Country Life

If it wasn’t for The Stage, there’s every chance that Britain and, indeed, the world may have been deprived of such great names as Kenneth Brannagh, Harold Pinter, Michael Caine, Sharon D Clarke, Idris Elba, The Spice Girls and Steps.Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleIt goes to show the importance of trade publications, especially those that work in the Arts. I was very lucky to be joined this week on the Country Life by The Stage’s editor Alistair Smith to talk about all things theatre and the performing arts, as well as the Edinburgh Fringe. Full disclosure, he is also my friend and neighbour, and sometimes he feeds my cat while I’m on holiday.Nevertheless, he is an expert in his field, having started working at the newspaper 20 years ago on work experience, before rising through the ranks to the top job. Over the years, he’s seen it all, from mime shows to the Kit Kat club to a Fringe performance that took place entirely in a lift.We talked about The Fringe, the state of the Arts in the UK and what can be done to help them, his work for the charity Get Into Theatre, how he got his big break in journalism thanks to a juggler and how to get Ian McKellen to take your picture.As always, it’s a supremely engaging listen and you can download it wherever you get your podcasts.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Alistair SmithEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via PixabaySpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

It’s important to think about the past. I think about it often. Usually when I’m lying in bed and my brain decides that’s the best time to think of mistakes I’ve made, loves that have been lost, and, of course, the Roman Empire.A lot of history is about kings, queens and battles. Which is very interesting in its own way. But is it real history? After all, most of history doesn’t involve kings or queens or battles. Most of history is just normal people going about their business, trying not to be too hungry, too cold, or too sick. That’s real history.Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleThat’s why it’s important to talk to people such as Ruth Goodman, who is less interested in kings and queens and battles. She likes to learn about normal people, doing normal things, in the past and what that says about us.She came on the Country Life Podcast to talk to us about normal people doing normal things in the past, and how she learns so much about them. The secret is to put yourself in their shoes. She cooks dinners over an open fire. She once lived according to a ‘Tudor body-cleansing regime’ for three months and apparently it wasn’t so bad. To her, the study of the people of the past is a type of anthropology; after all, to us, the Tudor is a different society altogether.It was extremely eye opening and interesting. We also discussed her work around restoring a former ‘ragged school’ in Fulham that has been redeveloped into something called KYN Hurlingham. It’s an interesting focal point of how working-class people worked together to improve their own lives, in the face of indifference from the wealthy and the government.It was a wide-ranging and interesting chat. You’ll love it. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Ruth GoodmanEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via PixabaySpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

When it comes to the world of British art, few names are more widely recognised than David Messum. From extolling the virtues of the English Impressionists to resurrecting interest in the Newlyn School, David has spent more than 60 years reminding us all that English art is as good as any across the world.Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleWe were very lucky that when we asked him to join us on the Country Life Podcast he said yes. Not everyone says yes. We started off talking about his early career in the art world — from what inspired him to get into art, to his early days working at Christie’s and Bonhams — before moving on to the establishment of his eponymous business, which has been championing British art since 1963.What inspired him to revisit the late 19th/early 20th-century West Country painters known as the Newlyn School? Who are some of his favourite artists working today? What’s his favourite painting? What would he do if he could change one thing about the art world? All these questions and more are answered.And it’s not for us to shout from the rooftops, but we are pretty sure this is a Country Life exclusive, as David tells us it’s the first time he’s been on a podcast. Listening to his whimsical tales of his life as a collector and dealer, it’s unlikely to be his last. Tune in below, or wherever you get your podcasts.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: David MessumEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via PixabaySpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

This week on the Country Life Podcast, Matt Thompson — Curatorial Director of English Heritage — joins our host James Fisher to talk history. ·      Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple Podcasts ·      Listen to Country Life podcast on Spotify ·      Listen to Country Life podcast on AudibleRecent research from English Heritage asked people to name their favourite periods of the past, and as you might expect the headline findings reflected the widespread interest in the Romans, World Wars, Tudors and Victorians.But dig deeper, as Matt explains, and a huge number of fascinating stories are revealed by the thousands of sites and artefacts that sit within English Heritage's collection.He shares many of these with James, talks about the organisation's role in stimulating our love of history and throws light on some bizarre objects — not least a single bone from a Barbary Macaque found in a Roman city. Matt also names his all-time favourite English Heritage site, and it's a beautiful, unspoilt site that's free to visit.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Matt ThompsonEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via PixabaySpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

