x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Better Known

Each week, a guest makes a series of recommendations of things which they think should be better known. Our recommendations include interesting people, places, objects, stories, experiences and ideas which our guest feels haven"t had the exposure that they deserve.

society & culture history

All Episodes

27:22

Erin Somers

Better Known ·

2026/02/08

Erin Somers discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Erin Somers is a reporter and news editor at Publishers Lunch. Her first novel, Stay Up with Hugo Best was a Vogue Best Book of the Year in 2019. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Paris Review, New York Times Book Review, New Republic, New York Magazine, Atlantic, Esquire, GQ, Best American Short Stories and many other publications. She has been the recipient of an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the NYC Centre for

en

29:07

Tharik Hussain returns

Better Known ·

2026/02/01

Tharik Hussain, who previously appeared on the podcast in 2022, discusses with Ivan six further things which should be better known.Tharik Hussain is an award-winning author and journalist specialising in global Muslim heritage and culture. He has written for newspapers such as The Times, Guardian and Telegraph, magazines such as National Geographic Traveler, and broadcast media such as Al Jazeera and the BBC. For the latter, he produced award-winning radio program America’s Mosques. Tharik has

en

30:03

Richard Johnson and Lee Evans

Better Known ·

2026/01/25

Richard Johnson and Lee Evans discuss with Ivan six things which should be better known. Richard Johnson is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Queen Mary University of London. With Lee Evans, he is the co-host of the 'Since Attlee and Churchill' podcast. He is the author of several books on British and US politics, including The End of the Second Reconstruction: Obama, Trump, and the Crisis of Civil Rights and Keeping the Red Flag Flying: The Labour Party in Opposition since 1922 (with Gavin Hyman and

en

30:41

Brooke Newman

Better Known ·

2026/01/18

Historian Brooke Newman discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Dr. Brooke Newman is an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She specializes in the history of early modern Britain and the British Atlantic, with a focus on slavery and its legacies. She is the author of the award-winning book, A Dark Inheritance: Blood, Race, and Sex in Colonial Jamaica (Yale, 2018), and The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of

en

28:12

Dean Koontz

Better Known ·

2026/01/11

Dean Koontz discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Dean Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition when he was a senior in college, and has been writing ever since. Fourteen of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow

en

28:21

Ryan Gingeras

Better Known ·

2026/01/04

Ryan Gingeras discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Ryan Gingeras is a professor in the Institute of Regional and International Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School and is an expert in modern Eastern European and Middle East history. He is the author of seven books, including The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire and Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912–1923, which was shortlisted for numerous book prizes. He has published on a wide

en

29:49

Stuart Jeffries

Better Known ·

2025/12/21

Stuart Jeffries discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Stuart Jeffries was born in Wolverhampton in 1962. He was educated in Dudley, Oxford and London. Stuart started his journalistic career as a cub reporter at the Birmingham Post and Mail in 1985. He used to edit the Walsall Observer's children's page under the pseudonym Uncle Tom. Later he was the jazz critic of the Morning Star under the pseudonym Lew Lewis. In 1987, he moved to the Hampstead and Highgate Express, where he

en

30:30

Pete Brown

Better Known ·

2025/12/14

Pete Brown discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Pete Brown (https://petebrown.net/) is a British author, journalist, broadcaster and consultant specialising in food and drink. Since February 2025, he has been the Sunday Times Magazine’s weekly beer columnist – the only regular broadsheet newspaper or magazine beer columnist in the UK. He is currently Chair of Judges for the World Beer Awards. He was named British Beer Writer of the Year in 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2021, has won

en

30:20

Sandy Pentland

Better Known ·

2025/12/07

Sandy Pentland discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Alex Pentland is a Stanford HAI Fellow and MIT Toshiba Professor. Named one of the “100 People to Watch This Century” by Newsweek and “one of the seven most powerful data scientists in the world” by Forbes, he is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, an advisor to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Lab, and an advisor to the UN Secretary General’s office. His work has helped manage privacy and security for the

en

28:46

Jaime Davila

Better Known ·

2025/11/30

Jaime Davila discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Jaime Dávila earned an engineering degree in the United States. Choosing a career in the creative industries, he worked primarily in broadcasting and eventually led operations at Mexico’s largest media company. He became intrigued by the creation of the first mechanised sawmill by Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. This invention, whose significance has been overlooked, inspired his new book. Find out more at

en

30:15

400th episode

Better Known ·

2025/11/23

To celebrate the 400th episode of Better Known, previous guest Richard Elwes discusses with Ivan Wise six aspects of the Better Known podcast which Ivan thinks should be better known. Many thanks to Caroline Crampton and Laurence Bergreen for adding their choices of things which should be better known. This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

