from the world of archaeology and human prehistory.

Host Sam is joined by his good friend Jason, the other half of Dark Ages Warrior - a YouTube channel were they would fight each other with polymer weapons from the dark ages. Both a bit drunk, the lads reminisce about the channel and heading out into the woods to get all sweaty and be Vikings. They explain why there way is better and more fun then HEMA. 'Remember that time we built a Dane axe?' That time someone got a sword thrust to the balls, how holding a weapon in two hands is better apparently, is Sam a Neanderthal and plenty more.

It's been a tough week for England fans George Saunders and Sam Harris. Greg Lock isn't with us this week, he's really struggling with the whole collapse of England's chances. So this week it's a two man job. Just like England at the breakdown, we are a man short. This week we discuss how tough it can be being an England supporter and how the smaller nations should band together and give us a bit of support; should England make some wholesale changes this week; Italy - what's the point, bring in Georgia; the effects of a continental breakfast on Itoje; are Scotland on the up and can Wales bring enough roast beef to the table this weekend.

Sam, Greg and George are back to breakdown the 6 nations. This weeks episode is sponsored by the Sterifeed range of products from Medicare Colgate. That’s right, we have actually got some free stuff sent to us and will be trying to review it [and work out what it is] on the show. We recap on what was an emotionally draining last round for England fans, it looks like Bastauraud back to his best and well deserved cos he is a top bloke, how good are Ireland and was Jamie Heaslip born of the Irish soil itself? Sam gives us some insights into how to manage at the base of the scrum as an 8……which 2nd rows may not appreciate….; we ask why do the rules even allow for refs to use their own interpretation and should they be such a big part of the game. Another first as we have a fan question, plus George has the inside scope on the England breakfast situation with some inflammatory rumours surrounding the type of breakfast provided for them in Scotland no referred to as ‘breakfastgate.’ Should England ring the changes and stick a few old heads in a banbury removal van or keep the faith? Greg learns what a maverick is and discovers it is actually quite like Finn Russell, who will he slate this week that will then likely have a stormer? We make our predictions for the upcoming week and try to secure more sponsorship for the show. Don't be tempted to leave us before the end [or skip right to 1:05] as we are joined live by Eddie Jones, allegedly, who goes in on the Scotland fans and falls out with Sam after some aggressive comments on certain players Space Raiders consumption.

Daniel Strauss is a Roger Gracie Black-belt instructor, a veteran competitor at Brazilian Jujitsu events such as Polaris & EBI. An exceptional athlete and a real specialist in the sport. A real badass who claims that if someone brought a trained Chimpanzee to his gym ready for a fight he'd find it hard to say no to giving it a go.... If you aren't familiar with Jujitsu or grappling arts, there is still plenty in this episode to enjoy. We discussed several aspects of fitness, the difference between training and competition and how this is effected by adrenaline, how to approach using strength in Jujitsu, which animals would make the best grapplers, how to go about beating a Chimp in a grappling fight plus a round of quick fire questions at the end!

Sam Manicom is an 'Adventure Motorcyclists'.....best job title ever? He has written for various Motorbike magazines and has written several books of his own about his incredible experiences. In this episode, a double Sam special, we discuss several of Sam Ms adventures including hitchhiking around Europe for 3 years on £500, 'Into Africa - a years journey through Africa on his Motorcycle and the time he had to pin his ears back a speed through a border crossing whilst the surprised and agitated ARMED soldiers fired after him! How a curious hippo may have been scared off by his stinky socks and the importance of fire when wild camping around lions.

Sam is joined by Greg Lock & George Saunders again to break down week 2 of the 6 nations and look forward to the upcoming week 3 fixtures......or to at least try. Instead, Greg gets a little over-excited and slates everyone from Chris Robshaw and Finn Russell to Phil DeGlanville; there's a whiff of jealousy in the air as Sam get's accused of soft soaping friend of the show Harry Williams in previous episodes; George is inhabited briefly by the spirit of Eddie Jones who confronts Greg about his strong opinions on Mike Brown; some strong rumors that Joe Launchbury may have been having more Weetabix the Mario Itoje are addressed and we look into the start of the England and French team's barnets [lids].