The thing about good ideas is that they sound incredibly obvious only after they’ve been invented. Take Deliveroo, for example. Looking back, of course it makes sense to get restaurants to deliver food, above and beyond the old-fashioned takeaway. Of course being able to summon a cab using an app will be a successful business, considering we tell everyone where we are all the time. Why didn’t I think of that?Violet Manners has had an idea. In her own words, she was quite surprised that nobody else had thought of it first. How do we take privately owned country homes, castles and gardens, and create a simple way of allowing people to look at them, understand them, and then visit them? By creating a site where you can look at them, understand them, and then book a visit. It’s called HeritageXplore.She joined the Country Life podcast this week to talk about HeritageXplore, what it offers, why it’s important and what it means for our, well, heritage. We expanded into conversations about how stately homes and gardens, often considered something ‘old’, are becoming something new, through tv shows such as Bridgerton and Downton Abbey, and how it’s important for privately owned country houses to take advantage of the wave of interest in these buildings and their stories. And Violet is the perfect person to bridge the gap between heritage and the digital space. She tells us about growing up in Belvoir Castle and why her and her sister were entrusted with fishing pigeons out of the pipes. Listen to the full episode above, or wherever you get your podcasts. HeritageXplore is found at heritagexplore.com, and you can listen to Violet's own podcast, Hidden Heritage, wherever you get your podcasts.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Lady Violet MannersEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via PixabaySpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

The award-winning journalist Chris Haslam doesn't just like beaches; he loves them.Chris, chief travel writer for the Sunday Times, recently returned from spending seven weeks touring the coastline of Britain to produce his list of the very best beaches in Britain. It's a mammoth undertaking, in which he and his dog — a Jack Russell called Dave — drove over 5,500 miles to inspect beaches from the tip of the Highlands to the Kent coast, and from the furthest tip of Cornwall to the broad sands of East Anglia and Lincolnshire.He found beauty, joy, and plentiful fish and chip shops — but also came into contact with once-beautiful coastal spots that were clean and beautiful a decade ago, but are now tarnished by pollution. For all that, though, Chris remains a huge fan and advocate of British beaches: 'Nowhere I've been in the world has the variety and raw natural beauty of the British coastline.'He spoke to Country Life's James Fisher for this wonderful episode. You can read Chris's full list of beaches here. Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleEpisode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Chris HaslamEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay and the Fly Guy Five via Epidemic SoundSpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Buckingham Palace’s East Wing has opened up to visitors for the first time in 2024. St James’s Palace did so at the tail end of 2023. Even Balmoral — a royal residence privately owned by the Windsors, rather than part of the holdings of the Crown — has opened up its doors, something which would have been unimaginable during the lifetime of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Why has it happened, and what can it tell us about the Monarcy today? Country Life’s Architectural Editor John Goodall joins host James Fisher in this episode of the Country Life Podcast to talk about this, and much more.Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleSome of the topics are very much in John’s ballpark: how to get your house featured in the pages of Country Life, and what you can expect once it happens, for example. But, never a man afraid to stray out of his lane, John also delves into the wonderful world of Taylor Swift concerts, how to build 1.5 million homes, and why sequin-covered books on architecture might one day be best-sellers. He even squeezes in a bit about how Oxford University ought to do a better job of keeping track of their own buildings. Enjoy.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: John GoodallEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay and the Fly Guy Five via Epidemic SoundSpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn

Look around you. You might be reading this in your home. Or perhaps someone else’s home. The point is we spend a lot of time in our homes, more so now than ever before (apart from that year we don’t talk about).Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleThey are our own private spaces — reflections on ourselves, our styles, our opinions, our choices, our ideas. Every choice you make when it comes to your home, from the wallpaper to who you choose to share it with, is both an extension of yourself and often an extension of the world around you. Homes are something we look at most days, and yet something that we probably don’t often think about all that often.I know this now because I spent 30 minutes talking to Sonia Solicari, the director of the Museum of the Home, who opened my eyes to what ‘the home’ really means. At her museum, based in Hoxton in East London, the home is used to understand and explain history in a fascinating way. Through rooms, from a parlour in 1695 to what the living room of the future may look like, we can understand the world around us.These are just some of the fascinating insights from our talk. Another one is how Sonia explained to me how everyday objects often found in the home changed our lives. Did you know that the invention of the thermostat may have given rise to the moody teenager? There’s a free little tidbit for you.It’s been one of my favourite podcasts we’ve done and I would highly recommend you listen to the rest. There’s even a bit where a squirrel interrupts me by staring at me through the window, but at the time of writing I've not yet heard the final cut, so I’m not sure if Toby left that bit in. The only way you'll find out now is to have a listen for yourself. And in doing so, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did (the podcast, not the squirrel).— James FisherEpisode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Sonia Solicari of the Museum of the HomeEditor and Producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via Pixabay

The landscape photographer Charlie Waite is a true national treasure. A fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, he has published dozens of photography books and founded the Landscape Photographer of the Year awards back in 2006.We're absolutely delighted that he joined us on the Country Life Podcast, telling host James Fisher about his life in photography, how he was shaped by his early years in theatre and film, and his philosophy on how to produce — not just 'take' — a photograph has evolved.Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleHe tells us about how he has been inspired by some of the greats of the craft, from Ansel Adams to Henri Cartier-Bresson, quoting some of the advice he has taken on board from his heroes. Charlie is also passionate about sharing his love of landscape photography with as many people as possible, both through his Light & Land workshops and tours, and with his latest venture, an exhibition at the Mall Galleries in September 2024 in which Charlie's pictures will hang alongside those of other landscape photographers, amateur and professional, from across the world. Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Charlie WaiteEditor and Producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via PixabaySpecial thanks: Adam Wilbourn