Podcasts about englishness

Dan Jamieson secured exclusive rights for Jude Bellingham the week before the FIFA World Cup. The ICONS CEO takes us inside the complex world sporting memorabilia, where fame, fans and intellectual property collide. The Bellingham bet — talent-spotting as a business modelIcons approached Bellingham three years, eight months ago while he was still at Dortmund — long before the World Cup made him a global name. The signing model is a venture bet: identify the X-factor early, earn the entourage's trust, lock in exclusivity before the price moves.Jamieson's read on Bellingham is the whole thesis in miniature: "treat him like he's a foreign footballer." His fame was built overseas, his value is that he transcends Englishness — the opposite of "yeoman-like" Harry Kane, who doesn't sell to kids in Macau, Australia or the Philippines.The signing itself is prosaic: roughly an hour of his time at Real Madrid's training complex, filmed for content. The value is manufactured afterwards through framing, licensing and authentication.The rights stack — why one player requires three dealsA single Bellingham product sits on top of a layered set of rights: the player (exclusive deal via a tight, family-run team), the club (Real Madrid takes a cut on image rights — their argument: the halo of the shirt inflates his global value), and the tournament (FIFA / Champions League licences).Notable: Icons pays Real Madrid as well as Bellingham, but does not pay the FA for the England shirt.The signing was split ~50/50 Madrid/England on the bet that Madrid would globalise better — but post-tournament it's England fans doing the buying. A live demonstration of how a World Cup rewrites demand in real time."Official, authentic, exclusive" — the three buzzwordsThe entire proposition rests on these three words. The FIFA licence buys the right to use the marks, access official channels, and — revealingly — instruct Google to stop directing buyers to unofficial sellers.Sharp detail on enforcement: the party responding most effectively to takedown requests is the Chinese, who ask for official IP letters so they can clear out counterfeit listings. Western platforms, by implication, are slower.Triple Lock — authentication as the core moatIcons' answer to a "Wild West" market: film the entire signing, edit it, attach an NFC chip to the shirt so a phone scan surfaces the exact geolocated, timestamped, verifiable moment of signing.The honest tension underneath: Richard presses whether authenticity actually matters to a buyer who just wants Bellingham on the wall. Jamieson concedes there's "a world of slop out there" far cheaper than Icons — the business model only works if enough buyers pay a premium for provenance. Authenticity isn't a feature, it's the entire value exchange.Retailtainment — the media/retail convergenceRichard's coinage-to-steal of the episode: "retailtainment." Icons has turned itself into live commerce for the eBay "Summer of Soccer" — footballers interviewed for an hour in-studio while an Icons "World XI" is auctioned live. Effectively "QVC for the modern age."With three months' notice, Icons stood up a studio, trained staff into on-camera talent, and now broadcasts every three days. But Jamieson is disciplined about scale: live is ~10% of World Cup activity — a high-profile experiment, not the engine.The Gary Lineker / Rest Is Football anecdote is the episode's best illustration of guerrilla marketing: a Messi shirt hand-delivered to reception, an invite upstairs, then a Bellingham frame — which ends up on-screen in the show's England opener. Product placement earned, not bought.Fanatics — the elephant, as platform and as frenemyIcons' relationship with Fanatics is deliberately pragmatic: it's a distribution partner (15 years with the memorabilia team) and a subcontracting client (Icons signs players for Topps and Panini, but doesn't produce cards itself).Jamieson's framing of Fanatics' ambition is the sharpest strategic line in the conversation: they want to "build a multi-story car park of tents" — own "all the goodies in the sweet shop." Fanatics Live is "Comic-Con for sport,"and the model is league rights plus individually-contracted superstars who also do PR, events and the "white party in the Hamptons."The Topps/FIFA card rights deal gets a diplomatic "let's say it was a surprise" — Jamieson can't see how you award a licence five years out (it reverts to Fanatics/Topps at the 2031 Saudi World Cup). Read: a big cheque, future-proofing, and Infantino goodwill from the on-site deal.The trading-card vs. memorabilia distinction — two different marketsCrucial clarification of where Icons sits. Trading cards are a "free-flowing frictionless" tradable commodity — American-centric, increasingly international (Ohtani, Pokémon, Japan), an asset class with whales and secondary markets.Icons' product is deliberately not tradable. Jamieson refuses to call it an investment: "you are a fan, you love this guy... put it on your wall and enjoy it." He's wary of the unrefereed secondary market. He acknowledges Icons is "thinking about" making its product tradable — a live strategic question they haven't resolved.NFTs — the dog that didn't barkJamieson stood on the sidelines through the NFT boom by instinct — a "real world tangible product person."Tellingly, no one ever came with a big cheque, so Icons was never tested.His one genuinely interesting idea: the Maradona shirt with a cigar burn — a true one-of-one that could pair a physical artefact with a blockchain-owned digital twin. But the digital-native builders "were obsessed by the digital nature of it" and never bothered with the physical/digital combination that would have interested him.On digital signatures: blunt dismissal — "I hate that stuff. It's just rubbish." Worth maybe £2 on a merchandising cup, meaningless to a collector.The supply-chain reality — where the money actually gets made and stuckThe least glamorous, most revealing theme. Icons believes it's the biggest buyer of football shirts in the world — thousands at a time, "round the back of the bike sheds" at Classic Football Shirts.The Messi 2022 lesson: three years' revenue in three days, but entirely on pre-orders, because there were no Argentina shirts left on Earth. Adidas took six months to remanufacture; customers waited until summer. Right now Jamieson is "buying Argentina shirts" pre-emptively to avoid a repeat. England shirts are easier — the market is so vast Adidas "produce billions"The through-line question — what is a media outlet now?The thread Richard keeps pulling: retail, media, rights and IP are collapsing into one space. eBay Live, Fanatics Live, Netflix moving from Rest Is Football into live FIFA rights (the Women's World Cup in Brazil on Netflix), and Icons building its own broadcast studio — all point the same way.The strategic uncertainty left open: is the American World Cup an outlier or the new template? Jamieson is inside it and still can't fully call it — which is the honest and interesting place to leave it.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner' on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you're interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.

