logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2017
44m 40s

Pop science and Punjabi epics

THE TLS
About this episode
With Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas – Alexander van Tulleken on what makes popular science books – including Neil deGrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry – so popular, and is there a hidden danger in making science the subject of water-cooler conversations?; Clair Wills joins us in the studio to discuss the forgotten stories of Punjabi migrants who came to England in the 1950s and early 60s, and introduces us to the fascinating, genre-blending works they composed and performed in pubs; and finally, the TLS's History editor David Horspool explains how Oliver Cromwell’s embarrassingly messy attempts to conquer the Caribbean in the mid-17th century nonetheless set the stage for modern overseas expansion – as well as giving us an early instance of fake news

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Nov 20
Books of the Year
<p>This week, TLS contributors select their favourites from 2025; plus an interview with CD Rose, winner of this year’s Goldsmiths Prize.</p><br><p>‘We Live Here Now’, by CD Rose</p><br><p>Produced by Charlotte Pardy</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acas ... Show More
47m 55s
Nov 13
Devices and Desires
This week, how well does Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Line of Beauty translate to the stage? And Toby Lichtig interviews the newest winner of the Booker Prize, David Szalay.'The Line of Beauty', by Jack Holden, based on the novel by Alan Hollinghurst, Almeida Theatre, London, un ... Show More
47m 33s
Nov 6
Motherload
This week, Terri Apter reviews a quartet of books exploring the impact of parenthood on identity, particularly for women; and we revisit Helen Garner, as she wins the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.'Four Mothers: A year of motherhood around the world', by Abigail Leonard'T ... Show More
44m 14s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2021
Michael Wheeler, "The Athenaeum: More Than Just Another London Club" (Yale UP, 2020)
When it was founded in 1824, the Athenæum broke the mold. Unlike in other preeminent clubs, its members were chosen on the basis of their achievements rather than on their background or political affiliation. Public rather than private life dominated the agenda. The club, with it ... Show More
53m 37s
Jun 2023
Professor Peter Hennessy, historian
Professor Peter Hennessy is one of the UK’s leading contemporary historians. He has written acclaimed and important books about politics, the civil service, the intelligence agencies and the British constitution on which he is an expert. Peter was born in London in 1947 and read ... Show More
36m 58s
Apr 2018
S1 EP1 - Great Leap Years - When We Were Very Young
Far out in the ocean of discovery huge swells have been gathering and combining to create the great tsunami that will soon engulf us, We look back at how innovation in technology has, from the first, changed our ways of living, our sense of who we are and what we are to expect fr ... Show More
41m 47s
Jun 2022
Radio waves and plants: The life of JC Bose
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was a polymath: a physicist, biologist and early writer of science fiction. He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics. He made significant contributions to plant science, designing ingenious devices to measure plant growth and responsi ... Show More
39m 18s
Apr 2024
273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistory
<p>Humanity itself might be the hardest thing for scientists to study fairly and accurately. Not only do we come to the subject with certain inevitable preconceptions, but it's hard to resist the temptation to find scientific justifications for the stories we'd like to tell about ... Show More
1h 19m
Jan 2023
Welcome to WEAPONIZED with Jeremy Corbell & George Knapp
In WEAPONIZED, Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp pull back the veil on the world of the known, to explore the unexplained. This multi-platform investigative series features exclusive interviews, never-before-seen footage, previously-suppressed documents, original audio and video re ... Show More
3m 11s
Jun 2023
Who Are The Visitors & Why Are They Here - Guest : Whitley Strieber
Author Whitley Strieber has endured a lifetime of bizarre encounters with a non-human intelligence. In his 1987 blockbuster "Communion", Strieber described a series of terrifying intrusions by seemingly alien creatures he called The Visitors. The book sold millions of copies, was ... Show More
1h 46m
Jan 2022
Preet Chandi/'Polar Preet'; 'Collector culture'; Playwright, Nell Leyshon; Drones & night street safety; Novelist, Nikki May;
British Army officer and physiotherapist Preet Chandi has made history as the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition in Antarctica. 'Polar Preet' trekked 700 miles in 40 days, facing temperatures of -50C, poor visibility and fatigue along the way. She used skis, and ... Show More
57m 38s
Jun 2022
Oceans and the Sea
Smugglers, refugees, trade and melting ice and polar exploration are part of the conversation as Rana Mitter is joined in the BBC tent at the Hay Festival by Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose books have drawn on his birthplace Zanzibar and the refugees arriving ... Show More
45m 22s
Nov 2022
Postmodernism in the dock | Julian Baggini, Mina Salami, Hilary Lawson and Julie Bindel
<p>Are we right to abandon objective truth? </p><p>Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here:&nbsp;<a href="https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes</a></p><p>It has been forty years since postmode ... Show More
43m 51s