Best podcasts of the week: After heartbreak, Susan Wokoma starts over in Seoul
Shaun Keaveny’s Daily GrindWidely available, episodes daily from MondayFans of Keaveny’s now defunct 6 Music breakfast show will have a good idea of what to expect from his new daily podcast. It’s a delightfully rambling affair, featuring him accosting members of the public for chats on a towpath, segments recorded in a pub and celebrity chats that focus on the least starry topics possible – in episode one, it’s Joe Lycett on buses. “I’m an acquired taste … give it another 38 goes,” says Keaveny. You really should. Alexi Duggins
MrBallen’s Medical MysteriesWidely available, episodes weeklyIf you’re in the mood to hear chilling stories about what happens when your body lets you down, MrBallen has the goods. The cult “flannel-wearing backwardshat-donning storyteller” covers hallucinations, being locked in a coma-like state and unidentified objects in your stomach – and as outlandish as his medical mysteries sound, he insists they’re true. HV
KoreabooWidely available, episodes weeklyWhen Shayla (Susan Wokoma) loses the dream job she’s about to start and discovers her boyfriend is living a double life, she decides to seek a fresh start in Seoul. As luck would have it, she bumps into a boyband star and finds herself delivering snacks on a K-pop show to pay the rent in this gorgeously escapist podcast. HV
The SalvationAudible, episodes weeklyAriyon Bakare (above) stars as David Miller, a veteran living with PTSD who discovers his flashbacks are actually portals to time travel. It’s rich in radio drama-style shootout sound effects, but Bakare’s believability elevates the thriller and gives it depth. There’s a history-changing mission to complete, but how will Miller get his head round it? HV
RescueWidely available, episodes weeklySurvival expert Donny Dust has the sort of voice that would calm you down if you were stuck in a tense situation, and he has plenty of stories about rescues to tell. From a father and son trapped in frozen Arctic waters to the commuters in the Paddington train crash, Dust celebrates everyday heroes. HV
There’s a podcast for that
This week, Lauren O’Neill chooses five of the best podcasts on untoldlife stories, from the rise of Robin Williams to the legacy of SylvesterSound Barrier: SylvesterThe singer Sylvester is best known for the 1978 disco anthem “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, and while that track alone is a phenomenal legacy, Sylvester’s impact goes much deeper than many are aware.
Spotify’s Sound Barrier: Sylvester podcast, hosted by New York University’s Jason King, explores Sylvester’s importance both during his heyday – as an influential post-disco artist, and a queer person in the public eye, who often performed in drag – and in the present, decades after his death in 1988. King’s analysis is paired with new and historic interviews with the likes of Patti LaBelle, Big Freedia and Billy Porter – not to mention Sylvester himself – to do justice to a musical giant and an icon of queer culture.
Unobscured: Grigori RasputinThe conceit of historical podcast Unobscured, hosted by Aaron Mahnke, is that the past is full of stories we think we know, but which actually we don’t necessarily have quite right – indeed, the first three seasons of the show cover myth-surrounded figures and events like the Salem Witch Trials and Jack the Ripper. The fourth, however, concerns the life story of one Grigori Rasputin, the most feared and mysterious figure of the late Russian Empire. Told entertainingly through Mahnke’s engaging narrative style – it’s almost like listening to a fictional audiobook – this is an unexpectedly gripping listen.
Knowing: Robin WilliamsIt’s rare that a public figure inspires such across-the-board adoration as the late, great Robin Williams. Williams was beloved to many as one of the finest comic actors of his generation, though little was known about his personal struggles before his death in 2014, following a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Knowing: Robin Williamssees Kirsty Westgard and New York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff (also the author of the biography Robin) explore the comedian’s life over the course of eight episodes, via archive clips, unheard interviews with the man himself and conversations with those who knew and loved him.