England Prop Harry Williams joins us live from England camp.....sort of..... he was at camp the night before he skyped. In this episode Harry and host Sam Harris discuss if Jesus was a wizard, whether the pyramids were made with mysticaln vibrations, using whole foods as a hang out, some ideas for naming a coffee bar and if jujitsu has enough belts. Plus Sam actually manages to get Harry onto some insights from playing in the 6 nations after a brief technical breakdown leaving him lone free-styling for a few minutes. Plus some heavy unwilling sponsorship from Ategienos coffee bar.

The first in a regular monthly feature in which we cover some of the headlines and news stories about Old stuff! Historical and Archeological finds, news from the past. In this episode Sam Harris is joined again by James Dilley, an experimental archeologist, owner of ancientcrafts.com and someone that has been flint knapping and making prehistoric tools since the age of 10. We discuss, the cheddar man having dark skin, new Iron Age finds in Scotland, a Neolithic site in Windsor, Neanderthal wooden tools and use of fire, the oldest bone found out of Africa and plenty more.

In this episode host Sam Harris, a self-proclaimed ‘ostrich’ and ‘baby’ when it comes to politics meets with Tallha - a political commentator and journalist, who is also an academic on military affairs and an expert on counter terrorism. In the 2nd Part, Tallha covers an extremely important and interesting story from his perspective about some possible dealings from trustees of the local Exeter Mosque with a person who may have had connections to armed extremists. Tallha talks of his frustration at how what happened can feed into the racial tension certain people create and the ridiculous idea that all Muslims are connected to terrorism, the importance of people understanding that the Muslim community is just as driven to maintain a peaceful and integrated place in Britain as any others, how transparency and honesty is so important in this and his own personal experience of hostility from certain individuals and the heartbreak that has caused him. Bunch of Apes would like to state that we are open to anyone’s right to reply and open a discourse either with us or Tallha on the subject. We are just chatting to someone and sharing an interesting story and cannot verify anything that is said in this podcast. We are very aware of some fantastic work the Mosque does in the local area and the information Tallha puts forward is related to a small group of individuals, not the Mosque as a whole who he is at pains to point out is mostly attended by upstanding members of society.

In this episode host Sam Harris, a self-proclaimed ‘ostrich’ and ‘baby’ when it comes to politics meets with Tallha - a political commentator and journalist, who is also an academic on military affairs and an expert on counter terrorism. A really interesting and eye opening episode, Part 1 covers the general background behind the current challenges in the Middle East, ISIS and how it all ties back to the war on Iraq back in 2003. Tallha explains how he sees the current Iraqi government as far more dangerous than Saddam Hussein, how ISIS uses the outrage at some of the current government's actions as a tool for recruitment, and how he himself has unfortunately experienced atrocities towards his own family. Tallah breaks down some of the fundamental basics such as how secularism works in the Middle East and the CIA’s involvement in the whole thing, ideas that a political agnostic such as Sam was totally unaware of!

Host Sam Harris meets up with co-quiz creator Will Denford for this episode. To be honest, we mainly wanted to show off the new podcast intro for bunch of apes, but we've had good feedback from previous quizzes so if you like irreverent and odd quiz rounds, this might be the show for you! You can play along with Will at home cos quite frankly, he's a little slow off the mark. Round 1 - what animal is thinking. Sam gives Will 3 thoughts an animal might have [or what he thinks they might have, it's not scientifically proven...] and the aim is to guess 'what animal is thinking?' Round 2 - if you are not local to Devon, might be worth sitting down with a map or least of place names, as this time our world famous cryptic quiz focuses on places in Devon Round 3 - not sure if this really worked but let us know.......conversation with a film character as if you are quite good mates......guess the character. Finally, I pose some unanswered scientific conundrums to Will......who does his best to work out what conundrum means..... Let us know how you got on!

Host Sam Harris is joined by some mates (Greg Lock & George Saunders) to breakdown last weeks games and look forward to the upcoming weekends fixtures. Plus, we almost get joined by Harry Williams live from England camp....we don't. But it almost happens... In this episode Greg goes in hard on Johnny Sexton, George is concerned that Nigel Owens is getting too big for the game and Sam tries desperately to keep the discussion focused on rugby!