en

28:01

Christopher Hill

Better Known ·

2025/11/16

Christopher Hill discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Christopher Hill was working in finance in London when, in 2002, he took a trip to South Africa which changed his life. He left his job, moved to Canada, and worked on the business plan for what became Hands Up Holidays. He spent the next two years traveling the world, building relationships with communities, formed a team of like-minded people, and launched the business in 2006. You can find out more at

en

27:21

Eleanor Doughty

Better Known ·

2025/11/09

Eleanor Doughty discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Eleanor Doughty began her career in journalism at the Daily Telegraph, before going freelance to focus on writing. She has written the 'Great Estates' column in the Telegraph since 2017, and specialises in writing about the British moneyed and titles classes. Her first book Heirs and Graces, a history of the modern British aristocracy was published in September by Hutchinson Heinemann. Her writing appears in Country Life,

en

29:48

Sasha Butler

Better Known ·

2025/11/02

Sasha Butler discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Sasha Butler is a Birmingham based writer. Her first novel, The Marriage Contract (Salt, 2025), was shortlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize 2022 and the Bath Novel Award 2022, under the former title As Soft as Dreams. In addition to novels, she occasionally writes short stories. Her short story ‘Map of an Affair’ features in Floodgate Press’ anthology, Night Time Economy (September 2024). The Marriage Contract is available at

en

29:54

Doug Lemov

Better Known ·

2025/10/26

Doug Lemov discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Doug Lemov is a former teacher and school principal whose books describe the techniques of high-performing teachers. His best-known book, Teach Like a Champion (now in its 3.0 version) has been translated into more than a dozen languages. The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading, out in July and co-written with Colleen Driggs and Erica Woolway, looks at how cognitive science can be better applied to the teaching

en

28:10

Sudhir Hazareesingh

Better Known ·

2025/10/19

Sudhir Hazareesingh discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Professor Sudhir Hazareesingh was born in Mauritius. He is a Fellow of the British Academy a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol College, His books include The Legend of Napoleon (Granta, 2004), In the Shadow of the General (OUP, 2012) and How the French Think (Allen Lane, 2015). He won the Prix du Mémorial d’Ajaccio and the Prix de la Fondation Napoléon for the first of these, a Prix d’Histoire du Sénat for the

en

28:30

Ana Schnabl

Better Known ·

2025/10/12

Ana Schnabl discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Ana Schnabl is a Slovenian writer and editor. She writes for several Slovenian media outlets and is a monthly columnist for the Guardian. Her collection of short stories Razvezani (Beletrina, 2017) met with critical acclaim. Three years later Schnabl published her first novel Masterpiece (Mojstrovina, Beletrina, 2020). Her second novel Flood Tide (Plima, Beletrina, 2022) was nominated for the Slovenian Kresnik Award. Her third

en

29:20

Adam Lind

Better Known ·

2025/10/05

Adam Lind discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Through living on a narrowboat on the British waterways, Adam Lind has unexpectedly built a large online community of over 900,000 loyal and engaged like-minded souls who enjoy soaking up his passion to live a life of meaning. Adam has appeared on Channel 4’s Narrow Escapes and has been featured in publications including The New York Post, Business Insider, The Sun, and others. His new book is Floating Home: Lessons from a life

en

28:45

Andrew Turvil

Better Known ·

2025/09/28

Food critic Andrew Turvil discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.Described by The Independent as one of the UK’s ‘arbiters of taste’, Andrew Turvil is the former editor of The Good Food Guide, AA Restaurant Guide and Which? Pub Guide. As a freelance restaurant critic, writer, and editor, he has spent his career writing about pubs and restaurants, and, undeterred, bought a pub in 2015 and ran it for 10 years. Blood, Sweat & Asparagus Spears is his first book and is available

en

30:01

Andy Reid speaks negatively about six films

Better Known ·

2025/09/21

Andy Reid discusses with Ivan six films chosen by previous guests which he thinks should not, after all, be better known. With apologies to Daria Lavelle, Steve Cross, Neil Brand, Tom Newman, Adam Higginbotham and Sam Sedgman.Andy Reid is the founder of Buddy Up, a mentoring charity for young people across south London and Surrey. He has worked in the youth sector for over 20 years delivering programmes and training throughout the UK. You can find out more at https://buddyupcharity.org/. What

en

415 results

Similar Podcasts

Voices of Life

APG Mannheim

Promo Estereo Podcast

Promo Estereo

Talking Timelines Podcast

Talkingtimelines

גיקונומי

ראם שרמן ודורון ניר

Drømmefanger

Drømmefanger