Breakfast of Champions brings you 'Battle of the Books'!

Breakfast of Champions
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What are the best 100 books ever written?  The ones everyone should know? What would we save next time civilisation is threatened with destruction? Breakfast of Champions is here to help. Each episode will match great books with appropriate booze, along with facts, banter, shortcuts and chances to have your say. So join us for some legendary thinking and drinking, as together we cover the best of 5,000 years of human civilisation - after all: it belongs to you!

Episodes

  1. Mar 1

    010B – Symposium of Superstars - Full episode

    Listen: 010B – Symposium of Superstars - Full episode   We take a look back at the whole of Season 1, covering the first 3,000 years of civilisation in the West.  Which books did we choose?  Who we miss?  Did you agree?  And who would we want to invite to the ultimate dinner party: our ‘Symposium of Superstars’? Even more importantly, in this episode we threw things open to you, our champion listeners: what did you think?  We run through the best of your thoughts, as well as your feedback through the Breakfast of Champion polls: would you ever kill your daughter to change the weather?  Would you destroy Colchester?  What is the best death: drinking wine full of hemlock, or overdosing on viagra?  Classic merchandise is won and angry Juvenal Club leaders are (hopefully) assuaged in this light-hearted roundup: all Breakfasting Champions are warmly invited! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions about Season 1 and what we can even better in future seasons – click here!

    1h 46m

  2. Mar 1

    010 - The Universal and the Particular: Drinkers and Thinkers - Full episode

    Listen: 010 – The Universal and the Particular: Drinkers and Thinkers - Full episode   !Chilli Warning!  Ancient philosophy was not the dry subject you might expect.  Join the greatest drinkers and thinkers of all time, to discuss the greatest questions of all:  How should we live?  How should we die?  And is it ever right to have sex with your pupils?  [if that’s too close to the bone for you, replace with: And just how Platonic is Platonic love?] Battle of the Books - Round 10Plato – The Dialogues (Symposium / Apologia / Republic) Aristotle – The Nichomachean Ethics / The Poetics Wildcard:  Lucretius – On the Nature of the Universe ShortcutsThere aren’t the acted version of the Dialogues that there should be, though there is The Drinking Party: a black and white adaptation of the Symposium directed by Jonathan Miller, and set in Britain with a university professor and his favourite pupils. Not sure if it counts as a shortcut, but we heartily recommend the Philosopher socks: choose from Sockrates, Platoes, and Aristoetles. We also recommend Umberto Eco – The Name of the Rose, for which there are film and TV adaptations. Battle of the BoozeDue to intense heat in the shed, we stuck to cold lagers and ginger beers. Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here! Poll:  What is the best way to die – hemlock in your wine, or an overdose of viagra?

    2h 5m

  3. Mar 1

    009 - Secret Histories - Full episode

    Listen: 009 – Secret Histories - Full episode   !Chilli warning!  We raise a glass to some of the greatest figures of the ancient world... and in praise of father-in-laws.    Roman history is rich, fascinating, and occasionally x-rated.  And few periods are more incredible than the stories of the great wars between Rome and Carthage, the peak of the Roman Empire in all its fierce glory, and then its final, doomed, heroic fightback.  Caution: those Romans could be seriously decadent. Battle of the Books - Round 9Livy – History of Rome (the section on the Second Punic War is published by Penguin Classics as ‘The War With Hannibal’) Tacitus – The Agricola, often packaged with his equally short Germania; though don’t be put off reading his Histories, or his Annals (not Anals!) Wildcard:  Procopius – The Secret History ShortcutsIncredibly, no decent film versions of the incredible story of Hannibal crossing the Alps, with elephants, to launch a decades-long war to the death against Rome.  A decent painting by Turner, though: Joseph Mallord William Turner 081 - Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps - Wikipedia The Eagle of the 9th is set in the Roman incursions into Scotland Robert Graves’s historical novel Count Belisarius covers the period of the Secret History, and is great, but much longer than the Procopius, and again – incredibly – there is no film shortcut. Battle of the BoozeRed Cincinnatus from Lazio... and – tragically – an elderflower pressé, as no wolf milk was available. Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here! Poll: who was the greatest general of all time?

