Podcasts about British Library

John Berger transformed the way generations thought about art, politics and the act of looking. Best known for Ways of Seeing, his work ranged across migration, capitalism, war and mortality, always asking how culture can help us understand the world around us. In this episode, writer and academic Shahidha Bari speaks with Tom Overton about his new book, John Berger: From Life. Overton first got to know Berger while cataloguing his archive at the British Library, where forgotten photographs, letters and manuscripts would prompt unexpected phone calls from Berger himself: “Can I tell you a story?” Why does Ways of Seeing still feel so radical? How did Berger's politics shape his writing on art, migration and power? And why does his work continue to speak so directly to the present? Overton reflects on Berger's collaborators, his political commitments and the enduring generosity of a thinker who believed art could create connection across time. Tom Overton is a writer, editor and researcher. His new book, John Berger: From Life, draws on his personal relationship with Berger and years spent working with his archive. Shahidha Bari is a writer, academic and broadcaster. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tash Rebuck, the Founder of The Good Sales Company is on a mission to help people fall in love with Sales. Sales has become a bit of a dirty word, but it is integral to every business. Tash provides Coaching, Training and Retainer support to help businesses find the sales style that fits their values.With over a decade of B2B sales experience, Tash has worked with hundreds of companies looking to improve their sales in a positive way that fits their values. Tash is the host of the Sales podcast The S Word, and a speaker at the British Library, Somerset House, London School of Economics, Imperial College London and UCL, delivering training and advice on how to increase revenue in the right way.www.thegoodsalescompany.com

A few months ago I saw a story in The Guardian which answered a question I had wondered about for a while - when did we start using technology to identify wildlife through their calls? I'm an avid user of the Merlin Bird ID App, which records bird songs and attempts to identify them. Before this, I relied on the ears of others - usually experienced naturalists who had spent years honing their hearing before passing on their knowledge to others. But, what came before this?The Guardian story that caught my eye discussed a short film that had recently been released - Alarm Notes - which was about a guy called Ludwig Koch, who is believed to have made the very first recordings of birds back in the late 1800s. This accolade is only part of Ludwig's life story, and the further I read into it, the more astounding it got. As a jewish family living in Germany at the dawn of the second world war, Ludwig and his wife had to leave their home and escape to the UK. They also unknowingly hosted a Bulgarian communist who may or may not have burned down the Reichstag building in their home, putting them at even more risk from the incoming Nazi regime. The Bulgarian man managed to get away with the crime however, then later went onto become the first prime minister of Bulgaria, so things turned out ok for him!The technology used in the early 1900s to record birds in zoos and in the wild would make modern day sound techs run for the hills - think miles of wires held up on stilts over bodies of water, tracing between microphones and a huge recording van. The technological advances that happened over the course of Ludwig's life were truly remarkable.Ludwig continued his bird recording work in the UK, becoming one of the very first natural history celebrities. He recorded song books - vinyl that came with a book about the birds that were featured - but also recorded the soundscapes of places, including parts of London and Paris, transporting the listener from their home to places they may have never visited before. He also featured on BBC radio, becoming a familiar voice and even the subject of comedy routines.I wanted to speak to the makers of the film, Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin about the story and the filmmaking process. I was also interested to hear about Andrea's personal connection with the subject of the film, as she is Ludwig's great granddaughter.To find out more about the film, or any of the other films that Anthea and Ian have made about her family's remarkable stories, head to their website.The sound recordings used in this episode were digitalised by the British Library from Ludwig Koch's archive. The music used in today's episode is from Blue Dot Sessions.Support the making of Earth to Humans by becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Step into the strange and shadowy world of the British Library's acclaimed Tales of the Weird series, which has brought new life to Britain's rich tradition of gothic, folkloric, and uncanny storytelling. From haunted houses to forgotten monsters, these stories speak to something deep in the national imagination. Join Jeremy Dyson (The League of Gentlemen, Ghost Stories) and Tales of the Weird editors, gothic scholar John Miller and folklorist Elizabeth Dearnley as they explore why eerie tales continue to resonate. Chaired by travel writer Nick Jubber, this panel celebrates the enduring power of the weird – on the page, on the stage, and in the shadows. Co-produced by the British Library.

"The Possitopian approach to future thinking expands the cone of the possible future, draws on geophysical realities and data, and also applies imagination to help you imagine future scenarios which are potentially worse or better than you might allow yourself to think."  So says this week's guest, Bridget McKenzie. Bridget is an artist and regenerative thought leader working to engage people with what she calls the Earth Crisis -which is a new term to me but feels a much better fit than MetaCrisis or Polycrisis. Her career includes being Tate's Education manager and the British Library's Head of Learning. In 2006, she founded Flow Associates, a research consultancy in cultural learning. In the past decade, she has focused on the intersection of culture and environment, and has developed training, collectives and campaigns pushing at the radical edges of this field. This includes founding Climate Museum UK, a creative collective putting the Earth Crisis in context, and Earth Talk, a community of practice for Earth Literacy. She co-founded Culture Declares, a movement of cultural workers declaring a planetary emergency. She experiments with creative activism in her city of Norwich. And creative activism is what we're all about - how do we stretch our imaginations beyond the bounds of what we believe to be true now, to what might be true if we can only lay the foundations for something utterly outside our current capacity to imagine? This was such an inspiring conversation with someone who thinks deeply about the nature of art, creativity, culture - and the ways we can engage ourselves and each other at the deepest level. LinksBridget's WebsiteEarth Talk Climate Museum UKPossitopia on Medium —About Accidental Gods—We offer three strands all rooted in the same soil, drawing from the same river: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass Our next Open Gathering offered as part of our Accidental Gods Programme is 'BECOMING A GOOD ANCESTOR' which will run on Sunday 13th September 2026 from 16:00 - 20:00 GMT - details are here. You don't have to be a member of Accidental Gods to come along, but if you are, all Gatherings are half price.If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life. If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here. If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are hereManda and Louise both offer one-to-one Mentoring Calls.  Manda is writing a book just now, but if you'd like to contact Louise, details are here.

