Café waiters are omnipresent in French life and in French culture as a sort of regiment – serried ranks of men in their black-and-white uniform with tremendous esprit de corps. But who are they really, Muriel asks, and how did they become such stock figures of Frenchness, and even objects of study for French philosophy? What makes a good café waiter? Is it to do with natural ability, physical fitness, French reserve,...

How to solve a problem like the British weather? It's easy if you invent the right British garment with a French name, whose origins and evolution Suzanne unveils: it's a story of ancient hooded spirits, anoraks, Royal Marines, the great outdoors, textile manufacturing, fashion and practicality, and – in a surprising twist – anti-Republican conspiracies in 1930s France. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Muriel unravels the reasons why so many film villains happen to be French. From dissolute sophisticates to duplicitous manipulators and downright sadistic megalomaniacs, what do these colourful imaginary French figures tell us about Frenchness? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suzanne explores a masterpiece which is 'like being knocked out' – a cri de coeur about downtrodden youth, devastating tragedy and the tyranny of class. But Ken Loach's Kes is also a dream of escape, wondrous lyrical beauty and the call of the wild. And what of A Kestrel for a Knave, the film's source novel, and its revered author Barry Hines? What do they tell us about how a story rooted in South Yorkshire working-c...

Muriel examines a madly famous succès de scandale. What’s going on in Edouard Manet’s 1863 painting of an outdoors scene featuring four people, one of whom is stark naked? Is it a riddle? A transgressive prank? Napoleon III guest stars as the originator of the offbeat Salon des Refusés, and an enigmatic life model breaks the fourth wall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suzanne tells Muriel a very British story of surprise global success, which began at a shooting party in 1951 with a dispute over the speed of a golden plover. A dramatic cast of fact finders and record breakers includes Guinness Brewery managing director Sir Hugh Beaver, identical twins of exceptional retentive memory Norris and Ross McWhirter, and Presidents of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and his son She...

Why does 'Brittany' (in local dialects Breizh and Bertègn) sound so much like 'Britain'? Because this Western region of France, once known as Armorique, was profoundly shaped by an influx of 5th-century Celt migration from the British Isles. One of the six Celtic nations, it represents an enmeshing of our two cultures and isn't quite part of mainstream France. Muriel narrates the region's turbulent history of annexat...

Suzanne moves the goalposts and gives football the Garlic & Pearls treatment: it's a story where passions run high, from obsessive devotion to dogged attempts to ban the sport, whether because of its riotous violence of because it's deemed unsuitable for ladies. A cast of colourful characters keep the ball moving: Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, the five-foot-tall Lady Florence Dixie and her husband Lord ABCD, N...

Oh là là! From the Belle Epoque to the Jazz Age rose famous French brothels such as Le Chabanais, the One Two Two or the Sphynx. This vanished world, its outlandish themed rooms and enigmatic army of female denizens, live on in the iconography that they inspired and that remains forever wedded to French identity. The future Edward VII guest stars as a designer of unusual furniture.  Hosted on Acast. See acas...

Suzanne illuminates the origins and meaning of hallmarking, which began in the 13th century under Edward I – aka Edward Longshanks – as part of his wider effort to stabilise the kingdom by means of statutes. Though the French king Louis IX appears as a guest star, this is a case of Britain being far more systematic and precise than France while, in typical British fashion, devising a resilient system capable...

Muriel goes back to school to explore how in France the spelling test called  la dictée  became the backbone of French education. Who introduced it and why? Is it fascistic or democratic? And how did a school exercise become a beloved popular cultural event shared by the nation? It's a very Gallic tale of Republican alphabetisation, unification and nation-building, and Muriel joins in by pi...

