Best Richard Searle Podcasts (2025)

1
The 1912 Triangular Tournament – Part 2 – with Patrick Ferriday 38:49

11d ago38:49

38:49

In Part 2 of this episode dedicated to the 1912 Triangular Tournament between England, Australia and South Africa, historian Patrick Ferriday shares his thoughts on the strengths of each team, the factors for the tournament's failure, and whether such a series would work in the twenty-first century. ABOUT PATRICK FERRIDAY: Born in London, he lived …

1
The 1912 Triangular Tournament – Part 1 – with Patrick Ferriday 41:58

18d ago41:58

41:58

The 1912 Triangular Test Tournament (featuring England, Australia and South Africa) was the first (and last) of its kind. The pet project of South African tycoon Abe Bailey (1864-1940), the tournament was hampered by a series of problems, including poor scheduling, absent star players and very, very wet weather. Posterity has always viewed the tour…

1
Mike Hudec on Salt Tectonics 24:50

19d ago24:50

24:50

Most of Earth’s salt is dissolved in the oceans. But there is also a significant amount of solid salt among continental rocks. And because of their mechanical properties, salt formations can have a dramatic effect on the structure and evolution of the rocks that surround them. This gives rise to what we call salt tectonics – at first sight, a rathe…

1
Vic Baker on Megafloods 32:57

2M ago32:57

32:57

Megafloods are cataclysmic floods that are qualitatively different from weather-related floods. In the podcast, Vic Baker explains our ideas as to what causes megafloods and describes the striking evidence for such floods in the Channeled Scablands of Washington State and in the Mediterranean.Vic Baker has been studying megafloods for over 50 years…

1
Lindy Elkins-Tanton on the Origin of Earth's Water 20:30

2M ago20:30

20:30

The planets formed out of a cloud of gas and dust around the nascent Sun. Within the so-called snow line, it was too hot for liquid water to exist. Since the Earth lies well within this line, why does it have water? Did it somehow manage to retain water from the outset or did it acquire its water later? In the podcast, Lindy Elkins-Tanton explains …

1
Joeri Witteveen on Golden Spikes 25:21

2M ago25:21

25:21

Golden spikes are not golden, nor are they generally spikes. So what are they, and, more importantly, what exactly do they represent? In the podcast, Joeri Witteveen explains how we arrived at our present system of defining the boundaries of stages in the rock record with a single marker. Paradoxically, it turns out that the best place for a golden…

1
Isabel Montañez on Using the Late Paleozoic Ice Age as an Analog for Present Day Climate 29:46

3M ago29:46

29:46

The late Paleozoic ice age began in the Late Devonian and ended in the Late Permian, occurring from 360 to 255 million years ago. It was similar to the present day in two key respects: rising atmospheric CO2 and recurrent major ice sheets. In the podcast, Isabel Montañez explains how we can use proxies to learn about the climate and ocean condition…

1
Ruth Siddall on Urban Geology 33:53

3M ago33:53

33:53

At first sight, urban geology sounds like an oxymoron. How can you do geology with no rocky outcrops anywhere in sight within the built-up environments of cities? It turns out you can do a great deal of geology, and Ruth Siddall has been doing just that for the past 10 years. In the podcast, she describes some of the many aspects of geology, from p…

1
W. G. Grace – Part 3 – with Richard Tomlinson 43:29

4M ago43:29

43:29

In this final installment of my chat with historian Richard Tomlinson, author of Amazing Grace - The Man Who Was W.G. (2015), we discuss Grace's love of sports outside of cricket, particularly lawn bowls and golf, his colossal statistics with both bat and ball, and his legacy today. ABOUT RICHARD TOMLINSON: Richard Tomlinson is a British historian …

1
W. G. Grace – Part 2 – with Richard Tomlinson 46:13

4M ago46:13

46:13

Part 2 of the episode dedicated to the latter stages of the life and career of the most famous cricketer of all time – W. G. Grace. In this episode, biographer Richard Tomlinson discusses Grace’s relationship with his cricket-playing daughter Bessie, his disastrous final Test match in 1899, and his move from the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club …

1
W. G. Grace – Part 1 – with Richard Tomlinson 44:22

4M ago44:22

44:22

W. G. Grace, quite simply, was cricket in the 19th century. So large was the figure of Grace - both physically and figuratively - that he was known throughout the British Empire simply by his initials, W.G., and it’s believed at one point he was even more famous than Queen Victoria. With his large, domineering physique and his idiosyncratic beard, …

