References To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic American novel by the late, great Harper Lee. It was also made into a stunning movie featuring Gregory Peck as every woman’s highly confusing boyfriend/father figure, Atticus Finch. My niece, Nerea Li Santi, is a silversmith who makes both quirky pieces of jewellery from her brilliant imagination and also creates bespoke pieces to order. This is her Etsy shop. Rumer Godden was a prolific, popular author that not many people seem to remember these days. She wrote over 60 adult fiction, children’s fiction, nonfiction and poetry books, several of which were made into movies, including my favourite, The River. Here is the…

L: Mixed lollies R: milk bar in the ’70s or early ’80s. See the cardboard boxes under the counter? That’s the lollies. And the people behind the counter didn’t think twice about sticking their bare hands inside. And we didn’t think twice about eating the lollies. Correction What planet was I on? The place you can get a free copy of the Pillow Talking zine is not “Free Zine volcano” but Small Zine Volcano. Ay, ay, ay. Find them here: Small Zine Volcano. This episode’s stories Rehearsal by Scarlett A Moments of Vulnerability by Cassie Breathless Giggles by Caroline Merton I Wish I Knew by Anonymous Of Rings and Hankies by…

Get your FREE Pillow Talking zine from Sticky Institute, or send away for one from anywhere in the world at Small Zine Volcano. References Esther Perel is an author, therapist, and speaker, and probably has the highest-regarded podcast about couples: Where should we begin? It’s also totally addicting. The Making of Love by Steve and Shaaron Biddulph is a bit tricky to get these days as a hard copy, but easily available in e-book format. 36 questions to fall in love Charlie Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator Archie Bunker is the prejudiced main character of All In The Family, a groundbreaking sitcom. This scene with Sammy Davis, Jr., is…

References Letters Live is “A celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence.” Check them out here: Letters Live website. They create wonderful letter-reading events in the UK (only the UK, I think), but luckily for the rest of us elsewhere in the world, the videos are almost as good. Here are the ones I mention: Sanjeev Bhaskar reads Napoleon’s letters to his wife Joséphine, played by Miriam Margolyes Matt Berry reads a husband’s plea to his wife about their intimate relations Gerald Durrell to Lee McGeorge – Read by Tom Hiddleston This episode’s stories Out of Sync by Linda The Silence Said It All by Two Part 3 by…

References and resources The quote and title of this week’s ep comes from the 2010 movie, The Switch. It’s not meaning-of-life stuff, but a pleasant jammies-all-day, cold-pizza-for-breakfast watch nonetheless. The official name of The Grampians is Grampians National Park. The name given by its traditional owners, the Jardwadjali people, is Gariwerd. I took a mass of pix on this trip, like I always do, but here are just a few – and a video of a bunch of loud, pterodactyl-ey cockatoos. “Mongolian blue spot” is an informal (and slightly non-PC) term for congenital dermal melanocytosis. The spots are also known as slate gray nevi. Although this story didn’t feature violence,…

Émile Zola a was a French novelist, journalist, and playwright. I have only ever read a few of his works but the one I mention (in very bad French pronunciation, sorry), Thérèse Raquin, is the one that stayed with me. You can read and download Thérèse Raquin in a bunch of formats over at Project Gutenberg. This episode’s stories Little Jerk by Ed Part I by Mezza Arancia Something Iffy by Lainie Dryer Sheets by Walker Raigh of the Scratch and Sniff podcast Submit your story.

References and resources The quote “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing” is attributed to the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw. He was a fascinating man and I love many of his works (particularly and predictably the musical adaptation of Pygmalion, My Fair Lady) but one of the things that’s always tickled me is that his housekeeper and cook released a cookbook of Shaw’s favourite vegetarian recipes. Sabayon is a dessert thought to have originated in Italy, where it’s known as zabaglione or zabaione. It’s made exactly as the pillow talker describes, by placing egg yolks, sugar and some sort of liquid…

References and resources There’s a lot of information out there on how colours enter the world’s languages, but I really ejoyed this vid: Why The Ancient Greeks Couldn’t See Blue. Offred is the protagonist in The Handmaid’s Tale. “Betty and Veronica” refers to Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, the two girls that have kept Archie torn for the past 82 years in Archie Comics. It’s All Right With Me is a song written by Cole Porter for the musical Can-Can. Here are my favourite versions: By Frank Sinatra By Ella Fitzgerald By Tom Waits By Oleta Adams Finally, check out The Cone of Silence 2 – ain’t she sweet? This…

References and resources The quote Con H. refers to is from Walden, by Henry David Thoreau: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. You can read or download Walden in a range of eBook formats for free at Project Gutenberg. If you’ve never heard the word “puttana” before, here’s a definition. Kulfi is a a frozen Indian dessert found in several Asian countries; it’s flavoured with saffron, cardamom, and pistachios and is quite delicious. My favourite recipe for it is from Kitchen @ Hoskins Finally, if you’re concerned (and I hope you are) about having diverse, accurate, and reliable media, check out what Kevin Rudd is up to…

References and resources Dylan Thomas at Poetry Foundation Recent paper on romance fiction from The Journal of Popular Culture – Genre Worlds and Popular Fiction: The Case of Twenty‐First‐Century Australian Romance The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer How to Be Good by Nick Hornby This episode’s stories I Really Was a Wanker by Thylan Domas A Fine Romance by J. Stott Feminist Frenzy by Anonymous How To Be Good, In Bed by Edie Submit your story