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PODCAST

Sideways

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.

society & culture

All Episodes

3:28

The Nuclear Reckoning

Sideways ·

2022/07/06

In this new mini series from Sideways, Matthew Syed is calling for a nuclear awakening. Since the end of the Cold War, when relations between two of the world’s nuclear superpowers - the former USSR and the USA - seemed more rosy, Matthew argues that many of us have slipped into a kind of comfortable amnesia about the presence of these weapons, these destroyers of worlds. The wake up call came when President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February accompanied by veiled nuclear

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28:56

24. Sweet Harmony

Sideways ·

2021/12/22

James Campbell's family were unusual. They were the 'singing family'. Everyone on their street knew it - and heard it. They would sing at the drop of a hat and James' father had a barbershop quartet. Every Monday evening James would listen attentively to the sumptuous close harmonies and his father taught him and his siblings to harmonise too. James took this into his adult years. It gave him a lifelong enjoyment and confidence to harmonise with other people, just for fun. One day, when his father

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28:58

23. Oostvaardersplassen: A Wild Idea

Sideways ·

2021/12/15

Flevoland, the Netherlands, 1968. A new patch of land is being carved out of the sea. Destined initially for agriculture or industry, when nature begins to take over, authorities decide to protect the new Earth as a nature reserve - the Oostvaardersplassen.In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed uses the story of this pioneering nature reserve to reveal our conceptions, and misconceptions of the wild.Rich with reedbeds, the oostvaardersplassen soon becomes a haven for rare birds. But Dutch

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28:47

22. Inspiring Bill Strickland

Sideways ·

2021/12/08

Back in the 1960s, Bill Strickland was a listless teenager but life as he knew it was about to change forever. One afternoon, while skipping class, something caught his eye - the door to one of the art rooms was ajar and he could hear the whirring of a potters wheel. Stopping a moment to take a look, Bill beheld a sight that would change the course of his life. At the wheel was a ceramics teacher, Mr Frank Ross, spinning a lump of clay into a beautiful bowl. He was witnessing a profound metaphor -

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28:51

21. The Woman Who Brought Down the Mob

Sideways ·

2021/12/01

On a January night in Manhattan, a team of lawyers is working to crack open an organised crime case. And at the centre of it all, is Eunice Carter - the first black woman to graduate from Fordham Law and the first African-American woman to pass the New York state bar. Matthew Syed tells the story of how Carter’s brilliance and meticulous attention to detail blew open a case that would bring down the most notorious mobster - Lucky Luciano - and he explores the experience, the pressure and the role of

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29:52

20. An appointment with Dr Leech

Sideways ·

2021/11/25

Boston, Massachusetts, 1985. Dr Joe Upton is struggling to reattach a severed ear onto a little boy. Using incredible skill and the best in modern equipment he re-attaches the arteries, but the veins are proving difficult. Blood keeps getting congested and the little ear is turning black. Just when it looks like all is lost, Joe remembers leeches.Once used to treat every malady imaginable, the vampiric worms fell out of favour when we gained a better understanding of how the body works. But, Matthew

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29:09

19. Is This What Success Looks Like?

Sideways ·

2021/11/17

Lee Chambers is an undeniable success. From his parents' single bedroom, with the boiler humming away day and night, he founds an e-commerce video games business that gives him a healthy bank account in seven months. Next comes the car, the house, the fancy holidays with his wife. But all the time, Lee feels like a total failure. Everyone is telling him he’s a success, but he can’t see it. He’s on the verge of being overwhelmed, until his body intervenes to stop him in his tracks.In this episode of

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28:55

18. Tongue-Tied

Sideways ·

2021/11/10

At a school assembly, 16-year-old Simon Day discovers an acute fear of public speaking. Faced with a crowd of expectant faces, panic begins to set in.Soon, Simon finds that words fail him at almost every turn, threatening his career, relationships and, ultimately, his happiness.Matthew Syed follows Simon’s journey to find his voice, uncovering the science of how we speak and the complex factors that leave us lost for words.With Joe Moran, author of Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness;

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28:37

17. The Endurance of Arlene Blum

Sideways ·

2021/11/03

Arlene Blum has scaled some of the most treacherous peaks in the Himalayas. When she’s not climbing mountains, she’s fighting to get toxic chemicals banned from everyday household goods. Arlene says that her experience leading expeditions has helped her acquire the personal skills and attributes required to push through bold new science policies. Matthew Syed asks whether transferable resilience from one field to another is the secret to reaching the top not just once, but throughout our

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2:34

Series 3 Coming Soon

Sideways ·

2021/10/27

Matthew Syed introduces the new series, which focuses on endurance, courage & resilience.

