11/4 - In The Crowd

‘Music is stronger than any antibiotic, any medicine. It can lift you out of anything.’

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Blaine Harrison, lead singer of Mystery Jets, is also a ‘property guardian’, who lives and works in the capital’s empty commercial premises.

For a while, the entire floor of an office block on London’s Strand was his home. Each weekend he had a front-row seat as NHS marches, Brexit protests, Extinction Rebellion demos and Tommy Robinson rallies made their way past his window. 

Olly Mann and Blaine Harrison, the Brainyard, March 2020

In this thoughtful interview with Olly, he explains how what he saw on the streets inspired his songwriting.

Mystery Jets’ new album, A Billion Heartbeats, is released April 3.

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Recording The Zeitgeist remotely with our Blue Yeti X mics.

Meanwhile, in The Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart considers how the current lockdown has prompted an unlikely rebirth for retro-gaming, VR, quiz apps and even ancient gaming platform Second Life. There’s also some chat about deckchair storage... 

If you have a suggestion of a trend Ollie can test - from his home in Dorchester, for now - get in touch via our Feedback form.

Thanks to our sponsors, Blue Microphones: we recorded this edition of the Zeitgeist on their Yeti X mics.

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Elsewhere, down the Foxhole, Alix Fox advises a listener who wants to know what issues may present themselves if he sources the HIV prevention drug PrEP from online suppliers based abroad. 

Alix consulted with the activist team at PrEPster, IWantPrepNow and Terrence Higgins Trust, and, for more about this topic, highly recommends checking out the work of Nathaniel Hall – who wrote a compelling play about contracting HIV via his very first sexual encounter – and following Jason Domino on Twitter.

If you have a question of sex for Alix to answer in a future edition of the show, just use our Feedback form. You can remain anonymous if you wish.

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Our Record of the Month is Bittersweet by Lianne La Havas - and, if you like it, get ready for the album, which drops 5th June:

There’s more Mann-endorsed music on our Spotify playlist here.
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Wanna be a Mannbassador? Buy us a beer, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts - and then send us an email to tell us about yourself. 

Got a question for our How To Be A Dad episode, out May 1st? Fill out our Feedback form and send it in now for Olly, Tom and Stu to answer.

Stay safe, keep well, and we’ll see you next month. x

LISTEN: Apple // Spotify // Google // MP3 // RSS // TuneIn

This episode is supported by Beer52. To get a free crate of eight delicious beers, a snack and a magazine, delivered straight to your door, visit Beer52.com/Modern.

11/1 - The Mum Who Gave Up Drinking

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“I thought everyone else was able to cope with alcohol, and I was the only one who couldn’t”

Clare Pooley gave up a booze-fuelled job in advertising - complete with a bar in the office and a massive expenses budget - to be a full-time Mum to her three kids.

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But as she left the ladette lifestyle behind, she didn’t find herself drinking any less. In fact, she was polishing off ten bottles of wine per week, as she tells Olly in this confessional, compelling conversation...

Clare’s book, ‘The Sober Diaries’ is out now, and her blog Mummy Was A Secret Drinker and Facebook page SoberMummy provide support if you’re looking to give up drinking. Clare also recommends Club Soda and Soberistas.

Meanwhile, for this month’s Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart has been digitising the Prime Minister and trawling through clips of Olly on The Alan Titchmarsh Show to create a terrifying ‘deep fake’ hybrid. Is misinformation the future of news? And can AI services like Lyrebird and Resemble contribute something positive to the world of podcasting?

If YOU would like to suggest a trend for Ollie to test out, fill out our Feedback form now.

Elsewhere, Alix Fox kicks off the one hundredth edition of The Foxhole with THE perennial penile puzzler: can pumps or pills give you greater length and girth down-below?

She meets the man behind one of the world’s most popular extenders, and considers whether, sometimes, size concerns aren’t just about ‘locker room syndrome’, but may be a healthy expression of kink. 

If YOU have a question of sex for Alix to answer in a future edition of the show, just fill in our Feedback form - you can remain anonymous if you wish.

Music this episode comes from Cavetown, with his charming song ‘Things That Make It Warm’; indisputably our first record of the month about birds building nests:

Remember, The Modern Mann is an entirely independent podcast, funded in part by your generous donations. If you’ve enjoyed our first one hundred episodes for free, and can afford to give financially to the show, follow the links 👇. Thanks!

DONATE! Moonclerk // PayPal

See you for our next edition on 1st Feb.

Happy New Year!

This episode is sponsored by Thriva, the health-tracking finger prick blood test you do at home. Get 50% off your first kit by visiting Thriva.co and using the code Mann50.

3/4 - The Gentleman Bank Robber

Extreme highs, extreme lows, and a bungled bank robbery

Radcliffe Royds had it all - a private education; a job in the City; a wife and kids. So, how did he find himself robbing a bank with a banana, high on crack cocaine, whilst living in a skip in Soho?

In this incredible interview, he tells Olly his outrageous story. It's a tale of extreme highs and lows, brutal honesty and dark humour.

DOWNLOAD NOW:

• MP3

• iTunes

• PocketCasts

• TuneIn

Meanwhile, Ollie Peart has decamped to Lisbon for the 2016 Web Summit - an orgy of start-ups and self-promotion. In this week’s Zeitgeist, he ponders whether laundry services might be the next sector to fall foul of disruptive technology, why Silicon Valley buzzwords are so damn aggressive, and why on Earth anyone would name a new company ‘Two-Hats’.

And, in our weekly trip down the Foxhole, our love guru Alix Fox puts the Poundland vibrator to the test, and answers a listener’s question about sexual piercings in the only way she knows how - with, um, piercing honesty. YOU MAY WANT TO KEEP YOUR LEGS CROSSED FOR THIS ONE. The Foxhole is sponsored by MyCondom.com - your one-stop shop for all your bedroom needs, except possibly light fittings and duvets. Use the code FOXHOLE at Checkout to get an incredible 15% off! And if you have a question of sex for Alix to answer in a future episode, just fill out our Feedback form - you can remain anonymous if you wish

Our song of the week is 'You Don't Get Me High Anymore' by Phantogram - out now on Republic Records:

This week's edition of The Modern Mann is supported by our friends at DragonFruit - the dating app designed especially for geeks and nerds! Meet a like-minded soul by downloading the app and choosing 'Modern Mann' as one of your geekdoms - and, if you do meet the love of your life thanks to our podcast, do reach out and tell us...

If you'd like to help keep the show on the road, then just commit to buying us just one beer a month. We really appreciate it. Thanks!

See You Next Tuesday.

‘Cruzin’ appears courtesy of Benedek on a Creative Commons licence.