“If you can only explain the arguments of the other side because they're mad or dangerous or dumb, the problem is with you.” — Turi Munthe On yesterday's show, the psychiatrist Sally Satel described how Americans imagine their own mental condition differently, depending on their politics and age. Which is a nice segue for today's conversation with the Anglo-French journalist turned media entrepreneur Turi Munthe. It's not just in our mental health self-evaluation, Munthe argues, that we hallucinate reality. Indeed, the French born Munthe often sounds like one of his post-structuralist compatriots in his defiantly slippery notion of ontological reality. In Why We Think What We Think: The Unexpected Origins of Our Deepest Beliefs, Munthe argues that our deepest convictions turn out to be shaped by genetics, brain shape and sometimes even by the agricultural legacy of our distant ancestors. Left and right thinkers, Munthe argues, are different political phenotypes — each hallucinating their own version of reality. Total relativism, then — the full French post-structuralist monty? Not quite. Here's where Munthe's Englishness kicks in. Following the Anglo-Russian philosopher Isaiah Berlin, Munthe insists pluralism and relativism are different. So Turi Munthe doesn't just think what he thinks because of his English or French origins. Borrowing from the cognitive scientists Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier, Munthe defines thinking as a “contact sport”. So, for example, believing that the 2020 election was stolen is what Munthe calls a social commitment, because humans would rather be wrong together than right alone. Speaking of convenient segues, Munthe's thoughts on thinking set the scene for next Tuesday's conversation with Emily Eakin, author of The Frenchmen. It's her history of seductive post-structuralists like Foucault, Derrida and Lacan who corrupted a whole generation of literary American Ivy Leaguers (including Eakin) into hallucinating reality. Five Takeaways •       Pluralism Is Not Relativism. Munthe opens with Isaiah Berlin's distinction: registering the sincerity and value of opinions across the political, religious, and ethical spectrum does not relativize truth. That Charles Windsor is King of the United Kingdom is a statement of fact; whether you're a monarchist or a republican is where opinion begins. The book confines itself to the second category — beliefs, values, and opinions that cannot be factually proven — and asks what the nonrational influences on them actually are. The answer is humbling: genetics account for perhaps half of political persuasion, and the rest is shaped by everything from brain anatomy to the agriculture of our ancestors. •       Different Political Phenotypes. At the margins, left and right differ neurologically: right-leaners are on average more readily startled by loud noises and more attentive to threat, while left-leaners carry a slightly larger anterior cingulate cortex — the brain region where we process ambiguity and split hairs. That anatomy, Munthe argues, explains the ideological capture of academia and media better than any conspiracy: hair-splitters go where the hair-splitting is, and a conservative 22-year-old doesn't volunteer for a newsroom where 80% of colleagues think differently. We are, in his phrase, different political phenotypes, each hallucinating a different version of reality. •       Thinking as a Contact Sport. Drawing on Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier's research, Munthe argues that reason didn't evolve for solitary contemplation — Rodin's Thinker is the wrong image — but for argument: to convince you to hunt the buffalo with me, I need reasons that look objective to you too. The evidence is everywhere, from the most impactful academic papers being written by pairs and groups to the creative density of small university towns. The implication is political: the people we disagree with are not obstacles to good thinking but the condition of it — the loyal opposition that helps us get out of ourselves. •       Wrong Together Rather Than Right Alone. Munthe's reading of January 6 and the stolen-election faith is social rather than psychiatric: an enormous number of our beliefs matter more for what they do than for what they say, and professing them is a commitment to a group. From an evolutionary perspective, believing what your village believes — even about the god who is a giant rock at the end of the field — is intelligent, because the ostracized lose the protection of the group. The terrifying data point is the marriage test: in the 1950s, around 4% of families would have objected to a child marrying across party lines; today it approaches 45%. That is affective polarization, and it can pull societies apart. •       The Problem Is With You. Munthe spent his twenties unable to fathom American gun rights — supporters had to be bought, dumb, or morally corrupt — until he did the work and found a tradition he now calls beautiful and heroic, whether or not he shares it. His rule of thumb: if you can only explain the other side's arguments as madness, danger, or stupidity, the problem is with you. This is not centrism — there was no middle ground on slavery or the Holocaust — but a defense of the clash itself: societies need the left to fix inequality and the right to defend the village, and we think best when the two are, in his words, continually bashed against each other. About the Guest Turi Munthe is a journalist and policy analyst turned media entrepreneur. He founded Demotix, which became the largest network of photojournalists in the world before its sale to Corbis in 2012, and Parlia, an encyclopedia of opinion. He has written for The Economist, The Guardian, the TLS, The Nation, and The Spectator, has sat on the boards of Index on Censorship, openDemocracy, and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and is a board member of the Italian media group GEDI, publisher of La Repubblica and La Stampa. He studied Arabic and History at Oxford. Why We Think What We Think: The Unexpected Origins of Our Deepest Beliefs (Penguin/Hutchinson Heinemann) is out now in the UK, with US publication early next year. References: •       Why We Think What We Think: The Unexpected Origins of Our Deepest Beliefs by Turi Munthe (Penguin/Hutchinson Heinemann, 2026). Timothy Garton Ash: “Thinking is a contact sport.” •       Isaiah Berlin — the Anglo-Russian philosopher whose insistence that pluralism and relativism are not the same thing frames the whole book. •       Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier...

What's the Point of Britain? - what's the point of the UK state and of Wales being a part of it. As Gwynfor Evans said, "Britishness...is a political synonym for Englishness which extends English culture over the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish". Siôn Jobbins reads from his article of 2013 in his book,'The Phenomenon of Welshness II, or Is Wales too Poor to be Independent?'* 'The Phenomenon of Welshness II, or Is Wales too Poor to be Independent?' - https://carreg-gwalch.cymru/collections/sion-jobbins/products/phenomenon-of-welshness-2-theGwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2013* 'Prydeindod' - J.R. Jones pamphlet (1966) https://www.porth.ac.uk/cy/collection/prydeindod-j-r-jones Series 7, Episode 7

Recent headlines have announced that the BBC is set to implement a massive wave of cuts across all of its programming, in order to make a saving of £500 million. The first of these major cuts has just been announced and listeners will soon notice the effects of these changes, with Radio 4 programmes like much-loved The World Tonight being axed. But who's making these choices, and why weren't listeners consulted first? Andrea Catherwood talks to John McAndrew, the Director of BBC's Live and Daily News to get some answers. Radio 4 might not be the first place you look to for football, and admittedly some listeners might view it as a safe haven from the world's most played sport. But David Baddiel's recent series 60 Years of Hurt for The History Podcast aimed to pin down what "Englishness" means through the history of the England's men's football team. David joins Andrea to hear listener feedback on the series. Presenter: Andrea Catherwood Producer: Pauline Moore Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie Executive Producer: David PrestA Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

In the last episode of his series on the history of the England Men's football team, David Baddiel looks at that most magical, and most tantalising of all things - hope.Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men's Football team. This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game. In episode three, David tackles the ‘English disease' of hooliganism and looks at how it was, if not cured, then certainly treated.England fans are not defined by hooliganism, but it's impossible to look at the story of the England team without examining the headline grabbing behaviour of some of its fans. As applause for the 1966 World Cup faded away, the England story didn't take long to add violence and extremism to its mix of patriotism, enthusiasm and natural sporting tension. Contributors including Cass Pennant, Kevin Day, David Goldblatt, and Roy Williams, share their experience of English football's violent surges through the seventies and eighties, before a charting a change in fan behaviour as football emerged into the 1990s.The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. It takes in the view from England's sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England's Woman casts on the story of England's Men. Across the series, David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Host: David Baddiel Producers: Rich Power and David Baddiel Assistant Producer: Isaac Fisher

Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men's Football team. This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game.Having put it off as long as he possibly could, David devotes episode 5 to the collective and individual agonies of the the penalty shoot out. The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. It takes in the view from England's sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England's Woman casts on the story of England's Men.Across the series, David will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.Host: David Baddiel Producers: Rich Power and David Baddiel Assistant Producer: Isaac Fisher

In this episode, we take our usual detailed, track-by-track look at Paul McCartney's latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane — discussing its Englishness, production, lyrics, vocal performance, standout tracks, and of course, the many release variants (you can buy some below!) We also talk about the album's dense arrangements and memorable moments, critiques about certain lyrics, vocal choices, and production.  -More about all the variants (from Beatles Blogger) -Check out albums to buy, including The Boys of Dungeon Lane, in our Amazon store! (As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases)   -Feel free to email or record a message about this episode to ivegotabeatlespodcast@outlook.com and we'll include you in our "Please Mr. Postman" segment. Try using Vocaroo for an audio message! -Also, please comment on, like, and rate us wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can now watch us on YouTube! Complete episodes can be found at https://ivegotabeatlespodcast.podbean.com. Email: ivegotabeatlespodcast@outlook.com X: @ivegotabeatles Facebook: I've Got A Beatles Podcast Check out our non-Beatles video venture: "Song Album Career!"

Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men's Football team. This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game. In Episode Four, David looks at the 1990s and 2000s. He sees how Italia 90 was a turning point for perceptions of the sport, before turning his attention to the glamour and promise of the 'golden generation' of English players and the subsequent slow descent of the team (and the country) into uncertainly and anger. The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. It takes in the view from England's sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England's Woman casts on the story of England's Men. Across the series, David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.Host: David Baddiel Producers: Rich Power and David Baddiel Assistant Producer: Isaac Fisher

With the fever now airborne within the Kingdom, Luke and Jim jumped on YouTube for another Lions Watch livestream ahead of the World Cup starting NEXT WEEK. YOU WHAT?!On today's agenda: should England say they're expecting to win it all? Are we actually a bit short on the right-hand side? And what in-flight meal is going to stoke the fires of Englishness within the squad: pie 'n' mash or fish and chips?Got the fever? Well, you're in luck - grab your Ramble World Cup watch party tickets hereFind us on Bluesky, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and email us here: show@footballramble.com.Sign up to the Football Ramble Patreon for ad-free shows for just $5 per month: https://www.patreon.com/footballramble.***Please take the time to rate us on your podcast app. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League season and every day throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup.No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by Lynne Murphy, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex, author of The Prodigal Tongue, and the American voice behind the long-running blog Separated by a Common Language, for a wide-ranging and surprising conversation about the language we think we own.Josephine and Lynne trace English from its violent beginnings, a language forged through invasion, layered with the speech of Angles, Saxons and Normans, carrying the class fault lines of its Saxon-French inheritance all the way into the present, to the extraordinary global story of a tongue that has long since outgrown its origins. They explore how migration has always remade English from below, how empire exported it across the world, and what it means that English is now spoken by more people as a second language than as a first.They talk about language as soft power and who gets to wield it. About the difference between a language of place and a language of people. About the voraciousness of English, its restless appetite for new words, new rhythms, new speakers and why that hunger, far from diluting the language, is precisely what keeps it alive.The conversation finds its way into Our Public House, Dash Arts' new touring theatre production, a state-of-the-nation play set in a pub, born out of three years of travelling England and listening to over 700 people talk about the country they want to live in. Because if English is a language that belongs to everyone who speaks it, then Englishness might work the same way — and that's exactly what Our Public House is asking. Dead Language Society can be found here: www.deadlanguagesociety.com Lynne Murphy's blog can be found here: https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com Our Public House is currently touring England. Find out more at https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-house This episode is part of Dash Arts' Albion series — an ongoing exploration of what it means to be English today.Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men's Football team. This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game. In episode three, David tackles the ‘English disease' of hooliganism and looks at how it was, if not cured, then certainly treated. England fans are not defined by hooliganism, but it's impossible to look at the story of the England team without examining the headline grabbing behaviour of some of its fans. As applause for the 1966 World Cup faded away, the England story didn't take long to add violence and extremism to its mix of patriotism, enthusiasm and natural sporting tension. Contributors including Cass Pennant, Kevin Day, David Goldblatt, and Roy Williams, share their experience of English football's violent surges through the seventies and eighties, before a charting a change in fan behaviour as football emerged into the 1990s. The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. It takes in the view from England's sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England's Woman casts on the story of England's Men. Across the series, David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Host: David Baddiel Producers: Rich Power and David Baddiel Assistant Producer: Isaac Fisher

'Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men's Football team. This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game.In episode two, England v Mavericks, David shares a theory that he once unsuccessfully shared with England Manager, Terry Venables. England isn't good at dealing with talent, specifically with maverick talent, talent that doesn't play by the rules - the best kind of talent. As a result, England men's football is littered with wonderous players who won very few caps, and never more than in the 1970s. David thinks the team, in this respect, represents the country and gets to the bottom of how various kinds of Englishness fought to keep the genius Brian Clough away from the manager's job, and Rodney Marsh, the most talented player of his generation, away from the team. Across the series, David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.The producers are Rich Power and David Baddiel.

In this episode of OffScript, Josephine Burton is joined by historian, journalist, and writer Paula Akpan. A specialist in Black British history and queer identity, Paula brings a vital perspective to our exploration of Albion.Drawing on her acclaimed book, When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors, Paula discusses the power of restoring overlooked narratives to the centre of our global and national stories. Together, they examine how history shapes the idea of who gets to be seen as "English" and the intersections of race, memory, and belonging.From pre-colonial African leadership to contemporary British activism, this conversation explores whether Englishness can ever be fully inclusive and how learning untold histories can reshape our understanding of identity today.Our Public House is currently touring England. Find out more at https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-houseThis episode is part of Dash Arts' Albion series - an ongoing exploration of what it means to be English today.Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second of our bonus episodes, Mark talks with historian and author Ollie Randall about his book Writers in Whites: How a group of literary cricketers changed English culture (London: Fairfield Books, 2026) which is released today. Bonus episodes are released early to patrons. If you want to hear these episodes when they are first available, sign up at https://www.patreon.com/doingsofdoyle as a free or paid member. Ollie Randall Ollie Randall is a writer, historian and cartoonist. He completed his doctoral thesis, 'Cricket, Literary Culture and Englishness' in January 2026, which has become the basis for his book Writers in Whites (2026). Ollie has written articles for a variety of publications, including The Sherlock Holmes Journal, and most frequently the Times Literary Supplement. He has worked as the historical researcher for a former leader of the House of Lords, and as a tour manager on cultural tours. His second book, Lord's and Maharajas – about the political intrigue and imperial crisis that shaped the origins of Indian international cricket – is due out in Autumn 2026. Next time on Doings of Doyle… For our 75th regular episode, we cover one of Conan Doyle's most important early stories, ‘J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement' (1884). You can read the story here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/J._Habakuk_Jephson%27s_Statement  Acknowledgements  Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our supporters on Patreon and Paypal. Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  YouTube video created by @headlinerapp.

For today's episode we have something very special for you - a collaboration between Three Ravens and The History of England Podcast about 15 English Objects.Since St George's Day 2026 A Very English Chat has been encouraging respectful conversations to overcome growing hatred and division around our national identity.The brief is simple: what five objects - anecdotes, artefacts, emotional connections, films, food, landmarks, language, literature, music, nature, places, or people would you include within your own ‘Story of England'?Guests including Billy Bragg and Caroline Lucas have offered their selections of five English objects, and, from a Three Ravens perspective, when our friend and own of our major inspirations David Crowther of the History of England suggested we collaborate to offer our own two pence, we leapt at the opportunity!A Very English Chat is working to tackle England's fraying social fabric and growing polarisation by offering simple responses to potentially difficult and divisive questions about ‘What it means to be English in 2026.'The campaign asks people to identify five objects that signify what Englishness means to them today, using this idea as a starting point to make it easier to have respectful conversations around the subject.As such, we - Eleanor, David and Martin - each came ready to discuss, in less than 45 minutes, our own five favourite examples of 'English Things' - all without comparing notes.Before long, as you will hear, common themes start to emerge about sweetness, curiosity, enterprise, rebellion, and endurance.But of the 15 objects we've chosen, which is the best?And, are we as a trio all destined to get diabetes?!?We really hope you enjoy the episode, and will speak to you again on Monday with a new episode of the Three Ravens Bestiary all about the history and folklore of Imps!Learn more about and listen to The History of England.Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOURVisit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men's Football team. This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game.“Football is singularly the most important cultural institution in the country for defining Englishness” says Historian David Goldblatt, as the series begins looking at the most famous moment in English football – the world cup win in 1966. Comedian, writer and football fan, David Baddiel, sees how the victory adorned swinging London, and yet the characters in the team spoke to a very different kind of England. David also travels back to the very origins of the game in England (discovering that Henry VIII had a pair of football boots), checks in with Elis James for a view from Wales, and muses on the meaning of national anthems. The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. It takes in the view from England's sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England's Woman casts on the story of England's Men.Across the series, David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.The producers are Rich Power and David Baddiel.

'Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men's Football team. This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game.The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. It takes in the view from England's sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England's Woman casts on the story of England's Men.Across the series, comedian, writer and football fan David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.The England football team always, somehow, represents a nation. Its dramas are our dramas, its divisions are our divisions, its story is our story. A story about race and history, talent and rivalry, class and courage, violence and beauty. But what exactly is that narrative, who gets to write it and, once the final whistle is blown, what does it all mean?Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

Josephine Burton takes us inside the rehearsal room of Our Public House, Dash Arts' new touring theatre production and the culmination of our series of work on Albion.We join the company during their rehearsals at Toynbee Studios while some of the country heads to the polls in local elections. Assistant Director Scott Hurran shares insights into the collective creation of characters and how communities across the country have shaped the play's development.Set in a pub, Our Public House is a play about Englishness: who we are, what we've lost, and what we might still become.Our Public House tours England from May 2026. Get your tickets and find out more on the Dash Arts website: https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-houseOur intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf MajidiYou also hear a preview of Rent Controls Now and All The Same by Jonathan Walton, arranged by Yaniv Fridel.Thanks to the cast and crew for welcoming us in with our microphones. Mary - Gabriella LeonSanjana - Bharti PatelAnika - Chaya GuptaScott - Fergus O'DonnellJo - Lauren MoakesTom - Kit EsuruosoCompany Stage Manager - Cora Frank Deputy Stage Manager - Alice KellyWritten by Barney Norris Created and Directed by Josephine Burton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us Fan MailHappy Beltane to those that celebrate, here's an extra episode to welcome those longer days that are on the way. It's an extended interview with author and broadcaster Zakia Sewell about the journeys and discoveries that make up Finding Albion, her search for another Britain. Born out of her 2020 radio 4 series (My Albion) - it is a rejection of a narrow and exclusionary vision of Englishness in favour of a unifying sense of national identity. Centred around the wheel of the year and a pursuit that took Zakia the length and breadth of  our island Finding Albion is as much an exploration of our shared colonial past as it is the weird and wonderful folk customs and traditions that continue to bind our communities together. What emerges is a (much needed) hopeful vision of our future and the offer to pursue a deeper sense of who we are.'Hopeful and Inspiring' - Caroline Lucas'Finding Albion offers up much-needed alternative national identities and stories for us to keep close and cherish. A timely book' - Jeremy Deller. Huge thanks to Huw Marc Bennett and the mighty Albert's Favourites for the use of Huw's music. Music used: Carol Haf (Summer Carol) Gwenith Gwyn (White Wheat) Taken from Huw's latest album 'Heol Las,' get your copy direct from Huw's band camp page. If you fancy getting a copy of the Finding Albion why not help the wonderful  Gloucester Road Books (Bristol) celebrate their fifth birthday by ordering it from their website. If you enjoyed this episode, follow the pod and share with those you love. x@fieldzine www.fieldzine.comwww.patreon.com/fieldzine

CO is back, with a dream guest for Dan and Kasia: Professor Patrick Wright, author of On Living in an Old Country and The Village That Died for England, joins us for an urgent and vital conversation about Englishness, heritage, national decline, landscapes, Brexit and Reform, historical memory, and social and cultural disintegration. This is a conversation about "the direly persistent English question" - one which will not go away. "I don't even have a history O'level - history came to me, rather than me coming to it,” Patrick tell us, taking us on a fascinating journey beginning in the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher appealed loudly to “tradition”, while ripping up norms that would ensure many things would never be the same. We discuss why politics often amounts to, in Patrick's words, “conjuring with the bones of the dead”, and why the telling of our history is so often framed in terms of crisis: as Heritage in Danger. How does the landscape shape our idea of the nation, and vice versa? We chew over some great symbolic moments - “radioactive anecdotes” like the felling of the Sycamore Gap Tree, the Crooked House pub fire, Foot and Mouth, Dutch Elm disease (“the whole landscape was like a cemetery”), and the elevating of HMS Mary Rose from the sea bed after 450 years. ~~~ Read Patrick's brilliant books: On Living in an Old Country (1985)  The Village that Died for England (1995) The Sea View Has Me Again (2021) ~~~ Do please consider supporting our Patreon!  You'll also get a back catalogue of over 30 exclusive bonus eps, and it is STILL ONLY £4 a month to support your favourite cultural historians: https://www.patreon.com/c/cursedobjects  

What does Englishness sound like?In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by musician, songwriter, and activist Billy Bragg for an electric conversation about England - its flags, its contradictions, and its capacity for protest.Billy and Josephine dig into what it means to love a country and argue with it at the same time. They explore the politics of the English flag, the radical traditions buried in folk music, and whether a song can actually change the world. Billy even sings.The conversation spills into Our Public House, Dash Arts' new touring theatre production, a state-of-the-nation play set in a pub, born out of four years of travelling England and listening to over 700 people talk about the country they want to live in. It's the kind of England Billy Bragg has been singing about for decades, and it turns out he has a lot to say about it.Because if anyone has spent a lifetime making the case for a different kind of Englishness, one rooted in solidarity, humour, and dissent, it's Billy Bragg.Our Public House is touring England, opening at Leeds Playhouse from May 15th before touring to Prescot, Coventry, Sheffield, Cornwall and London. Find out more at https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-houseThis episode is part of Dash Arts' Albion series - an ongoing exploration of what it means to be English today.Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf MajidiBilly Bragg photo by Murdo MacLeod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What makes someone English - and who gets to decide?In this episode of Off Script, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh, born in India, raised in Sri Lanka and Malaysia, and educated in the UK, whose internationalism has always been at the heart of her practice.Shobana and Josephine explore what Englishness and Britishness actually mean, and why the tension between them matters. Shobana reflects on how English literature and a culture of open debate shaped her own values, even as she felt, in many ways, an outsider looking in.At the centre of the conversation is Shobana's production We Caliban, which draws on Shakespeare's The Tempest to interrogate the encounter between non-European cultures and the colonising gaze of Prospero. It's a work about empire, migration, and the questions that remain stubbornly unresolved. The Tempest is also the source material for Dash Arts' forthcoming production, Our Public House. Together, Josephine and Shobana make the case for why the arts, more than politics or policy, can hold the complexity that simple definitions of belonging refuse to.You can now buy tickets for our new touring theatre production, Our Public House. Find out more on the Dash Arts website : https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-house Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode with Professor Mark Connelly we explore the profound connection between landscape, memory, and national identity during the Great War, focusing on the significance of chalk landscapes in Britain and their influence on cultural memory and battlefield symbolism.We dive into how the beautiful, chalky terrains of England shaped the identity of soldiers during the Great War. Many of them carried an intimate knowledge of these landscapes, a connection forged through literature and culture. When they found themselves on the battlefields of France, the familiar terrain sparked powerful memories and emotions, making the destruction all the more poignant.This narrative goes beyond military history; it's about identity, memory, and how we connect with the land we call home. The chalk downlands were not just a backdrop but a symbol of what they were fighting for, and losing.And we ask, what does this mean for how we remember the war today?Professor Mark Connelly's Tours: Mark Connelly - Connelly ContoursThe book mentioned was 'England in France' by Charles Vince, illustrations by Sydney R. Jones (London 1919)Main Image: A Grave and a Mine Crater at La Boisselle, August 1917 by William Orpen (IWMART2378) Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin.You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop.Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