In this monthly episode of the Anglotopia Podcast, Jonathan Thomas returns with his August edition of What's On in London — and this one comes with a personal twist, because Jonathan will be in London himself later in the month. August is London's most contradictory month: the busiest tourist season of the year, a million-plus visitors, packed attractions and carnival streets — and yet simultaneously the month when Londoners themselves flee to Cornwall and France, leaving whole districts strangely quiet. Jonathan covers it all: the Notting Hill Carnival (August 30–31, its 60th anniversary this year, Europe's largest street festival, free entry); the major royal and historic building openings including Buckingham Palace State Rooms, Houses of Parliament summer tours, and the freshly restored Banqueting House reopening August 1st; London's brand new museum, Trent Park House of Secrets — just opened July 21st, telling the extraordinary wartime spy story that was kept under the Official Secrets Act for over 50 years; new West End openings including Jane Eyre the Musical and Kimberly Akimbo; the blockbuster exhibitions still running and closing this month; live music at Victoria Park and Wembley; family-friendly highlights; the VAT tourist discount reducing admission prices across major attractions this summer; and Jonathan's own personal list of what he's booked and planning to see — including the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace's East Wing tour, the Wallace Collection's Churchill as Painter exhibition, and Trent Park. Links The Big One — Notting Hill Carnival (August 29-31, 60th Anniversary) Notting Hill Carnival — Official Website Notting Hill Carnival 2026 Schedule & Info (Sat Aug 29 Steel Band Competition; Sun Aug 30 Children's Day; Mon Aug 31 Main Parade) Royal & Historic Building Openings Buckingham Palace State Rooms — Book Tickets (Open July 9 – September 27, 2026; daily 9:30–19:30 through August 31) Buckingham Palace East Wing Highlights Tour — Book Separately Houses of Parliament Summer Tours — Book Tickets (Reduced prices throughout summer recess; Westminster Hall, House of Commons, House of Lords) Banqueting House — Tickets & Info (Fully reopened August 1 after major restoration; open Thu–Mon 10:00–16:00; Adults £10, under 16s free) London's Newest Museum Trent Park House of Secrets — Book Tickets (Open since July 21; Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00; Adults £14/~$20; Oakwood tube station, Piccadilly Line) Ceremony of the Keys Ceremony of the Keys — Tower of London — Book Tickets (Next ticket release: August 3, 2026 at 13:00; suggested price £30, pay from £10; sells out immediately — set a reminder) Festivals & Outdoor Events Greenwich + Docklands International Festival — Free (August 21 – September 6, 2026; outdoor theatre, circus and dance across Greenwich, Woolwich and Docklands) Greenwich Fair — Free (August 22–23, Greenwich Park — no ticket required) 120 Years of the Piccadilly Line with Tim Dunn — London Transport Museum (August 22) All Points East — Victoria Park, East London (Two weekends; headliners include Lorde, Tyler the Creator, Twenty One Pilots) BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall (Running all month, ends September 12; day tickets available on the door) New West End Theater Openings Jane Eyre the Musical — UK Premiere (from August 28, Southwark Playhouse) Kimberly Akimbo (from August 28, Hampstead Theatre) The Mischievous Team — New spy farce (from August 1) West End Tickets via Londontopia TKTS Half-Price Tickets, Leicester Square Exhibitions — Running & Closing in August Frida Kahlo — Tate Modern (runs to 2027) (Plenty of time — but book ahead) Winston Churchill the Painter — Wallace Collection (until November 29) Richard Dadd — Royal Academy (running) Anish Kapoor — Hayward Gallery (until October) Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art — V&A (until November) Marilyn Monroe — National Portrait Gallery (closing September) (Last chance — closing soon) Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep — Natural History Museum (Great for families) Star Trek at 60 Trail — Science Museum (closing September) (Free) Young Artist Summer Show — Royal Academy (until August 30, Free) Exhibitions Closing in August — See These Now Holy Pop at Somerset House — closes August 9 Patrick Caulfield — Royal Academy — closes August 16 Titanic Exhibition — Olympia — closes August 16 Fairy Tales — British Library — closes August 23 Zurbarán — National Gallery — closes August 23 Hervien Anderson — Tate Britain — closes August 23 David Hockney: A Year in Normandy — Royal Academy — closes August 23 Tracey Emin: A Second Life — Tate Modern — closes August 31 Family Activities Paddington Bear Summer Special — Immersive Experience The Big Dig: Archaeology Adventure (until August 21) Boleyn is Back — Tudor Living History, Tower of London (until August 14) Live Music All Points East — Victoria Park The Weeknd — Wembley Stadium (August 14–19) Practical Resources Met Office App — London Weather Forecast Londontopia London Events Calendar TfL Elizabeth Line — Air-Conditioned Travel Across London Anglotopia Wallace Collection Churchill Episode — Listen Now (Our earlier episode with Dr. Lucy Davis) Friends of Anglotopia Club Takeaways August 2026 is the 60th anniversary of the Notting Hill Carnival — Europe's largest street festival, free to attend, taking over Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove on August 30–31. The Saturday Steel Band Competition (August 29) requires a ticket; Sunday Children's Day and Monday main parade are free. Arrive early, follow your nose to the food stalls, and keep your wits about you in the crowds. Trent Park House of Secrets — London's brand new museum, opened July 21st — tells the extraordinary story of the WWII intelligence operation where 59 captured German generals were housed in apparent luxury, never knowing the entire house was bugged. Often called "the other Bletchley Park." Tickets are £14 (~$20), open Tuesday–Sunday, and it's on the Piccadilly Line at Oakwood station. Jonathan is going. Buckingham Palace State Rooms are open daily through August 31, 9:30am to 7:30pm — the longest opening hours of the season. Jonathan has booked both the State Rooms tour and the newly opened East Wing tour. If you haven't booked yet, check for remaining availability immediately; the best slots are gone but cancellations do appear. Banqueting House on Whitehall — Inigo Jones's 1622 masterpiece with its Rubens ceiling, the building outside which Charles I was executed — reopens fully on August 1st after a major restoration. Adults £10, under 16s free, open Thursday–Monday. New lift for step-free access. One of London's most underrated experiences. The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London — the world's oldest unbroken military ceremony, performed every night for at least 700 years — releases the next month's tickets on the first working day of each month. The next release is August 3rd at 1pm. Jonathan got a ticket; it requires an early wake-up and sells out within hours of release. The UK government has instituted a 15% VAT discount on tourist attraction admissions this summer — which means lower prices at major London attractions. If you booked in advance, you may be entitled to a partial refund for the difference; check with each venue. Lower prices also means slightly larger crowds. The Greenwich + Docklands International Festival runs August 21 to September 6 — 17 days of completely free outdoor theatre, circus and dance across Greenwich Park, Woolwich, and the Docklands. The two-day Greenwich Fair on August 22–23 in Greenwich Park is the unmissable centerpiece. No ticket required — just show up. Several major exhibitions close on or around August 23rd — a critical date. Zurbarán at the National Gallery, Fairy Tales at the British Library, David Hockney at the Royal Academy, Hervien Anderson at Tate Britain, and Patrick Caulfield at the Royal Academy all close that day. If you're arriving after August 23rd, these are gone. The BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall run all month and into September — the world's largest classical music festival, with day-of standing tickets potentially available on the door. Jonathan hasn't managed to go yet and still wants to. It's worth trying even if you can't book ahead. August in London is genuinely two cities at once: over a million tourists fill the attractions and the carnival streets, while large swaths of residential London go quiet as locals escape. The wise visitor uses this: the tourist attractions are busy, but the parks, the residential neighborhoods, and the early mornings are surprisingly peaceful. Soundbites "August is London's most contradictory month. Every guidebook tells you it's peak season — and every guidebook is right. And yet at exactly the same time, London kind of empties out. Locals flee to Cornwall, to France, to anywhere that isn't a stuffy office in a heat wave. Whole districts can go completely quiet." — Jonathan on August's strange duality. "The Notting Hill Carnival is that one weekend where London's multicultural and diverse character — which can feel oddly invisible at other times of the year — is front and center. It's loud. It's joyful. And it's entirely free." — Jonathan on why the carnival matters. "They captured high-level German officers and put them all in one place. What the prisoners didn't know was that the entire house was wired with microphones. And hidden in a concealed basement, around a hundred secret listeners — many of them German-speaking Jewish refugees who had fled the Nazis — were recording and transcribing every careless word." — Jonathan on Trent Park House of Secrets. "I have wanted to go inside Buckingham Palace for twenty years. I'm finally doing it this year. I've got my tickets booked. I'm going to do the State Room tour, I'm going to see the freshly rehung picture gallery, and I've booked the East Wing tour. That is going to take a whole Saturday. I cannot wait." — Jonathan on his long-awaited Buckingham Palace visit. "The Ceremony of the Keys is considered the world's longest military ceremony. They say it's been running for a thousand years — I'm skeptical, but at least as long as there's been a Tower of London. I woke up early and managed to snag a ticket before they sold out. Because they do sell out immediately." — Jonathan on booking the Ceremony of the Keys. "Banqueting House. Inigo Jones's masterpiece on Whitehall, with its Rubens ceiling. The one surviving fragment of the old Palace of Whitehall — the very spot where Charles I was executed in 1649. It reopens for the summer on August 1st. That is a lot of history in one place." — Jonathan on Banqueting House reopening. "The government has instituted a fifteen percent discount off the twenty percent VAT for tourists visiting tourist attractions this summer. So this month you will see lower prices at all of London's major tourist attractions. And if you booked in advance, you should be getting a refund." — Jonathan on the summer VAT tourist discount. "I love Star Trek. I have seen every episode of Star Trek dozens of times. You can't see over there, but I'm building the LEGO Enterprise D model right now. And I'm going to go see this exhibition because it's the 60th anniversary and the producers don't seem to want to celebrate it much — but everybody else is." — Jonathan on his plan to visit the Star Trek at 60 Trail at the Science Museum. "Several things close on August 23rd. I'm arriving after August 23rd. So I'm going to miss the David Hockney, the Zurbarán, the Tracey Emin. It's a bit annoying. But it is what it is." — Jonathan on the painful August 23rd exhibition closing cliff. "If you see a slightly sun-birthed Anglophile wandering the food stalls at one of the festivals going on later in August — do say hello. It might just be me." — Jonathan's closing invitation. Chapters 00:23 Introduction & Personal Note — Jonathan is heading to London this August 01:14 Weather Warning — England's driest summer in years, three heat waves, and what to expect 02:35 Episode Overview — Carnival, openings, exhibitions, practical tips 03:16 The Strange Duality of August — A million tourists arrive as Londoners flee 04:05 NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL — Europe's largest free street festival, 60th anniversary, August 29–31 05:28 Carnival Practical Tips — Go early, follow the food, wear comfortable shoes, stay safe 06:37 Festivals & Outdoor Highlights — Greenwich + Docklands International Festival (free, Aug 21–Sep 6) 07:07 Greenwich Fair — Free outdoor theatre in Greenwich Park, August 22–23 07:17 120 Years of the Piccadilly Line — Tim Dunn at the London Transport Museum, August 22 07:50 Edinburgh Fringe Previews & Al Fresco Dining — London venues hosting previews; Soho streets 08:22 ROYAL & HISTORIC BUILDING OPENINGS 08:25 Buckingham Palace State Rooms — Open daily; freshly rehung picture gallery; Jonathan's booked visit 09:31 Buckingham Palace East Wing — Newly opened tour; Jonathan's full Saturday plan 10:07 Houses of Parliament Summer Tours — Westminster Hall, Commons, Lords; reduced prices 10:36 Banqueting House — Fully reopens August 1st after major restoration; Rubens ceiling; £10 adults 11:03 TRENT PARK HOUSE OF SECRETS — London's brand new museum, opened July 21st 11:22 The Story of Trent Park — Philip Sassoon, 59 German generals, hidden microphones 13:03 The Secret Listeners — Jewish refugees transcribing Nazi generals in a concealed basement 14:16 Visiting Trent Park — Hours, tickets £14, Oakwood station, Piccadilly Line 15:43 NEW WEST END THEATER OPENINGS 15:53 The Mischievous Team — New spy farce from August 1st 16:04 Jane Eyre the Musical — UK premiere, Southwark Playhouse, August 28 16:19 Kimberly Akimbo — Tony-winning musical, Hampstead Theatre, August 28 16:32 BLOCKBUSTER EXHIBITIONS STILL RUNNING 16:47 Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern — Runs to 2027; Jonathan plans to go 17:03 Marilyn Monroe — National Portrait Gallery; closing September — last chance 17:13 Anish Kapoor — Hayward Gallery; Schiaparelli — V&A; Richard Dadd — Royal Academy 17:58 Winston Churchill the Painter — Wallace Collection; Jonathan booked since March 18:44 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition — Closes August 23rd; last chance 18:52 Jurassic Oceans — Natural History Museum; Jonathan has never been 19:03 Star Trek at 60 Trail — Science Museum; free; LEGO Enterprise D confession 19:30 EXHIBITIONS CLOSING IN AUGUST — CRITICAL DATES 19:37 August 9 & 16 — Holy Pop (Somerset House), Patrick Caulfield & Titanic (RA & Olympia) 19:54 August 23rd Mass Closings — Fairy Tales, Zurbarán, Hervien Anderson, David Hockney 20:16 August 31 — Tracey Emin: A Second Life (Tate Modern) 20:29 LIVE MUSIC 20:31 All Points East — Victoria Park; Lorde, Tyler the Creator, Twenty One Pilots 20:44 BBC Proms — All month to September 12; day standing tickets on the door 21:11 The Artist at Wembley — August 14–19; Luke Combs this weekend only 21:28 FAMILY ACTIVITIES — School holidays mean packed attractions 21:48 Paddington Bear Summer Special — Immersive experience for younger children 21:56 The Big Dig — Hands-on archaeology through August 21st 22:08 Boleyn is Back — Tudor living history at the Tower, through August 14th 22:16 Young Artist Summer Show — Royal Academy; free; closes August 30th 22:30 JONATHAN'S PERSONAL AUGUST ITINERARY 22:40 Ceremony of the Keys — Booked; how Jonathan got a ticket; arrive at 9:30pm 23:54 What Else Jonathan Is Doing — National Gallery, Wallace Collection, Royal Academy, Natural History Museum 24:49 Star Trek + Natural History Museum Double Bill Plan 25:05 Notting Hill Carnival — In London for it but sitting it out without his wife 25:32 PRACTICAL SECTION — CROWDS, WEATHER & SHOULD YOU GO? 25:37 August Weather Reality — Warm and dry; long days; twilight till after 9pm; pack layers 26:35 Peak Season & School Holidays — Why it's busy even when Londoners leave 26:39 Weather Detail — Pack layers; rain is rare but intense; humidity by the Thames 28:13 THE VAT TOURIST DISCOUNT — 15% off admissions; possible refunds for advance bookers 29:27 Should You Visit in August? — Jonathan's honest verdict 29:52 Top Tip — Don't travel over bank holiday weekend (Jonathan breaks his own rule) 30:51 Wrap-Up — Londontopia events calendar, Friends of Anglotopia, and see you in London Video Version

Season 8, Episode 7 Alice du Parcq & The Philosophy of Perfume (herNEW BOOK!)This week we welcome back dear perfume pal and friend of the pod (star of twoprevious episodes), the multi-award-winning fragrance writer, presenter, contentcreator and now AUTHOR, Alice du Parcq!Alice has always been ‘on a mission to decode perfume in a fun, relatable andobjective way.' Now, added to her perfumed portfolio will be an incredibly gift-able (to self or scent-loving friends) book, created in collaboration with noneother than The British Library, called The Philosophy of Perfume. Out in October,we cannot WAIT to read it, and in this episode, Alice gives us a sneak peek atwhat you expect to find inside, plus the entire story of how the book came to be,and why she burst into tears in a library.We've even managed to wangle a must-sniff list of perfumes Alice has beenwowed by so far this year (not in the book, just a little scented extra to get youscurrying to smell them). We loved this warm, emotive, wide-rangingconversation and, as ever, could have talked to Alice for hours longer, and we sohope you enjoy this deep dive into one of the most hotly anticipated books forsome time...Some context about the British Library and this collection:‘The British Library has an in-house publishing division, and they have anestablished collection of around 18 books called "The Philosophy Of...". It's afamily of small giftable books that cover fun and whimsical lifestyle topics, suchThe Philosophy of Cheese, The Philosophy of Christmas of Gin, ofTattoos and of Houseplants, where an expert in that specific field dives into theorigins and evolution of that subject. In January, I was invited to do ThePhilosophy of Perfume and it will sit within this collection but as a slightlylonger and more standout format. It's out in October, in time for the giftingseason, and the RRP is £12.99.'About the book:‘The Philosophy of Perfume is a fun, warm, thoughtful and practical book allabout fragrance, which looks at its origins and how it's made, how we smell andhow best to shop for perfume. It is an adventure into the facts, folklore andfantasies surrounding perfume, delving into how it has evolved through the erasand decades as an artform, reflecting our cultural patterns through history. Inthe book, you'llmeet perfumers who share insights into their fascinating creativeprocess; you'll learn the science behind how we smell and the wild emotionalvoyage from smell to soul! There are tales of scented superstitions, and theliterary and historical figures who inspire perfume, plus the ways in which AI isimpacting the future of fragrance and a helpful guide on how to shop forperfume and find The One(s!). It was so important to me that this book was not for perfume experts, but forfragrance lovers of all ages who want a moment of enchantment laced withinteresting facts, a sprinkle of science and some practical guidance when on theirnext scent shopping safari.'Can't wait until October? You can see Alice talking live, interviewed by thewonderful Amanda Carr (founder of Barnes Fragrance Fair @barnesfragrancefair)at the Barnes Bookfest sat 26 th September at 6pm, and get tickets and moreinfo here: https://barnesbookfest.org/Fragrances Alice has adored so far this year:Pia Long's Olfiction Iconic (by name and nature! An utterly staggering vision of1980s department stores, expensive makeup and body creams – nostalgiapersonified)Botega Venetta's new Ulta collection (especially Bare Morning which Alicefeels is the longest-lasting most comforting powdery scent she's smelled foryears)Hellenist (all of them basically – a stunning house Suzy first saw at PittiFragranze, and which we all very much hope will be available in U.K. soon)Neal's Yard Remedies Mood Awakening Collection (Alice loved how truethese felt to the brand's ethos, and how they slotted so perfectly into their mostbeloved collections)Ode Ona (all of them, again – an exquisitely crafted and curated collection, allworth exploring)

What if art could do more than hang on a wall — what if it could bring an entire community back to life?In this joyful and quietly extraordinary episode of The True You Podcast, host Paula Burns sits down with Rose Hill — international artist, founder of the multi-award-winning Co-Creative Connection, and one of the most fascinating women to grace this podcast — for a conversation about art, belonging, purpose, and what it means to build something truly meaningful with your life's work.Rose's career reads like a who's who of the art world. Commissions from Charles Saatchi, Sadie Frost, and Robert Webb. Collaborations with Harrods, the British Museum, and ZSL London Zoo. Teaching at the V&A and the British Library. By any measure, she has reached the very top of her field.And yet the work she describes with the most passion is painting murals with communities.Through Co-Creative Connection — her socially engaged public art practice — Rose brings schools, housing developments, train stations, and public spaces to life through large-scale, joyful murals that are designed by the community, for the community. Every artwork begins not with Rose's vision, but with the people who will live alongside it — ensuring that each mural becomes a genuine expression of collective identity, pride, and belonging.In this episode, we explore:— What socially engaged public art is and why it matters more than ever in a world where communities are increasingly disconnected— How Rose built a career that bridges the elite art world and the local community — and why she believes the two are far less separate than people think— The story behind Co-Creative Connection — how it began, how it works, and what a co-created community mural project actually looks like — How her collaborations with Harrods, the British Museum, ZSL London Zoo and private collectors like Charles Saatchi shaped her understanding of art's power to transform spaces and people— What it means to lead large-scale public art projects across schools, housing estates, and stations — and the profound impact these spaces have on the people who inhabit them— Rose's journey as a woman building a purposeful, award-winning creative career entirely on her own terms — and what that has taught her about following your vision even when the path is unconventionalThis episode is for the woman who has ever wondered whether her work can be both commercially successful and genuinely meaningful. Rose Hill is living proof that it absolutely can.Connect with Rose:Rose Hill | LinkedInLinkedInInstagramFacebookCo-Creative Connection - YouTube

