Welcome to The Big Smoke Variety Show!

This week, we slip into the strange, funny and quietly revealing world of anthropomorphism — the very human habit of seeing minds, motives and meaning everywhere we look.

First, Kevin pulls up a chair with scientist and bestselling author Justin Gregg, whose book Humanish explores why we dress up our dogs, get too attached to inanimate objects, and sometimes find ourselves arguing with ChatGPT. From friendly alligators to fauxnads, Justin explains how attributing human qualities to animals, objects and AIs can make us smarter, kinder — and occasionally a little delusional. 

On our Parish Noticeboard, we trade the clamour of the city for the steady rhythm of cut tile and grout at the Hackney Mosaic Project — a place where volunteers piece together hope, community and colour one tiny tile at a time. It’s a gentle reminder that creativity can be a holiday from your own head, and that some of the city’s most moving artwork has a deeper story behind it than you might think.

Then Audio Archives returns with a newly unearthed — and increasingly unhinged — festive radio commercial featuring vanished 80s icon Jay Gladrock. What begins as a simple cereal advert soon descends into chaos, ego, and nut-based wordplay. It may well be the last surviving recording of Gladrock before he disappeared from public life entirely. Listener theories are, as ever, welcome. 

Finally, we round things off with a festive Victorian Parlour Game: The Minister’s Cat. Straight from Fezziwig’s Christmas gatherings, this classic game of quick wits and alphabetical adjectives is your guaranteed cure for a post-turkey slump!

So settle in as we wander from curious minds to tiny tiles, from lost legends to lively language — all here in The Big Smoke.

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Links

🧠 Justin Gregg – Website

📘 Humanish by Justin Gregg – Book

🎨 Hackney Mosaic Project – Official Site

📚 Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project – Book

🍁 Maple Leaf or Make Believe – CBC Video

🍁 Maple Leaf or Make Believe – CBC Article

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Chapters

(00:00 ) Intro

(01:35 ) Pub Quiz: Maple Leaf or Make Believe

(02:35 ) Justin Gregg Interview

(49:24 ) Parish Notices: Hackney Mosaic Project

(57:05 ) Audio Archives: Unreleased Commercial

(1:10:49 ) Victorian Parlour Games

(1:13:00 ) Live Christmas Show 

(1:14:20 ) Maple Leaf or Make Believe Answers

(1:15:24 ) Outro

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Credits

Hosted & Executive Produced by Kevin Bennett

Produced & Edited by Alex Graham

Assistant Produced by Adam Wright

Original music by Giles Terera

Music arranged and played by Joseph Atkins

Audio Archives written by Aidan Parker and performed by Jamie Sandersfield, Matthew Nicholson and Cait Roddam Jones