From Medical Minefield to No Such Thing As A Fish, You Must Remember This and The Fall Of Rome, the best podcasts to listen to this week
Medical Minefield
The Mail on Sunday’s health team, Barney Calman and Eve Simmons, partner up in front of the mic to host discussions with medical experts on the hot topics of the day.
The Mail on Sunday’s health team, Barney Calman and Eve Simmons (above), partner up in front of the mic to host discussions with medical experts on the hot topics of the day
In the latest edition they ask: why are some GPs still refusing to see patients in person, and what are the risks of assessing their ailments over the phone, or even video call? As ever, the debate is informative yet easy on the ear.
No Such Thing As A Fish
It’s often said that the real stars behind the BBC’s QI quiz are the researchers who find all those quirky facts. Those folks, Andrew Hunter Murray, Dan Schreiber, Anna Ptaszynski and James Harkin, known as the QI Elves, have had a hit podcast on their hands since 2014, and it’s a honeypot for lovers of trivia everywhere.
Even the title is an example: although there are many sea creatures, they’re not related. So, says one biologist, there’s no such thing as a fish.
You Must Remember This
Starlets, scandals, abuses of power… this series of forgotten stories from the golden age of cinema is more Hollywood Babylon than reverential homage – though it also tackles the lurid lies of Kenneth Anger’s bestseller.
This series of forgotten stories from the golden age of cinema is more Hollywood Babylon than reverential homage – though it also tackles the lurid lies of Kenneth Anger’s (above) bestseller
Subjects range from the Louis B. Mayer story, the infamous 1950s blacklist, Disney’s depiction of the Deep South and the horror of the Manson murders. Essential listening for film buffs.
The Fall Of Rome
Just how did the vast Western empire of the Caesars dissolve into the feuding fiefdoms of the Dark Ages after the sack of Rome in 410 AD? And who were the ‘barbarian hordes’, anyway?
Over 33 episodes, historian Patrick Wyman tells in rich detail, yet with a light touch, how, after many generations of opportunistic immigration and economic collapse, Rome wasn’t destroyed but ‘accidentally committed suicide’.