    1h 54m

  4. Mar 1

    008 - Masters of the World - Full episode

    Listen: 008 – Masters of the World - Full episode   Ever compared yourself to the great figures of history?  Ever been tempted to run 3 times, arse-naked, around the ruins of Troy?  Ever been in a fight outside a dodgy nightclub at two in the morning?  Then this podcast is for you.  We look at the beginnings of Biography and Autobiography, comparing Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.  Do they deserve their reputations?  Who was greater?  Can we podcast coherently after an all-night party, without any sound issues?  (Spoiler warning: not entirely)  Join us to find out - the die is cast! Battle of the Books - Round 8Arrian – Anabasis Plutarch – The Parallel Lives (here we discuss his Alexander vs Caesar, but he did dozens of other comparative lives of ancient Greeks and Romans, including Demosthenes vs Cicero) Caesar – The Gallic Wars (and if you enjoy it, he follows up with The Civil Wars) Wildcard:  Suetonius – The Lives of the Caesars (continued by Pseudo-Suetonius: don’t miss the Life of Elagabalus) ShortcutsOliver Stone’s Alexander is sadly flawed (and miscast), but has a couple of excellent and historically-accurate scenes. 2 classic TV series cover the early Caesars in the spirit of Suetonius: I Claudius, and Rome. Battle of the BoozeDouble Dutch Old Bols Genever gin and Rubicon (mango, guava, or lychee) – in honour of Caesar.  Almost as good a morning-after cocktail as Breakfast of Champion’s own creation: the infamous Bowel Buster TM (double vodka and Yakult, stirred with a Barocca vitamin bomb) Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here!

    1h 50m

  5. Mar 1

    007 - Let Freedom Ring - Full episode

    Listen: 007 – Let Freedom Ring - Full episode   ‘By Juno’s c**t!’  For much of history, rhetoric was studied as one of the most important elements of education.  These days we ignore the subject; but with politicians as shameless as ever, do we thereby leave ourselves open to manipulation?  Breakfast of Champions gets up early to take a look at some of the greatest rhetorical speakers in history.  And Jess Phillips.     Battle of the Books - Round 7Demosthenes – The Philippics Cicero – The Catilinarian; The Philippics ShortcutsRobert Harris’s Cicero trilogy of novels - Imperium, Lustrum, and Dictator - is a great introduction to Cicero (there’s also a theatrical version).  Francis Ford Coppola’s sadly flawed Megalopolis was partly inspired by the Cataline conspiracy. Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar is famous for Anthony’s rousing rhetoric after Ceasar’s assassination.  See, for example, Marlon Brando’s performance remains perhaps the greatest. For a couple of good films about the importance of modern rhetoric, see The King’s Speech, and The Darkest Hour.  The real speeches themselves are all easy to find online.  As is the soaring rhetoric of Martin Luther King, most famously his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech to hundreds of thousands of civil rights protestors at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963: Bing Videos Battle of the BoozeBreakfast wine: Nettuno red from the hills of Rome – perfect with a cold Chinese and fried egg.  Auchenstoshan Single Malt Whisky soda chaser to turn it into a true, Imperial Breakfast of Champions! Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here! Poll:  Which great speakers from History have we not mentioned?

