Garlic & Pearls cover art

All Episodes

Garlic & Pearls — 113 episodes

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Title
1

Summer Postcards: Pastis

2

Stripy Tops: From Devil's Cloth to Top French Icon

3

Pub Quizzes: The Nation's Favourite 'Brit of Fun'!

4

The Institut Français du Royaume-Uni: Britain's Official Portal into French Culture!

5

The Letter J: The Mind-Blowing Creation Story of a British Sound

6

The Great Paris Flood of 1910: The City of Light vs Nature!

7

Bell Ringing: Unique Performing Art and England's 'Loud Noise to the Glory of God'!

8

Debora Robertson: What We Get Wrong About France

9

Zebra Crossings: Freedom, Safety and British Science in Black and White!

10

The 100th Episode: Our Peak-Britain and Peak-France Chart-Toppers!

11

May 68: How and Why France Dreamed Up Another Revolution

12

The Blue Willow Pattern: A Tale of Romance, Bone and Clay

13

The Laughing Cow: The Quintessential French Cheese

14

The Monarch of the Glen: The Surprisingly Passionate Tale of Landseer's Emblematic Masterpiece

15

The French Garden: Making Nature Artificial, Mathematical and Political!

16

Labrador Retrievers: Did the British Invent the Perfect Dog?

17

The Flâneur: Why The French Walk More Slowly Than The British

18

Daffodils: The Poetic Icon that Means Booming Business for Britain

19

The Café Waiter: Working-class hero? Towering Figure of Haughty Frenchness?

20

Cagoules: The Great British Cover Up

21

French Baddies in Film: Bad Eggs and Dark Horses

22

Ken Loach's Kes: Urchin Rebel Bonds With Wild Kestre in Quintessential British Film

23

A Very French Scandal: Naked Woman at Picnic! Manet’s revolutionary Déjeuner sur l'herbe

24

The Guinness Book of Records: Superlative feats! Nature's wonders! Fun for dictators!

25

Brittany: The French Wild West - Celtic Identity, Pancakes, Memories of Dukes and Power!

26

Football: Britain's Gift to the World!

27

French Brothels of the Golden Age: Sex, theatricality, escapism!

28

A Study in Silver: The cryptic British world of precious metals, their hallmarks, assays, and guilds

29

La dictée: How did a school spelling test become a French obsession and symbol of Frenchness?

30

The Christmas Tale Face-Off: A Christmas Carol or Les Misérables?

31

The Christmas Drink Face-Off: Indulgent Irish Cream or astringent coupe de champagne?

32

The Christmas Telly Face-Off: Reithian British Monument or Gallic social satire?

33

The Christmas Carol Face-Off: Pre-Raphaelite Poetry or Socialist Manifesto?

34

The Christmas Treat Face-Off: Quality Street or marrons glacés?

35

The Christmas Chart-Topper Face-Off: Beguiling Pop or Kitsch Cosiness?

36

Metal Detectors: What goes 'beep beep' all over the land and is typically British? The gentle army of treasure seekers hoping to find an Anglo-Saxon hoard!

37

French Politicians and Clairvoyants: The French worship Reason and critical thinking, don't they? So why do Presidents (and mayors), who serve the French Republic, love the occult so much? 

38

The British Tax Year: The French tax year is aligned on the calendar year, but not the British. Why not? Popes, Catholicism, the Reformation!

39

Greatest Play Ever! Britain vs France, part 2. The Bald Prima Donna - Zany Avant-Garde on the Paris Left Bank

40

Greatest Play Ever! Britain vs France, part 1. The Mousetrap - Agatha Christie's Not So Cosy West End Whodunnit

41

The Paris Catacombs: palace of death, gigantic memento mori and a way of solving the problem of excess bones

42

Graham Robb: The Real Making of Britain and France: A myth-busting, panoramic trip through time and space

43

Rhyming Slang: A distinctly British and creative code that's definitely not 'brown bread'

44

Brigitte Bardot: Top French Icon and The Face of France

45

Giant Redwoods in the UK: A story of intrepid botanists and explorers, and a Victorian British craze

46

Chris Newens: How to Eat Everything in Paris

47

Conkers: from Victorian pastime to urban Battle Royale

48

An Evening with Garlic & Pearls: where Muriel and Suzanne make their first live appearance!

49

French Roundabouts: are they about safety, strategy or symbolism?