In this sponsored episode of the Anglotopia Podcast — brought to you by Findmypast, one of the world's leading family history websites — Jonathan Thomas sits down with Jen Baldwin, Research Specialist at Findmypast and a professional genealogist since 2010, for a warm, practical, and genuinely inspiring introduction to British and Irish family history research. Jen specializes in British social history and the British diaspora — exactly the intersection where family stories meet the great sweep of British history — and her own family tree reaches back to London in 1635. In this first of two episodes, Jen and Jonathan cover everything a complete beginner needs to get started: why family history is so addictive, how to interview living relatives before the memories are lost, what records to look for at home, the cornerstone British records (civil registration from 1837, the census from 1841, parish records, military records, and the extraordinary British Newspaper Archive), the common mistakes that trip up beginners, how to track ancestors who came to America via Canada or Australia, the surprising political dramas hidden inside census returns, and three quick wins that any listener can complete this week. A second episode, covering deeper research and connecting your family story to the wider sweep of British history, is coming soon. Links Sponsor Findmypast — Start Your Free Trial (US) Findmypast — Start Your Free Trial (UK) British Newspaper Archive (via Findmypast) Findmypast Crime & Criminal Records The Family History Of — Findmypast Podcast Was Justice Served? Podcast — Jen Baldwin Also Mentioned Birmingham Back to Backs — National Trust The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes — Convict Transportation to Australia Friends of Anglotopia Club Takeaways Family history research is genuinely addictive — not because of the pedigree chart but because of the moment when a name becomes a person: someone with a job, a neighborhood, neighbors, a dog, and a life that intersects with historical events you already care about. There is no such thing as a boring ancestor. Agricultural laborers, mill workers, sailors, and servants all lived lives of remarkable complexity — moving seasonally, navigating economic upheaval, living through wars and weather — and the records to explore those lives exist and are increasingly accessible online. The golden rule of genealogy is to start with yourself and work backward one generation at a time. "Slow is fast" — taking time to verify each connection saves hours of untangling mistakes later. Talk to your oldest or most vulnerable living relatives now, before the memories are lost. Don't ask them to recite facts — ask them to tell stories. Put a photograph in front of them. Ask about their first car, their father's job, the family rumors. That's where the genealogical gold is hidden. Check your own home before you open a single database. Shoeboxes of photographs, greeting cards, family bibles, baptism certificates, postcards, and funeral cards all contain clues. Even a photo of someone standing on a porch with a dog can crack a family mystery open. Civil registration in England and Wales (from 1837) is one of the most powerful genealogical tools in the world — a universal national system that records every birth, marriage, and death, and is far more consistent than the fragmented state-by-state US system. Each certificate chains to the next, revealing a new generation with every document. The 1911 and 1921 censuses of England and Wales are particularly rich — the first preserved in original household handwriting, the second containing post-WWI data on orphans, divorce, and political protests from veterans demanding the "homes fit for heroes" that were promised and never delivered. The 1931 census was pulped for the war and the 1941 census was never taken, making 1921 the last available for a generation. The British Newspaper Archive (accessible via Findmypast) is a partnership with the British Library covering millions of newspaper images from the early 1700s to modern day — not just the major national titles but tiny regional papers, sports papers, political papers, and even a newspaper devoted entirely to cats. It is where ancestors come alive as personalities, not just data points. The Findmypast crime and criminal records collection is the largest of its kind available online, and tracking a transported convict from a British court through the Australian records is very achievable — especially given the extraordinary work done by genealogy communities in Australia and New Zealand to preserve those stories. Three quick wins for after this episode: call the oldest family member you can and record their stories; search for one relative in a census on Findmypast; and start a basic family tree with your parents and grandparents. All three are achievable this week. Soundbites "When we do family history, we think we're researching individual people. But what we're really researching is history. We're researching the people who lived that history in the moment. That's what makes it addictive — that high of discovering the name of the person you've been looking for for five years, and then going, okay, where did he get his shoes?" — Jen on why family history is about so much more than a pedigree chart. "There is no such thing as a boring ancestor. Get that out of your head right now. Some of the most interesting people I've encountered are the ones people say are not very interesting. Agricultural laborers are a great example. There are thousands of them. And they lived a really incredible life." — Jen on the myth of the uninteresting ancestor. "People remember things with all five senses. Put a photograph down in front of them and say, what do you remember about this day? Or ask about their first car, their father's job, the family rumors. If you can get them into telling stories, that's where those little nuggets of data come from." — Jen on interviewing living relatives. "In 1911, there were hundreds of women across the country who were not listed in the census because they would write instead: no vote, no census. If I'm not allowed to vote, then you don't get to count me as a citizen on your government form." — Jen on the suffragists' census boycott. "You have seven different households at the same address. They had a routine of who got to use the bed and when. While one person was at work, the other family was in the kitchen, family three was in the bedroom sleeping, family four was doing whatever. They worked off a rotation." — Jen on what the 1921 census revealed about Birmingham's back-to-back houses. "Slow is fast in genealogy. If you take your time and really make sure you have these relationships correct, future you will thank you significantly. Nobody begins with 500 ancestors. Everybody starts with one person — and that's you." — Jen's single most important piece of advice for beginners. "Common sense is queen in genealogy. If you have a Jonathan Thomas born in Yorkshire and a Jonathan Thomas born in Devon, but the whole family is in Yorkshire the whole time, why would someone suddenly be born in Devon? Let that common sense guide you." — Jen on avoiding the most common beginner mistake. "Just to compare with the United States — every state records these things differently, possibly every county within every state. But in England and Wales, it's universal. Everybody goes through the same national system. It doesn't matter where in the country they are born or died. They are findable." — Jen on why civil registration is such a powerful tool for British research. "There's a seven-year-old who stole a pound and was transported to Australia. A single pound. That's probably one of the saddest ones I've ever found." — Jen on the human cost visible in the criminal records. "No one knows your family better than you do. You won't find it without sitting down and doing it. It's exciting and it's history and it's fun and it's addictive and it can be very challenging — it's like playing detective all the time. But it is a lifelong hobby that I guarantee will give you a lot of satisfaction." — Jen's closing encouragement to anyone who's nervous about starting. Chapters 00:22 Introduction & Sponsor Message — Findmypast and what it offers for British and Irish research 02:14 Introducing Jen Baldwin — Research Specialist at Findmypast, professional genealogist since 2010 03:01 The Big Why — Why family history is so powerful and so addictive once you start 04:44 Social History and the Big Picture — How one person's story opens up industrialization, migration, war, and more 06:11 There Are No Boring Ancestors — Why agricultural laborers and mill workers have extraordinary stories 07:21 Start with Yourself — The puzzle analogy and why the golden rule exists 09:26 Interview Your Living Relatives — Before the memories are gone, how to ask and what to ask 11:05 The Gold Mine at Home — Shoeboxes of photos, certificates, greeting cards, family bibles, and the dog in the photograph 13:02 Civil Registration from 1837 — England and Wales's universal national record system and why it beats the US 15:16 The Census from 1841 — A snapshot of every household, and why the 1911 and 1921 are particularly special 17:36 Suffragists and the Census — "No vote, no census" and the political drama inside the 1911 record 19:09 The 1921 Census and Why It's the Last for a Long Time — The 1931 pulped, the 1941 never taken 20:09 The Political Drama of Census-Taking — Irish chicken-killing, miners' strikes, and Commonwealth representatives caught in London 22:26 What You Can Actually Learn from These Records — Occupations, addresses, relationships, and a person coming to life 24:15 The Birmingham Back to Backs — Seven households, one address, a sleeping rotation, and what the 1921 census revealed 26:38 Keeping It Simple at the Start — KISS, one generation at a time, and why slow is fast 29:05 Common Mistakes Beginners Make — Guessing, skipping generations, grabbing the wrong record 31:34 Jonathan's Durham Ancestry — Tracking ancestors who came via Canada rather than direct to the US 32:20 Commonwealth Records — Parish records across the Empire, Canada's Catholic tradition, and Australia's convict records 33:39 Criminal Records on Findmypast — The largest UK crime collection online and how to use it 35:12 Convict Transportation — Why it's more interesting than it sounds, and The Fatal Shore recommendation 36:28 The British Newspaper Archive — Millions of images from the 1700s to today, including a newspaper about cats 38:38 What Newspapers Reveal — Weddings, football scores, war stories, local gossip, and a fire in Enumclaw, Washington reported only in a Scottish paper 40:50 Three Quick Wins — Call a relative, find a census entry, start a basic family tree 42:19 How to Find a Census Entry on Findmypast — A step-by-step walkthrough 44:28 Why Starting a Family Tree Matters — Organization, hints, and the foundation for everything that follows 45:55 One Final Piece of Encouragement — Sit down and do it 46:45 What's Coming in Episode Two — The 1939 Register, deeper newspaper research, crime records, and connecting your story to British history 47:20 Sponsor Outro — Findmypast free trial links and a call to start this week Video Version

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Alasdair is reading Joe Hill's Basket Full of Heads graphic novel series; drinking Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold tea.Jessica is reading Foe by Iain Reid; drinking Cooperstown Doubleday Baseball Bourbon.Damien is watching Dust Bunny (2026; dir. Bryan Fuller); drinking Glenmorangie 12.Ryan is reading Music of the Mouldering/If It Bleeds by Matthew M. Bartlett; drinking Bruichladdich "Laddie" Classic. Up next: Season 10 is right around the corner! Follow @whiskeyandtheweird to stay up on what volume we're covering. Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is watching The A-Frame (2024; dir. Calvin Lee Reeder); drinking Lost Republic Rye.Damien is reading The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie Jr.; drinking Hibiki Japanese Harmony.Ryan is obsessively playing Ball X Pit (2025; VG); drinking The Maloney No. 2. If you liked this week's story, dig up some classic Kisaragi Station creepypasta on your interwebs. Up next: an interview with the editor, Alasdair Richmond! Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

Happy 4th of July to my listeners in the USA…and all of those around the world who also celebrate the day!It's a big one because the US is celebrating 250 years of independence this year. And to mark this special day, I have a special guest, Professor Nancy Siegel, and we are going to talk about the roles food and drink – especially tea and cake – played.Nancy Siegal is Professor of Art History and Culinary History at Towson University, Maryland. She specialises in American landscape studies, underrepresented women artists of the 19th century, print culture, and culinary history of the 18th and 19th centuries. Lucky for me, Nancy was in London, visiting the British Library at the same time I was in London, so we got to record this conversation in person in the breakfast room of Nancy's hotel, the Harlingford Hotel – a big thank you to them.Nancy has an excellent book that isn't out until the autumn, but I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at it, called Political Appetites: The Power of Food in Revolutionary America, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. In that book, Nancy documents the roles food and drinks, especially tea (and its trappings) played in the colonists of North America wanting to sever their ties with Britain, and how food was used to help distance themselves culturally from the British – at first the colonists very much identified as British.We talk about the tax on tea and the Boston Tea Party, tea alternatives, culinary activists such as the women of Edenton, giant independence cakes, Amelia Simmons, and how the people of the new USA used food and drink to culturally distance themselves from the British – amongst many other things.Those listening to the secret podcast get LOADS of bonus material where we discuss George III's botanist, pride in abundance, the value of hunting out original documents, baking fails, the all-American apple pie, and the function of satire – plus more.Nancy's page on the Towson University websitePolitical Appetites: The Power of Food in Revolutionary AmericaSeason 10 of the podcast is sponsored by Netherton Foundry, makers of high-quality kitchen and outdoor cookware. Netherton Foundry ships to several countries outside of the UK, including the USA and Canada. Visit www.netherton-foundry.co.uk to find out more about their wonderful products – approved not just by me but by folk such as Tom Parker-Bowles, Diana Henry and Nigella Lawson.The mixing and sound engineering were done by Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy podcastIf you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here. Things mentioned in today's episodeThe Edenton Tea RebellionA political teapotAmerican Cookery by Amelia Simmons (1796)The Hasty Pudding by Joel Barloe (1793)Serve it Forth Food History Festival EARLY BIRD TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!Previous pertinent podcast episodesFeeding the Georgian Kings with Adam Crymble and Rachel RichWorcester Porcelain with Paul CraneNeil's blogs and YouTube channel:‘British Food: a History'The British Food History Channel‘Neil Cooks Grigson' Neil's books:Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England's Most Influential HousekeeperA Dark History of SugarKnead to Know: a History of BakingThe Philosophy of PuddingsDon't forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today's episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email me at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. My DMs are open.You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistoryThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

The acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro talks about how he went about curating a season of films featuring trains for the BFI - from classics such as Shanghai Express by Josef von Sternberg and Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express to lesser known gems - and about how trains have inspired his own work - including songs, and his forthcoming novel, Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger. Actresses Maureen Beattie and Tracy-Ann Oberman discuss why they've changed the gender of popular roles for stage productions which are opening soon - Lear at Pitlochry Festival Theatre which sees one of Shakespeare's greatest tragic figures portrayed as a matriarch in decline, and at the Theatre Royal Bath, Garry Essendine in Noel Coward's comedy about the perils of celebrity Present Laughter is now Gerri Essendine, an ageing actress desperately clinging on to her youthful beauty. Author Stuart Cosgrove hails Village People frontman Victor Willis (whose death has just been announced) as one of the finest soul voices of his generation, whose talents were perhaps overlooked due to the novelty reputation which came to be associated with the group. And Dr Sonke Prigge tells us why - and how - he has preserved the sound of the clattering mill, traditionally used in Germany to scare away birds from cherry orchards, for the British Library's sound archive. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke; drinking a PBR Tall Boy.Damien is reading I Know a Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours by Nat Cassidy; drinking Maine Beer Company Lunch IPA.Ryan is reading No Ordinary Bird by Artis Henderson; drinking Cynar Manhattan with chocolate bitters. If you liked this week's story, watch Requiem for a Dream (2000; dir. Darren Aronofsky) Up next: "Branch Line to Benceston" by Sir Andrew Caldecott Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

En este episodio de Paredro Podcast conversamos con Alia Trabucco Zerán sobre Las otras, su nuevo libro de ensayospublicado por Lumen. Autora de La resta, Las homicidas y Limpia, Trabucco trabaja aquí con una serie de preguntas que atraviesan su obra: el lenguaje, el cuerpo, la violencia, el derecho, la memoria, la justicia y la escritura del yo. La conversación parte de una escena poderosa: una investigación sobre el rostro en la British Library interrumpida por un ciberataque que destruyó el catálogo de la institución. Desde esa biblioteca llena de libros imposibles de encontrar, Trabucco aborda temas como el archivo, la pérdida, la cara, la palabra y la forma del ensayo.También hablamos de derecho y literatura, de los límites de la justicia, de las palabras que se disputan políticamente y de la posibilidad de escribir sin pontificar. Un capítulo sobre pensamiento, sensibilidad y lenguaje. #AliaTrabucco #AliaTrabuccoZerán #LasOtras #LaResta #LasHomicidas #Limpia #LiteraturaChilena #Ensayo#EnsayoLatinoamericano #DerechoYLiteratura #Lenguaje #Lectura #ParedroPodcast #Paredro #PodcastLiterario #Libros#ConversacionesLiterarias

At Euroanaesthesia in Rotterdam, TopMedTalk hosts Andy Cumpstey and Kate Leslie speak with Joana Berger-Estilita, ESAIC chair of education and training, about ESAIC's new leadership program. Developed over two years with a multidisciplinary team including ESAIC leadership and headquarters staff, the pilot addresses a gap for seasoned anaesthesiologists seeking further career progression. The retreat-style, experiential course includes two extended weekends (December and March), selects 25 ESAIC members with at least five years post-training leadership experience, and pairs participants with mentors. Content covers core leadership skills plus anaesthesia-specific challenges such as second victim, suicide, and drug abuse, alongside self-care. Funding is shared by industry and ESAIC, with applications via the ESAIC website. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

At the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists (WCA) in Marrakech, Morocco, TopMedTalk co-editors In chief, Kate Leslie and Mike Grocott speak with Sydney anaesthesiologist Alwin Chuan, a member of the joint ESRA-ASRA working group on AI, about strengths and limitations of AI for regional anaesthesia and medicine. Chuan explains how generative AI is trained on vast datasets using transformer architectures, why outputs are probabilistic, and how context affects meaning. They discuss privacy and the possibility of personal or creative work being used as a commodity in training, internet "scraping," and the inevitability of hallucinations, including false facts and fabricated citations. The conversation covers bias in training corpora, the need for human curation and reinforcement learning, and mitigation via prompt engineering such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), citation/page verification, and confidence estimates. Chuan predicts future advances and the fusion of imaging AI with generative AI for ultrasound guidance, previewing a follow-up episode. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - EBPOM World Congress 2026

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is watching Hallow Road (2025, dir by Babak Anvari); drinking Oak Aged Watermelon Kolsch by Ommegang.Damien is reading Angel Down by Daniel Kraus; drinking Bondstone Toasted Barrel Bourbon.Ryan is reading There Is No Anti-Memetics Division by QNTM; drinking The Obituary (dry gin martini with an absinthe wash). If you liked this week's story, watch Total Recall (1990; dir. Paul Verhoeven). Heck, watch it even if you didn't like this story. Up next: "The Rose Wall" by Joyce Carol Oates Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

Writer Katie da Cunha Lewin on how physical spaces shape creative work, why the perfect writing room is a myth, and the rituals and routines that sustain a writing life. We discuss Why the perfect writing space is largely a myth (and why that can set you free). How physical environments quietly shape creative practice and identity. What our fascination with visiting writers' houses reveals. The cultural baggage around “the writer's room,” and who it quietly excludes. The way motherhood compresses time and forces a new kind of creative discipline. A concept of psychological distance between domestic life and creative work. When creative rituals help (and when writers thrive without them). How to begin designing a writing space that actually works for you. What it takes to find the story inside a work of nonfiction. Why putting yourself on the page makes nonfiction stronger. Resources & Links

Music and biology are profoundly entwined. The heart beats, footsteps fall into familiar tempi, and even the movement of our limbs follows a natural rhythmic hierarchy—as if we shape music in our image. The rise and fall of breath, the cadence of laughter, and the wail of a cry all carry musical gestures, woven into our being. Yet our bodies do not just dictate music—they respond to it, from calming stress to thrilling chills. Beyond this, the biological world itself pulses with music: DNA sequences become melody, disease growth swells into an orchestral crescendo, and a hidden music emerges from within us.This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides on the 13th May 2026 at LSO St LukesMilton Mermikides is a composer, guitarist, technologist, academic and educator in a wide range of musical styles and has collaborated with artists and scientists as diverse as Evelyn Glennie, Tim Minchin, Pat Martino, Peter Zinovieff, John Williams and Brian Eno. Son of a CERN nuclear physicist, he was raised with an enthusiasm for both the arts and sciences, an eclecticism which has been maintained throughout his teaching, research and creative career. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics (BSc), Berklee College of Music (BMus) and the University of Surrey (PhD). He has lectured, exhibited and given keynote presentations at organisations like the Royal Academy of Music, TEDx, Royal Musical Association, British Library, Smithsonian Institute and The Science Museum and his work has been featured extensively in the press. His music, research and graphic art are published and featured by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony and more, and he has won awards, scholarships and commendations for writing, teaching, research and his charity work.      Milton is Professor of Music at the University of Surrey, Professor of Guitar at the Royal College of Music, Deputy Director of the International Guitar Research Centre, an Ableton Certified Trainer, and lives in London with his wife, the guitarist Bridget Mermikides and their daughter Chloe. He is also a Vice-Chair of Governors at Addison Primary School, a state school which foregrounds music education, offering free instrumental lessons for all on Pupil Premium. The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/music-bodyGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is reading Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin; drinking Yellowstone Toasted Bourbon.Damien is playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025; VG); drinking a Last Word (Drumshanbo gin, Luxardo, lime, and green friggin' Chartreuse).Ryan is watching Project: Hail Mary (2026; dir. Phil Lord and Chris Miller); drinking Glendronach 15 Year. If you liked this week's story, watch Jacob's Ladder (1990; dir. Adrian Lyne). Up next: "He Walked Around the Horses" by H. Beam Piper Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

Andy Cumpstey and Mike Grocott interview Kate Leslie about the SNaPP study (Sugammadex, Neostigmine, and Postoperative Pulmonary Complications). SNaPP is a pragmatic randomized study run from the University of Melbourne with the ANZCA Clinical Trials Network across 45 sites in Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. Patients aged 40+ having major abdominal or thoracic surgery (≥2 hours, overnight stay) were randomized after induction to reversal with sugammadex or neostigmine, with anesthetists unblinded and encouraged to use quantitative neuromuscular monitoring. In this podcast Andy, Mike and Kate discuss the results and their implications for anaesthetists and healthcare systems. Find the paper here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(26)00158-X/fulltext -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is watching The Assessment (2024, dir. Fleur Fortuné); drinking Evil Twin Brewing Pils: Dandies.Damien is watching DTF St. Louis (2026; TV series); drinking Larceny Bourbon old fashioned with chipotle bitters.Ryan is watching Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026; dir. Lee Cronin); drinking Campbeltown Journey whisky. If you liked this week's story, read  Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore. Up next: "The Badlands" by John Metcalfe Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

At the SOAP meeting in Montreal, Desiree Chappell and Monty Mythen interview Dr. Marie Louise Meng, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Duke University Department of Anesthesiology and her former cardio-obstetric fellow Liliane Ernst, assistant professor in the Obstetric and Gynecologic Anesthesia section Wake Forest University. The conversation focuses on cardio-obstetric anesthesia, hemodynamics, monitoring, and patient-centered care. Meng describes building multidisciplinary "pregnancy heart teams" to plan management for complex cardiac disease in pregnancy and reduce birth trauma. Ernst discusses research using the Premier database on preexisting atrial fibrillation in pregnancy (about 25 per 100,000 deliveries) and associated management and outcomes. They review cases including mechanical circulatory support with an Impella to prolong pregnancy and highlight knowledge gaps about placental perfusion and pulsatility, including Fontan physiology. Meng outlines individualized hemodynamic monitoring for labor and C-sections, emphasizes recognizing hypertensive instability, and details preeclampsia with severe features, its end-organ criteria, incidence, disparities, postpartum follow-up challenges, and potential use of remote monitoring and noninvasive cardiac output/SVR monitoring to guide therapy. Monty Mythen, founding editor-in-chief of TopMedTalk, is now Senior Vice President, Scientific Liaison, BD Advanced Patient Monitoring. He is also Emeritus Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, University College London, UK. Desirée Chappell, former co-editor-in-chief of TopMedTalk, is now Director of Medical Affairs and Medical Science Liaison, BD Advanced Patient Monitoring. She is also a CRNA at NorthStar Anesthesia, USA. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - EBPOM World Congress 2026

Melisa Febos joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about romantic obsessions, celibacy as a portal to freedom, living her way into a corner and having to fight her way out, leading with scene and story and plot, taking back the sovereignty of her own mind and body, approaching oneself as a protagonist, leaving out what isn't central to the story, remembering memoir is not a transcription of a time lived, radical feminists, exercising agency and self-reclamation, living an examined life, integrating memories that were indigestible to us in the moment, the project of looking at ourselves honestly, and her most recent book, now in paperback The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex. Ronit's upcoming workshop: Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode: -deepending friendships  -memoir-plus digressions -writing about our obsessions   Books mentioned in this episode: Will and Attention by Meghan O'Gieblyn  Canon by Paige Lewis Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg   Melissa Febos is the national bestselling author of five books, including Abandon Me, Girlhood—which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative, and, most recently, The Dry Season. Her awards and fellowships include those from the Guggenheim Foundation, LAMBDA Literary, the National Endowment for the Arts, The British Library, The Black Mountain Institute, MacDowell, the Bogliasco Foundation, The American Library in Paris, and others. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, The Sun, The New York Times Magazine, The Best American Essays, Vogue, The Best American Travel and Food Writing, and New York Review of Books. Febos is a Roy J. Carver Professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program. She lives in Iowa City with her wife, the poet Donika Kelly.   Connect with Melissa: Website: https://www.melissafebos.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissafebos Purchase book via bookshop: This is for the pre-order paperback for The Dry Season https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-dry-season-a-memoir-of-pleasure-in-a-year-without-sex-melissa-febos/f1c8367d8e351d91?ean=9780593685150&next=t - Ronit Plank bio and links:  Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets & Writers, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, The Rumpus, Salon, Hippocampus, The New York Times, and elsewhere, earning Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her memoir When She Comes Back was a Book Riot Best True Crime Book and Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An intimate, intuitive, emotionally vivid family account that finds hope in reconciliation". Ronit is also the author of the award-winning short story collection Home is a Made-Up Place, and her work has been anthologized in Selected Memories, Vol. 2: 15 Years of Hippocampus Magazine and Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Ronit is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, teaches memoir at a host of venues including the University of Washington's Continuum Program, Antioch University, and 92NY's Roundtable, and is host of the podcast Let's Talk Memoir and the Substack Let's Talk Memoir. Find her on social media @ronitplank   Website: www.ronitplank.com Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ When She Comes Back: https://ronitplank.com/when-she-comes-back/

