Episodes

  • Le Comic Strip

    Le Comic Strip
    Nov 29 2024
    The French adore comic book series ­– or bandes dessinées – featuring Asterix and Tintin. But Muriel tells Suzanne about another famous French character, a plucky heroine called Adèle Blanc-Sec, whose surreal fantastical adventures unfurl in 1900 Paris and involve encounters with pre-historic creatures, Babylonian demons and Egyptian mummies. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    49 mins
  • My Favourite A Road

    My Favourite A Road
    Nov 22 2024
    In which Suzanne explains another British obsession: the decision tree of how to get from A to B by way of A roads. A kinetic tale of Romans, speed, resourcefulness and British modernism.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Marseille Soap

    Marseille Soap
    Nov 15 2024
    Muriel examines every facet of Marseille soap from the practical to the mythological, and takes Suzanne on a journey from the boiling vats of the soap factories to the havens of French pharmacies and the heady hinterland of Provence.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    55 mins
  • Hassocks

    Hassocks
    Nov 8 2024
    In which Suzanne unfurls a panoramic history of Anglican church kneelers, showing the little embroidered cushions to be an extraordinarily expressive artistic flourishing of the Second Elizabethan Era.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    59 mins
  • Donkey Skin

    Donkey Skin
    Nov 1 2024
    In which Muriel tells Suzanne about a favourite children’s film involving dead donkeys, incest and psychedelia, and Suzanne wonders a little at the wisdom of French parents.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    56 mins
  • Halloween

    Halloween
    Oct 25 2024
    As we transition from harvest to winter, Suzanne leads Muriel back into the mists of time and elicits the origins of Halloween: the mumming and guising of Celtic Samhain, a host of Catholic saints, queens and kings, and, of course, witches and witchfinders...

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Playing Cards

    Playing Cards
    Oct 18 2024
    In which Suzanne gives Muriel carte blanche to reveal the French origins of the ‘jeu de cartes’, and Muriel lays all her cards on the table and wonders: were playing cards devised by a French knight as a tribute to his lady? How best to cheat at piquet? Why is it impossible for the ace of spades to look chic?

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    57 mins
  • Hedgerows

    Hedgerows
    Oct 11 2024
    Why does Britain have such a staggering amount of hedgerows? Suzanne leads Muriel through a hedge backwards and finds a dazzle of biodiversity and a tormented cast of barons, peasants, Diggers and sheep! Hedgerows: are they a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    55 mins