Solid Gold Podcasts

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Channel • 102 Shows

Management

Management

Updated 21/06/2021
Music

Music

Updated 5 Feb
Places & Travel

Places & Travel

Updated 25 Mar
Education

Education

Updated 10/11/2025
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated 11/12/2025
Arts

Arts

Updated 4 May
Personal Journals

Personal Journals

Updated 21/04/2021

21/06/2021

Leonardo, Lock-down and Lateral Thinking

Martin Kemp (Trinity College, Oxford | Emeritus Professor) In this episode, Tracey Camilleri talks to Oxford art historian, author, academic and world expert on Leonardo da Vinci, Professor Martin Kemp. Originally trained as a scientist, Kemp speaks about the advantages of looking at the world through multiple lenses and disciplines. He considers the importance of authenticity and the crucial difference between fakes and the real thing. He reflects on the toppling of statues in response to Black Lives Matter (#BLM) and how some images, like that of Che Guevara, become icons. As an expert in looking and focused noticing, he discusses the current pandemic and how the virus is represented visually. Above all he reflects on the messiness of being human in a digital world of AI and computer simulation. Connect with Martin on LinkedIn · Martin Kemp's website with links to his books, lectures and research · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

21/06/2021

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30 min
18/01/2021

Reading Between the Lines: Language and Power

Tracey Camilleri Talks to Ben Morgan This episode was recorded just after the US election but has clear resonance for now as the inauguration of Joe Biden takes place. Tracey talks to poet, academic, essayist and writer Ben Morgan who looks under the bonnet at how language really works and why, when used well, it is so effective. How was the outburst of joy around the vaccine and the US election expressed? What is powerful about the way Joe Biden use language? What can we learn from the first lines of Hamlet? Why do certain metaphors work? What's the secret of getting the tone right? Why is Greta Thunberg such a skilful user of rhetoric? Join us for this enjoyable pick through the bones and muscles of the way we speak now. Dr Ben Morgan is a writer, critic and tutor based in Oxford. He has published poetry widely, including a long sequence, 'Medea in Corinth' (Poetry Salzburg, 2018), which retells the Greek myth in modern forms. He is completing a book on Shakespeare and the idea of political justice for Princeton University Press. He also writes essays and reviews for a range of publications, as well as teaching Shakespeare studies and English to undergraduates at Oxford and beyond, with a particular focus on visiting students. More about Prof Ben Morgan · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

18/01/2021

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30 min
23/02/2021

The Joys of the 'Not to Do List'

Tracey Camilleri talks to Kathryn Bishop In this episode Kathryn Bishop (Director of Oxford Said Business School's Women Transforming Leadership Programme and The Oxford Women's Leadership Development Programme) talks about her new book 'Make Your Own Map'. The book is designed as a practical strategy guide for aspiring women. Kathryn explains some of the tools that she uses to help women to navigate their way to more satisfying futures. In the conversation with Tracey Camilleri, they reflect amongst other things on imposter syndrome, the particular quality of all-female environments, the masculine/feminine continuum when it comes to leadership styles and questions like - why it is that female voices often go unheard? Kathryn balances research with stories of the real women she has worked with - as well as giving us some gems of practical wisdom - such as the joys of the 'Not to Do List'. Oxford Women's Leadership Development Programme · Women Transforming Leadership Programme (Oxford Said Business School) · Make Your Own Map by Kathryn Bishop · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

23/02/2021

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27 min
09/09/2024

Tim Atkins 2024 SA Report hits our winelands | Tim Atkin

At 332 pages and more than 110,000 words, Tim Atkin's 2024 South Africa Special Report is by far his most comprehensive overview of the world’s seventh-largest producer. Join Carrie and Tim for a fun chat about it all! Get the Report here · Visit our online shop · Carrie's Connoisseurs on YouTube · Produced by Solid Gold Podcasts

