5/4 - Anatomy of a Music Festival

‘You’re creating a City in the middle of the country’

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From Glastonbury to The End Of The Road, Summer festivals continue to colonise the countryside. But how do people pull together such enormous events year after year?

In our 2017 Summer Festivals Special, Olly meets Pete Lawrence, co-founder of The Big Chill, which went from being a low-key ‘festival in a club’ for 150 people in Islington to an massive outdoor happening, taking over huge venues across Britain, with acts including Lily Allen, The Proclaimers, Basement Jaxx, and Leonard Cohen.

How do you choose the perfect location for your booming event? How can you maintain a counter-culture ethos whilst wooing corporate sponsors? And how can you keep the Police on-side when so many attendees are doing drugs? Pete - now founder of campfireconvention.uk - reveals all...

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Meanwhile, in this week’s Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart - fresh from sitting near Kate Adie at a train station - previews some Summer festivals you’ve never heard of, but should get tickets for NOW. In his top three are G!, in the Faroe Islands; the Archstoyanie Land Art Festival, 200 km southwest of Moscow; and, closer to home, the Brainchild festival, a ‘DIY and volunteer-led festival’ in East Sussex. Also, he explains why every festivalgoer needs a BioLite camping stove and Minipresso portable espresso machine, and receives an exciting invitation to Camp Bestival as part of his quest to become a true trends insider.

Elsewhere, Alix Fox brings news of sex festival Swingfields in this week’s Foxhole, and has a surprising suggested use for Original Source Mint and Tea Tree shower gel. She also tackles another prickly listener question - this week, how to speed up ejaculation when trying to conceive a child within your partner’s most fertile window of conception.

The Foxhole is sponsored by the sex legends who created mycondom.com. They stock all you need for festive fumble in a tent - including the cooling condoms Alix highlights this week. Remember to use our discount code ‘FOXHOLE’ to receive a bewildering 15% off.

If you have a question of sex for a future edition, do get in touch via our Feedback form - you can remain completely anonymous if you wish.

Finally, our song of the week is by brand new outfit Videocean. They sent us their debut track, ‘Fruitless Fever’, and we loved it. It’s out now on uber-cool underground imprint Bon Nudity:

If you enjoy this week's show, please do support us and buy us a beer, write us a review on iTunes, or simply tell your friends about us.

See You Next Tuesday!

5/3 - I See Dead People

"The more we talk about death, the less it will take us by surprise"

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Pathology technician Carla Valentine always knew she wanted to work with corpses. In childhood, she conducted funerals for roadkill. These days, she is curator of the Barts Pathology Museum, and a passionate advocate for more awareness about what happens when the mortuary doors swing shut...

In this interview with Olly, she reveals how to prepare for an autopsy, how to get a sense of how a person lived from examining their remains, and how to create that ‘look of gentle repose’ so important to grieving families. You’ll discover when rigor mortis starts, how identify the difference between primary and secondary flaccidity, and you'll learn about alkaline hydrolosis (‘the new cremation’) and the American trend for being embalmed sitting up.

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If you'd like to hear more from Carla, do check out her excellent book, Past Mortems.

For this week’s Lifehack, Sasha Morgan from Peckham-based arts educational charity Bold Everywhere reveals her top tips to run a successful meeting: know your objectives, invite the right people, and assemble your allies before the meeting even commences! The Lifehack is supported by our friends at Squarespace.com - if you want to build yourself a beautiful website, there is no better port of call. There’s a two-week free trial, and then use our offer code ‘MANN’ to get 10% off your first year’s subscription.

Ollie's quest hits another stumbling block...

Meanwhile, in The Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart’s quest to become a true trends insider continues. This week, he inches ever-closer to being able to *touch a Nando’s black card*, and learns why TV presenter Emma Willis will NEVER be allowed such an honour. He also considers the trends for brand disloyalty and dockless bike sharing. If you think you can help Ollie with his mission, contact him on Twitter.