Host Sam Harris has decided to begin regularly trading war stories with his Jujitsu coach Andy 'The Rock' Costello. With Andy's fight career, his fall from grace with the police after being the hero and his enormous wealth of generally funny and interesting experiences, this is a bit like Belgium taking on the U.S in terms of war stories but still..... In this episode, Andy tells of the time he got into an altercation at the local job center and how that escalated to running upstream across Dartmoor being chased by a wide variety of police vehicles. Whilst Sam talks of his early driving experiences......

Host Sam Harris finally gets to geek out on one of his obsessions - human pre-history and archeology. His guest is James Dilley, an expert in ancient technology and an experimental archeologist specialising in European ancient history from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze age. In this episode, Sam and James discuss some of his most recent work for his PhD which focuses on the importance of quality shafts [for spear hunting that is], how the 'Paleo diet' would actually work, some incredible new finds and how each one changes much about previous ideas and how this can be a bit of a pain in the arse..... Plus A WORLD EXCLUSIVE!!!! Sam gives an indication of the annual fundraising activity he'll be doing this year.....and this time it's probably going too far.

In this episode your host Sam Harris meets up with local Boxer, promoter, manager and gym owner Faheem Kahn. Faheem tells us about his career as a boxer and moving into the promotion side of things, the time he was all set to fight Josh Kelly on the Antony Joshua card before a last minute pull out from his opponent, his dreams of bringing professional championship boxing to Exeter and how his new deal fighting for Senegal promotions could help that happen, the time he took an MMA fight on 10 days notice and how our very own 'friend of the show' Andy Costello intensively coached him to all but victory.....until some illegal oil got him a DQ. Faheem and Sam also discuss religion, faith and Frank Bruno! Check it out.

This week your intrepid host Sam Harris gets roped into giving stand up a go on fairly short notice! The episode includes a pre-show chat with Luke Honneraty, host of the Comedy Avengers show at which Sam pops his comedy cherry. There is also the audio from a facebook live that Andy set up minutes before just to further add to Sam's anxiety as well as audio from the 5 mins he performed. Then, Sam catches up with Andy to take advantage of his MMA expereince to review the show and discuss the most recent UFC fights.

In this episode we sit down with Marcus Bowden of Country Wood Smoke, an real expert in BBQ and outdoor cookery over open fires. Marcus manages to slip in loads of top tips for carnivores, BBQ enthusiasts and those who like cooking around an open fire......or even making better use of their indoor woodburner. A real treat for meat lovers and maybe an episode that will convert some Vegans......maybe not. Either way, at least there's the infamous Bunch of Apes quiz at the end! I'm off to buy some hanger steak and throw it on some embers.

Greg Lock & Sam Harris bring you up to speed with the latest current affairs and events....... sort of. An funny take on some of the stories that might have slipped under your radar - no real politics or actual news to speak of. Two old mates chatting shit and hoping to create some comedy.

Recorded back in November, presumed lost and then found I met with Andy Costello again to chat a bit about his mentality for various forms of combat, plus some sidetracks around Pre-historic humans and if they were aggro or not, whether it's the 1st or 2nd pint that's more dangerous and Koko the pervert Gorilla! Be sure to subscribe, like and share - plus any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Enjoyed chatting to this chap so much last time that got him straight back. International prop forward Harry Williams joins me to talk about how I would smash the apprentice, that Jesus had to dumb it down, a fairly brief account of the European game at the weekend and best of all, an exciting new interactive quiz that you can all play at home..... Please like, share and subscribe if you like it, thing others would or want to keep up to speed with the latest episode.

International and Premiership Prop forward Harry Williams joins Sam to discuss everything from his recent time at the England training camp, Gillain McKeiths fascination with stools, how supernanny couldn't pronounce asseptable to how Buddha needs a good night out on the piss.

Ex Cage Rage heavyweight star, British Judo champion, Jujitsu black belt and ex police enforcer Andy Costello joins me to chat about his time as an MMA fighter, being the front line for difficult and dangerous situations as a police officer and general chat around the ins and outs of combat.