Shows / Garlic & Pearls
Garlic & Pearls
Suzanne and Muriel examine a series of very different things – from a film to a kitchen utensil, a model train to a bar of soap – that define British or French attitudes, each explaining her cultural background to the other and trying to get to the essence of what makes the British British and the French French.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
- Garlic & Pearls
Chris Newens: How to Eat Everything in Paris
Muriel and Suzanne hop around the arrondissements of Paris explored by Chris Newens in his food memoir Moveable Feasts, comparing and contrasting cuisines…
- Garlic & Pearls
Conkers: from Victorian pastime to urban Battle Royale
Where Suzanne ushers in autumn and educates a baffled Muriel in the great British game of conkers, at once nostalgic, ruthlessly competitive and controversial…
Garlic & PearlsAn Evening with Garlic & Pearls: where Muriel and Suzanne make their first live appearance!
As guests of the Durning Library at the Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival, Muriel and Suzanne discuss Frenchness, Britishness and their podcast adventure…
Garlic & PearlsFrench Roundabouts: are they about safety, strategy or symbolism?
Muriel introduces Suzanne to the surprisingly whimsical world of French roundabouts. Why does France have so many? Why are the rules so maddening? And are they…
Garlic & PearlsShinty: 'Quite a violent version of hockey'
Camans at the ready! Suzanne and our special guest from the Isle of Skye, the skipper, photographer and shinty player Izzy Law, delve into the origins of the…
- Garlic & Pearls
Summer Shorts: The 'Sorry' and 'Pardon' face off
Suzanne and Muriel thread their way through how the British and the French apologise and ask for forgiveness. What does it reveal about attitudes to personal…
- Garlic & Pearls
Summer Shorts: The béret and bobble hat face off
In a story of sheep, sailors, Royals, Résistants, football fans and actresses, practicality spars with glamour as Suzanne spots Welsh Monmouth caps in…
- Garlic & Pearls
Summer Shorts: The high vis jacket and gilet jaune face off
Fluorescent high-vis clothing - beacon of hope or luminous nightmare? Suzanne has embraced high vis as a liberating garment and analyses its uses in preventing…
- Garlic & Pearls
Club Med: From campsites in Spanish pine groves to Tahitian 'villages' in Morocco, how the French brought their edenic dream holiday to life
Muriel recounts the story of Club Méditerranée, 'the antidote to civilisation' born in traumatised postwar France as a socialist-inflected dream of sporty…
Garlic & PearlsBritish Camping: How Britain devised a distinctively gruelling kind of holiday which is part dream and part nightmare.
Seasoned camper Suzanne has survived plagues of horseflies and finding ice on the inside of her tent. She revisits memories of the testing, yet strangely…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Revolutionary Calendar: How French utopians tried to recalibrate time and reshape Republican humanity
Muriel takes Suzanne back to a time when a coalition of Enlightenment poets and scientists and radical political reformers drew a line under the Ancien Régime…
- Garlic & Pearls
1217: The French Invasion You Never Knew About (Part 2)
It's D-Day, helmets are glinting and everything hinges on William Marshall – and on formidable Lincolnshire sheriff Nicola de la Haie – as the troops gather on…
- Garlic & Pearls
1217: The French Invasion You Never Knew About (Part 1)
On the occasion of President Macron's state visit to Britain, Suzanne retraces the background to a momentous clash between France and England – the definitive…
Garlic & PearlsOrangina: How a home-grown Algerian drink became a French icon
Muriel takes Suzanne – shaken, not stirred – back to the origins of the odd little yellow bottle, from sun-drenched Algerian orange groves to the smartest…
Garlic & PearlsPirates: Why the British treasure the Robin Hoods of the seas
Ahoy! Suzanne sails off to the Spanish Main and the Barbary Coast, introducing Muriel to a cast of buccaneers, corsairs and privateers against a shifting…
- Garlic & Pearls
French Theme Parks: Running the Gamut From Fun to Propaganda
What do France's homegrown theme parks tell us about Frenchness? asks Muriel. From the 'ethnographic exhibitions' at the Jardin d'Acclimatation to visionary…
- Garlic & Pearls
Pimms: The journey, joys and jeopardy of the quintessential British summer drink
In time for Wimbledon, Suzanne encourages Muriel to celebrate the British season with a glass of Pimms, and the history, associations and meaning behind it. A…
Garlic & PearlsIdentity Cards: A French story of the struggle between liberté and securité
Why does France have ID cards while Britain does not? Muriel unpacks a national narrative of medieval identity theft, Revolutionary ideals of collective…
Garlic & PearlsBungalows: The perfect British design for living?
