In celebration of our tenth episode, we welcome back our first ever guest, the inimitable Ben Burrell. When he’s not slinging drinks at the Totnes Brew Co, Ben is largely concerned with improving people’s lives. Or, at the very least, his own. Best buckle your belts, because you’re on the Ben train now and it’s gonna get bumpy.

(And I hope we can all agree that ‘floories’ is a standard and perfectly acceptable word for shoes. Yes? Good.)

This week’s inventor is journalist, multi-instrumentalist, and general force of nature, Andy Hill. (No, not that one. Or that one)

As a writer, Andy is a seeker of experience and his inventions reflect that. Whether it’s a search for natural knowledge, social compassion, or threesomes, Andy has you covered.

CORRECTION: Ben called Jon Ronson's podcast The Butterfly Zone. He feels ashamed.

The theme this week is short. Short cuts, shortened words, and even shorter people. And one of those people is our guest; the remarkable Rose. If you’ve ever struggled with high shelves or craved world domination, Rose has some spare ideas for you.

This week’s guest is musician and teacher, Tess Alaina. When not crafting the creative minds of tomorrow, Tess keeps busy reshaping her own world in an effort to make it more fun. Though so far these inventions have remained in Tess’s mind, today they enter yours.

If you want to learn more about Tess as a teacher, you realistically can’t. But if you want to hear the music she makes with her partner, check out https://soundcloud.com/bewateruk

As for that quote that Ben can’t remember, he still can’t, but it goes a bit like this:

“The compliant person looks at the world and sees how they can fit into it. The stubborn person looks at the world and sees how it can fit around them. Therefore it is the stubborn person that changes the world."

Or something like that.

This weeks inventor is something of a legend. As founder of the Transition Town movement, Rob Hopkins had an idea that is now in 50 countries and thousands of communities. He’s also Rowan’s dad, which was handy for us.

In true form, Rob raised the bar for Spare Ideas, presenting three inventions that could, and probably should, exist.

This week’s guest presents a philosophical question: is an Idea Cafe, full of many ideas, a single idea? You’ll have to decide for yourself, because we’re still pondering. While your wondering, settle back for a whole host of wonderful inventions including Cat Police, Heroin Yoga, and The Endangered Species Witness Protection Relocation Programme.

Our guest this week is folkster and folk star, David Harbottle. As an inventor, David is spontaneous and nimble, able to adjust and redirect in a matter of seconds. As such, it might be hard to work out what his third invention is, and there are potential confusions about his first and second. What we’re sure of though, is that this young inventor is going to change the world. Probably for the better.

This week’s guest is podcaster, musician, and actual ranger, Thomas Pinches. Old wisdom has it that a good inventor looks at a problem and tries to solve it. Tom looks at a solved thing and tries to make it a problem.

If you enjoyed Tom’s work, then check out a show he used to make: Ben and Tom Wanna Live Forever. Yes, that is the same Ben.

Today our guest is musician, songwriter, and comic, Gino Bragagnolo. If you’ve never visited before, the land of Gino is a miraculous place, built of equal parts everyday and fantastic. Like that phone with a lobster on it.

You can find Gino’s music here: https://soundcloud.com/gino-bragagnolo

Welcome to the first ever episode of Spare Ideas, a podcast about inventing inventions. Our guest today is Ben Burrell and he'll be pitching three of his spare ideas to resident judges Ben Addicott and Rowan Hopkins.