The Author Archive Podcast

As the American President declares that he has been saved by God to make his country great again, I find it impossible not to wonder about the precise nature of the deity that he professes to believe in. Are Donald and his advisers familiar with the writings that are the basis of his religion? 

This book by Catherine Nixey is terrific - its a revelation and it's now available in paperback format.

Catherine has studied texts written...

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Being royal is not a job you can apply for.  If you decide to walk away from your royal identity or are pushed away from it just what are you left with?

This book,'Traitor King', tells the story of an inglorious royal. It is a shocking example of what happens when inherited status is randomly given to a person who is clearly not up to the task. The book is the basis of the Channel 4 programme that shed light on the whole episode.

The Cotswolds are in the news,but before the area was discovered by rich Americans it was a fertile area for thought and creativity. The village of Great Tew was where  John Lloyd and John Mitchinson met. They both lived there in historic cottages. This is where they came up with the idea of the TV show QI.

In this episode they  introduce their Book of General Ignorance. 

The original chair of QI was Stephen Fry and he was replaced...

Edwina Currie was a Tory MP from 1983 to 1997.

She became Junior Health Minister for 2 years and famously had an affair with John Major, who became Prime Minister. The relationship   lasted 4 years.

David Freeman met her when her novel This Honourable House was first published. Prior to this, and her second marriage she had written Chasing Men.

Interviewing Edwina I always had the feeling that she was very entertaining but was prob...

There is much thought about memoirs at the moment. Salt Paths etc.

Clive James wrote memoirs but he always declared they were 'unreliable'. Maybe that is the nature of memory and memoir?

Clive James died in 2019 after a long illness.

This conversation with David Freeman was recorded in 2001 when Clive was excited by the internet and somewhat fearful of the way public service broadcasting was heading.

He would probably be even more ...

Twenty five years ago Julian Hoffman and his wife Julia decided to leave their life in London and make a dramatic change. They would leave the city life with it's commuting hassles and move somewhere and live very different life

On nothing more than a chance encounter with a book about it they moved to Prespa in northern Greece.

They didn't speak the language, had very few possessions but their bold and brave decision has worked ou...

The appalling inhumanity still happening in the world makes this conversation distressingly relevant. There is the thought that some people are less human then others. This has to be challenged.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on December 10th 1948.

We now live in a world where the rights agreed in that document are widely ignored and some politicians openly seek to remove the UK from enforcing them.

Plus ra...

The effect of the Trump win reverberates around the globe. There seems to be perceived electoral advantage in fanning hate and intolerance and spreading intolerance the idea around the world.

The Middle East is on a knife edge and the Ukraine war continues.

Why is this? Is there any cause for optimism? Where do non rational beliefs and convictions fit in the conflicts?

This conversation with the activist and thinker Tariq Ali was r...

Colin Dexter was a splendid writer. His creation Inspector Morse is superb on the page and just as gripping on television.

I used to meet Colin in the pub on Banbury Road in Oxford, The Dew Drop. He was great company and almost completely unaware of his success and star quality.

I recorded this conversation in his house after the publication of The Remorseful Day. He was relaxed and very happy to look back at his life in education ...

Joe Boyd is a man about music, record producer, a film producer and author.

He arrived in London in 1964 with Muddy Waters and a host of blues musicians who played to sold out UK audiences when they were unappreciated in their US homeland.

In this conversation he talks about Nick Drake, Paul Simon, The Incredible String Band, Paul Butterfield, MIke Bloomfield and the enduring power of real music.

Joe is currently on tour in North A...

Billie Holiday, Eleanora Fagan  was born on April 7th 1915.

Bitter Crop is a superb biography of Billie Holiday who was probably the very best jazz singer there has ever been. The book title is takes from one of Billie's signature songs, 'Strange Fruit'.

There have been films and many books about Billie's career but not all of them came close to telling the whole truth of a remarkable life.

True there were drugs and alcohol but the...

When one looks at the antics and attitudes of the current president of the USA it easy to see parallels  with the world view of Henry VIII. Although this account of the life lead by Henry VIII was first published at the turn of the century it is still selling well.

Alison Weir thinks the key to understanding the famous Tudor King is to realise that he was never alone. Even a conjugal visit to his wife or a trip to the loo were atte...