Culture

Victoria Hislop is a bestselling author and a lover of all things Mediterranean. Victoria’s first book ‘The Island’, came out in 2005 and became an immediate international best-seller. Victoria’s subsequent novels have explored the Spanish Civil War, Cyprus and the Greek islands, and she’s celebrated for cleverly combining history, culture, family, time and place into fascinating stories. Her latest book ‘The Figurine’, is out now and it deals with the contentious subject of acquiring cultural treasures. Now an honorary Greek citizen, Victoria divides her time between Kent and Athens. Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Linden Kemkaran.

John Nichol is a former RAF Tornado navigator who, during the first Gulf War in 1991, was famously shot down, paraded on television and held prisoner by Saddam Hussein. John wrote movingly about his experience in his first book, ‘Tornado Down’, and has gone on to write fifteen more best-selling books. His latest, ‘Eject, Eject’, is out now. He also loves food, is very fond of cooking and often posts pictures on social media of his many and varied culinary creations. Presented by Olivia Potts.Produced by Linden Kemkaran.

This week Freddy Gray takes a trip to Planet Biden and imagines what would happen if little green men invaded earth and found a big orange one back in the White House (01:15), Kate Andrews finds herself appalled by the so-called ‘advice’ routinely handed out to women that can be at best, judgemental, and at its worst, slightly bullying (12:51), and Lloyd Evans spills the beans on searching for love on his recent blind date, courtesy of the Guardian (07:13). Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran

Diana Henry is a critically acclaimed, multi-award winning cook, food writer and author of 12 books including the classic cookbook ‘Roast Figs, Sugar Snow’, which has just been updated and re-released twenty years after it was first published. Diana also writes for newspapers and magazines, and presents food programmes on TV and radio. On this podcast Diana shares childhood memories of her mother’s baking, how ‘Little House on the Prairie‘ influenced her writing and when, on a French exchange trip, she learned how to make the perfect vinaigrette. Presented by Olivia Potts. Produced by Linden Kemkaran.

Philip Khoury became the head pastry chef at Harrods in 2018. He made it his mission to pioneer the creation of plant-based desserts, calling it the ‘last frontier’ of vegan cuisine. He’s just written a book ‘A New Way to Bake’, which came out on 31st August 2023, and which focuses on creating masterpieces out of vegan ingredients.

The Hon. Mr Justice Mostyn was a British high court judge who left the Bench just a few weeks ago. Nick Mostyn enjoyed a long and distinguished career and earned the nicknames ‘Mostyn Powers’ and ‘Mr Payout’ after winning vast sums for ex-wives in high-profile divorce cases. Recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he went on to form the cult podcast ‘Movers and Shakers’ with fellow sufferers Jeremy Paxman and Rory Cellan-Jones. To join a special live episode of ‘Movers and Shakers’ on Wednesday 6th September 2023, click on this link: https://youtube.com/live/xH_uejTjCLU?feature=share

Andrew Neil, The Spectator‘s chairman and super fan of the HBO show, Succession, joins this episode to talk to Freddy about where the show overlapped with the real life media empire of Rupert Murdoch, who has his own problems of succession to think about. This conversation was originally filmed as an episode of ‘The View from 22’ from Spectator TV, which you can watch here.