09/09/2024

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44 min
4 MAY

S07 E07 Damon Galgut

Damon Galgut is one of South Africa's most distinguished writers. He won the Booker Prize in 2021 for The Promise, which was his third novel to be shortlisted for the award. Damon joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how writing seems to become more difficult as the years go by, and how strenuously he wrestles with a first draft. He tells us that plot has become increasingly less important to him and that he chooses not to repeat the same themes and techniques in his writing. For more details about the books, movies, series, and podcasts that are discussed on the show, sign up here for our weekly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/icon/the-hidden-lives-of-writers-newsletter-signup Ask your writing-related questions here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8i1_vFmUwsd7E_nvPgQOtqEscvZIircT0imdHm_qYJK5eXA/viewform Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you. Please join the conversation here: Email: hiddenlivesofwriters@gmail.com Instagram: @thehiddenlivesofwriterspod Twitter: @hiddenwriterpod YouTube: The Hidden Lives of Writers Threads: @thehiddenlivesofwriters Facebook discussion group: The Hidden Lives of Writers Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

4 May

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1hr 14min
26/04/2021

At any Moment Everything can Change

A conversation with Margaret Heffernan. In this wide-ranging episode, Tracey talks to Margaret Heffernan about the importance of paying attention to what is not being said - as well as learning to listen closely to others who have a very different perspective and experience of life. She ponders the limits and oversimplifying 'narrative tidiness' of stories told in the present about complex situations, as well as the blundering misuse of big data. She reflects on the inadequacy of what is still an essentially 19th century education system and the need for lifelong learning as we embark on Uncharted territory. She laments how many management processes seem designed precisely to constrain rather than enable experimentation, creativity and flexibility - the expression of our neuroplasticity. Margaret refers back to her earlier book, 'How She Does It', as she talks about the different way in which women lead and establish systems in organisations. Thinking about an unknown future she hopes for a world where we can all be more curious, ask better questions, one where we are prepared to give up some of our comforts for the good of the next generation and, as leaders, tell the hard truths as we see them rather than settling for short term, easy lies that lead to the costly erosion of trust that we are currently living through. Connect with Margaret on LinkedIn · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

26/04/2021

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34 min
27 APR

S07 E06 Marguerite Poland

Marguerite Poland is one of South Africa's most decorated authors, having won the Percy Fitzpatrick Award numerous times, as well as the Order of Ikamang for lifetime achievement. Her career spans many decades and includes books for children, works of non-fiction, and several critically acclaimed novels for adults. Marguerite joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about her earliest love for storytelling and what she would say now to a young mother who wants to write while struggling with the challenges of domestic life. For more details about the books, movies, series, and podcasts that are discussed on the show, sign up here for our weekly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/icon/the-hidden-lives-of-writers-newsletter-signup Ask your writing-related questions here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8i1_vFmUwsd7E_nvPgQOtqEscvZIircT0imdHm_qYJK5eXA/viewform Fiona and Gail would love to hear from you. Please join the conversation here: Email: hiddenlivesofwriters@gmail.com Instagram: @thehiddenlivesofwriterspod Twitter: @hiddenwriterpod YouTube: The Hidden Lives of Writers Threads: @thehiddenlivesofwriters Facebook discussion group: The Hidden Lives of Writers Follow us on Instagram · Chat with us on Twitter · Join our Facebook group · Subscribe to us on YouTube · Join our newsletter · Ask your writing-related questions here

27 Apr

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1hr 12min
22/03/2021

The Transforming Power of Creativity

Stop playing it safe In this podcast Tracey Camilleri and Samenua Sesher explore the power of art to renew, re-engage and reinvigorate, especially during times of trauma. As the Founder of the digital Museum of Colour, Samenua reflects on some of the creative journeys of her contributors – and on her own visceral reaction to the Pitt Rivers Museum of anthropology in Oxford. Informed by her 'Respect Due' Gallery , she invites us all to take time out to honour those who have influenced our lives, especially our elders. Samenua exhorts even those who don’t think of themselves as being ‘creative’ or those who don’t work in the creative industries to try the untried, to change up their ‘unofficial board of advisors’, to dare to follow their imaginations. At times like these, we need to stop playing it safe. Samenua brings a much needed playful, joyful optimism to bear on our sombre times, believing that the development of the vaccine has shown us that ‘we can do things faster than we think’. ‘Joy is a wonderful place to work from’, she declares and leaves us with her 2020 playlist which, she says, gladdens the heart. Samenua Sesher is a culture management consultant, a coach, an unconscious bias trainer and the founder and director of the Museum of Colour, exploring the creative journeys of British people of colour. She has experience of delivering multi-million-pound programmes and has fed into national cultural policy; set up and run a local authority culture service and lectured. She was a 2008/09 Clore Fellow and was awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts in spring 2018 from the New Year’s Honours List. Samenua is a People's Palace Project (PPP) Associate, member of the Advisory Board for The Art of Cultural Exchange and the is on the faculty for Oxford Cultural Leaders. All her work is underpinned by a passionate belief in the power of creativity to transform us, challenge us and help to improve our understanding of the world, its people and ourselves. Digital Museum of Colour · The Pitt Rivers Museum of Anthropology at Oxford · Samenua's Spotify playlist · Connect with Samenua on LinkedIn · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

