Human Magic with Jak Hutchcraft

Dr. Brandy Schillace is a medical historian, alternative academic, author and an “adventurer at the intersections of medicine, history, technology, and literature.” In this episode we talk about head transplants and cloning. Her new book Mr. Humble & Dr. Butcher is about the complicated, eccentric American neurosurgeon Dr. Robert White and his quest to transplant a human head. It's a mesmerizing journey through the history of transplant surgery, two-headed dogs, a couple of popes and the Cold War. We also had chance to talk about Dr. Schillace's own life and how she got into weird science. Oh, and we chatted about human cloning and a UFO religion that believes we're the descendants of extra-terrestrials (Raëlism). Buy her book here (UK): https://uk.bookshop.org/books/mr-humble-and-dr-butcher-a-monkey-s-head-the-pope-s-neuroscientist-and-the-quest-to-transplant-the-soul/9781982113773 Or here (everywhere else): https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Humble-Dr-Butcher-Neuroscientist-ebook/dp/B08BZXBGYJ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=MR.+HUMBLE+%26+DR.+BUTCHER&qid=1605816534&sr=8-1 Find out more at brandyschillace.com Follow Dr. Schillace on Twitter (@bschillace). You can read my article about the Raëlian religion here. You can see my work and tip me at jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Conscious Route is a rapper and a psychotherapist. In this episode we talk about his music, mental health, adoption, psychotherapy and survival. His new album Lost Routes is out now and it's awesome. He also runs a great record label called True Hold. Follow Conscious Route on Instagram (@Conscious_Route) and Twitter (@Consciousroute). If you need a little help with your mental health please visit: https://www.samaritans.org/ https://www.mind.org.uk https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/ You can see my work and tip me at jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Jeremy Rwakasiisi is a Masters graduate of Religious Studies. He's also a campaigner, creator and good mate of mine. He's currently doing a black history campaign to raise money for The Stephen Lawrence Foundation. You can buy his clothing here. In this episode we talk about the history and spread of Christianity, Jeremy's upbringing, inequality, the protestant work ethic, identity, capitalism and other things. Here's a link to some weird stories that didn't make it into the Bible. Follow Jeremy on Instagram. @hiervisions You can see my work and tip me at jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Matt Stocks is a podcaster, writer, DJ and photographer. He does two great podcasts: Life In The Stocks and Stoke The Fire. His first book Life In The Stocks is available now and it's awesome. In this episode we talk about his career in music journalism, creativity, rock and roll, mental health and survival. Follow Matt on Instagram and Twitter: @MattstocksDJ If you need a little help with your mental health please visit https://www.mind.org.uk. You can see my work and tip me at jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Mistress Adreena Angela is a dominatrix, writer, activist and advocate for sex workers rights. She runs the Inanna Studio in London, where she indulges her clients deepest, raunchiest fantasies. In this episode we talk about her life, sex work, safety, censorship, feminism and loads of other things. Find out more at mistressadreena.co.uk See also: https://www.swarmcollective.org/ https://prostitutescollective.net/ https://www.redumbrellafund.org/ You can see my work and tip me at jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Niaomh Convery is a chef, facilitator, advocate for social change and co-founder of The Shared Plate. In this episode we talk about food, seasonal diets, culture, sustainability, the future of food and all the cool stuff they do at The Shared Plate. The Shared Plate is a community interest company with people and food at its heart. They believe the right to good food should be shared by all and shouldn't come at the cost of our planet or the lives of those working to produce it. They've got a zero-waste shop and café in Swansea, Wales. You can find out more at www.thesharedplate.co.uk You can see my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Milly C is a journalist, DJ and a recovering drug addict. In this episode we talked about her journey, mental health, growth, addiction, rehab, The 12 Step Program and empowerment. If you're in the UK and feel you might be going through issues relating to addiction, or know somebody that is, these websites are helpful: https://www.drugaddictsanonymous.org.uk/daa-meetings https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/ https://www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/ https://adfam.org.uk/ You can see more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Should it ever be illegal to protest? Do lockdowns and masks actually work or are they forms of oppression? Is unicycling a crime? Should we spend more time with our grannies? What are anti-lockdown protestors doing for Christmas? I visited the anti-lockdown/Stand Up X march on the 28th of November 2020 in London. I recorded some of the conversations I had there. I feel that it's a very confusing time for everybody at the moment, including me. I wanted to find out why people were protesting and what they are doing for Christmas. See more of my work at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