TopMedTalk introduces our new "TopMedTalk Classics" series with a classic TopMedTalk episode from 2018 that is still prescient today. This lecture, given by Sir Bruce Keogh marked the NHS's 70th birthday, a time framed by political volatility, financial constraint, rising demand, and shifting public expectations. Keogh argues healthcare systems must adapt, highlighting the UK's strengths in medical science, innovation, life sciences, and the scale and complexity of the NHS. He describes quality improvement efforts since 2008, including defining quality as effectiveness, safety, and patient experience, developing outcomes measures, and using aligned clinical and managerial leadership to drive change. Examples include major reductions in MRSA, rapid increases in VTE assessment, improved survival from major trauma networks, better hip-fracture care, strong heart-attack and sepsis performance, stroke centralization benefits, and increased dementia diagnosis for support. He emphasizes future pressures from ageing, prevention, the health–social care split, Brexit workforce and drug costs, and emerging forces like mobile tech, AI, genomics, and gene therapy, arguing the NHS's pooled, universal model is well suited to a genomics-enabled future. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/ 00:00 TopMed Talk Intro 00:18 Classics Episode Setup 01:31 Introducing Sir Bruce 02:23 Politics And Adaptation 04:41 Global Pressures On Healthcare 05:48 Hard Times Build NHS 07:35 UK Innovation Advantage 10:33 NHS Scale And Complexity 12:27 Darzi Review Quality Drive 16:10 Outcomes Framework Explained 17:20 Safety And High Level Metrics 18:09 MRSA Turnaround Lesson 20:11 Mandating VTE Prevention 22:58 Trauma Networks Results 24:08 Hip Fracture Best Practice 25:21 Heart Attack Care Wins 26:17 Sepsis And Early Warning 28:01 Stroke Centralization Success 28:45 Dementia Targets Debate 30:31 Leadership And Brexit Risks 32:35 Health And Social Care Split 36:01 Tech Disruption Ahead 36:49 Genomics And NHS Values 38:00 Closing And Congress Promo

In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Francine Bennett, Board Member at the Ada Lovelace Institute and at The British Library, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to explore the rapid evolution of AI and its practical implications for business leaders.  Drawing on over 20 years of experience, Francine address the following questions and more: Where are we with agentic AI, and how far have businesses really got with its adoption? In what ways are multimodal AI and direct speech-to-speech voice models transforming customer interactions? How can leaders effectively leverage AI for strategy development while keeping human judgement at its heart? Why does mandating AI adoption through blunt metrics (like number of hours spent using AI) backfire, and what is a better approach to building workforce skills? Where can consultants add the most value for clients around AI? Where are we with the challenge posed by hallucinations and overconfident AI outputs today?    If you enjoyed this conversation, we have a whole catalogue of back episodes for you to delve into. In a recent episode, we sat down with Geert van den Goor, CEO at Valcon, to talk about the new competitive advantage of regional firms. 

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is reading Baldwin: a Love Story by Nicholas Boggs; drinking Freeland Spirits Rye.Damien is watching Mother of Flies (2025; dir. Adams Family); drinking Kyrö Wood Smoke Whisky.Ryan is reading Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky; drinking Ardbeg Uigeadail. If you liked this week's story, read  Lakewood by Megan Giddings. Up next: "Scarrowfell" by Robert Holdstock Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

The Association of Anaesthetists meeting in London was the perfect spot for us to launch our new series on Artificial Intelligence. Here, Andy Cumpstey and James Bowness discuss the new monthly series and the UK-Ireland "demand signaling" project on AI in anaesthesia, perioperative medicine and acute pain, supported by The Association. They are joined by their guest Nicky De Beer, The Association's chief executive. She explains that their members want problems defined in advance before technology solutions are imposed from above. She highlights key clinical themes—enhanced monitoring and decision support, personalized anaesthesia, and automation of routine tasks—and nonclinical impacts such as operational efficiency and data-driven decision making. The conversation stresses embracing AI with caution, addressing basic IT shortcomings, developing CPD/training, multidisciplinary research, ethical and safety-focused policy, international collaboration, grant funding, and progressing toward practical AI guidelines and advocacy with policymakers. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Settle yourself in for another fascinating glimpse behind the curtain as TopMedTalk's perioperative profiles focus upon the incredible journey of Vanessa Beavis. Recorded at ANZCA's recent annual scientific meeting in Auckland, TopMedTalk host Andy Cumpsty interviews anesthetist and former ANZCA President Vanessa Beavis about her path from growing up in South Africa to moving to Auckland in 1993. We discuss her early work in obstetrics, solo general practice, and training in anesthesia before emigrating. She describes becoming involved in departmental leadership, navigating hospital governance to implement safety changes, and progressing through examiner roles, national committees, council, and ultimately ANZCA presidency. A role which coincided with COVID-19, when the College focused on maintaining robust training and examinations and producing clear PPE and clinical guidance across changing state rules. She also recounts helping develop ANZCA's perioperative medicine work from the 2004 task force to the SIG, qualifications, the Australian New Zealand Perioperative Patient Pathway, and the new chapter, and reflects on receiving the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. -- Previous Perioperative Profiles you may also enjoy: https://topmedtalk.libsyn.com/perioperative-profiles-denny-levett https://topmedtalk.libsyn.com/perioperative-profile-rupert-pearse https://topmedtalk.libsyn.com/perioperative-profiles-professor-michelle-chew-on-seizing-opportunities-in-anaesthesia-research-editing-and-guideline-work Also, remember you can join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is watching The Household (2025; dir. Luke Shaw); drinking Meier's Creek Backwoods Trail.Damien is watching Super Dark Times (2017; dir. Kevin Phillips) & Soft & Quiet (2022; dir. Beth de Araujo); drinking Hai Seas San Oaks Whiskey.Ryan is watching Civil War (2024, dir. Alex Garland); drinking Tullibardine 15. If you liked this week's story, read  Famous Men Who Never Lived by K. Chess. Up next: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

From the World Congress of Anesthesiologists in Marrakech, TopMedTalk hosts Mike Grocott and Kate Leslie discuss perioperative cardiac risk assessment with Hilary Grocott, Professor and Head of, The Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics (University of British Columbia) and Michelle Chew Professor of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and editor for the British Journal of Anaesthesia. The conversation reviews perioperative cardiac biomarkers, noting abundant prognostic data but limited evidence for biomarker-led management. The discussion emphasizes that elevated troponins can reflect non-cardiac complications (AKI, PE, sepsis) as well as myocardial injury or heart failure, requiring context-specific follow-up pathways. The group highlights NT-proBNP as a specific marker for heart failure and useful for screening and optimization. The podcast then focuses on pulmonary hypertension and failing right ventricle: detect via history, exam, echo, and biomarkers; prioritize preemptive preparation, arterial beat-to-beat monitoring, modest fluids, early vasopressors/inotropes (norepinephrine, low-dose epinephrine), ventilatory optimization, and vigilant, rapid intervention. If you enjoyed this piece there's a fantastic Perioperative Profile with Michelle Chew you can hear here: https://topmedtalk.libsyn.com/perioperative-profiles-professor-michelle-chew-on-seizing-opportunities-in-anaesthesia-research-editing-and-guideline-work -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is reading Turtle Island by Sean Sherman; drinking Bodalen Bourbon by Far North Spirits.Damien is watching The Toxic Avenger (2025; dir. Macon Blair); drinking Mary Dowling Bourbon.Ryan is reading If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio; drinking Woodford Reserve Rye Old Fashioned. If you liked this week's story, read  Robert E. Howard's Conan stories: Xuthal of the Dusk, The Iron Shadows of the Moon, and Queen of the Black Coast. Or Lady Eleanor Smith's No Ships Pass (featured in WatW: S1E4). Interested in reading Mrs Roliston's Travelling Adventures by Amelia B Edwards? Find it here: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/80e3bb63-79f3-4505-9c4c-be8cd3d02ff0/ Up next: "The Curfew Tolls" by Stephen Vincent Benet Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

At the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) meeting in Montreal, TopMedTalk hosts Desiree Chappell and Mike Grocott interview SOAP board member Dr. Dan Katz, an obstetric anesthesiologist at Mount Sinai, outgoing annual meeting chair and incoming vice president. Katz reports record attendance—over 900 preregistrations and nearly 1,100 total—plus standing-room sessions and review of 600+ abstracts. He highlights opening with research presentations (magnesium and postpartum hemorrhage, gestational thrombocytopenia and hemorrhage, and potential immunotherapies tied to uterine atony), a translational theme on how guidelines evolve, public health/advocacy, and a maternal mortality panel. Programming includes split research and clinical tracks, updates on postpartum hemorrhage, and an emerging focus on fetal surgery. More here: http://soap.org -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Good morning. Reed Hoffman, one of the founders of Linked In, tells us that typing is over and voicepilling is here.This is the word he has coined to capture the way, he says, we are set to bypass keyboards. After the quill the pen, then the typewriter, the text, the voice note… but in voicepilling entire articles, essays or books - everything actually - is spoken directly to the machine for production. Hands-free.Is voicepilling a word that will stick? Sounds unlikely but who knows? New words seem to be invented more rapidly than ever but then language is always being born again.At an open mic event I was at this week one poet used the beautiful expression ‘sonder' - the kind of neglected word from Chaucer or Shakespeare which etymologists and crossword compilers love to rediscover. Sonder is defined as one's realization that each person you pass by ‘is the main character in their own story, in which you are just an extra.'The definition comes from John Koenig in his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a collection of words he created to capture emotions that he says, ‘we feel but don't have the words too express'.Some words or phrases disappear, some morph into new meaning… while others stick around for ever.Few writers have had more stickability than William Tyndale. The 500th anniversary of his English New Testament is currently being celebrated in an exhibition at the British Library and, from next month, at St Paul's Cathedral.Tyndale believed it shouldn't only be priests who could access the Bible, but that everyone should hear it in everyday English. His translation, published in 1526, was so popular that when King James commissioned his 'Authorized Version', nearly a century later, the royal translation team ripped ninety percent of their text straight out of Tyndale.His phrases continue to haunt the language: 'from strength to strength'; ‘for better or worse'; ‘lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil'; ‘salt of the earth' and ‘fight the good fight'.Tyndale was after a poetic language understood by ordinary people and was so successful that, as someone said, ‘No Tyndale, No Shakespeare'.Or as playwright David Edgar put it: ‘No Tyndale, No Kindle'.But in democratizing religion, in translating the divine into the human, he was branded the ‘most dangerous man in England' and burned at the stake. The political powers could see, to use another of his phrases, ‘the writing on the wall'.Words are dangerous. Once you can speak the divine in your own tongue then you can bring god down from heaven onto earth and decide for yourself what your religion means for your life.You can, as Tyndale wrote, ‘let there be light'

At the 58th Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) meeting in Montreal, TopMedTalk guest host Desiree Chappell and co-editor-in-chief Mike Grocott interview Dr. Grace Lim, SOAP vice president/president-elect and new University of Utah department chair. They discuss her priorities for her upcoming presidency, healthcare's shifting challenges, highlighting the Frederick W. Hehre Lecture_,_ from Valerie A. Arkoosh about a systems-focused career from obstetric anesthesiology to leading public health roles in Pennsylvania. Lim emphasizes anesthesiologists as systems thinkers linking perioperative and perinatal care with population health and social determinants, and describes SOAP goals to improve representation, support community and rural sites lacking subspecialists, and ensure scalable, culturally sensitive care. She also cites sustainable funding and philanthropy efforts, including "Party With a Purpose." Lim outlines SOAP's ELEVATE Project on patient-centered cesarean anesthesia choices and notes maternal mental health as a key mortality driver. She summarizes a pilot study using Hemosphere monitoring during labor epidurals to detect hypotension trends and assess patient and nurse acceptability. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

