Best Stuart Boyd Podcasts (2025)

1
Colin Dexter - The Remorseful Day : Inventing Inspector Morse. 14:51

20d ago14:51

14:51

Colin Dexter was a splendid writer. His creation Inspector Morse is superb on the page and just as gripping on television. I used to meet Colin in the pub on Banbury Road in Oxford, The Dew Drop. He was great company and almost completely unaware of his success and star quality. I recorded this conversation in his house after the publication of The…

1
Joe Boyd discusses his memoir, White Bicycles:Making Music in the 1960s and his literary journey through global music, And the Roots of Rhythm Remain. 30:18

1M ago30:18

30:18

Joe Boyd is a man about music, record producer, a film producer and author. He arrived in London in 1964 with Muddy Waters and a host of blues musicians who played to sold out UK audiences when they were unappreciated in their US homeland. In this conversation he talks about Nick Drake, Paul Simon, The Incredible String Band, Paul Butterfield, MIke…

1
Paul Alexander : Bitter Crop - The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year 36:12

1M ago36:12

36:12

Billie Holiday, Eleanora Fagan was born on April 7th 1915. Bitter Crop is a superb biography of Billie Holiday who was probably the very best jazz singer there has ever been. The book title is takes from one of Billie's signature songs, 'Strange Fruit'. There have been films and many books about Billie's career but not all of them came close to tel…

1
Ruth Werner - the Oxfordshire life of a remarkable Soviet spy. 32:33

1M ago32:33

32:33

Ruth Werner was born Ursula Kuczynski in Berlin. She was appalled by Hitler and became a lifelong communist and a spy. During the 1940s she lived around Oxford and radioed secrets to Russia. Her spy codename was Sonja and her memoir was published as Sonja's Report. Ben MacIntyre wrote a best-selling biography of her ...Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, S…

1
Joseph Connolly : All Shook Up - A Flash of the Fifties 14:14

1M ago14:14

14:14

This conversation looks back at the post war time when all the world aspired to be young and American. America was really perceived to be great back then. How times change ........ Joseph Connolly paints a rock 'n roll picture.By David Freeman

1
Alison Weir - Henry VIII : King and Court 13:04

1M ago13:04

13:04

When one looks at the antics and attitudes of the current president of the USA it easy to see parallels with the world view of Henry VIII. Although this account of the life lead by Henry VIII was first published at the turn of the century it is still selling well. Alison Weir thinks the key to understanding the famous Tudor King is to realise that …

1
David Sedaris 19:21

2M ago19:21

19:21

David Sedaris now fills arenas with enthusiastic fans but when David Freeman interviewed him in 2000 he was almost unknown. His book 'Me Talk Pretty One Day ' was just published. I would love to hear the Sedaris view of what is happening now in the US!By davidjohnfreeman

1
Ashley Kahn - A Love Supreme : The Creation of John Coltrane's Classic Album 11:04

2M ago11:04

11:04

After Ashley Kahn had published his book on the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue he turned his attention to the timeless John Coltrane record A Love Supreme. Not only is this still a highly regarded jazz performance, A Love Supreme is now the title of the biggest open air jazz festival in the UK.By David Freeman

1
Simon Sebag Montefiore : the life of Potemkin : his bones are still making news. 23:55

2M ago23:55

23:55

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore explains the mythic status of this eighteenth century Russian statesman, and military leader. Turns out that this slice of history informs current geo politics. In this conversation recorded in London in 2000 the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore tells David Freeman about practical politics in 18th century Russia and…

1
Stuart Nicholson : A Portrait of Duke Ellington 13:47

2M ago13:47

13:47

Duke Ellington is famous, but what was he really like. In this biography published in 2000, Stuart Nicholson writes about the man who was a brilliant instinctive and sophisticated musician. Was he then a bit of a goody goody? As Stuart Nicholson told me he was not in any way a goody goody!By David Freeman

1
Alison Latham : The Oxford Companion to Music 14:13

2M ago14:13

14:13

The Oxford Companion to Music is probably the most famous music reference book of them all. The latest edition was first published in 2002. It has over 120 contributors and covers covers the whole universe of music. I spoke to the editor Alison Latham soon after publication. A huge task to pull such a tome together ..... but maybe an enjoyable job?…

1
Jon Ronson : Them 13:42

2M ago13:42

13:42

Jon Ronson was not so well known when this conversation was recorded in the early 2000s I was very taken with the subject of the book and the way Jon talked about it. Being a Jewish journalist getting involved with people money raising for Hamas seemed improbable. It's true of course, as was Jon's interest in the wilder fancies of David Icke. Jon m…

