Let's All Scrub Out the 1980s

You know, we all have to do things which are difficult ... We get up in the night when our children don't go to sleep, three o'clock in the morning we may have to do something to help a neighbour, these are the ordinary things which keep life ticking over, and which make human civilised life possible. And the idea of the 36 people who are keeping the world going, really is often broadened to the idea that everybody has to try and do good things – secretly, often – just to keep things from deteriorating into a world where it's just dog-eat-dog, and everybody is just out for himself, or herself.

— Oliver Lehman, in Something Understood, about the Lamed-Vav Tzaddikim

Radio Roundup

It's been a while since I've done one of these, so some links may be close to expiring ... if there's anything that particularly strikes your interest, best to check when it's going offline whether or not you intend to listen straight away.

STANDOUT TOP PICK:
Four Thought: Hinge Moments - A collection of reflections on the response and involvement of the West to recent history in war and terror. This makes it sound really dull and worthy, but trust me, you want to listen to it, it's both engrossing and important.

HISTORY
The Good Goering - Hermann Goering was the architect of the Holocaust. But Albert, his brother, may have saved a number of the Nazis' intended victims.
Word of Mouth - Radio 4's linguistics programme takes a look at 'Original Pronunciation,' i.e. speaking Shakespeare in the way English would have sounded when he was alive.
The Duchess Who Gatecrashed Science - She was the first woman to visit the Royal Society and a famous polymath in her time, yet Margaret Cavendish isn't well known today.
Einstein's Fridge - In the 1920s, after revolutionising our conception of the universe, Albert Einstein set about to invent a new kind of refrigerator. Really! But why?
In Search of Great Uncle Frank - Hugh Dennis goes to Gallipoli to see where his great-uncle died and understand the place and history before and after the disastrous British/ANZAC campaign there in 1915.

BITS AND BOBS
The Infinite Monkey Cage: What Is Reality? - For a show avowed to avoid philosophy, they're veering dangerously close ... but manage to keep it mainly on how language and expectation affect our perception of the empirical world.
Herland - Starting from a turn-of-the-century sci-fi story about a society consisting solely of women, we explore the role of the feminine, and gender more widely, in the history, object, and authorship of speculative fiction.
The Hidden 36 - I've long loved the Jewish folkoric idea that there are 36 righteous people in the world, whose existence keeps it from ending. This is a lovely little sound collage on the subject.
A Point of View: Star Wars Obsession - Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk, talks about her fixation on the new Star Wars film, then moves on to praise of fandom, and how it gives voice to the unrepresented perspectives.

COMEDY
I assume you're listening to John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme without my prompting, but just in case ...
So Wrong It's Right - The panel try to one-up each other on stupid things they've believed, new Olympic events, and quiet coaches, among other things. Includes Susan Calman, so, you know.