In our last episode of 2025, Suzanne and Muriel consider soberly which is more atmospheric and replete with the spirit of Christmas - is it Dickens with Michael Caine and a cast of Muppets, or is it a pivotal bit of melodrama in Victor Hugo's social saga? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cheers! Santé! Suzanne retraces the history of a 1970s Soho brainwave of deliciousness and Muriel obeys the traditional Pavlovian call of Champenois fizz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suzanne brings a whole lotta Christmas to the table and parses the delights of the double issue of the Radio Times; Muriel unpacks a cult French sitcom about two contrasting lifestyles of the bourgeoisie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suzanne makes a compelling case for the evocative beauty of In the Bleak Midwinter and its landscape imagery infused with spirituality; Muriel wonders how Minuit, Chrétiens, a rousing carol authored by a Socialist firebrand and a stage composer, made it into the French Catholic choral canon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Muriel and Suzanne are swapping seasonal treats: masses of cheerful multicoloured candy vs a handful of meticulously crafted products of the terroir. Both delicious, but what do they say about the British and the French at Christmas? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suzanne takes a punt at the 2025 Christmas No1 and crowns 1984 as the very best vintage of British Christmas charts; Muriel explains how and why the French Christmas No1, a 'secular carol' by venerated crooner Tino Rossi, remains unchanged since 1946. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Suzanne unearths the story of a major British hobby and its relationship with landscape and the romance of the past. Why are the British obsessed with metal detecting? What is their Arthurian code of practice? What are portable antiquities? Who are the night hawkers? What does all this reveal about British attitudes to liberty, in stark contrast to France? Includes helpful pointers about buying the best meta...

Muriel tackles an awkward truth: the French may love rigour and rationality – France is the nation of Descartes, after all – but they are also susceptible to the allure of psychics, the alignment of the stars, and angels calling on the phone from beyond. How has this survived the advent of the Enlightenment and the Revolution? And what does it mean in terms of our relationship to super-forecasting and superstition, S...

In which Suzanne investigates profound differences between our two cultures by asking why the British tax year is not, like in France, aligned onto the calendar year. The answers, which astonish Muriel, are deeply rooted in Britain's relationship to the Continent. It's a story of mathematics and astrology, Popes, bishops and archbishops, Catholicism and the Reformation, and, of course, Acts of Parliament, which opens...

In the second half of our theatrical diptych, Muriel tells Suzanne about the 'atomic bomb' of the French theatre, an experimental Absurdist masterpiece by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco that became a classic of the French stage. It has neither plot nor psychology – only a lot of uneasy comic momentum, poking fun at the bourgeoisie. But how has it lasted so long? And why is it about British people?&nbsp...

Suzanne and Muriel consider the brilliance, longevity and significance of Agatha Christie's murder mystery play The Mousetrap, which has been running since 1952. Set in a country house isolated by bad weather, the play is a model of distinctly British sweet-and-sour eruption of violence in a cosy setting, and replete with red herrings and eccentric characters. The police inspector arrives on skis! It also ta...

It's Halloween and Muriel encourages Suzanne to think about the Gallic bones displayed and staged in the Paris Catacombs in a neo-classical early-19th-century mise-en-scène at once macabre and meditative. We also discover a contemporary underground scene of fun-loving secret explorers and hear about the time Suzanne dug up a medieval monk in Hampshire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

Following on from his book The Discovery of France, Graham Robb has produced another fascinating work of exploration, The Discovery of Britain. Graham's observations are rooted in extensive travel all over both countries on a Victorian invention, the bicycle, reconnecting with old pathways, landscapes and forgotten people. He shares with Suzanne and Muriel what he discovered about nomads and tribes, hedgerows and sta...

Would you Adam and Eve it? Suzanne tutors her 'old China' Muriel in a coded language that is full of wit, inventions and surprises. Rooted in old street cant and secret words identified in the 1850s, rhyming slang expresses the earthiness and supple playfulness inherent in the ways in which the British use their language. Does a French equivalent exist? And what's rhyming slang for Garlic & Pearls? Hoste...

Where Muriel explains the mythology of the actress, singer, animal activist and all-round contrarian. How did Bardot re-invent French femininity for the 20th century? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there a Californian landscape growing in Britain to the tune of half a million Giant Redwoods? Suzanne recounts the 19th-century story of adventurous plant collectors, explains how the seeds they brought home went to create the Victorian British landscape that surrounds us, and imagines a dizzying future, 3,000 years away, where thriving Redwoods reach colossal maturity in the British Isles. Alfred Hitchcock and a...