Britain has a lot of bungalows, but why and how did this begin? Suzanne goes enthusiastically utilitarian and modular and introduces Muriel to the history…
Garlic & PearlsSurrealism: How and why Paris became a vortex for artists unleashing the subconscious
Muriel surprises Suzanne with an enigmatic tea cup covered in fur – the Surrealist object par excellence. Who was Meret Oppenheim, the woman who made it, and…
Garlic & PearlsToast: An ode to distinctly British crisp buttered deliciousness – with some true crime thrown in
We all dream of the perfect piece of hot toast dripping with butter, but is it ever to be had in this world? Suzanne gives Muriel 9-step instructions on how to…
Garlic & PearlsInto the Deep: What draws the French so powerfully to the briny depths?
Muriel takes Suzanne on a downward journey into the French passion for diving and underwater life. Why was the film The Big Blue such a hit in France? What…
Garlic & PearlsJigsaw Puzzles: The amazing British invention that went from geographical 'dissection' to universally popular form of meditation
Suzanne tells Muriel the riveting story of an invention devised in London by one inspired man, in an 18th-century world of map-making, mezzotints and early…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Metric System: Born of a perfect storm of Enlightenment and Revolution
Muriel tells Suzanne how the French dream of the metric system became realised when the Enlightenment scientists' desire for reliable measurements met the…
Garlic & PearlsBluebells: Why does this enchanting native blue flower make the British giddy?
Suzanne explores the complex botanical, mythical and poetic aspects of the British bluebell cult. Hope and death, secrecy and display and even asparagus all…
- Garlic & Pearls
Glamour: What – and who – do the French find so bewitching about Britain?
Happy Entente Cordiale! It is, Muriel explains, when at their most conventional that the British are at their most glamorous to French eyes. And we reveal the…
- Garlic & Pearls
Panache: How a French king's white feather came to define a Gallic core value
Suzanne digs for the roots of French panache, encountering kingly pageantry, Cyrano de Bergerac and the emblem of the cockerel. Hosted on Acast. See…
- Garlic & Pearls
Eccentrics: Why do they grow in Britain and not in France?
It's Muriel's turn to express admiration of the vivid anarchic creativity of British eccentrics, and to ask if there is something in the water. Hosted on…
- Garlic & Pearls
Insouciance: What is it and can the British ever achieve it?
Suzanne's first choice of French word du jour. Vanessa Paradis embodies it. A paradox: there is nothing harder to pull off than insouciance, the art of not…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Theatre of Horrors: How the visceral Grand-Guignol thrilled Paris to the core
In which Muriel tells Suzanne about the rise and fall of the once ultra-fashionable Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, where, not far from the Moulin-Rouge, the fears…
- Garlic & Pearls
Trailer: Garlic & Pearls Cordiale Corkers
Great excitement at Garlic & Pearls HQ: the anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between France and Britain is near. To celebrate, Muriel and Suzanne tell each…
- Garlic & Pearls
Rescue Puppies: The whys and wherefores of Britain’s unparalleled devotion to animals
Suzanne reflects on British attitudes to animals, from the Reverend Humphrey Primatt’s ‘animal theology’ to the founding of the RSPCA 200 years ago and later…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Map of Love: How a modern Frenchwoman from the 17th-century imagined courtship as a hike through an imaginary landscape
In which Muriel introduces Suzanne to a group of brilliant women: the Précieuses, headed by Madeleine de Scudéry. Novelists, scholars and wits, they invented…
- Garlic & Pearls
Harris Tweed: How sturdy wool woven in the outer Hebrides became the very fabric of Britishness
Suzanne gathers a fashionable cast - including Sherlock Holmes, Coco Chanel and Vivienne Westwood – to take Muriel through the warp and weft of Harris tweed's…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Misfortunes of Sophie: A darkly vivid 1850s classic that still shapes and fascinates French children today
Muriel introduces Suzanne to the French equivalent of Alice in Wonderland, a memorably unsettling portrayal of childhood with enduring appeal, that shines a…
- Garlic & Pearls
Ski Sunday: How the British fell in love with skiing and made it fun
Suzanne remedies Muriel’s ignorance of cult BBC2 programme Ski Sunday and in the process unpacks the British obsession with and transformation of skiing from…
- Garlic & Pearls
Absinthe: Was the iconic drink of the Belle Epoque enchanting or poisonous?
Over a glass of the legendary green aperitif, Muriel presents Suzanne with the history and myths of absinthe – its rise from local Alpine speciality to the…
- Garlic & Pearls
Valentine’s Day: How French amour courtois turned into Victorian enterprise
On this special day for swains and sweethearts Suzanne leads Muriel down surprising heritage pathways: tracking the relic of St Valentine’s head, wondering why…
- Garlic & Pearls
Johnny Hallyday: The French Elvis?
