3/5 - The World's Most Productive Man

Health, Happiness, and How To Better Use Your Time.

View fullsize

‘Productivity’ is a term that gets tossed around a lot: you should be more productive at work; the nation needs to be more productive in general... But what does it actually mean? There are only so many hours in the day - are there really lifehacks that can help us make better use of the limited time we have to boost our output iAND lead happier lives?

One man who knows is Chris Bailey - in a series of experiments, he spent a year trying out productivity techniques such as goal-setting, meditation and early rising, and measured actual outcomes. In this interview with Olly, he reveals his top productivity tips, dismisses the industry of ‘productivity porn’, and speaks up for the positive role of caffeine...

DOWNLOAD NOW:

• MP3

• iTunes

• PocketCasts

• TuneIn

Elsewhere, Ollie Peart fills The Zeitgeist with news of the new Metrosexual: the Spornasexual; predicts the welcome demise of shared plates; and celebrates the trend for non-confrontational reality TV - while it lasts...

Meanwhile, in The Foxhole, Alix Fox has bad news for frequenters of notorious London sex-sauna Rio’s, and some tips for a listener whose wife wants to watch porn with him. The Foxhole is sponsored by mycondom.com - enter the code FOXHOLE at checkout for an outrageous 15% off.

Music this week comes courtesy of Foreign Fields and their new single Dry, out now on Caroline Records:

If you have any feedback about the show, you’d like to buy us a beer, or you have a question of sex for Alix, you're in the right place. If you'd like to tell other people about how amazing our show is, head on down to iTunes.com/Mann and leave us a review - we really appreciate it!

See You Next Tuesday!

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.

3/3 - Part-Time Hero

‘You can actually drown in a tiny amount of water’  

The RNLI lifeboats don’t just save lives at sea - they also rescue people on rivers. London’s Thames is teeming with party-boats, where drunken misadventure can lead to injury. Meanwhile, troubled ‘jumpers’, suffering from poor mental health, all too often consider suicide by plunging into its depths.

View fullsize

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, Amber Bowie may be the woman who comes to your rescue. In this interview with Olly, she explains how cold water shock can render you senseless, why washing-up liquid can be a surprisingly useful tool on-board a warship, and why, alongside her full-time job as a London architect, she volunteers to save lives at the weekend...

If you’re inspired by Amber’s story, you can volunteer for the RNLI, or donate to this incredible charity via their website, RNLI.org

In The Zeitgeist this week, Ollie Peart considers the merits of sunglasses which block facial recognition, watches the trailer for Trainspotting 2 and wonders whether watermelon juice and 'banana freakshake' will be the liquid trends of 2017.

And, in our weekly trip down The Foxhole, Alix Fox visits notorious North London sex sauna Rio’s, and offers some advice for a listener preparing for their first ever visit to S&M club Torture Garden. 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.

Finally, our track of the week is by Saint Sister. It’s called Tin Man and it’s out on the 16th December on Communion Records:

This episode is supported by Beer52, the UK’s number one craft beer club. As a Modern Mann listener you can get a box of eight delicious craft beers sent directly to your home or your office for only £12: that’s 50% off! All you need to do is head over to Beer52.com/Modern52 to claim your half-price first box, with no obligation to keep subscribing.

If you would like to support the show as well, then please do consider donating us some beer money or leaving us a review on iTunes - always much appreciated!

And if you have a question of sex for Alix, you’d like to send us some feedback, or would like to sponsor a future edition of the show, just click here.

See You Next Tuesday!

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.

• DOWNLOAD NOW:

• MP3

• iTunes

• PocketCasts

• TuneIn

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:

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...

View fullsize

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

• DOWNLOAD NOW:

• MP3

• iTunes

• PocketCasts

• TuneIn

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.

View fullsize

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:

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...