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29:19

16. Big Head

Sideways ·

2021/08/11

Matthew Syed has come to a horrible realisation about himself. He is in danger of becoming a big head. He’s worried that, with a successful podcast and best-selling books, every positive affirmation he receives is only serving to inflate his sense of entitlement. The Greeks had a word for this - hubris.In the final episode of this series, Matthew is on a mission to prevent his tragic downfall by exploring the line between over-confidence and useful pride, asking whether, with the right conditions,

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28:36

15. Best Feet Forward

Sideways ·

2021/08/04

When the Danish men’s football team are called up to replace Yugoslavia in the 1992 European Championships, just 10 days before the start of the tournament, nobody fancied their chances, least of all the players themselves. In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed traces their fairy tale journey towards taking home the trophy and reveals what Denmark's story can teach us about the importance of prioritising team cohesion over individual stardom. For the Danish coach, Richard Møller Nielsen,

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29:07

14. Let's All Be Batman

Sideways ·

2021/07/28

When Amrou Al-Kadhi steps into a pair of heels and takes the stage, they step into another world, another persona where they can be whatever they want. In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed asks whether creating an alter ego is the key to finding our true self. For Amrou Al-Kadhi, performing as their drag alter-ego, Glamrou started out as an escape. Struggling with mental health issues, feeling like they had to suppress their femininity in some contexts, their Arab identity in others, it was a

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28:35

13. A Question Of Justice

Sideways ·

2021/07/21

When Ray and Vi Donovan left court after the sentencing of three boys who murdered their 18-year-old son, Christopher, they said they had justice for Chris, but not the truth. They still didn’t know why Christopher was murdered on a May evening in 2001. That was a question the trial didn’t answer and only Christopher’s killers could. Years later, they would meet the three boys, by now men, to ask that question - why? Criminal justice asks what laws have been broken, who broke them, and how the

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29:11

12. Brighter than Bagpuss

Sideways ·

2021/07/14

Boston, Massachusetts. 1970. A group of mothers and young children assembles outside the offices of the local TV station. It’s the first phase of a fight to improve kids’ TV that would go all the way to the United States Senate.Matthew Syed looks at how kids' TV got smart, and what we can learn about the developing mind from the programme makers who led the way.In the late 1960s, children’s television in the US was dominated by cheap cartoons and adverts for sugary snacks. Peggy Charren had

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28:55

11. Too Big to Succeed

Sideways ·

2021/07/07

When a major earthquake hits California, it has to rebuild - but at what cost? A sunny afternoon in October, 1989. In San Francisco's Candlestick Park stadium, a pair of local sporting rivals are about to go head to head - the Oakland Athletics against the San Francisco Giants.But before the first ball is pitched, the game is interrupted - by a major earthquake. A section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge - the major transport connection for the two northern Californian cities - crumbles,

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29:21

10. Under the Influence

Sideways ·

2021/06/30

It's 1990 and Birmingham metal band Judas Priest are on trial in court in Reno, Nevada. The band are accused of influencing the suicide and suicide attempt of two of their young fans by placing subliminal messages in their track Better By You, Better Than Me. What follows is a six week trial - the first to be filmed for Court TV - in which the lives of the boys’ families are devastatingly pulled apart in front of the cameras, junk science is flung around the courtroom. The band will have to prove

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28:58

9. Originality Armageddon

Sideways ·

2021/06/23

Bonfire night, November 5th 2015, 9.30pm. An agent fires off an email. An author is accused of plagiarism. His new book lies ready to be pulped.In the first of a new series of Sideways, Matthew Syed asks why we’re doomed to be unoriginal and why it hurts so much to be, well, not that special.In 1998, Hollywood directors Matthew Bay and Mimi Leder went head to head with suspiciously similar disaster movies - Armageddon and Deep Impact. Allegations of late-night spying flew around. But could there

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2:46

Introducing the new series

Sideways ·

2021/06/21

Matthew Syed returns with the new series of Sideways, all about the ideas that shape our lives, with stories of seeing the world differently.

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29:02

8. Mental Athletics

Sideways ·

2021/03/31

American science journalist Joshua Foer was a perfectly normal guy with a perfectly normal memory. Then he entered the USA National Memory Championships - and ended up giving the country’s brain power prodigies a run for their money. How did he do it? Matthew Syed takes a deep dive into the heady world of brain training - where ordinary people challenge themselves to reach new peaks of mental athleticism.Journeying from the methods of the Ancient Greeks, to the showbiz hacks of the 1960s, to the

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108 results

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