Sideways

From being told to stand in a dustbin in primary school because he struggled to spell, to earning 16 graduate degrees from some of the world's most prestigious universities, Benjamin Bolger's extraordinary journey is one of academia's most unconventional success stories.

In this series finale of Sideways, Matthew Syed follows Benjamin's remarkable path to explore what it really means to pursue knowledge. Does an insatiable curiosity lead to a life well lived? And how can a lifetime of information add up to genuine wisdom?

With contributions from Dr Benjamin Bolger; Dr Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, philosopher and bestselling author of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World; and Professor Judith Glück, wisdom researcher and Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria.

Featuring a personal archive recording of Benjamin’s mother, Loretta.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

Historian and leather and kink activist Vi Johnson likes to be called Mama Vi. At 75, within her community, she’s become a fiercely protective figure, looking after not only the people who make it what it is, but also its culture and history. As a leader of a community that has long existed at the margins, she has witnessed many attempts to erase its history; some obvious, others far more insidious. Driven by ignorance, by hate, or even by the impulse to hide parts of themselves.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

Everything fell apart for 17-year-old Ben West on the night his brother took his own life. In the years since, Ben has become a remarkable mental health campaigner. From fleeting online encounters to acts of unexpected kindness, he credits strangers with helping him navigate grief and driving forward a campaign that has gone on to influence national policy. In this episode, Matthew Syed considers the power in all of us to help people we have never met.

If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support are available at www.bbc.co.uk/actionline.

With contributions from Ben West, mental health campaigner and founder of reasonstostay.org; Dr Gillian Sandstrom, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Sussex and author of Once Upon a Stranger: The Science of How Small Talk Can Add Up to a Big Life; and Professor Adam Joinson, Director of the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour at the University of Bath.

Featuring archive from the 10 Downing Street social media video, ‘PM meets Ben West on World Mental Health Day’, 10 October 2019.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

It’s a cold morning in Euston Station in London and professional violinist Min Kym is about to get on a train to Manchester to play a concert. With her is her 300 year old, £1.2 million Stradivarius, one of the most valuable and precious types of violin in the world. More than that, this is Min’s Strad - it fits just right for her, it’s her constant companion across the world, it’s a relationship, a love. Until… it disappears.

Matthew Syed considers what we value and why.

With musician and composer Min Kym; Kathryn Graddy, the Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Professor in Economics at Brandeis University; Claudia Fritz, researcher at La Sorbonne University, Paris; and Bruce Hood, Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Bristol.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

At some point in our lives, all of us will face difficult news. That was the case for Canadian academic Kate Bowler. She was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, at just 35. When the news hits, the support she receives is overwhelmingly positive. But as well intentioned as those responses are, Kate becomes trapped in a role she doesn’t want to play.

Matthew Syed asks why we reach for positivity so quickly in the face of suffering and where that instinct comes from.

With contributions from Kate Bowler; Dr Stephanie Alice Baker, Professor of Sociology at City St George's, University of London and social psychologist Pr Batja Mesquita, from Leuven University.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

Matthew Syed follows the extraordinary journey of a French scientist who found signs of learning, problem-solving and remembering - in a blob of slime. Not the Ghostbusters kind, but in a slime mould. It's a single celled, brainless organism that has become a bit of a star in France for its unexpected capabilities.

In this episode, Matthew considers the intelligence that lies in unexpected places, beyond the confines of a brain.

With contributions from Audrey Dussutour (Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS), Dr. Pamela Lyon (Independent Researcher and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide), and Dr. Michael Levin (Vannevar Bush Distinguished Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University and faculty member at the Wyss Institute at Harvard.)

Presenter: Matthew Syed

Rob Broderick aka ‘Abandoman’ grew up surrounded by classic comedies like Laurel and Hardy, and with a teacher mother who inspired his fascination with wordplay. When Rob discovers freestyle rap as a teenager, all these influences coalesce to inspire him to step into the world of stand up comedy.

Only Rob doesn’t want to hone a rigid ‘tight ten’ of material. In fact, Rob doesn’t want to prepare anything at all - he steps out on stage and improvises everything - no script whatsoever.

Matthew Syed uncovers the remarkable neurological processes that take place when we improvise and allow our inner critic to take a back seat.

With contributions from hip-hop musical comedian Rob Broderick (Abandoman); Professor Charles Limb, Chief of Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco; Professor Keith Sawyer, creativity researcher based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and George Lewis, composer, technologist, musicologist and professor of music at Columbia University.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

Featuring archive from Abandoman performing on The Al Porter Show, produced by Kite Entertainment for RTÉ2 and broadcast on 24 December 2015; Abandoman performing on The Deirdre O'Kane Show, produced by Kite Entertainment for Sky One and broadcast in November 2022; and Professor Charles Limb’s personal recording of his 2008 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study on jazz improvisation.

David McGurk had a childhood love of action figures. Something that he and Matthew Syed, and probably most of us, share. But David and his brother went a step further - they started making their own makeshift figures from soap and cheap glue.

But it wasn’t until family tragedy struck as an adult that the memory of his brother’s creativity returned and inspired David to become a professional miniature figure-maker, with a quirky eye for his subject matter.

From miniature busts of emperors, to the mystery of tiny canoes in the British Museum, Matthew Syed uncovers the big messages and emotions that can be distilled in the tiniest of objects.

With contributions from artist David McGurk; Jack Davy, anthropologist and a curator at the Natural History Museum in London; and Lambros Malafouris, Professor of Cognitive and Anthropological Archaeology at the University of Oxford.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

Featuring archive from: Mattel’s He-Man, Skeletor, and Castle Grayskull 1984 TV advert

Matthew Syed introduces the new series of Sideways through the story of an incredible being that has no brain but exhibits intelligent qualities that challenge centuries of dominant thinking about what a 'mind' actually is. This is one of eight new episodes in a series of extraordinary stories about seeing the world differently, stories which help us understand the ideas that shape our lives. From why we reach for positivity in the face of adversity and how a 'good vibes only' mantra might actually be getting us down, to the idea that the smallest objects can be vessels for the largest meaning.

Presenter: Matthew Syed

From a very young age, Holly Mathieson showed remarkable ability at the piano. With the support of her concert pianist grandmother, she nurtured a rare talent for music, and later explored ballet and choral singing as well. A path toward excellence in classical music opened before her and, for nearly 20 years, she followed it diligently as an internationally renowned conductor.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, she realised it was time to reclaim a life that had been defined by her abilities rather than by her choices.

Matthew Syed, himself a national table tennis champion at just age 10, explores our relationship with talent and the pressures - both internal and external - to fulfil it. Through Holly Mathieson’s story, he asks whether we own our talents or whether they own us. He considers why it is that gifted people are seldom allowed to walk away from their abilities without the accusation and condemnation that they are wasting their lives, remaining trapped by the idea that they owe it to the world to fulfil their potential.

With Holly Mathieson, psychologist and author Pippa Grange and Elizabeth Anderson, philosopher at the University of Michigan.

Presenter: Matthew Syed