The Debrief

In this episode of The Debrief, host John Beauchamp talks to TFN history buff Stuart Dowell about a mysterious diary written by a Waffen SS officer which reveals the whereabouts of tonnes of treasure.

You can read the full story here.

With summer upon us, we all need time to rest and recuperate, but what about finding new ways of keeping fit and looking good?

This week, a new look at an old way to work out, and on the line we have TFN staff writer Joanna Jasińska who’s been looking into this story.

You can read more about Slavic Gymnastics here.

Hope all you listeners are doing well! I’ve got TFN writer Stuart Dowell on the line this week, and he’s been reporting on a time capsule which has been found in a rather odd place in a church in rural Poland.

You can read all about it here.

In this week’s Debrief – with pubs and restuarants reopened this week as part of the government’s plan to get the economy moving again, Polish craft beer producers have found themselves in a bit of a problem…

On the line with host John Beauchamp is TFN contributing editor Alex Webber, whose article on craft beer woes can be found here.

With over 16,000 cases of COVID-19 and around 800 fatalities from the virus as of the morning of 11 May, what is being done behind the scenes to try and keep that number from rising?

In this episode of The Debrief on the line with me is TFN staff writer Joanna Jasińska, who has a few stories up her sleeve.

A new "heat-gate" designed by the University of Silesia tracks people's thermal images when entering buildings, and also a certain Professor Drąg from Wrocław University has made incredible headway after discovering similarities between the COVID-19 killer virus and the 2002-2004 SARS epidemic.

In this week's episode of The Debrief, host John Beauchamp speaks to TFN writer Matt Day about how countries in Central and Eastern Europe have managed to curtail the coronavirus pandemic despite all the odds.

Poland, along with other Central European countries, appears to have done a better job at containing the virus than their affluent Western neighbours.

You can read the full story here, and you can also check out the story Matt mentions in the show about the lockdown in Wrocław during the 1960s smallpox outbreak by clicking here.

Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki opened Vienna’s first coffee shop in 1683, thus kickstarting the world famous Viennese café culture.

In fact, Kulczycki’s fame in Vienna has even eclipsed that of Jan III Sobieski. When the Polish king led the charge against Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha’s camp from Kahlenberg Hill and saved the city, it was not Sobieski who the Viennese crowds feted, but Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki.

Read the full story here.

Hi there, it's John at The Debrief HQ. In this episode of the Coronavirus Diary I'm in the garden, where you'll hear children, footsteps, dogs, and other urban noises to at least give you an air of being outside!

The latest stats as of Friday 24 April are 10759 cases of Covid-19 and 463 fatalities. I look at these figures every time I record one of these episodes and I’m really beginning to wonder whether these numbers are really accurate...

Life in lockdown still has its ups and downs: one day you feel great, the next day you’re climbing up the walls. How are you coping? It’s a hard time for all of us to get through, but let’s get through it together!

If you want to get in touch please write to me at [email protected] and if you have Whatsapp, why not leave me a voice message (which you agree to being used on air, of course!) at +48 504 202 352.

Stay updated by checking out the Coronavirus updates on TFN, and there’s also a lot happening on Facebook. It’s doesn’t all have to be doom and gloom.

Stay safe!

In this episode of The Debrief, host John Beauchamp talks to TFN writer Alex Webber (a first!) about chef and restaurateur Damian Wawrzyniak, who has saved his business - and the livelihood of his staff - by adapting to the pandemic lockdown in the UK.

Read the full story here.

Hi, it's your host John Beauchamp here in Warsaw. How are you dealing with the corona? I'm just dying to get outside, and spending my free time cruising through mountain gear and camping websites to get my ultimate kit together for when the coronavirus pandemic pipes down and we can all get back to what we were doing before. If that ever happens, that is...

Life in lockdown still has its ups and downs: one day you feel great, the next day you’re climbing up the walls. How are you coping? It’s a hard time for all of us to get through, but let’s get through it together!

If you want to get in touch please write to me at [email protected] and if you have Whatsapp, why not leave me a voice message (which you agree to being used on air, of course!) at +48 504 202 352.

Stay updated by checking out the Coronavirus updates on TFN, and there’s also a lot happening on Facebook. It’s doesn’t all have to be doom and gloom.

Stay safe!