1
Charlie Macartney – Part 2 – with Peter Lloyd 40:04

5M ago40:04

40:04

In Part 2 of this episode focusing on the rise of Australian batting legend Charlie Macartney, biographer Peter Lloyd—who was a previous guest on the Podcast in discussion about Monty Noble—explains Macartney's inconsistent form, his close relationship with Noble, and how his statistics compare to other Golden Agers, including Victor Trumper. DONAT…

1
Richard Fortey on Deep Time 29:48

5M ago29:48

29:48

The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. How can we begin to grasp what this vast period of time really means, given that it is so far beyond the time scale of a human life, indeed of human civilization? Richard Fortey has devoted his long and prolific research career at the Natural History Museum in London to the study of fossils, especially the …

1
Charlie Macartney – Part 1 – with Peter Lloyd 51:48

5M ago51:48

51:48

Perhaps best remembered today as the swashbuckling, aggressive batsmen of the 1920s, Charlie Macartney's rise to the Australian Test team occurred well within the period of the so-called Golden Age. He was one of a handful of international cricketers who transcended the First World War, playing for his country both before 1914 and after 1918. Biogr…

1
Mike Searle on the Mountain Ranges of Central Asia 34:31

5M ago34:31

34:31

The Himalaya are just one, albeit the longest and highest, of several mountain ranges between India and Central Asia. By world standards, these are massive ranges with some of the highest peaks on the planet. The Karakoram boasts four of the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, and the Hindu Kush, the Pamir, the Kunlun Shan, and the Tien Shan each h…

1
Rob Strachan on the Caledonian Orogeny 39:26

6M ago39:26

39:26

The Caledonian orogeny is one of the most recent extinct mountain-building events. It took place in several phases during the three-way collision of continental blocks called Laurentia, Baltica, and Avalonia during the early stages of the assembly of the supercontinent Pangea. In the process, Himalayan-scale mountains were formed. While these mount…

1
Joe MacGregor on Mapping the Geology of Greenland Below the Ice 31:10

7M ago31:10

31:10

With most of Greenland buried by kilometers of ice, obtaining direct information about its geology is challenging. But we can learn a lot from measurements of the island’s geophysical properties — seismic, gravity, magnetic from airborne and satellite surveys and from its topography, which we can see relatively well through the ice using radar. In …

1
Adam Simon on Battery Metals 34:14

7M ago34:14

34:14

As we wean ourselves away from fossil fuels and ramp up our reliance on alternatives, batteries become ever more important for two main reasons. First, we need grid-scale batteries to store excess electricity from time-varying sources such as wind and solar. Second, we use them to power electric vehicles, which we are now producing at the rate of a…

1
Rufus Catchings on Pinning Down California's Faults 33:33

8M ago33:33

33:33

Knowing exactly where faults are located is important both for scientific reasons and for assessing how much damage a fault could inflict if it ruptured and caused an earthquake. In the podcast, Rufus Catchings describes how we can use natural and artificial sources of seismic waves to create high-resolution images of fault profiles. He also explai…

1
Sara Seager on Exoplanet Geology 34:33

9M ago34:33

34:33

During the past couple of decades, we have discovered that stars with planetary systems are not rare, exceptional cases, as we once assumed, but actually quite commonplace. However, because exoplanets are like fireflies next to blinding searchlights, they are incredibly difficult to study. Yet, as Sara Seager explains, we are making astonishing pro…

1
Evan Smith on Diamonds from the Deep Mantle 34:36

10M ago34:36

34:36

We have only a tantalizingly small number of sources of information about the Earth’s deep mantle. One of these comes from the rare diamonds that form at depths of about 650 km and make their way up to the base of the lithosphere, and then later to the surface via rare volcanic eruptions of kimberlite magma. In the podcast, Evan Smith talks about a…

1
Roberta Rudnick on the Continental Crustal Composition Paradox 27:53

10M ago27:53

27:53

Continental crust is derived from magmas that come from the mantle. So, naively, one might expect it to mirror the composition of the mantle. But our measurements indicate that it does not. Continental crust contains significantly more silica and less magnesium and iron than the mantle. How can we be sure this discrepancy is real, and what do we th…

1
Alex Copley on Soft Continents 32:04

11M ago32:04

32:04

We tend to think of continental tectonic plates as rigid caps that float on the asthenospheric mantle, much like oceanic plates. But while some continental regions have the most rigid rocks on the planet, wide swathes of the continents are not rigid at all. In the podcast, Alex Copley explains how this differentiation comes about and points to evid…