It has been estimated that the cost to build the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway - a fast trainline that will go from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds - will cost up to £170bn of British taxpayers money. That number keeps increasing. On top of that, the cost isn't just financial; ancient forests, woodland, communities, houses and businesses already are being destroyed as the construction begins. Several protest camps exist around the country in opposition to the construction of HS2. I visited the protest camp outside of Euston station in London where protestors and rough sleepers live in tents and treehouses. One protestor was arrested there in September for climbing a HS2 crane and going on hunger strike for a couple of days. I visited on a quiet Sunday morning and I managed to speak to some people that have been living there over the last three months. Find out more about the HS2 rebellion at: https://hs2rebellion.earth/ and http://stophs2.org/. See more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Are we being lied to? Should we trust our government? Is a nationwide lockdown going to save lives or endanger them? I visited the anti-lockdown protest/Million Mask March on the 5th of November 2020 in Trafalgar Square, London. I recorded some of the conversations I had there. I feel that it's a very confusing time for everybody at the moment, including me. I wanted to find out what kinds of people attend such a protest, why are they there, what they think of the lockdown and what they think of COVID-19 and the information we are receiving about it. Some of the conversations I wrote up for VICE: https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8vpx/million-mask-march-london-photos?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter See more of my work at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Sargel18 is an alien hunter, Ufologist, conspiracy theorist, discoverer, psychic and, if he is to be believed, a half-alien/half-human hybrid. Through the late 90s and early 00s, Sargel18 and his discoveries received a lot of media attention, being invited as a keynote speaker at events like the Global Sciences Congress and appearing on TV shows like Fox's Real Scary Stories and UPN's Strange Universe. The media storm inevitably died down and these days he lives a quiet life with his psychic wife, Teleahqua, in Pennsylvania. This episode is a spiralling Skype conversation that took place in the early hours of June 28, 2017 between Sargel18 and I. We talk about aliens, vortexes, governmental cover-ups, parallel universes, conspiracies, his life, his family and the time he met Jesus Christ. I wrote some of it up as an article for Prohbtd entitled ‘Interview with an Alien Hunter': https://prohbtd.com/read/interview-with-an-alien-hunter/ Album recommendation: Mean Jeans – On Mars (2012) Delve deeper into Sargel's world here: https://m.youtube.com/user/Sargel18 Follow Sargel on Twitter: @Sargel18 See more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Sam Walton is an activist and a Quaker. In 2017, he broke into a military weapons base in Lancashire with his reverend friend. Their plan was to sabotage British fighter jets before they could get sold to Saudi Arabia to be used in war crimes. However, things didn't go to plan. It was called the "biggest conspiracy to do criminal damage in UK legal history " and the pair were facing up to ten years in jail. In this episode Sam tells me the full story of what happened and we talk further about his beliefs and his activism. This conversation was part of my research for an article I wrote about Quakerism for the I Paper. Read it here: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/people/quakerism-belief-religion-activism-modern-approach-1758232 Album recommendation: Talking Heads - Remain In Light. (1980) For more info on Quakerism and young Quakers to: https://www.quaker.org.uk/ Follow Sam Walton on Twitter: @SamWalton See more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Hamish Scott-Preston is a northern poet and youth worker. In this episode we drank a couple of lagers and talked about identity, transgender and his journey. Album Recommendation: Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2014) Please support LGBTQIA+ charities wherever you can. I think Stonewall is an important one: stonewall.org.uk See more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

A short conversation I had with Timothy Winter (AKA Shayk Abdal Hakim Murad) about Islam and climate change. He is a Muslim scholar, academic, researcher and writer. We talked in Cambridge mosque, Europe's first 'eco-mosque', a beautiful and progressive place of worship. This was part of the research I did for an article I wrote for The Face magazine about religion and climate change. Read it here: https://theface.com/life/religion-climate-change-extinction-rebellion-volume-4-issue-002 To find out more about the Cambridge mosque, or arrange a visit, head here: https://cambridgecentralmosque.org/ See more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

Tali Clarke is a filmmaker, musician, artist and support worker. We've collaborated together on music videos for my band, WACO, and on documentaries in the past. In this episode we drink rum and talk about her filmmaking and art, punk music and ethos, LGBTQIA+ visibility and her work with homeless community. Album Recommendation: Poisonous Cunt - Make Me A Sandwich (2020) Tali's website is here: https://www.taliclarke.com/ See more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH

The 'Global Order of Satan' are self-described as an “independent nontheistic rationalist Satanist religious ministry”. They were originally the British branch of The Satanic Temple but splintered off in 2018. Andy Diabolus is the co-chapter head of the GoS. We talk about his personal journey, their beliefs, the work they do and what it really means to be a Satanist in 2020. This was part of my research for an article I wrote about Satanism for Kerrang, which can be read here: https://www.kerrang.com/features/what-it-really-means-to-be-a-satanist Hail Satan? You decide. Album recommendation: The Devil Makes Three - The Devil Makes Three (2002) For more info go to: http://gosatan.com/ See more of my work and tip me at www.jakhutchcraft.com Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @Jak_TH