At the 58th Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) meeting in Montreal, TopMedTalk guest host Desiree Chappell and co-editor-in-chief Mike Grocott interview Dr. Grace Lim, SOAP vice president/president-elect and new University of Utah department chair. They discuss her priorities for her upcoming presidency, healthcare's shifting challenges, highlighting the Frederick W. Hehre Lecture_,_ from Valerie A. Arkoosh about a systems-focused career from obstetric anesthesiology to leading public health roles in Pennsylvania. Lim emphasizes anesthesiologists as systems thinkers linking perioperative and perinatal care with population health and social determinants, and describes SOAP goals to improve representation, support community and rural sites lacking subspecialists, and ensure scalable, culturally sensitive care. She also cites sustainable funding and philanthropy efforts, including "Party With a Purpose." Lim outlines SOAP's ELEVATE Project on patient-centered cesarean anesthesia choices and notes maternal mental health as a key mortality driver. She summarizes a pilot study using Hemosphere monitoring during labor epidurals to detect hypotension trends and assess patient and nurse acceptability. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Our coverage of The World Congress of Anesthesiologists (WCA) in Marrakesh continues. Andy Cumpstey and Kate Leslie discuss high-risk surgical patients with anesthesiologists Debra Leung (The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne) and Duminda Wijeysundera (St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto). They explore how "high risk" extends beyond mortality (noting ~2% elective major surgery mortality in middle/high-income countries) to complications, medical morbidity, cognitive and functional decline, return to independence, and psychosocial factors such as social support. They describe a structured shared decision-making clinic: triage and preparation before visits, explaining surgery as an explicit choice, eliciting patient values and goals, and matching them to clinical information; she notes training needs and barriers, especially surgical engagement, overcome via surgical champions and formalizing "corridor conversations."They outline practical risk communication (natural frequencies, meaningful language, focusing on major events, ranking vs average, and what's modifiable) and highlights evidence that patients may refuse interventions sooner for functional/cognitive decline than for mortality risk. The conversation emphasizes linking risk prediction to actionable care pathways, prehabilitation/posthabilitation, and frameworks for both modifiable and non-modifiable risk amid aging, increasingly complex surgical populations. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is watching Repeat (2021, dir. Richard Miller & Grant Archer); drinking Hudson Whiskey Do The Rye Thing.Damien is reading Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley & Haunted Forest Tour by Jeff Strand and James A. Moore; drinking a Natasha's Pulverized Paste (Elijah Craig whiskey sour with apple and ginger).Ryan is watching "Wayward" (Netflix, 2025); drinking the Glenlivet 14 Cognac Cask. If you liked this week's story, read The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick Up next: "The Discovery of the Treasure Isles" by Amelia B Edwards. Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

A renowned botanist starts behaving strangely when he returns from an expedition to Brazil.This original recording is an audio presentation by Jasper L'Estrange for EnCrypted Horror. “THE MOANING LILY” by Emma Vane, 1935.CREATOR'S NOTE: Someone has pointed out that the sound effect of a telephone used in this episode is a vintage 1930s British telephone and an American phone would have had a different ring. Hopefully this won't break the immersion of the story for you...

Misha Glenny and his guests discuss the most famous oratorio of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and his librettist Charles Jennens (1700-1773). For his libretto, Jennens drew from Old and New Testament texts: prophecies about the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the nativity, the suffering of Christ and his death and the Day of Judgement and redemption for all. Handel's Messiah had its premiere in 1742 in a secular Dublin music hall to great acclaim with a packed audience and Handel continued to adapt his Messiah for later performances, often shaping the work to the choirs or individual singers available. Messiah proved to be one of his most popular works, becoming a favourite of massed choirs around the world far beyond the scale of Handel's original.With Donald Burrows Emeritus Professor of Music at the Open UniversityRuth Smith Trustee and Council Member of the Handel InstituteAndLarry Zazzo Countertenor, and Senior Lecturer in Music at Newcastle UniversityProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Donald Burrows, Messiah (full score, 2 vols, Hallische Händel Ausgabe, forthcoming)Donald Burrows, Messiah (Edition Peters, 1987)Donald Burrows, Messiah, Cambridge Music Handbooks (Cambridge University Press, 1991)Donald Burrows, Handel: Master Musicians series, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2012)George Frideric Handel (ed. Donald Burrows et al.), Collected Documents vol. 3 (1734-42), vol 4 (1742-50), (Cambridge University Press, 2019, 2020)G.F. Handel, facsimile ‘Messiah': the composer's autograph manuscript (British Library, 2009)G.F. Handel, facsimile the composer's Conducting Score of Messiah (Scolar Press, 1974) Arthur Holroyd, Reassuring 18th-Century Protestants: The Librettist's Intended Message for Handel's ‘Messiah' (Quacks Books, 2018)Charles King, Every Valley: The Story of Handel's Messiah (Doubleday/Bodley Head, 2024)Jens Peter Larsen, Handel's Messiah: Origins, Composition, Sources (Adam and Charles Black, 1957)Richard Luckett, Handel's Messiah: A Celebration (Victor Gollancz, 1992)Watkins Shaw, A Textual and Historical Companion to Handel's ‘Messiah' (Novello and Co, 1965)Ruth Smith, ‘The Achievements of Charles Jennens (1700–1773)' (Music & Letters, 70, 1989)Ruth Smith, Charles Jennens: The Man behind Handel's ‘Messiah' (Handel House Trust/The Gerald Coke Handel Foundation, 2012)Ruth Smith, Handel's Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1995)Calvin R. Stapert, Handel's Messiah: Comfort for God's People (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010)Judy Tarling, Handel's Messiah: A Rhetorical Guide (first published 2014; Punnett Press, 2025)In Our Time is a BBC Studios productionSpanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

At the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) and Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) held in Auckland, New Zealand, Kate Leslie and Andy Cumpstey interview incoming ANZCA president Tanya Selak and incoming FPM Dean Michael Veltman about their goals in the next two years and the challenges ahead, and their appreciation of the hard work and commitment of fellows and trainees at the coalface. Dr Tanya Selak is a consultant anaesthetist in Woolongong, Australia. Professor Michael Veltman is consultant pain medicine physician in Perth, Australia. -- -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

At the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) meeting in Montreal, Desiree Chappell and Mike Grocott interview Meghan MacCleary, Obstetrician-Gynaecologist with Banner Health in Phoenix, about multidisciplinary collaboration to improve maternal outcomes. Dr MacCleary describes her high-risk tertiary practice (about 4,000 deliveries/year; 25–26% C-sections) and decision-making for C-section based on safest delivery for mother or baby, amid rising maternal comorbidities, obesity, and older maternal age. She highlights concerns during C-section including patient comfort, hypotension, nausea/vomiting, bleeding, and postpartum haemorrhage, noting U.S. maternal mortality concerns. The conversation advocates for continuous noninvasive blood pressure monitoring (finger cuff) to detect instability earlier, reporting reduced hemorrhage and ICU transfers in a 90-day quality project and discussing related advocacy at an Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) Capitol Hill briefing. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

NHS spending has reached record highs and shows no sign of slowing down. The government poured in £205 billion last year, yet waiting lists remain stubbornly high and patient satisfaction is at an all time low. So where is all the money going? And if spending isn't the solution, what is?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuests: Eleanor Hayward, Health Editor, The Times.Tom Calver, Data Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times.Host: Luke Jones.Producers: Callum Martin and Micaela Arneson.We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.comRead more: Why doesn't ever-growing money seem to improve the NHSFurther listening: Is your sofa toxic?Clips: BBC, The Guardian, Rishi Sunak / LinkedIn, The Sun, Reuters, The British Library, The Department of Health and Social Care.Photo: Getty ImagesThis podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The history of medieval Britain through twelve remarkable illuminated manuscripts. Illumino: A History of Medieval Britain in Twelve Illuminated Manuscripts (Reaktion, 2025) explores the history of medieval Britain through the biographies of twelve remarkable illuminated manuscripts and of their creators and owners. The manuscripts each serve as portals into these lives and as springboards into the era of their production. For illuminated manuscripts are among the most intricate and fascinating forms of evidence for the Middle Ages, blending the fruits of human intellect – the arts, the sciences, politics, philosophy and faith – with the materiality of their production. By undertaking the detective work needed to determine the nature of each project and the underlying human-interest stories, this book reveals their manifold social, economic and cultural contexts and charts the exchange of ideas, techniques and materials over time and space. Featuring more than a hundred beautiful illustrations, this is a unique and accessible introduction to Britain's history, art history and book history across a thousand years. Michelle P. Brown is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and was formerly Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library. Her books include Bede and the Theory of Everything (Reaktion, 2023). Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The history of medieval Britain through twelve remarkable illuminated manuscripts. Illumino: A History of Medieval Britain in Twelve Illuminated Manuscripts (Reaktion, 2025) explores the history of medieval Britain through the biographies of twelve remarkable illuminated manuscripts and of their creators and owners. The manuscripts each serve as portals into these lives and as springboards into the era of their production. For illuminated manuscripts are among the most intricate and fascinating forms of evidence for the Middle Ages, blending the fruits of human intellect – the arts, the sciences, politics, philosophy and faith – with the materiality of their production. By undertaking the detective work needed to determine the nature of each project and the underlying human-interest stories, this book reveals their manifold social, economic and cultural contexts and charts the exchange of ideas, techniques and materials over time and space. Featuring more than a hundred beautiful illustrations, this is a unique and accessible introduction to Britain's history, art history and book history across a thousand years. Michelle P. Brown is Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and was formerly Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library. Her books include Bede and the Theory of Everything (Reaktion, 2023). Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is reading Salt Slow by Julia Armfield; drinking Uncle Nearest 1884.Damien is watching Marshmallow (2025; dir. Daniel DelPurgatorio); drinking Mary Dowling bourbon.Ryan is reading Yeehaw Junction by Kayli Scholz; drinking the Aberlour 12. If you liked this week's story, read The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges. Up next: "An Undistinguished Boy" by Gerald Kersh. Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music!  Like, rate, and follow! Check us out @whiskeyandtheweird on Instagram, Threads & Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com

New Presenter Amy Gomes and Andy Cumpstey interview this year's WFSA scholars. We speak with Drs Gabriela Queiroz Do Amaral, Emyedu Andrew, Jedniphat Intrapongpan, and Loreen Sharma. The WFSA Scholarship Programme offers valuable opportunities for early-career anaesthesiologists from low- and middle-income countries to attend international and regional meetings. Find out more now about this exciting opportunity here: https://wfsahq.org/our-work/education-training/wfsa-scholarships/ -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

