Better Known

Susanna Rustin discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Susanna Rustin is a leader writer on social affairs at The Guardian, where she has worked for more than 20 years. Before that, she worked at the Financial Times. Sexed is her first book.

The "Reform Firm" - the group of women's rights campaigners with Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon at the centre of it, in the middle of 19th century. They organised the first big suffrage petition presented in the House of Commons, ran a magazine for women from Langham Place (just off Oxford Circus), campaigned for jobs and education - Bodichon co-founded Girton college with Emily Davies and she was George Eliot's dear friend. But apart from feminist historians and biographers, hardly anyone knows about them. Victorians are deeply unfashionable for some very good reasons but there is lots to admire about them as well.

Feminist evolutionary biology - feminists going all the way back to George Eliot were deeply and justifiably suspicious of his theory of natural and sexual selection, which they realised would be used as an argument for the naturalness of male dominance and authority, and female passivity and inferiority. But there is the most wonderful tradition of research by female evolutionary biologists and anthropologists - many of them American but some important Brits too - who from the 1970s onwards published research that presented a radical, alternative view of female primate and human behaviour, and countered the masculinist bias in evolutionary science up to that point. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's book Mother Nature first published in 1999, 25 years old this year, is a beautiful and deeply illuminating book. I think people educated in social sciences/ humanities need to take off their blinkers when it comes to the ways in which humans have - like every other life form! - been shaped by evolutionary forces.

Winifred Holtby - wonderful novelist and essayist; overlooked feminist thinker. She died aged 37: her posthumously published South Riding is a wonderful, sweeping, romantic novel about local government in Yorkshire. a writer for an era of devolution and the return of deep poverty.

The law that enables people to set up parish councils (also called town councils and community councils), in the area they live in - and collect taxes locally - known as a precept - to spend on neighbourhood improvements and services.

The gender gap in higher education - girls now significantly outnumber boys at UK universities and this isn't discussed enough.

The history of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in Britain

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A.J. Jacobs is an author, podcaster and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. His most recent book is "The Year of Living Constitutionally," in which he tries to understand our nation’s primary document by adopting the mindset and lifestyle of our Founding Fathers. The result is “fascinating and necessary” (Booklist) and “marvelously witty and wise” (Kirkus). He hosts the “The Puzzler With A.J. Jacobs,” a daily podcast produced by iHeart media, in which he gives short, audio-friendly puzzles to celebrity guests. His previous books include “The Year of Living Biblically,” “The Know-It-All” and “Thanks a Thousand.” He has told several Moth stories, and given several TED talks that have amassed over 10 million views. His weekly newsletter can be found at https://substack.com/subscribe/experimentalliving. He was the answer to 1 Down in the March 8, 2014 New York Times crossword puzzle.

Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography — specifically his advice on epistemic humility https://apuedge.com/humility-benjamin-franklin-and-arguing-with-humility-part-ii/

James Madison’s notes on the Constitution https://lawmagazine.bc.edu/2016/02/a-cautionary-tale-about-the-notes-of-james-madison/

Walking sticks https://www.stickandcaneshop.co.uk/country-sticks

The World Jigsaw Championships https://www.worldjigsawpuzzle.org/

Padel https://ipadel.co.uk/The-Rules

The MIT Mystery Hunt http://puzzles.mit.edu/

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Katherine Bucknell discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Katherine Bucknell edited all four volumes of Christopher Isherwood's Diaries , a volume of letters between Christopher Isherwood and his partner Don Bachardy (The Animals), and W.H. Auden's Juvenilia: Poems 1922-1928. Co-editor of Auden Studies, a founder of The W. H. Auden Society, and director of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, she is widely recognised as a leading authority on Isherwood, and her new biography Christopher Isherwood Inside Out is now available. She is also the author of five novels. She was born in Vietnam, raised in America, and lives in London.

Christopher Isherwood's novel Prater Violet https://lonesomereader.com/blog/2024/1/30/prater-violet-by-christopher-isherwood

DH Lawrence's novel The Lost Girl https://journals.openedition.org/lawrence/2328

The Nucleo Project https://www.thenucleoproject.org/

Marfa Stance https://www.marfastance.com/

How scallops move https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGdXxoHJaBA

The value of memorising poetry https://theconversation.com/ode-to-the-poem-why-memorising-poetry-still-matters-for-human-connection-121622

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Tom Newton Dunn is a presenter, political commentator and writer. He first made his name as an award-winning defence correspondent covering the Iraq and Afghan wars. He went on to be Political Editor of The Sun for 11 years, leading coverage of four general election campaigns and the Brexit referendum, and interviewed seven British Prime Ministers and US President Donald Trump.

Moving to broadcast, Tom helped launch Times Radio as the new station’s Chief Political Commentator and the presenter of its flagship Sunday morning political programme. He moved to TalkTV on its launch to anchor an hour-long weeknight news programme. He continues to write for The Times and The Evening Standard. His book is Letters from Everest, available at https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/letters-from-everest-unpublished-letters-from-mallorys-life-and-death-in-the-mountains-tom-newton-dunn?variant=40964397269070.

Britain once invaded Tibet, and by brutal force (in 1904). This was the earliest origin of the modern day conquest of Mount Everest.

Mallory was bisexual, and had homosexual affairs with other Bloomsbury Group members

Mallory had ADHD - or at least, I'm certain he did, as it explains much about him, from his obsessiveness to his forgetfulness (though of course he was never diagnosed)

The Mallory family think George's habit of climbing with a photograph of wife Ruth could be a key clue to whether he reached the top

We revere noble failure more than success - we do for Mallory

More than 300 climbers have died while trying to summit Everest since. Mallory was only the first

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Alex Edmans discusses with Ivan six things which should be less well known.

Alex’s new book is May Contain Lies, about misinformation, and so, in a reversal of the usual format, he discusses six ideas and beliefs which have been overexposed.

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex has a PhD from MIT as a Fulbright Scholar, and was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

Alex has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, testified in the UK Parliament, and given the TED talk What to Trust in a Post-Truth World and the TEDx talks The Pie-Growing Mindset and The Social Responsibility of Business with a combined 2.8 million views. He serves as non-executive director of the Investor Forum, on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Responsible Investing, on Royal London Asset Management’s Responsible Investment Advisory Committee, and on Novo Nordisk’s Sustainability Advisory Council.

Alex’s book, Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit, was a Financial Times Book of the Year and has been translated into nine languages, and he is a co-author of Principles of Corporate Finance (with Brealey, Myers, and Allen). His latest book is May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About It, available at https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520403932/may-contain-lies.

His six things which should be less well-known are:

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Jonn Elledge is a New Statesman columnist, and a contributor to the Big Issue, the Guardian, the Evening Standard, and a number of other newspapers. He was previously an assistant editor at the New Statesman, where he created and ran its urbanism-focused CityMetric site, and spent six happy years writing about cities, maps and borders and hosting the Skylines podcast. He has written over a hundred editions of the Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything. His new book is A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps. He previously wrote The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything: All the Facts You Didn't Know You Wanted to Know and, with Tom Phillips, Conspiracy: A History of Bollcks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them.

Babylon 5 https://www.douxreviews.com/2015/08/babylon-5-series-review.html

Life & Fate by Vasily Grossman https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n20/john-lanchester/good-day-comrade-shtrum

The Truth about Markets by John Kay https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=economics-faculty-publications

Why there was no Danish holocaust https://www.history.com/news/wwii-danish-jews-survival-holocaust

Nehru's affair with Lady Mountbatten https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/from-the-india-today-archives-1980-mountbattens-and-nehru-friendship-in-high-places-2413716-2023-07-30

Ethiopian food https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ethiopian-food-best-dishes-africa/index.html

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Henry Oliver discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Henry Oliver is a writer, speaker, and brand consultant. He writes regularly for outlets like the New Statesman, The Critic, and UnHerd. He writes the popular Substack The Common Reader, which was recently mentioned in the Atlantic. His book Second Act is about late bloomers. In 2022, he was given an Emergent Ventures grant.

Izaac Walton https://newcriterion.com/article/the-right-angle/

Wren churches https://sixinthecity.co.uk/news/2023/03/51-wren-churches/

Lyrics of Noel Coward songs https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n13/rosemary-hill/mushroom-cameo

Lichfield https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/The-City-of-Lichfield/

Byron Janis Bach recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdL3-xwoFik

Elizabeth Jenkins https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/07/elizabeth-jenkins-obituary

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Jamaica Kincaid discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John’s, Antigua. Her books include At the Borrom of the River; Annie John; Lucy; The Autobiography of My Mother; My Brother; Mr Potter; and See Now Then. She teaches at Harvard University and lives in Vermont. Her new book is an Encylopedia of Gardening for Colored People at https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780374608255?gC=5a105e8b.

Let Love Come Between Us by James and Bobby Purify https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32CgFcOSbxw

26 of the 50 United States bear the names of Native Americans https://thoughtcatalog.com/james-b-barnes/2014/10/26-states-that-were-named-by-native-americans-was-your-state/

The Travels of William Bartram https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/americas-first-great-enviromentalist-florida-william-bartram-180983452/

The first paragraph of the 3rd Chapter of the Life of Frederick Douglas https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/full-text/chapter-iii/

Ervartung, a mono-drama opera with music by Arnold Schoenberg https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/feb/01/artsfeatures.classicalmusicandopera

The seed packet was invented by The Shakers, an English Protestant sect, who immigrated to America and made many beautiful and useful things for the home. Their beliefs were quite severe regarding sex so no children were produced to ruin the beautiful and useful things they made for the home https://digventures.com/2018/02/11-things-we-still-use-that-were-invented-by-the-shakers/

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Caroline Eden returns to discuss with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Caroline Eden is a writer and book critic contributing to the Financial Times, Guardian and

Ukrainian borsch

Uzbek melons

Russian pirozhki

Polish pierogi 

Armenian lavash

Turkish boza

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Caroline Crampton discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Caroline Crampton is the author of The Way to the Sea: The Forgotten Histories of the Thames Estuary (Granta, 2019). Her award-winning podcast, Shedunnit, is distributed by BBC Sounds. Her journalism has appeared in the New Statesman, The Times and the Guardian. An experienced broadcaster, she has appeared on BBC Two, Sky News, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4. Her new book is A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria.

The Lime Street Cutting https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/stunning-pictures-reveal-rarely-glimpsed-22659098

The adult novels of Eva Ibbotson https://shereadsnovels.com/2012/11/25/madensky-square-by-eva-ibbotson/

Beremeal flour https://baronymill.com/

The inverted story or "howdunnit" https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/inverted-detective-stories-when-you-already-know-whodunnit/

The 1944 Powell and Pressburger film A Canterbury Tale https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/powell-pressburger-kent-locations-canterbury-tale

Clumber spaniels https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/clumber-spaniel/

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