What does Englishness mean to you?In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by journalist, writer, and Editor-in-Chief of Byline Times, Hardeep Matharu, for a wide-ranging conversation about the complex and overlooked stories shaping contemporary England. Drawing on her work leading an independent, reader-funded news outlet committed to investigative journalism and democratic accountability, Hardeep brings a sharp perspective on the narratives that dominate public life — and those that are too often ignored.This podcast series sits within Dash Arts' ongoing exploration of landscape and language, Albion, from reimagining Middlemarch in 1980s Coventry to running speech-making workshops with over 700 people across the UK. Throughout these projects, we've been listening closely to how people express identity, voice, and place.In 2026 Albion will culminate with our new touring theatre production, Our Public House. Get your tickets and to find out more on the Dash Arts website : https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-house Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Audiobook. God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. Chapters 1-4. In God's Secretaries, Adam Nicolson gives a fascinating and dramatic account of the era of the King James Bible and its translation, immersing us in an age whose greatest monument is not a painting or a building but a book. A network of complex currents flowed across Jacobean England. This was the England of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Bacon; the era of the Gunpowder Plot and the worst outbreak of the plague. Jacobean England was both more godly and less godly than the country had ever been, and the entire culture was drawn taut between these polarities.  This was the world that created the King James Bible. It is the greatest work of English prose ever written, and it is no coincidence that the translation was made at the moment "Englishness," specifically the English language itself, had come into its first passionate maturity. The English of Jacobean England has a more encompassing idea of its own scope than any form of the language before or since. It drips with potency and sensitivity. The age, with all its conflicts, explains the book.   This excerpt serves as an introduction to this fine book and audiobook. Purchase the entire book at Amazon or your favorite book seller   NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “This elegant account of the creation of what four centuries of history has confirmed is the finest English-language work of all time, is entirely true to its subject: Adam Nicolson's lapidary prose is masterly, his measured account both as readable as the curious demand and as dignified as the story deserves.”  — Simon Winchester, author of Krakatoa    

A milky tea, a jam sponge and this week's news served on a tin tray with a steam train painted on it points our very English conversation towards the following … … what connects the Monkees and a British Prime Minister? … when are you too old for Indie? … A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi? A Bar on The Piccolo Marina? Noel Coward or Neil Tennant? … the Move, the Streets, the Kinks, ELO, Ian Dury, Anthony Newley, the Jam, Herman's Hermits, Cat Stevens, Arctic Monkeys and other acts with a sense of Englishness … Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit: when Marc Bolan went science fiction … how London Zoo could have put the tin lid on the Beatles … the daft story of Randy Scouse Git … how Michael Caine cooked up the name Harry Palmer ... the most English pronunciation of a songword ever … Black Crowes, Byrds and the allure of misspelling … Roxy, 10cc, the Hollies, Manfred Mann, Human League and other original line-ups we want to reform … plus Angine de Poitrine, Kaleidoscope rebooted by Jimmy Page and birthday guest Jonny Wren.Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A milky tea, a jam sponge and this week's news served on a tin tray with a steam train painted on it points our very English conversation towards the following … … what connects the Monkees and a British Prime Minister? … when are you too old for Indie? … A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi? A Bar on The Piccolo Marina? Noel Coward or Neil Tennant? … the Move, the Streets, the Kinks, ELO, Ian Dury, Anthony Newley, the Jam, Herman's Hermits, Cat Stevens, Arctic Monkeys and other acts with a sense of Englishness … Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit: when Marc Bolan went science fiction … how London Zoo could have put the tin lid on the Beatles … the daft story of Randy Scouse Git … how Michael Caine cooked up the name Harry Palmer ... the most English pronunciation of a songword ever … Black Crowes, Byrds and the allure of misspelling … Roxy, 10cc, the Hollies, Manfred Mann, Human League and other original line-ups we want to reform … plus Angine de Poitrine, Kaleidoscope rebooted by Jimmy Page and birthday guest Jonny Wren.Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A milky tea, a jam sponge and this week's news served on a tin tray with a steam train painted on it points our very English conversation towards the following … … what connects the Monkees and a British Prime Minister? … when are you too old for Indie? … A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi? A Bar on The Piccolo Marina? Noel Coward or Neil Tennant? … the Move, the Streets, the Kinks, ELO, Ian Dury, Anthony Newley, the Jam, Herman's Hermits, Cat Stevens, Arctic Monkeys and other acts with a sense of Englishness … Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit: when Marc Bolan went science fiction … how London Zoo could have put the tin lid on the Beatles … the daft story of Randy Scouse Git … how Michael Caine cooked up the name Harry Palmer ... the most English pronunciation of a songword ever … Black Crowes, Byrds and the allure of misspelling … Roxy, 10cc, the Hollies, Manfred Mann, Human League and other original line-ups we want to reform … plus Angine de Poitrine, Kaleidoscope rebooted by Jimmy Page and birthday guest Jonny Wren.Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton takes us inside the rehearsal room and into the pub, as she introduces the people and ideas behind Our Public House, Dash Arts' new touring theatre production and the culmination of the Albion series.Josephine reflects on three years of speech-making workshops with over 700 people across the country, from community centres, schools, working men's groups to HMP Styal, and what she has learned about who we are, and who we could be. She talks about how those voices have shaped the play, and how 150 of the people who inspired it will step onto the stage alongside the professional cast.She's joined by several guests including BSL Consultant Charly Arrowsmith, who talks about the work happening behind the scenes to build a production that speaks, in every sense, to everyone; by actor Lauren Moakes, who reflects on what it meant to meet inmates at HMP Styal and how that encounter will ground her performance; and by playwright Barney Norris, who takes us into the heart of a play about a community that has lost faith in politics and what happens when it finds its voice again.Set in a struggling pub on election night, Our Public House is a play about Englishness: who we are, what we've lost, and what we might still become. It sits at the very heart of Albion.Join us as we ask: what kind of future can we imagine together?Our Public House tours England in 2026. Get your tickets and find out more on the Dash Arts website: https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-houseOur intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf MajidiYou also hear a preview of Community by Jonathan Walton, arranged by Yaniv Fridel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roifield and David talk about 5stories of England as part of the Very English Chat project, to tell stories of England in 50 objects.‘A very English chat' works is a wonderful project to escape division and polarisation, and the arid quarrels about flags - to build and celebrate a sense of Englishness, as part of a build up to England's national day, St George's Day on 23rd April. We are all invited to share our own 5 objects to be included in a virtual ‘pocket museum' telling ‘The story of England 2026 in 50 objects. To take part in a conversation between parishioners of the History of England, add your comment below, or go to the History of England Facebook Group.To share your 5 objects for submission to the Pocket Museum of Englishness, please go to the A Very English Chat site.I'd love to hear from you - and have fun celebrating a shared, positive and inclusive vision of Englishness means to us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by Jeremy Deller for a wide-ranging conversation about how art uncovers the contradictions, radical traditions, and hidden stories that shape contemporary England.Jeremy and Josephine reflect on why Englishness remains so slippery to define; how popular culture, folk traditions, and street art reveal who we really are.Dash Arts has been digging into landscape and language — from reimagining George Eliot's Middlemarch in 1980s Coventry, to running speech-making workshops with more than 600 people across the country. We've been listening to who we are — and who we could be.Join us as we ask: what does Englishness mean to you?In 2026 Albion will culminate with our new touring theatre production, Our Public House. Get your tickets and to find out more on the Dash Arts website : https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-houseOur intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf MajidiThis podcast is marked explicit for language only. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spinning sides at the conversational disco to see what fills the dancefloor, which this week includes … … Jerry Garcia had seven fingers! Brian Jones had seven children! Morrissey worked for the Inland Revenue! … the most terrifying villain in the history of cinema ... is pop music becoming inbred? … when Neil Sedaka made records with 10cc (and Abba) … Happy? Get Lucky? Crazy In Love? What was the last hit single the whole world seemed to be singing? … Noddy Holder, Kim Wilde, Robert Wyatt, Gary Numan: what makes you a National Treasure? … rock and roll puns and double-entendres … “drawn from the national conversation”: the divine Englishness of the Pet Shop Boys … the Gilded Palace of Sin, In The Court of the Crimson King and other records we bought because of the title … and acts wiped out by the Beatles “like corn before the sickle”.Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spinning sides at the conversational disco to see what fills the dancefloor, which this week includes … … Jerry Garcia had seven fingers! Brian Jones had seven children! Morrissey worked for the Inland Revenue! … the most terrifying villain in the history of cinema ... is pop music becoming inbred? … when Neil Sedaka made records with 10cc (and Abba) … Happy? Get Lucky? Crazy In Love? What was the last hit single the whole world seemed to be singing? … Noddy Holder, Kim Wilde, Robert Wyatt, Gary Numan: what makes you a National Treasure? … rock and roll puns and double-entendres … “drawn from the national conversation”: the divine Englishness of the Pet Shop Boys … the Gilded Palace of Sin, In The Court of the Crimson King and other records we bought because of the title … and acts wiped out by the Beatles “like corn before the sickle”.Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spinning sides at the conversational disco to see what fills the dancefloor, which this week includes … … Jerry Garcia had seven fingers! Brian Jones had seven children! Morrissey worked for the Inland Revenue! … the most terrifying villain in the history of cinema ... is pop music becoming inbred? … when Neil Sedaka made records with 10cc (and Abba) … Happy? Get Lucky? Crazy In Love? What was the last hit single the whole world seemed to be singing? … Noddy Holder, Kim Wilde, Robert Wyatt, Gary Numan: what makes you a National Treasure? … rock and roll puns and double-entendres … “drawn from the national conversation”: the divine Englishness of the Pet Shop Boys … the Gilded Palace of Sin, In The Court of the Crimson King and other records we bought because of the title … and acts wiped out by the Beatles “like corn before the sickle”.Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Albion - our exploration of what it means to be English, and what we mean by England.In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by Caroline Lucas for a thoughtful and urgent conversation about Englishness - beyond flags and nostalgia.Drawing on her book Another England, Caroline shares her thoughts on how land, belonging and identity shape our politics and our culture; how England's stories have been constructed and contested; and why reclaiming a generous, complex vision of England matters now.Since 2022, Dash Arts has been digging into landscape and language - from reimagining Middlemarch by George Eliot in 1980s Coventry, to running speech-making workshops with more than 600 people across the country. We've been listening to who we are — and who we could be.Join us as we ask: what does Englishness mean to you?Albion will culminate in 2026 with our new touring theatre production, Our Public House. Get your tickets and to find out more on the Dash Arts website : https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-house Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Constable's painting The Cornfield celebrates its bicentenary in 2026. How has it aged? This is a landscape that has acquired iconic status – a marker of national identity -- as a representation of typically English countryside. How has that Englishness been constituted in the painting? And how does The Cornfield (a view of a partly working landscape) speak to current ideas about relationships and tensions between the natural world and the human presence, especially in our age of environmental anxieties?This lecture was recorded by Malcolm Andrews on 20th January 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Malcolm Andrews is Professor (Emeritus) of Victorian and Visual Studies, University of Kent. He was the Editor of The Dickensian, the journal of the Dickens Fellowship, and a past President of the Dickens Society of America.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/constable-200Gresham 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's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter:  https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport the show

