Richard Dadd was a chocolate-box style painter destined to be forgotten, until he tragically went insane and murdered his own father in 1843. After he was transferred to Bedlam, Dadd’s paintings became labyrinthine, masterful, and incredibly dark. Over a period between six to nine years, he created his astonishing masterpiece, ‘The Fairy-Feller’s Master-Stroke’. With its strange disruptions of scale and perspective, its intricate detail and its myriad characters, the work is an astonishing display of a haunted imagination. Richard Dadd’s work has had a big impact on writer Neil Gaiman, as well as on many other authors. In this podcast, he discusses its effects on his literary imagination and its lasting influence. He also discusses other moments of inspiration. In this fascinating interview with Janina Ramirez, we delve behind the scenes of Gaiman’s creative process and learn about the work and man that inspires him to this day.
Dallas Campbell talks to Dan about the secret history of the Space Race, reveals the truth about the moon landings and examines mankind's insatiable, eternal drive to reach new worlds.
Something a little different... Total War: Three Kingdoms is the fastest selling real time strategy of all time, and based on the Wei, Shu, and Wu division of China in the 200s AD. This is an interview that talks about fact and fiction within gaming narratives and the historical research undertak...
David Berry joined me on the pod to discuss a people’s history of tennis. From the birth of modern tennis in Victorian Britain to the present day, we talked about struggles around sexuality, gender, race and class that have transformed the nature of tennis and sport itself.