    1h 30m

  6. Mar 1

    006 - The Fathers of Lies - Full episode

    Listen: 006 – The Fathers of Lies - Full episode   Like the Persians, we make all our decisions when we’re drunk.  Such as podcasting about Ancient Greek History in a molten-hot, spider-infested shed.  Find out about the culture that gave us democracy, philosophy, science, theatre, history itself... but sadly not proper lavatorial plumbing.  It’s a classic story of the foundations of our civilisation.  So don’t think this isn’t for you, don’t get drunk and smash the willies from all the local statues – and definitely don’t start a land war in Asia. Battle of the Books - Round 6Herodotus – The Histories Thucydides – History of the Peloponnesian War Wildcard:  Xenophon – The Anabasis (‘The March Up Country’) Shortcuts300 and 300: Rise of An Empire re-tell parts of the story told first (and better) by Herodotus.  World War 2 romance The English Patient also heavily features Herodotus’s Histories, and is a cracking story in itself. Not sure what’s more bizarre: the fact that there’s no straight adaptation of Xenophon’s amazing true story, or the existence of Warriors: a re-telling of his great journey... set amongst the gangs of 1970’s New York! Finally, as promised, a C19th painting of Gyges and the Lydian Queen: ‘Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed‘, William Etty, exhibited 1830 | Tate And for the ladies, here’s Leonidas and his 300, heroically fighting off the Persians, and definitely not dressed for the part: Léonidas aux Thermopyles - Jacques-Louis David - Musée du Louvre Peintures INV 3690 ; L 3711 - Leonidas at Thermopylae - Wikipedia Battle of the BoozeKaras Armenian Areni and Sereni Noir, aged in amphora , just like it was made in Xenophon’s day.  Armenia has a good claim to be the first place on Earth where wine was made, and its wine-makers still rightly refer to Herodotus and Xenophon as evidence of their viticultural heritage Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here!

    2h 16m

  7. Mar 1

    005 - Dead Poets' Society - Full episode

    Listen: 005 – Dead Poet's Society   Your brave podcasters really fail to carpe diem (seize the day!), and instead get stuck into the booze and books.  In this case the bracing delights of ancient Roman satire.  Join us, join the Juvenal Club - and, as one of our other dead poets rightly said: Nunc est bibendum - let’s drink!  Battle of the Books - Round 5Horace -  Satires and Epodes Martial -  The Epigrams Juvenal -  The Satires Wild Cards: Petronius - The Satyricon Seneca - The Pumpkinification of Claudius The more recent Penguin Classics translations tend to preserve more of the scabrous filth. ShortcutsItalian art-house master produced a loose adaptation of The Satyricon in 1969.  Kinky, camp, psychedelic, and striking, but a difficult watch and only loosely related to the original material.  X-rated, though not as much as Caligula (the Director’s Cut) The story of Patrick Leigh Fermore and the Nazi general is told in the Powell and Pressburger film Ill Met By Moonlight, with Dirk Bogart... and the awkward moment from Greek This Is Your Life is available on YouTube. Not a shortcut, but perhaps an embodiment of the spirit of this podcast: if you haven’t done already, do watch Dead Poets Society - the perfect film for breakfasting champions! Battle of the BoozeFatalone Gioia del Colle Primitivo Riserva Puglia, Italy, in honour of the poet Horace’s famous wet dream in Brinidisium.  Created by a hard-living lady-killer, at 15% this red is deliciously punchy, but definitely not a breakfast wine... Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here And do send us your own filthy epigram: we’ll give a prize for the best one!

    1h 35m

  8. 03/02/2025

    004 – That's Amores! - Full episode

    Listen: 004 – That's Amores! - Full episode 004 - That's Amores! - Part 1 004 - That's Amores! - Part 2 004 - That's Amores! - Part 3   !Chilli warning – adult content!  If you think ancient love poetry sounds dry, think again.  From Sapphic longings to racy hook-ups amongst the fast set, from threesomes to ancient sex manuals, there's not a mawkish rhyming couplet, daffodil, or summer’s day in sight.  If you’ve ever wondered what NOT to give someone for Valentine’s Day, this episode’s for you.  Battle of the Books - Round 4Wildcard:  Sappho – Lesbian Love Poems  Catullus – The Love Poems  Ovid – The Amores and The Art of Love  ShortcutsThere are none, but these are SHORT. Battle of the BoozeAglianico from near Rome – thought to be the nearest to Ancient Rome’s favourite red grape variety.  Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackIs it ever a good idea to have ‘sex with your ex’?  We’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here!