Today I'm talking to Carl Benjamin about what people are calling “the right's civil war” — and why the story most of us are being told might be missing the point. SPONSORS: Earn up to 4 per cent on gold, paid in gold: https://www.monetary-metals.com/heretics/  Use my code Andrew25 on MyHeritage: https://bit.ly/AndrewGoldDNA  Grab your free seat to the 2-Day AI Mastermind: https://link.outskill.com/GOLDNOV4  Start fresh at tryfum.com/products/zero-crisp-mint . Over 500,000 people have already made the switch — no nicotine, no vapor, no batteries. Just flavor, fidget, and a fresh start. Get up to 45% off Ekster with my code ANDREWGOLDHERETICS: https://partner.ekster.com/andrewgoldheretics  Plaud links! Official Website: Uk: https://bit.ly/3K7jDGm US: https://bit.ly/4a0tUie  Amazon: https://amzn.to/4hQVyAm Get an automatic 20% discount at checkout until December 1st. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at https://mintmobile.com/heretics  A lot of this conversation is about labels, loyalty tests, and what happens when movements turn inward: who gets cast out, who gets listened to, and how ordinary people end up pushed into tribes they don't fully recognise. I'm not here to do propaganda for anyone - I'm here to understand what's actually going on. We cover: - What “civil war on the right” even means (and what it doesn't) - Why factions form, escalate, and start purging allies - How online incentives warp political identity and belonging - The difference between “protecting a culture” and playing tribal status games - What Carl thinks people get wrong about this moment - If you disagree with either of us, I still want you here - but argue the point, not the person. #carlbenjamin #culturewar #politics  Join the 30k heretics on my mailing list: https://andrewgoldheretics.com  Check out my new documentary channel: https://youtube.com/@andrewgoldinvestigates  Andrew on X: https://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok   Insta: https://www.instagram.com/andrewgold_ok Heretics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewgoldheretics Chapters: 0:00 Carl Benjamin Highlights 4:00 What “woke right” is (and why it's used as gatekeeping) 8:00 Group claims: Israel as the analogy + demographic security 12:00 Representation, leadership, and why “who governs” matters 16:00 Civic vs ethnic Englishness (and why this gets slippery) 20:00 Grievances beyond immigration: economy, state intrusion, taxes 24:00 Tradition vs bureaucracy: jury trials, “24-hour courts” talk 28:00 Scapegoating minorities vs blaming English political elites 32:00 Categories vs “bundles of relations” (community as the unit) 36:00 When relations break down: resentment, “colonies,” dual loyalties 40:00 What counts as “authoritarian”? Quotas vs visa reversal 44:00 The “Boris wave” argument + welfare resentment example 48:00 “How do you get people to assimilate?” (and is it too late?) 52:00 Greta Thunberg comparison: activism that demands, not solves 56:00 “Should England be governed by English people?” (definition fight) 1:00:00 Foreign-born MPs + why rules might change 1:04:00 Recognition politics: what woke left/right each “gets right” 1:08:00 Victimhood lens + stereotypes / everyday risk judgments 1:12:00 Flags, pride, assimilation vs multiculturalism 1:16:00 “Love other cultures — just not here” + preserving civic life 1:20:00 What would it take to reverse course? Parliament + repeal logic 1:22:48 A Heretic Carl Admires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is Englishness? Why did Suella Braverman clash with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss over immigration? And would she really join Reform UK? In this explosive episode of Heretics, Andrew Gold sits down with former Home Secretary Suella Braverman to discuss British identity, immigration, nationalism, and the deep state within the Conservative Party. SPONSORS: Get up to 45% off Ekster with my code ANDREWGOLDHERETICS: https://partner.ekster.com/andrewgoldheretics  Go to https://TryFum.com/HERETICS  and use code HERETICS to get your free FÜM Topper when you order your Journey Pack today!  Use Code ANDREW FOR 25% OFF Plaud Note: https://bit.ly/4nJWt7j  Plaud Note Pro: https://bit.ly/423JiWv  Grab your free seat to the 2-Day AI Mastermind: https://link.outskill.com/ANDREWS2  Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at https://mintmobile.com/heretics  Start your MyHeritage journey now with a 14-day free trial using my link: https://bit.ly/AndrewGoldMyHeritage Suella opens up about her time in Number 10, the ‘Stop the Boats' crisis, and what really happened behind closed doors with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. She reveals why she believes immigration is out of control, what went wrong with the Rwanda plan, and whether Britain can ever regain control of its borders. We also dive deep into what it means to be English, British or Asian-British in modern Britain — from the St. George's flag controversy to national pride, religion, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Suella explains why she believes strong countries need strong identities, and how ‘human rights' laws have been exploited to block deportations. Finally, Andrew challenges Suella on issues like burqas, cousin marriage, and nationalism, before asking the question everyone wants to know — would she join Nigel Farage and Reform UK? #SuellaBraverman #HereticsPodcast #BritishPolitics  Join the 30k heretics on my mailing list: https://andrewgoldheretics.com  Check out my new documentary channel: https://youtube.com/@andrewgoldinvestigates  Andrew on X: https://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok   Insta: https://www.instagram.com/andrewgold_ok Heretics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewgoldheretics Chapters: 0:00 Suella Braverman Highlights 1:35 Why Suella Braverman is Normal 4:05 What is Englishness? 6:35 Nationality vs Ethnicity 9:35 Nationalism Debate 12:05 We Must Copy Israel's Nationalism 13:35 St. George's Flag Controversy 15:35 Why We Brought In So Many Immigrants 17:35 What Suella Said To Rishi and Liz 21:35 The Deep State & Stopping the Boats 25:05 Can We Ever Trust The Tories Again? 26:50 How Has Islam Changed Your Life 28:35 What's Suella's Ancestry? 31:35 Andrew's Dog Test 33:35 Burqas and 1st Cousin Marriage 36:35 We Have Too Many People 39:35 Would Suella Join Reform? 41:35 Can the Tories Win? 43:35 Harry Kane Analogy With Reform 47:35 What Actually Is The ECHR? 50:35 Why Rwanda Failed 53:35 Can We Get Out Of The ECHR? 56:35 How ‘Human Rights' Are Exploited 59:35 Where Kemi & Tories Stand 1:00:35 The Origin of Suella's Name 1:03:35 Keir Starmer's ‘Management Speak' 1:05:35 Why Suella Lost Her Job 1:07:35 The Jews Love Suella 1:10:35 A Heretic Suella Admires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a time of renewed interest in the spiritual, what could challenge the uninspiring notion of ‘cultural Christianity'? One answer is by embracing the esoteric. William Blake, the painter and poet, has become a model for a new kind of rebellious spirituality. Though he spent his life in poverty and obscurity, Blake's radical vision of the divine is now a cornerstone of modern mysticism. Psychotherapist and podcaster Mark Vernon, author of ‘Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination', and religion researcher, Esmé Partridge, talk in a masterclass, hosted by Unherd in London, on the meaning and mythos of Blake.0:00 What world Blake was responding to2:15 What did Blake mean by Newton's sleep?5:28 How did Blake see the natural world?8:30 Why did Blake react against the Christianity of his day?11:50 Understanding “The Garden of Love”13:50 Understanding “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”16:50 Blake against the ills of today: sentimentality and unforgivingness18:40 The road of excess and erotic desire21:47 Navigating the contrary tensions of life25:15 Blake's mythological figures29:30 What about Los and Jerusalem?32:30 What about Blake's view of politics and revolution?36:50 How do you cleanse the doors of perception?40:20 So in what way was Blake Christian?43:46 How did William and Catherine support themselves?46:52 How do we distinguish between imagination and fantasy?49:51 How can Blake be helpful to modern psychology?52:30 How can Blake help us reach for the eternal?56:10 How can Blake bring meaning to life?57:30 What would Blake make of Nietzsche?1:00:00 What would Blake make of Spinoza?1:01:30 Can we diagnose Blake and his visions?1:03:20 What about Blake and cultural Christianity today?1:05:30 What did Blake make about violence?1:07:43 Can you say more about Catherine Blake?1:09:30 Blake's wit about his visions1:10:54 Can you comment on Blake and Englishness?

