PODCASTS — LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE

Presidential

www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/presidential-podcast There is definitely an element of stable-door-horse-bolted to this now — it was made in the run-up to the US election — but if you turn away from the will-he-won’t-he aspect of Trump’s role in it all, this is simply an excellent series examining the changing nature of the US presidency, and clever, in-depth profiles of previous presidents including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and John F Kennedy.

Presidential is hosted by Lillian Cunningham, who is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning historians such as David McCullough and journalists including Bob Woodward and Philip Kennicott, as they explore the lives, psychologies and legacies (where possible) of all 44 American presidents.

Seriously

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pc9qx/episodes/downloads Seriously eclectic — essentially, this is a kind of archive dump of all the best radio docs going back decades — this covers topics as wonderfully diverse as the lively and money-spinning trade in fake essays and dissertations, the experiences of Muslim soldiers in the British army, the romanticising of failure, the reality of cyborgs, jazz legend Miles Davis, the impact of social media on our lives, and the importance of doing nothing, along with far, far more. Released twice weekly, each episode is introduced by Rhianna Dhillon, on the premise that “no subject is too strange, no idea too weird”. Frankly, if you can’t find something here to fascinate or amuse you, you lack the ability to be fascinated and amused, or you haven’t looked hard enough. Try Butterfly Mind, where playwright David Greig tries to find out if a shaman can cure writer’s block. Or The Villain In 6 Chapters, in which actor Toby Jones celebrates the world of the bad guy.