Episodes

  • The Institut Français du Royaume-Uni: Britain's Official Portal into French Culture!

    The Institut Français du Royaume-Uni: Britain's Official Portal into French Culture!
    Jun 26 2026
    With French historian Charlotte Faucher as her guide, Muriel explores the madly ornamental pink-brick Art Deco wonder that is the French Cultural Institute in South Kensington. Though the building dates from 1939, the idea of setting up a French Institute in Britain as a gateway to a better understanding between our two nations arose in 1910, the brainchild of Marie d'Orliac, an enigmatic figure who was also very good at reinventing herself. Nowadays South Kensington is a hub of French soft power, but how did it all begin, and what was the impact of the two World Wars on the project, especially the arrival in 1940 of an obscure officer called Charles de Gaulle and his 'certain idea of France'? Join us for a fascinating peek into a beguiling engine of soft power and the people that gave it meaning!

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    1 hr
  • The Letter J: The Mind-Blowing Creation Story of a British Sound

    The Letter J: The Mind-Blowing Creation Story of a British Sound
    Jun 19 2026
    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?

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    52 mins
  • The Great Paris Flood of 1910: The City of Light vs Nature!

    The Great Paris Flood of 1910: The City of Light vs Nature!
    Jun 12 2026
    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.

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    59 mins
  • Bell Ringing: Unique Performing Art and England's 'Loud Noise to the Glory of God'!

    Bell Ringing: Unique Performing Art and England's 'Loud Noise to the Glory of God'!
    Jun 5 2026
    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.

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    52 mins
  • Debora Robertson: What We Get Wrong About France

    Debora Robertson: What We Get Wrong About France
    May 29 2026
    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!

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    49 mins
  • Zebra Crossings: Freedom, Safety and British Science in Black and White!

    Zebra Crossings: Freedom, Safety and British Science in Black and White!
    May 22 2026
    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.'

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    54 mins
  • The 100th Episode: Our Peak-Britain and Peak-France Chart-Toppers!

    The 100th Episode: Our Peak-Britain and Peak-France Chart-Toppers!
    May 15 2026
    Muriel and Suzanne raise a shaken, not stirred pickled-onion-and-Orangina cocktail to toast a vintage episode of the podcast. Now 100 hours into exploring Britishness and Frenchness, they each select their 5 favourite episodes presented by the other and reflect on what they have discovered along the way. An overflowing cornucopia of garlic, pearls, revelations, surprises and cultural aperçus, this landmark episode throws some light on the results of G&P's inquiries and highlights many gems in the podcast's catalogue. Did your favourite make the cut?

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    57 mins
  • May 68: How and Why France Dreamed Up Another Revolution

    May 68: How and Why France Dreamed Up Another Revolution
    May 8 2026

    Muriel wonders why the May 68 uprisings happened so expansively and explosively in the France of De Gaulle and not in Howard Wilson's Britain. She takes Suzanne back to a time of flying cobblestones and bourgeois Maoist students on the barricades. What triggered the events, what fanned the fire? How much of a revolution was May 68, really? What political and social fracture has it left in French society? And what is its legacy in terms of imagery and myth? Glorious utopia of social break-down?



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    53 mins