Pick of the podcasts: British Scandal: Maxwell, The Blindboy Podcast and Ologies with Alie Ward

British Scandal: Maxwell

Wonderly, Apple, Google, Spotify, etc

Hosts Alice Levine and Matt Forde return to their podcast, British Scandal, to shed new light on an old British mystery – the strange death, and life, of shady business mogul Robert Maxwell.

Maxwell was a Czech-born immigrant who tried his hardest to infiltrate the higher echelons of British society, to little avail. While his shrewd business sense and sheer force of will built him a publishing empire and briefly made him a member of parliament, he was never accepted by the people he so desperately wanted to impress.

British Scandal follows Maxwell as his obsession intensifies, risking the relationships with those closest to him; his devoted wife Betty, and their nine children, including his favourite, the now notorious Ghislain.

When Maxwell disappeared from his yacht (The Lady Ghislaine) in November 1991, the fallout from his death revealed the extent of the lengths he would go to achieve his ambitions, and his crimes quickly came to the surface. Most heinous was his theft of his employees pension funds to stop his failing businesses from going bankrupt.

The see-saw tone of British Scandal takes a bit of getting used to, and you can feel like you have whiplash as hosts Levine and Forde bounce between comedy and levity. Jokes about Maxwell and Betty’s sex life come thick and fast, as does tragic details of Maxwell’s past, such as most of his Czech family being murdered in Auschwitz, or the untimely early deaths of two of his children.

Despite that, the podcast is both entertaining and enlightening, offering clear insight into highly emotive stories that rocked the British public. With promise that this season will be an origin story for the Ghislaine Maxwell scandal, it’s well worth a listen.

The Blindboy Podcast

Apple, Spotify, Google

An oldie but a goodie, the masked Irish podcaster Blindboy has really hit his stride and perfected his form during the pandemic. His back catalouge of episodes contains an eclectic mix of mental health, science and comedy content.

His most interesting episodes are those when he delves into art history – his unique threading of 2,000 years of artistic progress is always full of revelations and a delight to listen to.

Ologies with Alie Ward

Apple, Spotify

Actress turned podcast host Alie Ward presents this charming science podcast, interviewing different experts on their specialist “ologies”.

So far, Ward has interviewed different “ologists” on volcanoes, primates, gemstones, the cosmos, and even time itself. A fantastic entry point into interesting subjects, Ward’s mission is to broaden her knowledge – and that of her listeners – by “asking smart people dumb questions”.