'What's wrong with Englishness?'Watch as Nigel Farage bites back at former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in an intense clash over the use of the St George's flag. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From working with rappers in Beiruti basements to gathering musicians from all the conservatoires of ex-Soviet Republics in the mountains of Georgia and wild late nights in a tent with the Dash Arts Dacha, this episode celebrates the music and sounds woven through the last 20 years of Dash Arts.Josephine Burton acts as a guide across Dash Arts' many musical projects, sharing stories and music from Dash's multi-year seasons of artistic work. We hear about Dash's journeys in the Arabic world, former Soviet States, Europe and its current season exploring Englishness, with Albion. This episode is an invitation to listen in on two decades of music that continues to challenge, delight, and change how we hear the world.In the podcast, we hear from:Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts Marie Horner - Podcast Producer, Dash ArtsWe also hear from and celebrate these incredible artists:Sto Let - Iva Bittová and Vladimír VáclavekMy Show - Lyrical Alliance (Rabah Donquishoot (Algeria), Shadia Mansour (Palestine), Rayess Bek (Lebanon), Samm (Jordan), Tamer Nafar (Palestine) And DJ MK (UK)) Shadia + Johnny Juice for Lyrical AllianceQuata3et - Lyrical AllianceAmy Kakoura at a Dash Cafe at Warwick Arts Centre - February 2020 Maspindzeli Choir at a Dash Cafe at Rich Mix, July 2014 Hilda Lansman & Tuomas Norvio - VizarditZugzwang - Langham Research Centre Olesya Zdorovetska at a Dash Cafe at Rich Mix, January 2017 Song About a Friend - Vladimir VysotskyIryna Muha at a Dash Cafe at Rich Mix, April 2017The Renegade Orchestra (Evelina Petrova, Slava Guyvronsky, Matyakubov Shavkat, Misha Alperin, Reso Kiknadze, Zoltan Almashi, Natasha Pshenitschnikova, Vladimir Volkov, Kryukova Marina, Sergei Starostin and Petr Glavatskikh and composer Alexander Manotskov, playwright Natalia Vorozhbyt and director Galina Pyanova) Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants at the Dash Arts Dacha at Latitude Festival July 2017 One Hundred Moons from Dido's Bar - (recorded by Samira Brahmia and Marouf Majidi with Hattie Naylor, Tuukka Leppänen, Riku Kantola and Josephine Burton).The cast and house band of Dido's Bar (Gemma Barnett, Priscille Grace, Tuukka Leppänen, Lola May, Lahcen Razzougui, Georgina White, Marouf Majidi, Ben Sutcliffe and the Dido's Bar House Band) Songs for Babyn Yar - Music composed and arranged by Yuriy Gurzhy, Svetlana Kundish and Mariana Sadovska.Ey, Güzel Qırım sung by the cast from Crimea 5am.Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why did Britons get up a play wherever they went? In Strolling Players of Empire: Theater and Performances of Power in the British Imperial Provinces, 1656–1833 (Cambridge UP, 2022), Dr. Kathleen Wilson reveals how the performance of English theater and a theatricalized way of viewing the world shaped the geopolitics and culture of empire in the long eighteenth century. Ranging across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans to encompass Kingston, Calcutta, Fort Marlborough, St. Helena and Port Jackson as well as London and provincial towns, she shows how Britons on the move transformed peripheries into historical stages where alternative collectivities were enacted, imagined and lived. Men and women of various ethnicities, classes and legal statuses produced and performed English theater in the world, helping to consolidate a national and imperial culture. The theater of empire also enabled non-British people to adapt or interpret English cultural traditions through their own performances, as Englishness also became a production of non-English peoples across the globe. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. 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

