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.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    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!'

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    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?

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    56 mins
  • Daffodils: The Poetic Icon that Means Booming Business for Britain

    Daffodils: The Poetic Icon that Means Booming Business for Britain
    Mar 20 2026
    Suzanne explores the British adoration of the yellow, trumpet-like, optimistic daffodil, the harbinger of spring. The evocative words of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, poetry and prose, bracket this episode, in which we discover that daffodils are also about economics. The UK cultivates 90% of the global daffodil supply. The numbers are staggering: hundreds of millions of flowers are grown annually and must all be harvested by hand. But how? We also meet a bunch of Victorian daffodil obsessives, from Scottish enthusiast Peter Barr, whose quest for seeds took him, astride a donkey, all over the Pyrenees, where he was mistaken for a bandit; Reverend George Herbert Engleheart, clergyman and father of the modern daffodil; and Quaker plantswoman Sarah Backhouse – aka 'The Genius' – who turned daffodils pink!

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    44 mins
  • The Café Waiter: Working-class hero? Towering Figure of Haughty Frenchness?

    The Café Waiter: Working-class hero? Towering Figure of Haughty Frenchness?
    Mar 13 2026
    Café waiters are omnipresent in French life and in French culture as a sort of regiment – serried ranks of men in their black-and-white uniform with tremendous esprit de corps. But who are they really, Muriel asks, and how did they become such stock figures of Frenchness, and even objects of study for French philosophy? What makes a good café waiter? Is it to do with natural ability, physical fitness, French reserve, or the joys of performance? What is the etiquette of interacting with a café waiter? And what are the rules of the traditional café waiters race?

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    53 mins
  • Cagoules: The Great British Cover Up

    Cagoules: The Great British Cover Up
    Mar 6 2026
    How to solve a problem like the British weather? It's easy if you invent the right British garment with a French name, whose origins and evolution Suzanne unveils: it's a story of ancient hooded spirits, anoraks, Royal Marines, the great outdoors, textile manufacturing, fashion and practicality, and – in a surprising twist – anti-Republican conspiracies in 1930s France.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    52 mins
  • Bad Eggs and Dark Horses: French Baddies in Film!

    Bad Eggs and Dark Horses: French Baddies in Film!
    Feb 27 2026
    Muriel unravels the reasons why so many film villains happen to be French. From dissolute sophisticates to duplicitous manipulators and downright sadistic megalomaniacs, what do these colourful imaginary French figures tell us about Frenchness?

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    54 mins
  • Urchin Rebel Bonds With Wild Kestrel: Ken Loach's Kes – Quintessential British Film

    Urchin Rebel Bonds With Wild Kestrel: Ken Loach's Kes – Quintessential British Film
    Feb 20 2026
    Suzanne explores a masterpiece which is 'like being knocked out' – a cri de coeur about downtrodden youth, devastating tragedy and the tyranny of class. But Ken Loach's Kes is also a dream of escape, wondrous lyrical beauty and the call of the wild. And what of A Kestrel for a Knave, the film's source novel, and its revered author Barry Hines? What do they tell us about how a story rooted in South Yorkshire working-class experience, once told in print and film, gave a whole community their voice and also reached universal resonance?

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    51 mins