Meanwhile, down the Foxhole, Alix Fox reveals why, when it comes to condoms, there are such things as ‘teat-less wonders’. She also explains what spermatorrhea is, why she’s created a new sexual term, ‘ledging’, and why - despite detesting the book - she has a certain fondness for the Fifty Shades Of Grey toy crossovers.

The Foxhole is sponsored by our friends at mycondom.com. They stock all you need for a legendary night in the sack - or many more to come. Remember to use our discount code ‘FOXHOLE’ to receive an astonishing 15% off! And, if you have a question of sex for a future edition, do get in touch via our Feedback form.

Finally, our song of the week is Machine, by The Horrors - out now:

If you enjoy this week's show, please do support us and buy us a beer, write us a review on iTunes, or simply tell your friends about us.

See You Next Tuesday!

5/2 - Micronesia's Got Talent

“We were playing on a frog-infested marsh, and it was always raining”

Paul Watson realised he would never play football for England - so attempted, instead, to be recruited by the worst international team in the world. His quest lead him to Pohnpei, Micronesia; and, although he never realised his dream of becoming an international soccer star, he ended up coaching them instead... 

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What's it like training a team 9000 miles away from home, in a country with no football culture? What is the beautiful game's secret at bringing communities together? And how can one recover after a defeat against the Guam Crushers?

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Paul wrote a brilliant book about his adventures, Up Pohnpei, which you can buy here. Thanks to Mannfan Tom Cotton for suggesting Paul as a guest - if you have an idea for a future edition of the show, just get in touch using our Feedback form.

Meanwhile, in this week's Lifehack, Rosie Slosek of themoneyhaven.com offers up her three top tips to women about 'how to liberate your man from his job'. (Heads up, chaps: it involves actually talking to your girlfriend once in a while). The Lifehack is supported by our friends at Squarespace.com - head there to nab yourself a beautiful website, and get a cracking 10% OFF a year's subscription when you use our offer code 'Mann'. 

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Did Andi Peters really invent the Nando's Black Card? The plot thickens...

In this week's Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart considers how many petaflops are required to play Anthem on Microsoft's new XBox One X, whips up a bowl of savoury yoghurt to test out this Summer's hot new food trend, and updates Olly on his progress to become a freemason, get VIP access to a Summer festival, and touch a Nando's black card.

Down the Foxhole, Alix Fox is high on pink grapefruit flavoured oxygen, yet still finds time to answer Phil (34)'s question about dating in Bristol. How should a night-shift worker find himself some afternoon delight? Alix has the answer. It involves brunch.

If you have a question of sex for Alix, just fill in our Feedback form. The Foxhole is brought to you by our good friends at mycondom.com. They stock everything you need for a night of INTENSE passion; just remember to use our discount code 'FOXHOLE' to get 15% off.

Finally, our Song of the Week is The Gold by the ace Manchester Orchestra, out now on Loma Vista:

That's it for this week - if you enjoy what we do, please do buy us a beer, write us a review on iTunes, and subscribe to the show to hear the latest episodes first.

See You Next Tuesday!

5/1 - Serving the Super-Rich

“Everybody’s got a sixth sense. I’ve got a seventh sense.”

There are more billionaires than ever. Rockstars. Oil tycoons. Internet entrepreneurs.

And all of them - all of them - employ private staff. The age of Jeeves and Wooster may be over, but the demand for a dependable butler remains.

Lawrence McKenna has been serving the super-rich for three decades, including stints in private suites in London's poshest hotels and the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. In this interview with Olly, he reveals how to remain invisible yet available; poised to deliver whatever a ‘principal’ desires, from obscure coffee beans to a mid-coital cuppa. He explains how to carry a plate, when to say ‘yes’ and when to simply say ‘it can be done’, and how to prepare *just chilled* mineral water to the taste of a Saudi trillionaire...

LISTEN NOW:

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Thanks to Randolph’s butlers agency for introducing us to Lawrence, and the Mann-fans at SNK Studios for providing us a space to record our interview.

