Three brilliant podcasts: on Callan (etc), Henry IV pt1 and the proscription of Palestine Action

Three podcasts (played at 1.5 because I am a philistine, according to the wife anyways) while I fed the moorhens, ducks and swans.

Spybrary Spy Podcast: Paranoid Visions – Spies, conspiracies and the secret state in British television drama

Am currently devouring the Adam Hall Quiller books (probably too quickly, to be honest). So found this podcast, and liked his interview with Otto Penzler and REALLY liked this one, where he interviews Joseph Oldham whose book  “Paranoid Visions explores the history of the spy and conspiracy genres on British television, from 1960s Cold War series through 1980s conspiracy dramas to contemporary ‘war on terror’ thrillers. It analyses classic dramas including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Edge of Darkness, A Very British Coup, and Spooks.”

The host has successfully warned me off watching the Quiller TV series, which is mentioned in passing. Tbh, the movie, with George Segal wasn’t all that much cop… I need to rewatch Edge of Darkness, and also watch Bird of Prey…

The History of European Theatre Podcast – Henry IV part 1

I recently announced I am “done with Shakespeare,” but that’s a lie. All it means is that I’ve taken my scant knowledge and de-scanted it a bit, so now I have a passing/working knowledge of all 38 plays.

One of the big helps in getting the Low and Zero ones to Medium was reading a synopsis on Wikipedia, reading the play and then listening to relevant episodes on podcast series (there were three in particular, and this is one of those) to help me situate the plays in their times, see stuff I’d missed (and I missed plenty). The History of European Theatre podcasts are scholarly but accessible, learned without being pretentious or condescending. Lots of useful information – very strong recommend.

12 Rules For What episode 106 Proscription and the UK counter terror regime with Iida Kayhko

Oh, wow. Heard about this while digging on climate denial – the authors have a nice typology in their Rise of Eco-fascism book. In this podcast they interview a PhD student about the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2000 (I have a particular personal interest in this) and much else. They are good at interviewing and she was really really good at giving comprehensive answers. Not all PhD students (or indeed people long past that) can do that. Cannot recommend highly enough.