3/2 - How to Cure Insomnia

Time to turn those sleepless nights around.

Dr Guy Meadows, founder of The Sleep School, is a man on a mission. He wants you to sleep better. Not just if you're one of the 30% of Brits who will, at some point, experience insomnia - but also if you're one of the remaining 70%,  who will, inevitably, spend some nights struggling to get some shut-eye, staring at the ceiling and wishing you were somewhere else.

In this interview with Olly, Guy reveals his tips for changing your mind-set when your brain is racing around and keeping you awake. He advises how to effectively use your smartphone and other light-emitting devices in the bedroom; how to nap effectively; and how to reprogram your master clock to adjust to levels of sleep actually available to you in your busy life.

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Elsewhere in this episode, Ollie Peart tells the strange story of CJ de Mooi, considers the future of the pay-per-minute cafe, and predicts that the demise of Vine may herald a new wave of social network failures.

Meanwhile, in The Foxhole, resident love-guru Alix Fox considers how a listener who gets nauseous near cigarette-smoke can continue satisfying their partner - who has a smoking fetish... 

If you have a question of sex for Alix, remember to send it in here - you can remain totally anonymous if you want. The Foxhole is sponsored by our lovely friends at MyCondom.com, who are offering Mann-Fans a staggering 15% OFF if you use the code FOXHOLE at Checkout.

We end the episode with a cracking new track from Dan Croll. It's called Swim and it's out now on Communion Records:

Buy Swim here: https://DanCroll.lnk.to/Swim Follow Dan Croll Complete Spotify Playlist: https://DanCroll.lnk.to/CompletePlaylist Connect with Dan Croll: https://DanCroll.lnk.to/Website https://DanCroll.lnk.to/Facebook https://DanCroll.lnk.to/MailingList https://DanCroll.lnk.to/Twitter https://DanCroll.lnk.to/Instagram

Remember, if you enjoy the show, you can help keep us going - our ambition is to create a weekly, year-round show - by buying us a beer. If all our listeners committed to buying us just one beer a month, we could do this as our full-time jobs! Imagine! 

But, if you've got no money, but you've got a lot of Mann-love, you could always leave us a review on iTunes.

See You Next Tuesday.

3/1 - The Last British Bullfighter

The Mancunian Matador, at home in Marbella.

Frank Evans is not like other septuagenarian ex-pats. Though he lives in Marbella, and retains his distinctive Salford accent, he is still - despite recent injuries and an earlier retirement - a working bull-fighter.

In this extraordinary interview, he tells Olly how he discovered the controversial sport on holiday in Spain, how a copy of Suit Of Lights by Vincent Charles Hitchcock inspired him to 'give it a bash' - and how, with virtually no training at all, he found himself facing death in the ring in Montpellier...

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The 'buspass bull-fighter', Frank Evans, with Olly Mann

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Now known as 'El Ingles', Frank sticks out in the sport not only due to his age and English roots, but also because he believes bullfighting needs to adapt to survive.

You can find out more about Frank in his excellent book.

Elsewhere in this episode, we're celebrating our triumphant win* as Podcast of the Year at the Radio Academy Awards:

* we came second.

** they used to be the Sony's, and are now called 'the ARIAs', but this doesn't seem to have caught on, frankly.

Recorded the morning-after-the-night before, in an auspicious hotel room in Leeds, Ollie Peart fills this week's Zeitgeist with a celebration of bow-ties, a review of Adam Curtis' latest film, and a prediction that Kanye West has killed auto-tune.

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And, in the first ever instance of The Foxhole actually being recorded in a bed, Alix Fox returns with advice for a listener from Rhode Island who is a 'grower not a shower', and news of why getting older might genuinely mean better sex. 

We have a new sponsor for The Foxhole for this series - the wonderful people at MyCondom.Com, who are offering Modern Mann listeners 15% off their excellent products if you use the code FOXHOLE at Checkout.

And remember, if you have a question of sex for a future episode, you can email Alix here.

Finally, we finish the episode, as ever, with a song. This week, 'Season Two, Episode Three' by the brilliant Glass Animals:

Our new record How To Be a Human Being is out now.

It's good to be back, Mann-Fans! We couldn't do it without those of you who have kindly donated to the show by buying us a beer, and those amazing Mannbassadors who help spread the word by leaving us a review on iTunes. 

We'll see you next Tuesday...

2/10 - The Man Who Lives In The Woods

Hanging out with a 21st Century Hermit

Daniel Pike is, technically, homeless - but he does have a home, which he built himself, in woodland near Watford.

He made it from clay and reclaimed wood, and it's amazing. Now, the landowners want to evict him.

In this extraordinary meeting, Olly travels to Daniel's hut to learn how he came to be living outdoors - and why he doesn't want to forage for mushrooms any more... 

