I’m sorry I’m late. But I’ve brought a gift to make it up to you.
I’ve got two new podcasts I am super excited to tell you about in a few weeks’ time. One is the rarest thing in the world, a true crime story that sounds different, subverts the usual narrative structure, is sensitively told, and centres the victim properly without being exploitive or ghoulish. I know. I can’t really believe it either.
The other is a new investigative series and I think may be one of the most irresponsible and exploitative bits of journalism I’ve ever seen. It may end up being our first anti-recommendation. Exciting.
In both cases the full series isn’t out yet so I’m going to give them both the chance to disappoint me/redeem themselves before taking a view. So subscribe (for free) if you haven’t already to make sure you get future emails. Stay with us.
Series
Wind of Change (Pineapple Street Studios and Crooked Media for Spotify)
‘It’s a felony. There’s no way I can tell you this story on the record with my voice, anything. Like, I’ll go to jail for this’
That’s the main source for the podcast Wind of Change, speaking through a friend, right at the start of the first episode.
Honestly, stop whatever you are doing now and go and listen to the first three minutes. You’ll thank yourself.
‘If there’s one connective thread that runs through a lot of my stories, it’s secrets. Secret worlds. Uncovering stuff I’m not supposed to know.’
That’s host Parick Radden Keefe speaking. But you’ll know that because you took my advice and so have just heard him. Anyway, you take my point. This is a very good podcast opening. More simply, it is just Very Good Storytelling.
The story being told? Radden Keefe’s quest to find out whether the CIA helped write the song Wind of Change by the Scorpions, in a bid to bring down the Berlin Wall. That’s all I’ll give you, because I think this is a great one to go in cold with.
(Also the song is unfortunately great and I think ended up like number 6 on my Spotify top songs of 2020 as a result of this podcast which is a bit embarrassing.)
Episode
The Widow Clicquot, Brought to you by… (Business Insider)
Sort of a weird sell this one. But trust me. This is the story of Veuve (Widow) Clicquot, the nineteenth century French noblewoman behind the now famous champagne. The tale of how Veuve came to dominate the champagne market is the type of journey through war, deception and adventure that somehow feels too good to be historical.
This podcast episode has really stuck with me since I first listened to it two years ago. Hard to say much about why without spoiling it, but I think this is opaque enough: this is fundamentally a story about capitalism, and how capitalism will always be more powerful than whatever romantic narrative you hope you may be able to impose on history.
Something Topical
The Rest is History, Crucifixion (Goalhanger Podcasts)
This week’s recommendation is so topical it happened two thousand years ago. Historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland discuss crucifixion, both in a biblical context and also more broadly as a tool of the Roman Empire. This episode’s topic is proper home turf for Holland so you really are getting the best sample of one of the best podcasts out there if you try this one. They’ve also got a great one out this week called The Jews Against Rome, about Judea and the Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire.
I rarely recommend podcasts that are ‘just people chatting’ (although I suspect this one is way more highly produced than it sounds). But these guys are just so well informed and charming that I am willing to forgive them the sin of broadly falling under a format I have an irrational personal bias against.
Champagne, Socialism
Great to see this included.
I still struggle to work out what it was about Wind of Change (the podcast) that I found so compelling. I now think of the story often.
I’ve since taken every opportunity to recommend it to anyone in close proximity with an intensity that suggests I devised, wrote, produced and presented it myself. I obviously didn’t.