1
Catherine Nixey - Heresy : Jesus Christ and other sons of God 26:00

2M ago26:00

26:00

As the American President declares that he has been saved by God to make his country great again, I find it impossible not to wonder about the precise nature of the deity that he professes to believe in. Are Donald and his advisers familiar with the writings that are the basis of his religion? This book by Catherine Nixey is terrific - its a revela…

1
Brian Keenan - Turlough : The Northern Irish Poet was held hostage in Beirut in the dark. Turlough came to visit.. 18:18

2M ago18:18

18:18

As war rages in Europe again it becomes clear that the capacity for cruelty of man to a fellow human is seemingly infinite. This interview with the Northern Irish poet Brian Keenan took place in London a full 10 years after his release from his barbaric incarceration in Beirut where he had been teaching at the local university. Brian talks eloquent…

1
Dennis McNally - A Long Strange Trip : The Inside Story of the Grateful Dead 27:54

2M ago27:54

27:54

As the news from America becomes more and more worrying it's good to look back to the last century when everything was different and some American rock musicians brought joy to the world. Peace and Love meant something back then. The Grateful Dead were very successful despite having no chart hits and they had a huge dedicated fanbase. They were for…

1
Ashley Kahn : Kind of Blue - The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece 9:06

3M ago9:06

9:06

Kind of Blue is the most successful jazz LP ever made. It was recorded over two sessions in New York in 1959 and is still revered as a masterpiece. Ashley Kahn told David Freeman the story behind a historic music event.By David Freeman

1
Leslie Howard - The Celestial Wife 19:21

3M ago19:21

19:21

This novel is set in the 1960s with a backdrop of The Beatles and other music of the time. It tells the story of Daisy Shoemaker who is 15 in 1964. She was born into a fundamentalist Mormon community on the US - Canada border. In a ceremony called Placement she is given as a teenage wife to a much older man. She finds this intolerable and runs away…

1
Sir Martin Gilbert - Never Again - history of the Holocaust 18:28

3M ago18:28

18:28

As the world remembers the inhuman brutality of Auschwitz this is an author who deserves to be heard. The appalling inhumanity still happening in the world makes this conversation distressingly relevant. There is the thought that some people are less human then others. This has to be challenged. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted…

1
Stephen P. Kershaw - The Harvest of War -Three Epic Battles that Saved Democracy: Now available in paperback. 19:48

3M ago19:48

19:48

The future of democracy is a popular talking point. The human race as been here before! When David Freeman talked to Dr Steve Kershaw about his book about battles in ancient Greece. it seemed that the human desire for conflict is unchanged through history. Three Epic Battles that Saved Democracy is an entertaining and instructive read - now publish…

1
Tariq Ali - The Clash of Fundamentalisms : Christianity, Islam and Capitalism 21:37

3M ago21:37

21:37

The effect of the Trump win reverberates around the globe. There seems to be perceived electoral advantage in fanning hate and intolerance and spreading intolerance the idea around the world. The Middle East is on a knife edge and the Ukraine war continues. Why is this? Is there any cause for optimism? Where do non rational beliefs and convictions …

1
Timothy Good - UFOs 14:11

3M ago14:11

14:11

The UFO and alien question is all over the TV news in the Uk and the US. Again. In this interview on the subject David Freeman, a UFO skeptic, met UFO true believer Timothy Good when his book Unearthly Disclosure was first published. The conversation was friendly but inquisitive! So are UFOs real? Are those little creatures with three fingers that …

1
Robin Dunbar - How Religion Evolved And Why it Endures 27:30

3M ago27:30

27:30

Religion still motivates sime people. In early 2025 a million Hindus tried to bathe in a river at the same time. Why would anyone think this would be a good idea. Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. From his academic standpoint he charts the evolution of religion in all its many guises and forms. Does t…

1
Harriet Walter - Thoughts on Acting 23:56

3M ago23:56

23:56

Channel 4 are presnting an engrossing drama depicting the professional relationship that evolved between Mrs Thatcher the politician and Brian Walden the labour MP turned television interviewer. The two lead actors Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter are excellent at showing the friendly dimension to the relationship that turned sour under media pressu…

1
R.J.B. Bosworth on Mussolini, Gitta Sereny tells of attending a Hitler rally, Donna Leon talks about her Venetian detective and Hugo Vickers talks about Princess Andrew. 55:20

4M ago55:20

55:20

Authors talking to David Freeman including Hugo Vickers discussing his biography of Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece mother of the Duke of Edinburgh: Donna Leon tells the story of her novel “Wilful Behaviour “ set in Venice: R.J.B. Bosworth recounts his research into the life of Mussolini and Gitta Sereny remembers Germany in the 1930s as told in h…