22/03/2021

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25 min
24/05/2021

An impatient desire to change the status quo

Dr Yoge Patel (Blue Bear Systems | CEO) Here we have the good fortune to talk to tech entrepreneur Dr Yoge Patel, CEO of Blue Bear Systems a UK leader in unmanned flight technology about how she began to grow her company. She reflects on the developmental benefits of being in the middle of a family of 7 children and how that gave her with the opportunity to watch and listen as she was growing up – key capabilities for an entrepreneur. In the conversation she reflects on a characteristic that unites all entrepreneurs – an impatient desire to change the status quo. Although she is a self-confessed ‘techie’, her approach to running a business has a solid human-based foundation, built on simple principles – or ‘mantras’ – and a non-hierarchical shared ethos. Her secret of success? Even after her mother told her as a child to ‘stop smiling, people will think you are simple’ – it is always to be herself, whether speaking to a cabinet minister or the youngest recruit in the office. She reflects on some of the advantages of the Covid lockdown amongst all the difficulty, ‘I love it when one of my most senior guys tells me that he has to break off a video call to put his two year old son to bed for a nap. We have won back time from our commute for our families.’ She is optimistic about the development of technology – believing that it must always contribute to broader societal value, always be a tool for the furtherance of mankind and that good emotional design is the foundation for good engineering. Connect with Yoge on LinkedIn · website · Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn · Connect with Sam Rockey on LinkedIn

24/05/2021

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29 min
01/10/2025

A Gentle Return to Ourselves in the Wild

Take a moment to connect with nature - wherever you are. In this episode, mentor and advanced guide trainer, John Roff, speaks to Bernard Stiglingh, a field guide at Singita Kruger. Within moments of stepping into nature, our heart rates slow, and our breathing deepens. Muscles release, and our senses start to recalibrate, drawing our attention to details we may usually miss, like the patterns of branches or the feeling of wind against skin. After a while, blood pressure and cortisol levels drop. Mood and memory improve. Small moments, big shifts. John shares how green spaces soothe us, how the sound of water settles us and how birdsong signals safety to our nervous system. Together, he and Bernard reflect on how guiding has evolved, and how nature therapy (which John teaches) touches hearts and souls in quiet, beautiful ways because people are longing for more. When we spend time in natural spaces, we notice details, shapes and sounds and remember our connection to something bigger than ourselves. We don’t return to nature; we are nature, and we can move through the world more consciously. “My desire is that an emotional bridge is built through experiences in nature,” says John. Even watching nature documentaries or listening to sounds can help us manage stress. Test it here, listen to our Sounds of Sweni (20 Mins) https://open.spotify.com/episode/2IEXTj1pji9tRqliVCjivK?si=QHyLmaWPSIWtxx8nPiLwrQ Stay for John’s poem at the end. Share this episode with other nature lovers. John's article in the Singita Magazine · The Renewal in Return · Listen to Sounds of Sweni · Singita Kruger · Guided Walks · Stories in the Stars · Singita website

01/10/2025

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30 min

To be understood, one must first Be Heard Our friendly team of spoken word professionals will help you turn your concept into a podcast or audiobook that delivers your message effectively. Whether in one of our eleven professional studios in Randburg (South Africa), as a Pop-Up Podcast™ on location, or remotely in another country, we have the people and know-how to help you #BeHeard.