How can you improve your self-editing process? How can you find and work with professional editors and beta readers? How do you know when editing is done and the book is finished? With Joanna Penn In the intro, Poetry craft and business [The Indy Author Podcast]; A Mouthful of Air; How to get your book featured in local media without a publicist [Written Word Media]; thoughts on faith and code; Wild Dark Shore – Charlotte McConaghy; Bones of the Deep – J.F. Penn. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Joanna Penn is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, short stories and travel memoir under J.F.Penn and also writes non-fiction for authors. Overview of the editing process Self-editing How to find and work with a professional editor. My list is at www.TheCreativePenn.com/editors Beta readers, specialist readers, and sensitivity readers When is the book finished? These chapters are excerpted from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn, available direct or on all the usual stores. Overview of the editing process “Books aren't written. They're rewritten.” —Michael Crichton Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a classic of English literature. I studied it at school and the scene at Stonehenge still haunts me. Hardy's Jude the Obscure influenced my decision to go to university in Oxford, a city Hardy called Christminster. His novels are still held in great esteem, which is why it's so wonderful to see his hand-edited pages in the British Library in London, displayed in the Treasures collection. You can visit them in person or view them online. Thomas Hardy's edited manuscript of ‘Tess of the D'Urbevilles, one of England's greatest writers While his handwriting is a scrawl, it's evident from the pages just how much editing Hardy did on this version of the manuscript. There are lines struck through, whole paragraphs crossed out, arrows moving sections around, words and sentences rewritten, and comments in the margins. Even the title is changed from A Daughter of the D'Urbervilles to Tess of the D'Urbervilles as we know it today. Those edited pages gave me hope when I saw them for the first time as a new fiction author. Not that I thought I could write a classic of English literature, but that I could learn to edit my way to a better story. There are several stages in the editing process, which I'll outline here and then expand on in subsequent chapters. As you progress in your craft, you won't need every stage every time, so assess with each book what kind of editing you need along the way. Self-editing The self-editing stage is your chance to improve your manuscript before anyone else sees it. For some authors, this stage might mean rewriting the entire draft. For others, it involves restructuring, adding or deleting scenes, doing line edits, and more. Developmental or structural edit An editor reads your manuscript and gives feedback on specific aspects, character, plot, story structure, and anything else pertinent to improving the novel. It is sometimes described as a manuscript critique. You will receive a report, usually ten to fifteen pages, with notes on your novel, which you can then use in another round of self-editing. While this is not always necessary, it can be a valuable step and something I appreciated particularly for my first novel when I had so much to learn. Copyediting and line editing This is the classic ‘red pen' edit where you can expect comments and changes all over your manuscript. This edit focuses on anything that enhances the writing quality, including word choice and phrasing issues, as well as grammar, and more. Some editors split this edit into two, and there are differences between what this edit is called between countries. For some editors, a copyedit includes only attention to grammar and correctness, while a line edit focuses on improving and elevating sentences. Be clear about your expectations and that of your editor upfront. You will usually receive an MS Word document with Track Changes on as well as a style guide or style sheet and other notes, which you can then use to make revisions during another self-edit. This is the most expensive part of the process, as editors usually charge per 1,000 words based on the type of edit you want. If you need to cut your story down by 20K, then do it before you send your manuscript for a line edit! Beta readers, specialist readers, and/or sensitivity readers Some authors use different types of readers as part of their editing process. Beta readers are often part of the author's community and are certainly fans of the genre. They read to help the author pick up any issues pre-publication. Specialist readers are those with knowledge about a topic included in the story. For example, a vulcanologist read specific chapters of Risen Gods to check that the details about volcanic eruptions were correct. Sensitivity readers check for stereotypes, biases, problematic language, and other diversity issues. You will usually receive comments or an email with page numbers or chapter numbers, or sometimes an MS Word document with Track Changes, which you then use to make revisions. Many readers provide services for the love of helping their favorite author with a novel and a mention in the acknowledgments, but there are some paid services for specialist and sensitivity readers. Proofreading Proofreading is the final check of the manuscript pre-publication for any typos or issues that might have been introduced in the editorial process. For print books, this can include a review of the print proof with formatting. You should only fix the last tiny changes at this point. Don't make any major changes this close to publication or you may introduce entirely new errors. Do you need an editor if you intend to get an agent and a traditional publisher? You will go through an editorial process with your agent and publisher. But if you want the best chance of getting to that stage in the first place, it might also be worth working with an editor before you submit your manuscript to an agent. Look for an editor who will help you with your query letter and synopsis as part of their edit. Self-editing I love this part of the process! My self-edit is where I wrangle the chaos of the first draft into something worth reading. I have my block of marble and now I can shape it into my sculpture. The mindset shift from writer to editor, from author to reader In the idea, planning, discovery, and first-draft writing phase, it's all about you, the writer. You turn the ideas in your head into words that you understand, characters that come alive for you, and a plot that you're engaged with. In that first rush of creativity, you can banish critical voice and ignore any nagging doubts. But now you need to switch heads. That's how I prefer to think about it, but you might consider it as changing hats or changing jobs. Anything to help you move from the creative, anything goes, first-draft writer to the more critical editor. There is one overriding consideration in this shift. As Jeffery Deaver says, “The reader is god.” With the editing process, you need to turn your story from something you understand into something a reader will enjoy. Writing is telepathy. It connects minds across time and space. You are reading these words and the meaning flows from my brain into your brain — but only if I craft the book well enough. The same is true of your novel. Yes, of course, you want to double down on your creative choices and make sure you achieve everything you want to with your story. But you also need to keep the reader in mind as you edit because the book is ultimately for them. Will your story have the desired effect on the reader? What might help improve their experience? How can you make sure that they are not bored or confused or jolted out of the story? What will make them read on and, at the end, close the novel with a sigh of satisfaction? My self-editing process At the end of the first draft, I print out my manuscript with two pages to each A4 page, so it looks more like a book. I put it in a folder and leave it to rest. You need fresh eyes for your edit and this ‘resting' gives you some emotional distance. In On Writing, Stephen King suggests leaving a manuscript to rest for at least six weeks. While that is a great idea if you have the time, most authors work to deadline, whether externally set or their own timetable. Many authors — including me — are also impatient! I love this first self-edit, and as I'm still crafting the story as a discovery writer, I usually rest the manuscript for a week or two. I schedule blocks of time for editing in my Google calendar and (when not in pandemic times) I go to a café when it opens first thing in the morning. I put on my BOSE noise-cancelling headphones and edit by hand with a black ballpoint pen from page one to the end. I usually manage ten to twenty pages per editing session of a couple of hours each, but it will depend on the amount of restructuring I need to do. I scribble notes in the margins, draw arrows to move paragraphs around, write extra material on the back of pages, or add where I need to write more later. I change words, rewrite and delete lines, and pick up any issues around lack of sensory detail, character problems, and more. You can see an example of a page below: Some pages end up a mass of black; others are relatively clean. But in this first hand edit, no page goes untouched as I hone my manuscript into something closer to my creative goal. You can edit on a computer or a tablet, or whatever else works for you, but at least change the font or the spacing, or something to make it a different experience to reading the first draft. Most writers have a tendency to either overwrite or underwrite, and so will either need to cut words or add words at this stage. I'm in the latter camp so I usually have to add scenes or deepen characters or theme at this point. Once I have hand-edited the whole manuscript end-to-end, I make the changes in my Scrivener project. I change the color of the flags along the way and, as ever, I back up the session. I also use ProWritingAid at the sentence level to fix up things I missed, because we all miss things! When all the changes have been made, I print the complete manuscript again, and read end-to-end and edit as before. This time, it's usually a lot cleaner and there may only be a few things to fix in each chapter. Once I'm finished, I'll update the Scrivener project once more and then decide whether it needs a third pass. Mostly, two full end-to-end hand edits are enough for me these days, but sometimes I'll do a third or go through specific chapters one more time. This messy editing process is fun for me and it's hugely satisfying to see my story come to life. What to focus on in the self-edit Some authors will go through the manuscript multiple times, focusing on different elements with each pass using the aspects covered in Part 3 and Part 4. For example, they'll do an edit based on character and dialogue, followed by another pass for plot, then theme, and so on. Personally, I try to keep the reader in mind and focus on the story as a coherent whole. That's just how my mind works. I jump from fixing a plot issue to deepening a character to adding foreshadowing and so on as I read and edit. I'm confident that my editor will find a lot of the smaller things that I might miss, so I concentrate on trying to achieve my creative vision with the story. You will find your own way of figuring out your process. It's much better to jump in and have a go at editing rather than trying to work out the best way before you have something to work through. Lost the plot? Try reverse outlining If you're a discovery writer like me and you're struggling with the edit and you feel you have lost the plot (which definitely happens sometimes!) then consider a reverse outline as part of your editorial process. Go through the manuscript and write a few lines per scene. Include character, plot points, conflict, setting, open questions and hooks, and any other notes. This will help you step back and hopefully see the entire story from a high level. Then you can dive back into rewriting each chapter. Read the book out loud or use a text-to-speech reader to do it for you Many authors read their book aloud end-to-end, which is a helpful step once you've been through any major rewrites. There are also plenty of text-to-speech tools that can help, for example, Natural Reader or Speechify, and some are built into devices or applications. MS Word includes a Read Aloud tool in the Review tab. This will also help you edit for audio as you'll hear issues you can't see on the page. Editing for audio Audiobooks are a huge growth market and many readers will listen to your book rather than read it, so it's a good idea to consider editing with audio in mind at this stage. Here are some tips. Watch out for repeated sounds. The editorial process will usually catch repeated written words, but similar sounding words can hit the same audio note in narration. You might not notice them in the text, as they are spelled differently. The words ‘you,' ‘blue,' ‘tattoo,' and ‘interview' all start and end with different letters. They look different on the page, but they strike the same audio note when read aloud. In the same way, repetition can work if you have a point to make, but sometimes it jars the listener if it is overused. A classic recommendation for writing dialogue is to use ‘said' with a character name rather than other words like ‘uttered' or ‘pronounced.' This is because ‘said' disappears for the reader on the written page. But with audio, the repetition of a word is highly noticeable, and repeated sounds can dominate a passage. Rewrite with synonyms for ‘said,' or use action to make it clear who the speaker is without resorting to dialogue tags, as described in chapter 3.5. Contractions — or the lack of them — can also become more obvious in audio. “I am not going to the park,” might be spoken as “I'm not going to the park.” When we type dialogue, it is often more formal than the way someone speaks, so check if you can contract it in your edit. Accents can be an issue with fiction narration. There are plenty of narrators who do a ‘straight read,' but if there are accents within dialogue, make it clear where the character comes from. Make sure the narrator knows about the accent choice upfront, otherwise you might not like it in the finished audio. Remember my friend whose novel had an Irish character narrated like a comedy leprechaun instead of the soft lilt she had in mind? Don't confuse the reader. If you have a lot of characters appearing in a chapter and no clear character tags, you might lose the listener in the detail. When reading on paper or a screen, your reader can quickly flick back and see that George was the butler and Angus was the dog, but that's harder to do when listening to an audiobook. Make sure it's clear who is who. You may have to remind listeners occasionally by adding character tags. For example, ‘Angus ran alongside the canal' could become ‘Angus, the golden cocker spaniel, ran alongside the canal.' For more on audiobooks, check out my book, Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting and Voice Technologies. How many drafts do you need? The word ‘draft' means different things to different authors. Some only apply this term to a complete rewrite end-to-end, while others will shift paragraphs around, change some lines, add a new scene, and call that a new draft. Nora Roberts said in a blog post on her writing craft, I work on a three-draft method. This works for me. It's not the right way/wrong way. There is no right or wrong for a process that works for any individual writer. Anyone who claims there is only one way, or that's the wrong way, is a stupid, arrogant bullshitter. That's my considered opinion. I love Nora's no-nonsense approach and she is right that there is no single correct process. You have to find your own. But beware of comparing what you call a draft to what another writer calls a draft. It may be something completely different. Use editing software Once I've finished my hand edits and updated the Scrivener project, I use ProWritingAid on the manuscript. It integrates with Scrivener, so I open my project and go through each chapter. ProWritingAid picks up passive voice, repetitive words, commas and typos, suggests rephrasing, and even picks up culturally problematic language. Yes, these are the type of things that an editor will pick up, but I want to hand over a manuscript that is as clean as possible so my editor can focus on other issues. I don't make all the suggested changes, but it certainly helps improve my writing, and I learn as I go through. You can even create your own style guide so you spell things the same way throughout. This is also a good chance to check typos according to the version of English you want to use (or any other language). I'm English and based in the UK, but when I published my first novel, I received complaints about typos from my readers, who were mainly in the USA. These were not typos, they were just British spelling! I decided to use US English in my books because US readers complain about UK spelling, but non-US readers will rarely complain about US spelling because they are used to it. You can set ProWritingAid to the type of English you want to use, and if you specify this later, your editor can pick up on word usage rather than typos, for example, using the term ‘flashlight' instead of ‘torch.' You can find ProWritingAid at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaid You can find my tutorial on how to use ProWritingAid at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/prowritingaidtutorial When is your self-edit finished? You will be utterly sick of your manuscript by the end of the self-editing process. You have read your words so many times you can't see them clearly anymore. You are so over the whole thing that you want to forget the book altogether. If you don't feel this way, you probably haven't self-edited enough! When you really feel you can't do any more, it's time to work with a professional editor. If you are putting off the end of self-editing, then remember that nothing is ever perfect. You can edit forever if you keep obsessing over changes and going over and over the same material. If your self-edit goes on too long, consider whether perfectionism is holding you back. Set a completion date and hold yourself to it. How to find and work with a professional editor If you want your book to be the best it can be, then working with a professional editor is the next step. An editor's job is to take your manuscript and help you improve it through structural changes and story development, line edits, suggestions for new material or sentence refinement, and so much more. Different kinds of editors can help you in different ways from constructing the overarching story to eliminating the final typo. In my experience, good professional editors are well worth the investment as they help improve your book and your craft, especially in the initial stages of your writing journey. They have read so many early-stage manuscripts that they understand the most common problems and know how to help you fix them. Some experienced authors only use proofreaders for their novels, but personally, I still work with a professional editor on every book and I learn something every time. I am a super-fan of editors! How to find a professional editor Consolidation in the traditional publishing industry over the last decade has resulted in many more editors working as freelancers, so authors have a wealth of professionals available for hire in every genre. You can find lists of approved editors through author organizations. The Alliance of Independent Authors has a list of Partner Members, many of whom are editors. You can also use author marketplace Reedsy. Many editors use content marketing to find clients — for example, blogging about editing tips, writing books on editing, or appearing on podcasts. I have had lots of editors on The Creative Penn Podcast over the years, so you can listen and see if they resonate with you. Most authors credit their editors and proofreaders in the acknowledgments of their books, and many authors happily share recommendations on social media in various author communities. If you enjoy a certain novel, it might be worth reaching out to that editor, as you know they are a specialist in the genre. Check out my list of editors at: www.TheCreativePenn.com/editors How to assess whether an editor is right for you I frequently get emails from writers asking me to recommend an editor for their book. But finding an editor is like dating. You have to do it for yourself, and it's likely that you will try a few before you find your perfect match. You may also change editors over your writing life as your craft develops and your needs shift, and that's completely normal too. Make sure the editor has experience in and enjoys your genre. You don't want a literary historical fiction editor working on your YA paranormal romance or your hard sci-fi adventure. Ensure that the editor has testimonials from happy clients, and check directly with a named author if you have doubts. Some editors will offer a sample edit for one chapter. This helps both parties decide whether working together is appropriate. The editor can assess what level your manuscript is at, and you can decide whether their editorial style is right for you. How to work with an editor When you engage an editor, you will receive a contract with a timeline and a price for the work. You agree to deliver the manuscript on a particular date and will usually pay a deposit, especially if this is the first time you're working together. The editor agrees to deliver the edits back on a certain date and also to keep your manuscript in confidence. You can avoid issues later by communicating expectations up front, so if you have questions about the editing process, ask before you sign a contract. Many editors are booked months in advance, so once you know your schedule, contact them early and book a slot. Update them if your timings change. Most allow minor slippage, but since editors plan their work around contractual dates, it's important to be timely with delivery. As a discovery writer, I only book my editor when I am sure of my dates. Submit your manuscript and, once the edit is complete, you will receive whatever has been agreed. That might be a structural report, line edit, or proofread manuscript, along with a style sheet. It's usually in the form of an MS Word document by email. Some editors may offer a call to discuss, but I have never spoken to an editor as part of my process. It has never been necessary. It's all about the words on the page. If you want a call and it is not specified, then include it in the contract up front along with anything else you're concerned about. I consider my editors to be an important part of my team. They help me turn my manuscripts into books that readers love, and I rely on them as part of my business. This is a two-way relationship, and you need to behave as professionally as the editor should. If you find an editor you love working with, pay them quickly and respect their time, and you will hopefully have a long-term business relationship that benefits you both. How does it feel to go through an edit? It's probably going to hurt, especially in the beginning, when your craft is in its early stages. You need fresh eyes on your work, especially at the beginning of your author career. You need feedback to improve. When I received notes back on my structural edit for my first novel, I didn't open the email for ten days. I was so scared of what it would say because my novel meant so much to me, and yet I knew it had problems. Of course it did, it was my first novel! So I let the email sit in my inbox until I was ready to face it, and like many things, the fear was worse than the actual event. Even many years and many books later, I still don't open emails from my editor until I am mentally ready to face criticism. Because that's what it feels like. It is not the editor's job to pat you on the back and say, ‘Well done, this is perfect.' Their job is to help you make it the best book it can be. They are experts and have honed their advice over many manuscripts, so they can spot an issue a mile off. When you receive that email from your editor, particularly if it's your first book, make sure you are well rested and in a positive frame of mind. Set aside a good amount of time and read through the comments and the manuscript as a whole. If you have an emotional reaction, do not email back immediately! Let the feedback sit with you for a few days, and you will find it easier to see what might need to change. Once you're ready, go through the manuscript and work through each change. Don't just click Accept All on the Track Changes version for a line edit. This takes time, but it's well worth it because you will learn with every step and you'll be able to spot your common issues in the future, and hopefully fix them next time. You also need to examine every suggestion to see if you want to make the change. Do you need to make every change that an editor suggests? No, you don't. You are the author, so your creative vision is the most important thing. But try to get some distance and assess whether the change truly serves the book, or if you're just having an emotional response. Remember what Jeffery Deaver said: “The reader is god.” Consider each editorial suggestion on its own merit. Does it help take the story in the direction you want it to? Will it improve the reader's experience? What if my editor wants me to change everything? Perhaps they are not the right editor for you. The editor should not fundamentally change your story or alter your creative vision. Their job is to help you shape your manuscript into a better version of itself, and retain your voice and ideas while at the same time improving it for the reader. This is a skillful balancing act, which is why experienced editors are so highly sought after. How long will the editing process take? This will depend on the type of writer you are in terms of the first draft. If you outline in great detail and spend time up front making the first draft the best it can be, then editing might take less time than for a discovery writer who only figures out the book after the first draft. The more books you've written, the more you understand how to shape a novel, the more you can write a clean draft, so editing speeds up. That doesn't mean it gets easier to write a book, but it does mean you know how to find and fix issues. It will also depend on the length of the book. A 50,000-word romance with one protagonist will be a faster edit than a 150,000-word sprawling fantasy with multiple point-of-view characters. It will also depend on your experience, so don't compare your editing time to someone who has written a lot of books. Give editing the time it needs. You want your book to be the best it can be. But also remember Parkinson's Law, which I discussed in chapter 4.7 on writing the first draft: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” This law also applies to editing. Set your deadline and schedule your editing time accordingly. Don't book a professional editor until you've been through at least your self-editing process, as it may take longer than you think. How much does an editor cost? This will depend on the type of edit, your genre and word count, how experienced you are as a writer, and how much experience the editor has. Editors usually quote a range on their website and you can also email and ask for a more detailed quote based on your manuscript length and sample. Every dollar I have spent on editing has been worth it as an investment in my writing craft and the quality of my finished novels. Although my requirements are different now, I continue to use editors and proofreaders for all my books. The more eyes on your novel before publication, the better it will be on launch. What if you have a tight budget? When I started out as a writer, I had a day job and I saved up for the editorial process. It was an investment in my craft and a possible future creative career. If you already have or intend to set up a business as a writer, then you can offset the cost of editors against any profits. But when you're starting out, you can't necessarily see that far ahead. If you're on a tight budget, then find or set up a writer's group with others in your genre and work through one another's manuscripts. You might also have other skills you can barter for editing services, but remember that bartering is subject to tax in many jurisdictions, so don't assume that it is ‘free.' What if my editor steals my ideas or my manuscript? This is a common concern of new writers who think that editors might run away with their book and make millions with their idea. But don't worry, editors are professionals. They work within a contractual framework that protects both parties. So make sure you are happy with the contract before you sign it. If you are really worried, you can register your copyright before you send the manuscript to anyone else. While it is not legally necessary to register copyright — it exists the moment the work is created — there are registration companies in every country that can provide peace of mind. Just search for ‘copyright registration' within your territory. Will I need different editors when I'm further along in my writing journey? Yes, as your craft and experience improves, you will likely work with different editors. You might also choose to use a new editor for a different genre, or work with recommended professionals to take your craft to the next level. Resources: • My list of recommended editors: www.TheCreativePenn.com/editors • Alliance of Independent Authors — www.TheCreativePenn.com/alliance • The following editing associations offer directories and job posting services: The Editorial Freelancers Association (US), the Chartered Institute for Editing and Proofreading (UK), the Institute for Professional Editors (Australia and New Zealand), and Editors Canada. Beta readers, specialist readers, and sensitivity readers Professional editors approach your manuscript with a critical eye based on their knowledge of language, story structure, and genre. But sometimes, it's a good idea to gain perspective from readers who are not experts on sentence structure or grammar, but comment on the story itself, and their experience of reading it as a whole. Beta readers Beta readers are a trusted group of people who evaluate your book from a reader's perspective before publication. The term comes from the software industry, where early versions are tested in beta before being released to the public. While there are some paid beta reader services, many authors find people from their existing readership, or from among genre fans in the writing community. Authors usually thank their beta readers in their acknowledgments. Specialist readers Specialist readers are experts on a particular topic who read with their expertise in mind. This might be a police officer who checks a crime novel, or a physicist who reads for a science-fiction author. Sensitivity readers Sensitivity readers check for cultural and diversity issues, lack of or clichéd representation, and insensitive, inauthentic, or uninformed language, characters, or situations. This type of feedback can help an author before publication, and can be particularly useful if you are tackling more controversial topics. It can also be valuable when reviewing older manuscripts if you want to republish a new edition, as gendered language has changed, as well as the need for representation, diversity, and inclusivity. While some criticize sensitivity reading as a step toward censorship, most authors want to make their books the best they can be, and ensure the reader experience is excellent, whatever the genre. Being a fiction writer is also about empathy — with our characters and with our readers — so improving our ability to write about diverse characters is important. However, authors cannot be experts on what it's like to experience every race or religion, every body type or disability or mental health issue, or understand every country or culture. Feedback from different kinds of readers can help us write better stories, and it is the author's choice whether to implement suggestions in the final manuscript. Do you need all of these types of readers? No. You don't need any of them, or you can choose to use some of them for different books, depending on the need. It's up to you (and your agent or publisher if you choose to go that route). At what stage in the editorial process should you use these types of readers? The book should be as close to the final version as possible. These people are reading with fresh eyes; if they read again later, they can never approach the story with such an open mind. Most authors will send the manuscript to a select group of readers after the main editorial revisions, but before the proofread. Some authors with more developed careers even use their team of beta readers instead of editors at different stages of the process. What should you provide to readers? Provide the manuscript in the format the reader prefers. This could be an MS Word document or PDF. Many established authors use Bookfunnel, which allows you to create a version that can be read on any reading device or phone. Specialist readers and sensitivity readers have their specific expertise, but for more general beta readers, you need to provide some direction as to what you expect. For example: Did you skip over anything? Did anything bore you? Was anything confusing? Did you have to reread any parts? What did you like? Was there anything you hated or objected to or had a problem with? How long should you give them to read? Allow at least two weeks for readers to assess and provide feedback. Be clear on the timeline when you send them the book.. Do you need to make all the changes they suggest? No, and if you try to, you will end up straying from your creative goal, messing up your author voice, and likely pleasing no one! Keep your number of early readers small and specific to what you want to achieve. Assess each comment and suggestion on its own merit and decide whether or not to make the change. Be confident in your creative vision and beware writing by committee, which becomes a problem if you ask too many people for feedback. Only you can decide what you want for your novel. Resources: • The Reedsy marketplace includes different kinds of editors, beta readers, and sensitivity readers — www.TheCreativePenn.com/reedsy • Directory of sensitivity readers — www.writingdiversely.com/directory • Editors of Color — editorsofcolor.com When is the book finished? “I have not yet found words to truly convey the intensity of this remembered rapture—that moment of exquisite joy when necessary words come together and the work is complete, finished, ready to be read.” —bell hooks,Remembered Rapture You can edit a book forever if you want to. Every time you read it, you will find things to change. Every time you hire another editor, they will find more. If you work with beta readers, they will also offer opinions. Your novel will never be finished — until you decide it is. Nothing is ever perfect. Even if you hire three separate editors and use multiple proofreaders, you will still find a typo or an error in the published novel. Pick up any bestselling book from a traditional publisher, and you will still find an issue somewhere. It happens to everyone. Look at any prize-winning or bestselling book on Amazon and check the reviews. The more popular the book, the more issues people will find with it. There will never be a novel that satisfies everyone, and that's fine. Of course, you must make sure your book is the best it can be, but set boundaries for yourself so you do eventually finish. Have you self-edited your manuscript? Have you worked with a professional editor, or at least worked through the manuscript with other writers to improve it? Have you used editing tools and/or a proofreader? Have you set a deadline to move into the publishing process so you are not editing forever? If you have been through this rigorous editorial process and you still feel the itch to edit again, be honest with yourself. Is another round of changes really going to make a substantial difference to this book? Would it be better to work on the next novel instead of constantly reworking this one? Are you struggling with fear of judgment, fear of failure, procrastination, or other mindset issues that you need to work on instead of editing? Check out my book The Successful Author Mindset if you think this might be the case. Strive for excellence, do your best, and then release your book out into the world. “Set a limit on revisions, set a limit on drafts, set a time limit… The book will never be perfect.” —Kristine Kathryn Rusch, The Pursuit of Perfection and How it Harms Writers These chapters are excerpted from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn, available direct or on all the usual stores. The post Editing a Novel: Self-Editing, And How To Work With A Professional Editor With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