1
Wells Jones : A Line in the Sand 23:23

4M ago23:23

23:23

A Line in the Sand is a novel about two friends on an adventure in the Middle East based on an actual journey two real life friends took to Saudi Arabia and Damascus in 2006. One of the inspirations for the trip was T.E Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia. The two authors Miles Spencer and Wells Jones had worked on a stage play based on the life of Lawre…

1
Alan Sillitoe 11:15

4M ago11:15

11:15

There is a new BBC TV history series by Simon Schama, The Story of Us. In the first programme Simon highlights the huge impact that Alan Sillitoe's novel 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' had when it was published in 1958. Alan Sillitoe spoke to David Freeman when his novel Birthday was published in 2001. Birthday is the sequel to Saturday Night …

1
Marcus Chown - A Crack In Everything : How black holes came in from the cold 26:34

4M ago26:34

26:34

This glorious popular science books tells the story of how black holes that were thought to be too ridiculous to exist in 1916 had by 1971 been proved to exist. Einstein thought they were impossible but in 1971 Paul Murdin and Louise Webster discovered the very first black hole, Cygnus X-1 Marcus tells the story of these extraordinary people who di…

1
Nina Simone 16:36

4M ago16:36

16:36

Nina Simone was born on February 21st 1933. There has been news recently of a plan to buy Nina Simone's childhood home in Tryon North Carolina and make it into a museum celebrating the life and work of the girl who was born Eunice Waymon. I interviewed Nina in December 1998 just before her last ever show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She was …

1
Rebecca Beattie - The Wheel of The Year : A witch’s view of the calendar. As traditional religions lose adherents the Wicca view gains in popularity. 22:30

5M ago22:30

22:30

Rebecca Beattie identifies as a witch. A few days before Hallowe'en Rebecca tells David Freeman how the world looks to her through the lens of her pagan world view. The latest census information confirms that Rebecca's beliefs are gaining in popularityBy David Freeman

1
Terry Pratchett - The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. 8:58

5M ago8:58

8:58

Terry Pratchett was a great supporter of the move to legalise assisted dying. This was partly due to his early onset Alzheimer's Disease which was diagnosed when he was in his 50s. He described the condition as as an embuggerance. Terry Pratchett died in 2015. This is a conversation from the archive recorded at his home office in Wiltshire. Terry s…

1
Sophie Kinsella : Shopaholic Ties the Knot 10:41

7M ago10:41

10:41

Sophie Kinsella has a brain tumour. She has written a book about it entitled 'What Does It Feel Like?' This archive conversation was recorded at the Langham Hilton in London and I remember that Sophie turned up with lots and lots of shopping. That was to be expected because the conversation was to mark the publication of the third in the shopaholic…

1
Jilly Cooper : Pandora 13:26

8M ago13:26

13:26

Jilly Cooper is back in the news and she has every reason to be jolly. Her football novel is out and Disney have made a movie of one of her stories. I met Jilly when her novel Pandora was first published. She was jolly then too!!By David Freeman

1
Spike Milligan 12:31

8M ago12:31

12:31

Spike Milligan is a timeless national treasure. In this episode Spike Milligan talks to David Freeman about his life in comedy, The Goons, and the mental health problems that dogged his life after he was blown up by a wartime bomb.By davidjohnfreeman

1
Deborah Ellis - The Breadwinner : A book for children about about the life of a girl in Afghanistan living under Taliban rules. 13:54

8M ago13:54

13:54

This interview was recorded in 2001 and in the introduction recorded at the time I say that the story is no longer relevant as the Taliban are no longer in charge. This was true at the time but sadly the Taliban are back and the the story of The Breadwinner is all too relevant again. Did the UK let these people down?…

1
Jeanette Winterson - Oranges are Not the Only Fruit. 45:54

9M ago45:54

45:54

Jeanette Winterson celebrated her 65th birthday on August 27th. This interview was recorded when Jeanette was a 20 something brand new literary force. I remember this converstaion with huge affection. Mostly I would talk to an author for 20 minutes or so but this conversation is twice that. It was recorded in the spring of 1984 when 'Oranges are No…

1
Barry Cunliffe : Facing The Sea Of Sand - the Sahara and the peoples of Northern Africa 30:56

9M ago30:56

30:56

Emeritus Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe is an academic archaeologist who writes enthusiastically and engagingly about his passions. In this interview he talks to me about his book which tells the whole of African human history focussing on the Sahara. Sir Barry takes the story of us from our evolution through to the present day. Is he optimistic abou…

1
First-Time Buyers: 3 Must-Haves from Your Real Estate Agent! 11:29

10M ago11:29

11:29

Let's uncover the invaluable insights into what every first-time buyer absolutely needs from their real estate agent. Tune in and empower yourself with the knowledge that will deliver the most seamless homebuying journey.