Where Muriel introduces Suzanne to a colossal French star who was the ambassador of American rock in France and became both a national monument and the…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Orsini Bomb: Made in Britain and designed to kill the French Emperor!
Suzanne untangles an astonishing plot to do away with Napoleon III in 1858 Paris. Unfolding in the coffee houses of London and the industrial workshops of…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Black Polo Neck: French national dress, political uniform, or philosophical flag?
In which Muriel unpacks for Suzanne the various hidden meanings taken on in France by the black polo neck. From Hollywood to the Left Bank, the humble polo…
- Garlic & Pearls
Wheelie Bins: Blessing or curse?
Allegedly invented by accident in Slough, the army of wheelie bins now lining our streets is the latest iteration of British society’s attempts to manage…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Concierge: The pantomime villain that the French love to hate?
In which Muriel tells Suzanne the story of French concierges – the guardians of French buildings – involving systematic and distinctive urban planning begun in…
- Garlic & Pearls
Marmalade: Who invented it and how did it become a shortcut for Britishness?
James Bond spread it on his breakfast toast; Paddington and Queen Elizabeth II kept marmalade sandwiches ‘for emergencies’; Scott of the Antarctic took some to…
- Garlic & Pearls
Galette Des Rois: Let them eat cake - for the Epiphany!
Where does the almond-filled ‘galette des rois’ come from? And why have the French clung so tenaciously to it through the centuries? Muriel unveils a seasonal…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Christmas Pudding Sandwich: Perfect for Boxing Day!
Suzanne dives into a 1920s compendium of sandwiches by Mary Woodman, retraces sandwich history and ponders the art of Successful Sandwich Making. Hosted on…
- Garlic & Pearls
Flaming Boar’s Head Feast: All hail ‘the rarest dish in all the land’!
Suzanne digs up an almost entirely forgotten British Christmas medieval tradition full of pomp and circumstance, including a special carol! Hosted on Acast…
- Garlic & Pearls
The Discreet Charm of Presents on Christmas Eve: Scrap the suspense! Presents now!
Muriel tells Suzanne about France’s uncanny parallel universe, where Christmas happens the day before Christmas. But are the French missing out on the art of…
- Garlic & Pearls
Crackers: Bang bang! It’s Christmas!
Suzanne dissects the gloriously noisy tradition of the British Christmas cracker. There is a Victorian inventor, also some French bonbons, a diamond ring and…
- Garlic & Pearls
Oysters: It’s Christmas –: bring on the piles of ice-cold raw shellfish!
How did oysters (les huîtres) become enshrined in France as a traditional Christmas food? Muriel investigates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…
- Garlic & Pearls
France’s Ultimate Christmas Film: Father Christmas is a Git!
Muriel explains the appeal of the ferocious, dark and crude madcap comedy that encapsulates Christmas for the French. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy…
- Garlic & Pearls
Panto!: Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is!
Where Suzanne opens Muriel’s Continental mind to the summit of British stagecraft – the rich and frivolous tradition of Christmas panto, an exhilarating…
- Garlic & Pearls
Trailer - Garlic & Pearls Christmas Corkers
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Garlic & Pearls
The Cockerel’s Cologne: Did the French invent perfume or did perfume invent the French?
Taking as a starting point a highly symbolic empty bottle of Eau de Cologne discovered by Suzanne in Denmark, Muriel explores the ways in which the French took…
- Garlic & Pearls
Bleakness: A dark poetic paradise in the heartland of the Industrial Revolution
By way of Ted Hughes’s Remains of Elmet, Suzanne explores a scarred ancient landscape and brings back to life the ghosts of warring kings, Tudor wool weavers…
Garlic & PearlsLe Comic Strip: Girl fights pterodactyl in Belle Epoque Paris!
The French adore comic book series – or bandes dessinées – featuring Asterix and Tintin. But Muriel tells Suzanne about another famous French character, a…
- Garlic & Pearls
My Favourite A Road: Driving by numbers
In which Suzanne explains another British obsession: the decision tree of how to get from A to B by way of A roads. A kinetic tale of Romans, speed…
Garlic & PearlsMarseille Soap: France’s cleanest national treasure
Muriel examines every facet of Marseille soap from the practical to the mythological, and takes Suzanne on a journey from the boiling vats of the soap…
Garlic & PearlsHassocks: English folk art and cultural identity in stitches
In which Suzanne unfurls a panoramic history of Anglican church kneelers, showing the little embroidered cushions to be an extraordinarily expressive artistic…
Garlic & PearlsDonkey Skin: Catherine Deneuve in the weirdest fairy tale you’ve never heard of
In which Muriel tells Suzanne about a favourite children’s film involving dead donkeys, incest and psychedelia, and Suzanne wonders a little at the wisdom of…