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Elsewhere this week, Ollie Peart investigates giant spider robots, new emoji symbols and SodaStream Beer in The Zeitgeist, and, in The Foxhole, Alix Fox previews the contenders for the Erotic Trade Only Awards, and offers advice to a listener who wants to cheat on his wife - in a tent at Glastonbury.

Finally, our song of the week is the Summeriest track we could find: Shine, by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, out now on Stax Records:

"Shine" appears on the Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals album "Call It What It Is," available now everywhere. Order now: iTunes: http://smarturl.it/callitwhatitisiTunes Amazon.com: http://smarturl.it/callitwhatitisamazon http://www.benharper.com https://www.facebook.com/benharper https://twitter.com/benharper https://www.instagram.com/benharper/

That's it for this season of The Modern Mann - be sure to catch up on our entire twenty-episode archive, and subscribe to receive season three when we return in the Autumn. In the meantime, please click Feedback to leave us a comment, submit a question of sex, or offer to sponsor the show; and click Beer Money to support the show with your, erm, liquidity.

There are plenty of our other shows online to keep your ears busy: Olly presents Answer Me This!, Chips With Everything and The Media Podcast; Ollie Peart has a vlog at youtube.com/mrollieep and Alix has a brand new sex podcast for The Guardian, Close Encounters, kicking off very soon. Producer Matt makes an insane amount of excellent podcasts, including his excellent motorsport comedy show, For F1's Sake. 

Thanks so much for listening this series. See you in the Autumn!

2/9 - How to Win at Shopping

The men who make you buy stuff. 

What makes you buy a product? The look? The smell? The layout of the shop? In today's cut-throat business world, none of that is left to coincidence: behavioural science is influencing the design of high street stores, supermarkets and online emporiums alike. 

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In this episode, Olly meets consumer psychologists Reece Akhtar and Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos from University College, London to uncover how we consumers are manipulated into buying stuff we don't want or need via retailers cleverly appealing to our fear of scarcity, desire to belong or our basest instincts. So, next time you go shopping, you'll know what to look out for - you'll never walk the floor tiles in Tesco the same way again!

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Elsewhere, Ollie Peart considers 'ice cream van wars' and KFC-flavoured nail polish in The Zeitgeist, and Alix Fox discusses animal role-play and sex toy cleaning regimes in The Foxhole. 

Music is provided by The Anchoress and their track 'Doesn't Kill You', out now on Kscope Records:

Doesn't Kill You - new single out June 17th taken from the critically acclaimed album Confessions of a Romance Novelist. Out now via Kscope. https://www.iamtheanchoress.com http://vevo.ly/KknDMf

If you have a question of sex for Alix for a future edition of the show or if you'd like to sponsor the show, just click on our Feedback form. And if you'd be so kind as to buy us a beer then just click Beer Money. Thanks!

See You Next Tuesday...

2/8 - Top Gear's Rory Reid

Life in the fast lane.

Rory Reid is about to become a household name. He was chosen by the BBC, from thousands of applicants, to present the relaunched Top Gear, alongside the likes of Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc, and spin-off show Extra Gear.

Despite many years as a motoring and tech journalist under his belt, he has had only a few months to adjust to the international celebrity his new job will bring, flying around the world driving supercars for one of the biggest TV shows on Earth.

In this world exclusive interview, he tells Olly how he prepared for his Top Gear screentest, and why a rap video may just have secured him the gig; reacts to his treatment by the British tabloids, and explains why he has some sympathy with Jeremy Clarkson...

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Also this week, Ollie Peart considers the live-action Tetris movie in The Zeitgeist, a new product for night-time snackers and the horrors of drinkable Weetabix, and reveals some lesser-known sports.

Meanwhile, in the Foxhole, Alix Fox sweats the small stuff as she answers a question of pheremones: is it normal to be attracted to your partner's sweat? If you have a question of sex for a future episode of the show, just submit it via our Feedback form now - you can remain anonymous if you wish.

Our song of the week is the lovely Life Itself by Glass Animals, out now:

LIFE ITSELF has arrived. the first song from our new record How To Be a Human Being its never met people before, so play nice.

Thanks to our sponsors of the week, baldheadliberationfront.com - your one-stop shop for all your bald-headed needs! Thanks too to everyone who has bought us a beer this series - we really appreciate it. The average price of a pint of beer in Britain is a mere £3.31, but please do feel free to pledge as much or as little as you can afford on our beer money page. 

See You Next Tuesday!

Rory reviews the Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II, in spoken word poetry form, revealing his true feelings for this magnificent beast. Visit our Website: https://recombu.com/cars Subscribe for more great content: http://bit.ly/1f3dxSq --------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/recombucars Like our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/recombucars Find Recombu on Google Plus: http://bit.ly/1jHQ2AA Read our Website: http://www.recombu.com Like, Comment, Subscribe!