    1h 7m

  9. 09/19/2024

    003 – Keeping it in the Family - Full episode

    Listen: 003 – Keeping it in the Family - Full episode 003 - Keeping it in the family - Part 1 003 - Keeping it in the family - Part 2 003 - Keeping it in the family - Part 3   If there was ever a case for subsidies for the arts…  Theatre was invented by the Greeks.  The Athenians were actually paid to attend theatrical competitions, as a civic and even religious duty.  Athenian POWs would quote their great playwrites to get their captors to treat them kindly.  But who was the best, are they still relevant today, and is it ever a good idea to have sex with your mum..? Battle of the Books - Round 3Aeschylus – The Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Furies). Sophocles – The Theban Plays (Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone). Euripides – Medea (often packaged up with other great Euripides play). Wildcard:  Aristophanes – The Frogs (ditto, usually packaged with other classic Aristophanes plays – look out in particular for Lysistrata).  ShortcutsPasolini – Oedipus Rex; Medea: surreal, mesmeric arthouse adaptations of the two classics. Audible have a full-cast adaptation of the three Theban Plays available for free to subscribers. Battle of the BoozeAriousios Natural Chiotiko from Chios – old school, almost Homeric red from the home of ancient Greek wine.  The perfect match for these ancient stories – and your own severed leg.  Best served at 150 degrees Celsius?   Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWould you sacrifice your daughter to improve the weather? We’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here!

    1h 41m

  10. 09/12/2024

    002 - War Horse - Full episode

    Listen: 002 – War Horse - Full episode 002 - War Horse - Part 1 002 - War Horse - Part 2 002 - War Horse - Part 3   The stories of the Trojan War and its aftermath are a foundation of Western civilisation.  They’re also some of the greatest books ever written, and much better than modern versions of the stories.  But which is the greatest of all? Battle of the Books - Round 2Homer – The Iliad (available in many translations; Robert Fagles does a very accessible version in modern verse for Penguin Classics). Homer – The Odyssey (the Peter Jones translation for Penguin Classics is a good place to start). Wildcard: Virgil – The Aeneid (we like the Fagles translation for Penguin; there’s also a good abridged audio version with Derek Jacobi and Ralph Fiennes). ShortcutsOddly, no good ones, unless you count the magnificent 80s cartoon, ‘Ulysses 31’.  The Avenger (1962) – is an Italian sword and sandals adaptation of the Aeneid, but not a patch on the book.  And please, whatever you do with your life, don’t watch the Brad Pitt film ‘Troy’. Battle of the BoozeBuck’s Fizz - Take any fizz, add orange juice; the perfect drink for breakfast or long car journeys. Nero di Troia – Literally ‘Black Trojan’: an Italian red grape variety.  Goes well with that greatest of Aeneas’s discoveries: pizza.  Proof that Rome was founded by Trojans. Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackAre there any sequels as good as or better than the original?  We’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – email us at brekofchamps@gmail.com.

    2h 14m

  11. 09/05/2024

    001 - The Dead Library - Full episode

    Listen: 001 - The Dead Library - Full episode 001 – The Dead Library - Part 1 001 - The Dead Library - Part 2 001 - The Dead Library - Part 3   Civilisation began with the brewing of beer, but followed up with another great invention: books! In this episode, we look at the first great books ever written, and ask which we should save if civilisation is destroyed.  After all, it’s happened before… Battle of the Books - Round 1The Enuma Elish, also known as The Babylonian Creation Myth (available in various editions; Oxford World Classics combines it with Gilgamesh and other stories in ‘Myths From Mesopotamia’) The Epic of Gilgamesh (there are various different versions, but Penguin Classics has an easy to read translation which combines the surviving fragments into a short, coherent whole) Wildcard: The Tale of Sinuhe (combined with other Ancient Egyptian short stories by Oxford World Classics) ShortcutsNo good shortcuts this week (with absolutely no apologies to Russell Crowe and Peter Ustinov), but check out Delacroix’s painting of the Death of Sardanapalus – otherwise known as Ashurbanipal: his civilisation was destroyed, but fortunately his best books survived Battle of the BoozeBeavertown Neck Oil IPA – hoppy and gluggable: just the way Gilgamesh liked it! Beavertown Smog Rocket Porter – dark and complex: perfect for drinking through a straw… Poll of ChampionsWe want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here! FeedbackWe’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – email us at brekofchamps@gmail.com.

    1h 35m
  • 11 Episodes

About

What are the best 100 books ever written?  The ones everyone should know? What would we save next time civilisation is threatened with destruction? Breakfast of Champions is here to help. Each episode will match great books with appropriate booze, along with facts, banter, shortcuts and chances to have your say. So join us for some legendary thinking and drinking, as together we cover the best of 5,000 years of human civilisation - after all: it belongs to you!

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