Alexandra Tolstoy returns to the podcast with a special live episode, recorded at a school. She discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

1. Kyrgyzstan https://alexandratolstoytravel.com/

2. Female Explorers (Lady Jane Digby, Isabel Burton and the Decembrist Wives) https://www1.essex.ac.uk/history/documents/conferences/hero-soroka.pdf

3. Sailor’s Valentines https://www.worldofinteriors.com/story/sailors-valentines

4. Carbs https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/events/nutrition-for-sporting-events/carbohydrates-and-exercise

5. Lesser-known Victorian literature https://potpourri2015.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/author-profile-emily-eden/

6. Nukus Art Museum in Uzbekistan https://museumstudiesabroad.org/lysenko-savitsky-preserving-soviet-avant-garde/

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Natalie Kyriacou discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Natalie Kyriacou OAM is an award-winning environmentalist, writer, professional public speaker and charity director with a passion to spark curiosity about the natural world. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia and the Forbes 30 Under 30 honour for her services to wildlife and environmental conservation in 2018 and was recognised as one of The Australian’s Top 100 Innovators in 2022. She is a Board Director at the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife and CARE Australia, the Founder and Chair of My Green World, a UNESCO Green Citizens Pathfinder, and an Australian Delegate and Climate Justice Lead at the W20. She was the United Nations Environment Programme’s Young Champions of the Earth finalist for her innovation in wildlife and environmental conservation and is LinkedIn’s Top Green Voice. Her new book is Nature's Last Dance, which is available at https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/nature-s-last-dance-natalie-kyriacou/376cc16767a86ffa.

1. Why Bonobos Have Peaceful Societies https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/06/bonobos-tolerant-peaceful-group-relationships-paved-way-for-human-peacemaking/

2. "Ugly" Animals https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-ugly-animals-lost-cause-180963807/

3. Chocolate and the Midge https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qFkUdZrfu2Q

4. The Joy and Impact of Birdwatchers https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/12/birdwatching-australia-binoculars-going-birding-life

5. Nature is the World's Original Pharmacy https://theconversation.com/nature-is-the-worlds-original-pharmacy-returning-to-medicines-roots-could-help-fill-drug-discovery-gaps-176963

6. Stories of Wonder to Change the World https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/24/hope-joy-absurdity-and-marvel-there-is-so-much-more-to-our-world-story-than-loss

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Danny Bate discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Danny Bate is a linguist, writer, broadcaster and podcaster who is fascinated by the study of historical languages and etymology. He took his BA and MPhil degrees from the University of York and the University of Cambridge respectively, and his PhD in linguistics from the University of Edinburgh. He can be found at dannybate.com. His new book is Why Q Needs U, which is available at https://dannybate.com/book/.

1. The alphabet is a product of migration, born out of a meeting of different peoples and their languages
2. Our letters started out as depictions of things (body parts, animals, everyday objects)
3. English's letters are connected via a big family tree to many other scripts, including many that seem 'alien' to its readers (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew)
4. There isn't universal one way to create writing, you pick which aspects of language (words, syllables, consonants) as a primary base
5. English and related alphabets aren't phonetically accurate (and that's okay)
6. Even when spelling diverges from a strict letter-to-sound ratio, new principles and processes can emerge

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