Why did Britons get up a play wherever they went? In Strolling Players of Empire: Theater and Performances of Power in the British Imperial Provinces, 1656–1833 (Cambridge UP, 2022), Dr. Kathleen Wilson reveals how the performance of English theater and a theatricalized way of viewing the world shaped the geopolitics and culture of empire in the long eighteenth century. Ranging across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans to encompass Kingston, Calcutta, Fort Marlborough, St. Helena and Port Jackson as well as London and provincial towns, she shows how Britons on the move transformed peripheries into historical stages where alternative collectivities were enacted, imagined and lived. Men and women of various ethnicities, classes and legal statuses produced and performed English theater in the world, helping to consolidate a national and imperial culture. The theater of empire also enabled non-British people to adapt or interpret English cultural traditions through their own performances, as Englishness also became a production of non-English peoples across the globe. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/caribbean-studies

Why did Britons get up a play wherever they went? In Strolling Players of Empire: Theater and Performances of Power in the British Imperial Provinces, 1656–1833 (Cambridge UP, 2022), Dr. Kathleen Wilson reveals how the performance of English theater and a theatricalized way of viewing the world shaped the geopolitics and culture of empire in the long eighteenth century. Ranging across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans to encompass Kingston, Calcutta, Fort Marlborough, St. Helena and Port Jackson as well as London and provincial towns, she shows how Britons on the move transformed peripheries into historical stages where alternative collectivities were enacted, imagined and lived. Men and women of various ethnicities, classes and legal statuses produced and performed English theater in the world, helping to consolidate a national and imperial culture. The theater of empire also enabled non-British people to adapt or interpret English cultural traditions through their own performances, as Englishness also became a production of non-English peoples across the globe. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Why did Britons get up a play wherever they went? In Strolling Players of Empire: Theater and Performances of Power in the British Imperial Provinces, 1656–1833 (Cambridge UP, 2022), Dr. Kathleen Wilson reveals how the performance of English theater and a theatricalized way of viewing the world shaped the geopolitics and culture of empire in the long eighteenth century. Ranging across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans to encompass Kingston, Calcutta, Fort Marlborough, St. Helena and Port Jackson as well as London and provincial towns, she shows how Britons on the move transformed peripheries into historical stages where alternative collectivities were enacted, imagined and lived. Men and women of various ethnicities, classes and legal statuses produced and performed English theater in the world, helping to consolidate a national and imperial culture. The theater of empire also enabled non-British people to adapt or interpret English cultural traditions through their own performances, as Englishness also became a production of non-English peoples across the globe. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

The rise of the organic movement is often remembered as a peaceful revolution - a return to the earth, to purity, to harmony with nature. But its true origins tell a far darker tale. Born not in the flower-strewn fields of 1960s counterculture, but in the grim laboratories of fascist ideology, the organic movement was shaped by the poisonous ideal of Blut und Boden - blood and soil - Hitler's vision of racial purity rooted in sacred, cultivated land.In the shadow of the First World War, as modernity fractured Europe, a coalition of aristocrats, ideologues, and agrarian radicals began to turn away from industrial farming and toward a mystical belief in soil as the lifeblood of the nation. Sir Albert Howard's composting theories were seized upon by those who dreamed not of sustainability, but of supremacy. Lord Lymington, a British peer and passionate fascist, declared modern agriculture a threat to the racial soul of Britain. And Lady Eve Balfour, often lauded as a pioneering environmentalist, helped found the Soil Association not just to heal the earth but to preserve a vanishing, hierarchical vision of Englishness under threat.As fascism spread through Europe in the 1920s and 30s, so too did the organic ideal - not as liberation, but as control. And even after Hitler's fall, those same roots crept into post-war Britain's environmental movements, disguised under new names.So how did a movement forged in the crucible of authoritarianism become the darling of the left? How did fascist soil science transform into the ideology of hippies, Whole Foods, and farmer's markets?Join John and Patrick as they descend into the murky, forgotten history of the organic movement and discover that the soil is far darker than it first appears.----------In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business-----------Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.Support us!Share this episode with your friendsGive a 5-star ratingWrite a review -----------Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more.-----------Step into history - literally! Now is your chance to own a pair of The History of Fresh Produce sneakers. Fill out the form here and get ready to walk through the past in style.-----------Instagram, TikTok, Threads:@historyoffreshproduceEmail: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com

TL;DR Better out than in. Be bold. Tell people you love them while you still can. No regrets.

Today, we discuss the Chancellor Rachel Reeves looking at making spending cuts worth billions to the government's welfare budget. The Treasury will put the proposed cuts to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Wednesday amid expectations the chancellor's financial headroom has disappeared. Adam is joined by economics editor Faisal Islam to unpack what we know about the proposed cuts, and the chancellor's Spring Statement later this month.And, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken to the Nick Robinson in his first wide-ranging interview since leaving Downing Street. Nick and Adam unpack what Rishi had to say, including why he regrets the ‘Stop the Boats' slogan, how he felt about a podcast questioning his Englishness and what his political philosophy boils down to. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.You can join our Newscast online community here: https://discord.gg/NbuxWnmYNew episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Miranda Slade with Shiler Mahmoudi and Anna Harris. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The editor is Sam Bonham

Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks to Winston Marshall about his preference for identifying as English rather than British and the complexities of national identity in the UK; the danger of large numbers of Islamists immigrating into England; the social disunity caused by mass migration and the challenges of defining Englishness; why the education system neglects the positive aspects of British history, leading to a decline in national pride; the current fragile state of free speech in the UK; his thoughts on the influence of Trump-inspired political movements; his current skepticism about the UK's current leadership; and much more. #RubinReport #WinstonMarshall #westerncivilization #UK #britishculture #british #immigration #illegalimmigration #ARC #daverubin ----------------------------------------------- Reserve your 1st edition copy of our new book, The Best of Our Inheritance. Pre-Order open until March 14, 2025: Link to book: https://www.arcforum.com/store/p/the-best-of-our-inheritance-arc-research YouTube - @arc_conference Twitter - @arc_forum IG - @arc_forum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gareth Southgate OBE is the most successful England men's football manger in the modern game. He holds the record as the man who has represented England in more games than anyone else, with 102 games as men's senior team manager, 57 caps as a player and 37 as men's under-21 head coach, leading to a total of 196 games in which he has been involved as a player or coach.It's a remarkable career and one which shows his resilience and determination. Ever since he joined a football team as a schoolboy, he dreamed of being a footballer and perhaps one day, wearing the England shirt. He was rejected by Southampton as a teenager and was determined to come back and succeed. He managed to do that, playing for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough as a defender and midfielder. After his playing career ended he went into management eventually becoming one of the England national team's most successful managers. Along the way, his different approach to leadership in sport, together with his quest to understand what is Englishness makes him one of the most impressive football managers in England's history. Southgate is an Ambassador for The Prince's Trust and Help for Heroes.DISC ONE: The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby and the Range DISC TWO: Rainy Days and Mondays - Carpenters DISC THREE: Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears DISC FOUR: The Whole of the Moon - Waterboys DISC FIVE: One - Mary J. Blige, U2 DISC SIX: Shape of You (Stormzy Remix) - Ed Sheeran DISC SEVEN: Someone Like You - Adele DISC EIGHT: Experience - Ludovico Einaudi BOOK CHOICE: The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters LUXURY ITEM: Coffee CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Experience - Ludovico Einaudi Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor