The Odditorium

Tim Pilcher artist, author, lecturer and comic book expert introduces the legend of The Hand of Glory.  Cut from the body of a hung man, and then dried and pickled The Hand of Glory was a talisman by robbers and thieves.  This episode features an Odditorium first, a short radio drama, entitled Something in the Water, which concerns the events of the last public hanging in Brighton.

Wrap your presents and get ready for Christmas with this special potty mouthed version of The Odditorium in which we explore the one word that is considered to be at the top of the swearing tree.  Kate Warwick discuss the derivation of the word cunt is graphic detail and asks why it is considered to be so offensive.  In the studio The Odditorium test the limits what they can say on air, testing the patience and censorial skills of the show’s producers.

Odditorium favourite John Higgs returns to challenge the ‘truth’ of one of the most famous pieces of art of the 20th century: Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’. Higgs presents the case that a bohemian sexual adventuress, Baroness Von Elsa Freytag-Loringhoven, was actually behind Duchamp’s creation, and that the history of the conceptual art movement really began with her.

Dr Goode, bearded consumer psychologist, explores man’s greatest obsession and greatest insecurity. He asks why we the possession of an oversized phallus is considered such a asset, and why certain cultures and individuals are traditionally associated with possessing elephantine sexual organs. His approach is informed by reading of contemporary psychological and a meta-social view of issues relating to sexual and physical attributes. In the meantime Dave and Dave make a series of cheap knob gags in the studio.

Seventeen episodes in and all is going well. Or so we thought. David and David decide to take a holiday, Lance conscientiously prepares for the next podcast and Andrew wanders around looking confused…as per usual. What happens next will blow your mind!

A composer, inventor and historian of sound and the uncanny – Sarah’s music reflects her lifelong obsession with defunct technology, faded variety acts and English folklore. In this talk she discusses the practices of training animals to mimic human behaviour, language and song.

Those little words that glue our language together should never be forgotten.

Do we actually believe in the future? How can think about 100, 1000 or 10,000 years in the future? How can plan for it? Writer and teachers, Rowan Dent introduces means of thinking beyond the end of our lives, or those of our children, or our children’s children.

Uncovering the Nazi-space legend. Since the 1950s, In sci-fi, comics, and films, a secret Nazis space race has been a popular theme. But beyond crackpot conspiracy theories is there any evidence? David Robinson probes a murky world of rockets, rumours, and flying saucers in search of the truth. David Robinson is a journalist and works at the Financial Times