I love custard creams so when I went into the Tortoise green room, I knew that I was going to have a good evening.
That jar is a work of art. Anyway, the live studio recording was split into three parts. First came a section about fear in politics– then a discussion about horror movies with Kim Newman and Anna Bogutskya. Our section was about the nature of fear, what happens in our mind and body when we feel scared. I was honoured to share a discussion with Luke Gbedemah, Prof Neil Martin and Xavier Aldana Reyes and I also had the chance to tell an entire fifteen minute story. In a media world where five minutes is considered a big chunk of air time, this was a delightful luxury!
Watch my scary story followed by a discussion here:
Another luxury was getting a black taxi home. The taxi driver (who was in his 60s) spent most of the journey telling me stories. He told me about the community of taxi-drivers who would meet “between ten to twenty of us” for lunch in Bloomsbury every day. They would gossip about customers and share information about roadworks and accidents. These daily meetings ended in 2020 and the community of taxi drivers is gone. For me the best part of the journey was listening to him recite street names and directions. As I listened to him unhesitatingly name road after road with left or right turns, I realised that I was listening to the last generation of people who will learn The Knowledge.
Our world is full of stories.