Garlic & Pearls Podcast By Muriel Zagha and Suzanne Raine cover art

Garlic & Pearls

Garlic & Pearls

By: Muriel Zagha and Suzanne Raine
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Suzanne and Muriel examine a series of very different things – from a film to a kitchen utensil, a model train to a bar of soap – that define British or French attitudes, each explaining her cultural background to the other and trying to get to the essence of what makes the British British and the French French.

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Muriel Zagha and Suzanne Raine Social Sciences
Episodes
  • The French Garden: Making Nature Artificial, Mathematical and Political!

    The French Garden: Making Nature Artificial, Mathematical and Political!
    Apr 10 2026
    What makes a garden distinctly French? A geometrical layout, straight lines of regular topiary and not a hair out of place! How, Muriel asks, did the jardin à la française develop as an expression of French thought and sensibility? Together, one man, royal gardener André Le Nôtre, and his king, Louis XIV the monarch absolute, turbo-charged an ornamental tradition imported from Italy to create Versailles, with its heliocentric design and extraordinary display of mastery of man over nature. Wonderful artistry or neurotic obsession with power? Certainly, French gardens speak intensely of political ideas as well as aesthetics. Suzanne wonders where all Gallic insouciance has gone. Jean-Jacques Rousseau guest-stars.

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    1 hr
  • Labrador Retrievers: Did the British Invent the Perfect Dog?

    Labrador Retrievers: Did the British Invent the Perfect Dog?
    Apr 3 2026
    There are over a million Labradors in the UK, but where did this sturdy marvel of bright countenance and sweet temper originate? Is it really possible to invent a dog? Yes, says Suzanne, though she concedes that the seed of the Labrador breed came from the now extinct Newfoundland St. John's water dog, with his double layer of fur and his webbed feet. Gasp at the breeding achievements of top sportsmen Colonel Peter Hawker and successive Earls of Malmesbury and Dukes of Buccleuch! Thrill at a whole cast of illustrious dogs who either that had their portrait painted or received awards for bravery! Also featured: a British canine scandal, a Nancy Mitford connection and a nail-biting game of 'Guess the Dictator!'

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • The Flâneur: Why The French Walk More Slowly Than The British

    The Flâneur: Why The French Walk More Slowly Than The British
    Mar 27 2026
    Monocles and canes at the ready! Muriel traces the 19th-century origins of a familiar and somewhat raffish figure of Frenchness. Part boulevardier, part dandy, part poet, the flâneur is a leisurely observer of the urban landscape. But where did he come from? What is his legacy? And can there be such a thing as a British flâneur?

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    56 mins
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