Meeting People
Amul Pandya converses with independent, adventurous and sometimes courteous free spirits. Creativity is an act of rebellion. Whether they are entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, investors, chefs, or corporate antagonists, Amul's guests all share a common disposition of not just pushing boundaries but re-drawing landscapes.
Episodes
19 episodes
Health Beyond Medicine: Professor Paul Crawford's Interdisciplinary Revolution
Paul Crawford is the pioneer and world's first professor of Health Humanities. Our conversation covered his years of work on how creative practices can enhance well-being in and out of the clinic. Alongside his academic work, he's a...
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1:38:02
Robert Tombs: Learning from history, greatness, academic inertia and more
Professor Robert Tombs is one of the world’s most accomplished historians. Our conversation covered questions not just relevant to today but of concern to prior and future generations. Winston Churchill’s advice is to “Study histor...
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1:57:49
Margaret Evison: Rising to challenges, coping with death, empowering adolescents
In 2009 Mark Evison was shot whilst leading a patrol in Helmand Province. Having been flown back to England, his mother Margaret was faced with no choice but to turn off his life support machine. She now runs the Mark Evison Foundat...
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1:17:50
Ben Kumar: London walks, taking risks, financial freedom, human strengths and foibles
Ben is a smart and thoughtful investor who frequently gives thousands of people valuable insights on financial markets through his social media channels and radio appearances. The conversation started with a walking tour of Ben’s favourite spot...
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1:49:38
Eugene Malthouse: Wellbeing, ham sandwiches and the Evolved Nest
My latest guest Eugene Malthouse has done cutting edge work in behavioural science for the likes of Nobel prize winner Richard Thaler. MOUTHFUL ALERT: He is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Decision Research and Experiment...
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1:37:45
Akhil Patel: The Secret Wealth Advantage
I confess coming to this conversation as a sceptic. An 18.6 year property cycle feels too deterministic and over-reliant on backfitting data to support a fallacious narrative. Even if it’s true, how actionable is it? However, having sat down wi...
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1:21:40
Nigel McGilchrist: Living with the ancients, the importance of beauty, and the birth of the modern world
As people who have been kind enough to follow the pod know, I seek to converse with adventurous, rebellious (and sometimes courteous) free spirits. Not only does my latest guest, Nigel McGilchrist fit this endeavour, but so does the subject of ...
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1:28:36
Fred Harrison: Georgism, rent-seeking, avoiding anarchy and unleashing our economic potential
What do The Queen's Gambit, L.A. Confidential, The Wire, and Chinatown have in common? The baddies are attempting to free ride on other people's hard work through buying land. For my latest episode, I interviewed Fred Harrison who is an...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:10:43
Sasha Papadin: A Renaissance Man
It's not often one gets to sit down with a bona fide Renaissance Man. When not restoring vintage furniture in Northern California, Sasha Papadin is a singer, songwriter, DJ, producer, and instrumentalist. He also is one of the most erudite peop...
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1:25:23
Sophie Beeley: autism, parenting, Raising Daisy, and the waggle dance.
The more reductive amongst us have bucketed autism as a disability and drag on resources. The reality is that it is much more. In one of the most challenging but fulfilling conversations I’ve had since starting the podcast I sat down with Sophi...
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1:17:40
Peter Botting: political campaigning, storytelling, career building - from Malawi to Westminster
Peter Botting has been an indispensable ally of politicians, c-suite executives, and founders over many years. As the CEO of a FTSE 250 company put it "When it's a big gig. When it really matters, you call for Peter." It was great that...
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1:38:41
Medha Wilson: Giving hope not handouts to female entrepreneurs in Southern Africa
In 2012, Mrs Mkonde borrowed £13 from the MicroLoan Foundation to expand her business (a single tomato stall) to help feed her eight children and pay for their education. She received training and business skills. Today she is an employer with ...
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56:17
Alex Martin: Crime fiction, decadence, Monty Python, Shakespeare, The Bible and creativity
From researching for Monty Python to writing crime fiction, Alex Martin’s life has been rich with creativity, adventure, and learning. His experiences frame our discussion which includes how to tackle Shakespeare, the importance of beauty and t...
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1:29:16
Franklin Shillingford: Role models, youthwork, gentrification, Hackney's future
In my first episode, Simon Evan-Cook made a prediction that the effects of cuts to social services made years ago will start to manifest themselves with higher crime rates in the coming decade. This latest conversation with Franklin Shillingfor...
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1:41:30
Matt Cooper: Understanding the imagination and creativity through film making, writing, people and adventure.
Making new friends gets harder as one ages which makes it all the more joyous when it does happen later in life. It is a privilege to count Matt Cooper as one and I was thrilled to be able to sit down with him and talk about his journey from ho...
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1:39:21
Chris Snowdon: public health nemesis, timezone activist, epidemiologist, military strategist, energy analyst, and more...
Puritans of old used theology as a tool to proscribe behaviour they disapproved of. Their descendents use statistics. In my latest episode I speak with Chris Snowdon who is head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs. We di...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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1:26:55
Revolutionizing Recycling: Polytag's QR Codes, Productivity Insights, and the Future of Work-Life Balance - Alice Rackley
"Actions speak louder than words" is a hackneyed phrase but nowhere is it more applicable than with Alice Rackley and the plastics problem. I really enjoyed to speaking to the CEO of Polytag; a circular economy focused company looking to tackle...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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40:28
Simon Evan-Cook - the Winston Wolf of investing
Richard Feynman once said "If you can't explain something in simple terms, you don't understand it." Simon not only explains challenging topics with simplicity but also throws in a healthy dose of entertainment. I was gripped from start to fini...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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1:28:33