Meanwhile, in this week’s Lifehack, meet Rudy Budhdeo: a man who knows how to wear jeans. As CEO of world-leading store Son Of A Stag, he tells us his top three life-hacks for buying, washing and manipulating raw denim. The Lifehack is sponsored by our friends at Squarespace.com. You can design yourself a truly beautiful website - like this one! - using their simple and delightful tools. Take out a free trial for a fornight, and then, if you want to sign up, get 10% OFF for a year by using our code, ‘Mann’.

Elsewhere, in this week’s Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart, who definitely doesn’t want to talk about Fidget Spinners, instead examines the world of ‘Snapbot queue-jumpers’ and puzzling YouTube phenomenon Poppy.

He is also set a new challenge: to become a true trends insider by the end of the series.

To do this, he must:

• Become Twitter verified

• Hold a Nando’s black card

• Become a Freemason

• Try the latest cult skin care treatment or product

• Sit at a chef’s table

• Successfully enrol on an elite dating app

• Acquire triple AAA access to a festival

• Get tickets to the London transfer of Hamilton

• Take a parliamentary ‘ghost train’

... If you think you can help him with any of these missions, do get in touch.

Down the Foxhole, Alix Fox - fresh from having her senses awakened at Open Senses - reveals the surprising history of vasectomies, and explains why there’s a trend for millennial men to get the snip at a younger age than you might expect. She also assists a listener concerned that his forthcoming vasectomy might affect his sexual sensation. If you have a question of sex for Alix, just reach out via our Feedback form - you can remain anonymous if you so choose.

This fifth series of sex questions comes to your ears thanks to our friends at mycondom.com. They truly are a marvel: in fact, if you’re going to sleep with anyone, we strongly advise you visit them first. And remember to use the code ‘FOXHOLE’ when you do, to get 15% off.

Finally, our Song of the Week is ‘My Lover Cindy’ by Marika Hackman. Her new album is out now on Sub Pop Records:

... It’s great to be back. See You Next Tuesday!

4/10 - Yours Sincerely

Is there still a place for the pen-and-paper, posted letter?

Alison Hitchcock thinks so: when she discovered her friend Brian Greenley had cancer, she decided to write him regular letters throughout his treatment - initially as an attempt to cheer him up, and then as companionship through some of his darkest hours.

In this interview with Olly, she recalls how writing over a hundred letters to Brian helped get them both through a difficult chapter, and deepened their friendship immeasurably...

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LISTEN NOW:

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You can find out more about them, and get tips on how to write to a friend with cancer, at frommetoyouletters.co.uk

In this week’s Lifehack, Ariele Rovati from Brewdog shares his top three tips on how to start your own microbrewery, courtesy of Squarespace. If you want to build yourself a beautiful website, simply visit Squarespace.com and use the code to 'MANN' to get 10% OFF a year's subscription.

Meanwhile, over in The Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart highlights lab-grown meat lobbying, wonders whether ‘Snaplications’ are the future of job applications, and previews Brian Thompson’s meta-podcast ‘Whatever Happened To Pizza At McDonald’s?’. If you want more Ollie in your life, do check out his video series, Modern Mann Extra.

And, in The Foxhole, Alix Fox reveals why DEMO might be the new FOMO, and has wise words for listener Andrew as to the best way to find a willing woman for a forthcoming threesome: “the way people are in the streets is not always how they are between the sheets!”. (If you want to check out the apps Alix suggests Andrew might use to his advantage, take a look at Feeld, Trippple, and Whiplr).

The Foxhole is sponsored by our friends at mycondom.com, who supply an incredible range of condoms, lube and sex toys. Visit their site and get 15% OFF at Checkout if you use our discount code, 'Foxhole'. If you have a question of sex for Alix, just use the Feedback form - you can remain anonymous if you wish.

Finally, our record of the week is Talk 2 Her by Toronto outfit Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs. You can listen to all the music we’ve played this series in our Spotify playlist.

That's it for this series of the show - but we’ll be back for Season Five on the first Tuesday in June. In the meantime, do check out Olly and Producer Matt's 'other' show, The Week Unwrapped.

And, please - if you value this podcast, and independent podcasting generally, do buy us a beer - every penny we get goes back into supporting the show, and we really appreciate it.