Nine Podcasts

Podcasts have been around for at least a decade and if you look around you can probably find one on just about every topic imaginable.

Podcasts are great in that you can listen to them at a time and place that suits you, whether travelling, at home cooking or doing other daily tasks, or even perhaps while lying in bed before sleep. For some, podcasts are educational, for others entertaining, or just a way to keep up with current affairs. Here are nine recommendations (not in any order):

1. Death in Ice Valley

This has been one of the most gripping podcasts that I’ve listened to over the past 12 months. From the BBC World Service and the Norwegian NRK, it tells the true story of an unidentified woman’s body found in mysterious circumstances in a snow and ice-covered valley near Bergen, Norway in 1970. observations draw you into periods of history you may not have thought very much about.

2. History of England

A great podcast to dip into when the mood takes me. Told in a lighthearted way, each episode continues the story of England starting from the very beginning of recorded history. The narrator David Crowther’s dry humour and insightful 5.

3. 13 Minutes to the Moon

Another engaging BBC World Service podcast series that tells the story behind the 13-minute descent by the Apollo 11 lunar module from the moment it detached from the mothership until it touched down on the moon’s surface in July 1969. Listen to the surviving astronauts, the twenty-somethings that staffed the Houston command centre, those that designed and built the spacecraft and those that wrote the software programs used by the navigation systems. For anyone who believes the conspiracy theories that the moon landings never actually happened, I challenge you to listen to this - it will change your mind.

4. Storycast: The Hunt for Brink’s Mat Gold

The true-life three-part crime story about the maverick Flying Squad undercover detectives hunting for the gold stolen from the Brink’s Mat depot at Heathrow Airport in 1983. It didn’t take very long for the police to identify the gang who carried out the robbery, but understanding the complex money trail to find those that handled and disposed of the gold was another matter.

5. Kermode and Mayo’s film review

Always interesting insights into the latest movie releases from Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo.

6. Page 94 - The Private Eye podcast

They don’t produce many episodes, but if you like the Private Eye style of political satire, then this may well float your boat. Conflicted. Think you understand middle eastern politics? Think you understand the ideology behind the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre? This podcast by an ex-Al Qaeda jihadist turned MI6 spy, and a former monk turned filmmaker, may well challenge your thinking. This podcast needs your full attention.

when the mood is right. Each 10-minute podcast is a self-contained story about something we take for granted that has shaped the world we live in. From QWERTY to sewing machines, from canned foods to tulips and lots more, there is probably something that will pique almost every curious person’s interest.

7. Conflicted

Think you understand middle eastern politics? Think you understand the ideology behind the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre? This podcast by an ex-Al Qaeda jihadist turned MI6 spy, and a former monk turned filmmaker, may well challenge your thinking. This podcast needs your full attention.

8. Grenfell.

If you want to know what happened before, during and after the Grenfell Tower fire, then this is the podcast to listen to. Episodes from every day during the first phase of the Grenfell Tower enquiry, and weekly updates from the ongoing Phase Two. It provides detailed insight and perspectives not covered by mainstream media with harrowing and uplifting interviews with the survivors, fire crews, 999 operators and many others directly impacted or involved with this modern tragedy.

9. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

Another podcast that can be dipped into when the mood is right. Each 10-minute podcast is a self-contained story about something we take for granted that has shaped the world we live in. From QWERTY to sewing machines, from canned foods to tulips and lots more, there is probably something that will pique almost every curious person’s interest.

I’m sure they are out there, but I’m yet to find very many podcasts from or set locally. Here are a few that I’ve dipped into

Celtic Mythis and Legends

Sian Ester Powell takes us around Cornish giants, pixies and mermaids.

Cornish Soccer Talking Football

is Dave Deacon’s weekly podcast called Rappo and Deac’s Friday Fix that is essentially a round up of local non-league football with lots of blokey chat and interviews with local team managers and personalities.

Bodmin Keep War Stories

comes from Cornwall’s Regimental Museum some of which is quite topical. Finally, West Kernow Sounds (WKS) focuses on up and coming bands in the county.

If you have podcast recommendations from or about Cornwall or even podcasts from far afield that you’d like to share, do let us know. If you are unsure how to listen to podcasts contact the Editor.