Garlic & Pearls

This episode, full of suspense and mystery, is brought to you by the letter J! In the English language, the letter and its distinctive sound are deployed in their glory, whereas the French soften the letter J (as in je or bijou). The letter's story, which comes to full expression in 1629, is bound with that of the printing press. Who invented the letter J? Suzanne retraces the evolution of this exciting, propulsive letter – and how it acquired its shape – by way of the monumental King James Bible undertaking and the cast of dedicated medieval Cambridge scholars who carried it out. It is a story of the quest for legibility, clarity, directness and transparency – a very British story that would, Suzanne thinks, make a wonderful film. But who should play the letter J, the mischievous letter trying to make its mark on the page? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1910, Paris was an ultra-modern electrified metropolis at the height of its confidence, insouciance and triumphant glamour. Then came the winter rains, and the Seine began inexorably to rise, causing chaos and devastation. Parisians living near the river soon found themselves getting about the streets in rowing boats and on improvised wooden walkways. The man of the moment was the then prefect of Paris, the gallant and indefatigable Louis Lépine, who patrolled the city in a frock coat and top hat , his smart trousers tucked into wellies, and seemed to be everywhere at once. Muriel tells an apocalyptic story of resilience and survival, and of the III Republic being put to the test. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Starting with the glorious 1934 novel The Nine Tailors by queen of crime Dorothy L. Sayers, set in the mystical, liminal landscape of the Fens and in the haunting world of ancient bell ringing, Suzanne explores the English art of campanology. Ringing in rounds requires intense mental and physical discipline – in the novel, the intrepid Lord Peter Wimsey rings bells for nine hours solid – and this communal activity already bound villages together in Tudor times. How did England evolve a form of music – the voice of a village – that is written as a sequence of numbers? Suzanne patiently walks Muriel through the mechanics of belfries and the mind-boggling mathematics of change ringing, strike intervals and vertiginous extents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suzanne and Muriel welcome as a special guest the food writer and journalist Debora Robertson. a perceptive observer of French village life in the South-West – and the French psyche – in her Substack, Lickedspoon. She describes what it's like to be an exotic Brit in the French countryside and shares on-the-ground anecdotes about French behaviour. We find out which is more important, croissants or yoghurts? Is the baguette still sacred? Is the French administration really the embodiment of evil? Is it possible for the French to enjoy British food? What are the byzantine rules of kissing people hello? Are bidets a Good Thing or a Bad Thing? Are the French rude? What is normal for France and what do you have to do to fit in? And much more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How, wonders Suzanne, did Britain come to gift the Big Z to the entire world? And how did Britain become a place where pedestrians can expect, in most cases, to find a crossing in the right place? The presence of zebra crossings is the fruit of a long evolution involving bitter parliamentary debates and the tension between limiting speed and protecting an Englishman's freedom of the highway. We meet the transformative figures of Leslie Hore-Belisha, inventor of the driving test and the flashing Belisha beacon, and Dr George Charlesworth, – aka 'Dr Zebra' – whose studies in contrast perception led to Britain leading the way in road safety worldwide: 'Listener, if you seek his monument, look around you.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.