The Queen of Sheba is a holy figure to some; a demon in disguise to others. Her indelible presence has haunted religious scholars and fuelled nationalist visions in East Africa and Southern Arabia. IDEAS explores the many afterlives of the Queen of Sheba — and how ideas about gender and power have shifted in each retelling of her life.Guest in this episode:Shahla Haeri is a professor of anthropology and a former director of the Women's Studies Program at Boston University, and one of the pioneers of Iranian anthropology. Her books include Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Shi'i Iran, No Shame for the Sun: Lives of Professional Pakistani Women and The Unforgettable Queens of Islam: Succession, Authority, Gender.Jillian Stinchcomb is a director's visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey working as a postdoctoral fellow in the "Interactive Histories, Co-Produced Communities: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam" project. In 2020, she defended her dissertation, "Remembering the Queen of Sheba in the First Millennium," a reception history of the Queen of Sheba across Jewish, Muslim, and Christian texts from the biblical to the early medieval period. She works with material in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Ge'ez.Safia Aidid is an interdisciplinary historian of modern Africa and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Her research addresses anticolonial nationalism, territorial imaginations, borders, and state formation in the Horn of Africa, with a particular focus on modern Somalia and Ethiopia.Eyob Derillo is a reference specialist in the Reading Room of Africa and Asian Studies at the British Library, and previously served as curator for the library's Ethiopic and Ethiopian Collections. He is a Ph.D. student at the School of Oriental and African Studies, focusing on the history of Ethiopian magic.Yousra Ishaq is a director and producer in Yemen, facilitating local productions and coordinating multinational teams including international media outlets such as the BBC and PBS. In 2017, she co-founded the Yemen-based film foundation and production company, Comra Films.