Bad GaysIf longform isn’t quite your style, the format of a podcast like Bad Gays might be more what you’re after. Having now also spawned a book, each episode takes a different culturally prominent “bad gay” (Ronnie Kray, J. Edgar Hoover and Alexander the Great are all represented) and explores their biography through the lens of sexuality. Hosted by writers Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller, Bad Gaysis an intelligent but novel look at some of history’s most fascinating figures, and, over time, doubles as an exploration of how perceptions of homosexuality have developed and changed as the centuries have rolled on.
You Must Remember This: Charles Manson’s HollywoodHost Karina Longworth is essentially podcasting royalty, because her show, which explores the seedy corners and roaring excesses of Hollywood over the decades, is so reliably good. While her seasons on the erotic thrillers of the 1980s and the “dead blondes” of the Golden Age make for great listening, however, it’s the run titled Charles Manson’s Hollywood which remains the peak of the show’s brilliance. While, of course, Manson remains deeply infamous, Longworth’s diligent research and enthralling storytelling shows us how little we really knew about this notorious figure and his ties to the world’s most glamorous town.
Why not try …
The mindfulness maven du jour has been outed as a fraud, and Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenbergare here to navigate what’s real from what’s a real waste of time in How to Be Fine.
Where business wars meets pop culture. Beef tells the stories of legends in their fields trying to stomp out their competition only to find their enemies become the driving force behind their success.
The home for all your pop culture cravings, from social media trends, reality TV, and celebrity culture and TikTok drama, nothing is off limits in Pop Off.
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your toes!!!”
The prospective boss kept Epstein informed as the nomination committee and board approved his appointment. “I should have the contract by the weekend. We’re very close.”
Staley later told the FCA that Epstein did not have a “formal or informal advisory role” regarding his appointment, but that he had previously turned to Epstein on matters relating to his career and wanted to hear his “thoughts on the matter”. Staley said he “trusted him to be discreet”.
The FCA said no one at Barclays was aware Staley had shared confidential information about the negotiations with Epstein.
“In light of his impending appointment as CEO, Mr Staley had an interest in giving Barclays the impression of a greater distance between himself and Mr Epstein than was the case at this time,” the watchdog said.
October 2015: ‘We will be fine’ – media questions Staley’s ties
In mid-October, as his appointment drew nearer, Staley sent an email apologising to Epstein: “The press is all over me. Trying to lie low. Sorry.”
Epstein later forwarded an email to Staley from an unnamed national newspaper journalist, who was enquiring about the pair’s relationship. That resulted in the two of them discussing a previous meeting at Epstein’s home in New York, prompting Staley to reassure the financier: “Don’t worry. We will be fine.”
That same day, Staley told Epstein: “Ok. I’m going to play is [sic] simple. I’ve known you as a client. I will tell B tomorrow … Let me know if they say something else. But stay away from them. I’m fine.”
The journalist then told Barclays that the article would allege that Epstein sought to influence Staley’s appointment. After speaking to Staley, Barclays instructed a law firm to send the newspaper a letter that “should major on quashing the notion that the two are close … and certainly for 2015 that there has been no collaboration”.
An article later published by the Daily Mail on 25 October stated that the “new head of top British bank Barclays was secretly backed for the job by the notorious billionaire paedophile former friend of Prince Andrew”.
The FCA said in its report that “no individual at Barclays was aware that Mr Staley and Mr Epstein had discussed press enquiries regarding their relationship”.
2019: Barclays denies boss’s ‘close relationship’ with Epstein
The FCA contacted Barclays four years later in August 2019, just days after Epstein died in prison while awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking underage girls.
The regulator asked the bank to confirm what it had done to satisfy itself that there was no impropriety with respect to their relationship, after press reports alleging deep ties between Epstein and Wall Street figures including Staley.
Barclays replied in October, saying at least three executives and board members had conversations with Staley “where he has described his interactions with Mr Epstein”.
They went on to say that Staley “confirmed to us that he did not have a close relationship with Mr Epstein” and his “last contact with Mr Epstein was well before he joined Barclays in 2015”.
The watchdog said both statements were “misleading”, but had been “recklessly approved” by Staley, leading to its decision to fine him and ban him from senior City roles. Staley said on Thursday: “I am very disappointed by the FCA’s decision and I will continue to challenge it.”