PODCASTS — LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE

Revisionist History

Revisionist History is the work of Malcolm Gladwell (author of best-selling game-changers, including David and Goliath and Tipping Point), who has temporarily moved his particular brand of counter-intuitive thinking into podcast form. Ten episodes, 10 historical events, with Gladwell revisiting and reinterpreting them, and providing plenty of fascinating contemporary insight as he goes. So The Lady Vanishes is dedicated to artist Elizabeth Thompson Butler, whose painting The Roll Call took England by storm in the 19th century, becoming prominent in an all-male world, and was promptly forgotten after her death. Through this, Gladwell explores the idea of ‘moral licensing’, which is when the acceptance of one outsider — a female leader, one Jewish poet for the Nazis, a black President — actually gives the status quo “justification to shut the door again,” as Gladwell puts it. Then there’s an episode about a Grade-A scholarship student in LA, Carlos, who’s academic success is pitched as an example of American meritocracy. Until Gladwell looks a little closer. His style is intimate and revelatory, and the analysis typically thoughtful and provocative.

Hip Hop Saved My Life with Romesh Ranganathan

This is comedian Romesh Ranganathan’s personal take on what hip hop means to him, but also the device he uses to interview others — including Robert Popper, writer of Channel 4’s Friday

Night Dinner — about themselves and their relationship to music. Even the guests, who say they don’t like hip hop, end up sharing stories and anecdotes, thanks to Ranganathan’s infectious enthusiasm. These are then intercut with great old gems from Wu Tang, and more unexpected acts.