50

Shinty: 'Quite a violent version of hockey'

51

Summer Shorts: The 'Sorry' and 'Pardon' face off

52

Summer Shorts: The béret and bobble hat face off

53

Summer Shorts: The high vis jacket and gilet jaune face off

54

Club Med: From campsites in Spanish pine groves to Tahitian 'villages' in Morocco, how the French brought their edenic dream holiday to life 

55

British Camping: How Britain devised a distinctively gruelling kind of holiday which is part dream and part nightmare.

56

The Revolutionary Calendar: How French utopians tried to recalibrate time and reshape Republican humanity

57

1217: The French Invasion You Never Knew About (Part 2)

58

1217: The French Invasion You Never Knew About (Part 1)

59

Orangina: How a home-grown Algerian drink became a French icon

60

Pirates: Why the British treasure the Robin Hoods of the seas

61

French Theme Parks: Running the Gamut From Fun to Propaganda

62

Pimms: The journey, joys and jeopardy of the quintessential British summer drink

63

Identity Cards: A French story of the struggle between liberté and securité

64

Bungalows: The perfect British design for living?

65

Surrealism: How and why Paris became a vortex for artists unleashing the subconscious

66

Toast: An ode to distinctly British crisp buttered deliciousness – with some true crime thrown in

67

Into the Deep: What draws the French so powerfully to the briny depths?

68

Jigsaw Puzzles: The amazing British invention that went from geographical 'dissection' to universally popular form of meditation

69

The Metric System: Born of a perfect storm of Enlightenment and Revolution

70

Bluebells: Why does this enchanting native blue flower make the British giddy?

71

Glamour: What – and who – do the French find so bewitching about Britain?

72

Panache: How a French king's white feather came to define a Gallic core value

73

Eccentrics: Why do they grow in Britain and not in France?

74

Insouciance: What is it and can the British ever achieve it?

75

The Theatre of Horrors: How the visceral Grand-Guignol thrilled Paris to the core

76

Trailer: Garlic & Pearls Cordiale Corkers

77

Rescue Puppies: The whys and wherefores of Britain’s unparalleled devotion to animals

78

The Map of Love: How a modern Frenchwoman from the 17th-century imagined courtship as a hike through an imaginary landscape

79

Harris Tweed: How sturdy wool woven in the outer Hebrides became the very fabric of Britishness

80

The Misfortunes of Sophie: A darkly vivid 1850s classic that still shapes and fascinates French children today

81

Ski Sunday: How the British fell in love with skiing and made it fun

82

Absinthe: Was the iconic drink of the Belle Epoque enchanting or poisonous?

83

Valentine’s Day: How French amour courtois turned into Victorian enterprise

84

Johnny Hallyday: The French Elvis?

85

The Orsini Bomb: Made in Britain and designed to kill the French Emperor!

86

The Black Polo Neck: French national dress, political uniform, or philosophical flag?

87

Wheelie Bins: Blessing or curse?

88

The Concierge: The pantomime villain that the French love to hate?

89

Marmalade: Who invented it and how did it become a shortcut for Britishness?

90

Galette Des Rois: Let them eat cake - for the Epiphany!

91

The Christmas Pudding Sandwich: Perfect for Boxing Day!

92

Flaming Boar’s Head Feast: All hail ‘the rarest dish in all the land’!

93

The Discreet Charm of Presents on Christmas Eve: Scrap the suspense! Presents now!

94

Crackers: Bang bang! It’s Christmas!

95

Oysters: It’s Christmas –: bring on the piles of ice-cold raw shellfish!

96

France’s Ultimate Christmas Film: Father Christmas is a Git!

97

Panto!: Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is!

98

Trailer - Garlic & Pearls Christmas Corkers

99

The Cockerel’s Cologne: Did the French invent perfume or did perfume invent the French?

100

Bleakness: A dark poetic paradise in the heartland of the Industrial Revolution

101

Le Comic Strip: Girl fights pterodactyl in Belle Epoque Paris!

102

My Favourite A Road: Driving by numbers

103

Marseille Soap: France’s cleanest national treasure

104

Hassocks: English folk art and cultural identity in stitches

105

Donkey Skin: Catherine Deneuve in the weirdest fairy tale you’ve never heard of

106

Halloween: Turnips and chisels at the ready – we’re carving a path to the celebration's spooky roots!

107

Playing Cards: The French never miss a trick!

108

Hedgerows: A tale of British countryside, folklore and riots!

109

La Cantine: How does the French Republic create petits gastronomes?

110

Sir Nigel Gresley: All aboard! Full steam ahead with a very British passion!

111

The Four-Colour Bic Pen: What goes “click” and is mightier than the sword?

112

Pickled Onions: Crossing a culinary chasm

113

Garlic & Pearls: What makes the British so British and the French so French?