Muriel and Suzanne hop around the arrondissements of Paris explored by Chris Newens in his food memoir Moveable Feasts, comparing and contrasting cuisines, history, sociology and atmosphere. They also learn the logistics of making your own Belleville-style doner kebab. And what is the etiquette of eating brunch at a sex club in Pigalle? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where Suzanne ushers in autumn and educates a baffled Muriel in the great British game of conkers, at once nostalgic, ruthlessly competitive and controversial. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As guests of the Durning Library at the Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival, Muriel and Suzanne discuss Frenchness, Britishness and their podcast adventure. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 eyesores or ornaments? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 ancient Highland game of shinty or camanachd, evoking close historical ties between Irish and Scottish kingdoms and the hardy nature of a game that was traditionally played as a warm-up before battle between chieftains and clans and also used to settle love riva...

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 space, guilt and pleasure? Which nation is more courtly? Why do the British say sorry all the time? How aggressive is passive aggression? And who, ultimately, gets it right about manners – Tatler Magazine or the Académie Française? 17th-century moralist...

In a story of sheep, sailors, Royals, Résistants, football fans and actresses, practicality spars with glamour as Suzanne spots Welsh Monmouth caps in Shakespeare and unfurls 15th- and 16th-century Acts of Parliament that may have conditioned the British to reach for their woolly hats, while Muriel salutes the gigantic headgear of Alpine regiments and the French tête à chapeaux (head for hats). Plus: what happened wh...

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 harm and in signalling authority. But is the generalised wearing of it in Britain getting out of hand? Muriel looks through the political prism of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement, which in France appropriated the garment and turned it into a banner f...

Muriel recounts the story of Club Méditerranée, 'the antidote to civilisation' born in traumatised postwar France as a socialist-inflected dream of sporty egalitarianism in the sea and sun, its gradual drift into exoticism leaning into Enlightenment ideas of the state of nature, and its evolution from philanthropic utopia to deluxe multinational business.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

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 enjoyable camping and caravaning trips that the British cherish and retraces the story of the Victorian-Edwardian pioneers to fell in love with camping and rose to the challenge of its practicalities, revealing a surprising backst...

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 and Christianity and imagined a brand new way of thinking about time and the calendar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 both sides outside Lincoln Castle. Will you, like Suzanne, be heaving a sigh of relief as the covetous French are finally defeated, or bemoan, like Muriel, a tragic missed opportunity? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more ...

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 repelling of the French on 20th May 1217 at the Battle of Lincoln – throwing light on fierce rivalries for succession to the throne of England and for ownership of territories on the Norman side of the Channel, with much switching of allegiance, and on such for...

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 Parisian cafés, and into the heart of French escapism Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 background of enterprise, geopolitics - and marine insurance! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do France's homegrown theme parks tell us about Frenchness? asks Muriel. From the 'ethnographic exhibitions' at the Jardin d'Acclimatation to visionary vulcanologists in the Auvergne and spectacular historical romancing at Le Puy du Fou, controversy looms large! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 tale of gin addiction, oyster houses, fashionable crazes and absurd traditions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why does France have ID cards while Britain does not? Muriel unpacks a national narrative of medieval identity theft, Revolutionary ideals of collective nationhood, policing under the German Occupation and contentious 21st-century bilingualism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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, charm and meaning of this revolutionary one-storey design, associated with the seaside and hygienic living, with pioneering architects and refinements of snobbery, with the temporary and permanent, and with the topical question of how best to house the nation. Hos...

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 what inspired her? This opens up a story of Parisian Surrealism, when a group of artists explored liminal dream-like inspiration in visual arts, writing and film. Why did this happen in Paris specifically? And why did Surrealism never really take root in Britain...

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 make it and, by way of Shakespeare and  The Wind in the Willows , tells the history of the British quest for perfect toast and the development of toasting forks, toast racks and the toaster. A Frenchman, the chef and inventor Alexis Soyer, is the surp...

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 cult French TV programme about the sea lies beneath it? Why is the oceanographer Jacques Cousteau so revered in France? And deeper still, what iconic submarine novel and archetypal taciturn hero informed it all?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

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 industrial machinery, and explores what jigsaw puzzles do for us, what they mean, and why they are more popular than ever.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.