From the joyous Beatles City to The Walkers Switch and The Bomb: This week’s top podcasts

Beatles City

Fan podcasts can be a bit embarrassing but this show about The Beatles made by the Liverpool Echo newspaper is a joy. 

Peppy co-hosts Laura and Ellen piece together the story of this world-changing band by interviewing people who were there at key moments, from the ‘fifth Beatle’ Pete Best, whose voice still wobbles when he recalls getting the sack, to Freda Kelly, president of the band’s fan club. 

Queen Mary History Of Emotions

US poet Emily Dickinson wrote of loneliness that it was a ‘horror not to be surveyed – but skirted in the dark’. This podcast by Queen Mary University of London uncovers the history of emotions, from the loneliness Dickinson captured to other feelings such as nostalgia and grief. The show won two golds at the British Podcast Awards, and while episodes are brief they are also hugely illuminating.

 

The Walkers Switch 

Most people remember Walkers swapping the colours of their Cheese & Onion and Salt & Vinegar crisp packets. But Walkers is adamant the flip never occurred. 

This six-part series tries to find out if there has been a Walkers cover-up, and if not, what weird psychological reasons could explain why so many people are convinced there was a switch. Kooky, smart and gripping, once you start snacking on this show you won’t stop.

 

The Bomb

Emily Strasser never met her grandfather but she is haunted by a photo of him standing in front of a huge mushroom cloud. He was part of the team that made the atomic bomb that devastated the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. This contemplative new World Service podcast, hosted by Strasser, explores how the bomb was invented, focusing on the work of physicist Leo Szilard, who first came up with the idea of a nuclear chain reaction.