1
Short Leg – Clem Hill's 188 v England at the MCG in 1897/98 – Part 2 12:20

11M ago12:20

12:20

With Part 2 of this episode of 'Short Leg', Tom Ford concludes the re-telling of Clem Hill's famous innings at the MCG against England in 1898, in which he scored a match saving, series-winning score, with the help of off-spinner Hugh Trumble. DONATE: You can buy Tom Ford a coffee! Every donation helps with production and inspires Tom to keep the p…

1
Short Leg – Clem Hill's 188 v England at the MCG in 1897/98 – Part 1 25:15

11M ago25:15

25:15

This episode of 'Short Leg' – discusses one of the most famous and, arguably, greatest Test innings of the Golden Age. Not yet 21, Clem Hill rescued Australia from a monumental batting collapse on Day 1 of the Fourth Test in Melbourne of the 1897/98 Ashes series. Along with Hugh Trumble, the pair put on a record 7th wicket stand to turn the innings…

1
Shanan Peters on Quantifying the Global Sedimentary Rock Record 27:14

11M ago27:14

27:14

Shanan Peters believes we need to assemble a global record of sedimentary rock coverage over geological time. As he explains in the podcast, such a record enables us to disentangle real changes in the long-term evolution of the Earth-life system from biases introduced by the unevenness and incompleteness of the sedimentary record. To this end, he a…

1
Paul Smith on the Cambrian Explosion 32:44

12M ago32:44

32:44

Complex life did not start in the Cambrian - it was there in the Ediacaran, the period that preceded the Cambrian. And the physical and chemical environment that prevailed in the early to middle Cambrian may well have arisen at earlier times in Earth history. So what exactly was the Cambrian explosion? And what made it happen when it did, between 5…

1
Scott Bolton on the Most Volcanically Active Body in the Solar System 24:45

1y ago24:45

24:45

Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon, Io, is peppered with volcanos that are erupting almost all the time. In this episode, Scott Bolton, Principal Investigator of NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter, describes what we're learning from this space probe. Since its arrival in 2017, its orbit around the giant planet has progressively shifted to take it close …

1
Bob White on How Magma Moves in the Crust 36:45

1y ago36:45

36:45

We know that most magma originates in the Earth’s mantle. As it pushes up through the many kilometers of lithosphere to the surface, it pauses in one or more magma chambers or partially melted mush zones for periods of up to a few millennia before erupting. But while we have seismic evidence and models and support this picture, we have not hitherto…

1
Sydney Barnes – Part 2 – with Andy Searle 42:12

1y ago42:12

42:12

In Part 2 of this chat with biographer Andy Searle, we discuss what Sydney Barnes did outside of cricket, his demolition of the Australians in the 1911-12 Ashes tour, his mind-boggling feats in South Africa in 1913-14, why he never played another Test after the First World War, and what his legacy is today. DONATE: You can buy Tom Ford a coffee! Ev…

1
Sydney Barnes – Part 1 – with Andy Searle 41:55

1y ago41:55

41:55

Of all the cricketers who played during the so-called Golden Age, none incite the intrigue in fans today quite like Sydney Francis Barnes. He was a tall, fit opening bowler blessed with a catalogue of unplayable deliveries. Those writers in the mid 20th century who looked back on this period with rose coloured glasses, often found the cantankerous,…

1
Richard Ernst on Large Igneous Provinces 31:56

1y ago31:56

31:56

At roughly 15-25-million-year intervals since the Archean, huge volumes of lava have spewed onto the Earth’s surface. These form the large igneous provinces, which are called flood basalts when they occur on continents. As Richard Ernst explains in the podcast, the eruption of a large igneous province can initiate the rifting of continents, disrupt…

1
Damian Nance on What Drives the Supercontinent Cycle 35:58

1+ y ago35:58

35:58

Perhaps as many as five times over the course of Earth history, most of the continents gathered together to form a supercontinent. The supercontinents lasted on the order of a hundred million years before breaking apart and dispersing the continents. For decades, we theorized that this cycle of amalgamation and breakup was caused by near-surface te…

1
David Kohlstedt on Simulating the Mantle in the Lab 32:00

1+ y ago32:00

32:00

The Earth’s tectonic plates float on top of the ductile portion of the Earth’s mantle called the asthenosphere. The properties of the asthenosphere, in particular its viscosity, are thought to play a key role in determining how plates move, subduct, and how melt is produced and accumulates. We would like to know what the viscosity of the the asthen…

1
Billy Murdoch – Part 2 – with Richard Cashman & Ric Sissons 36:37

1+ y ago36:37

36:37

In Part 2 of this episode on Australian cricket legend Billy Murdoch, Tom and Murdoch's biographers, Richard Cashman and Ric Sissons, discuss his captaincy tactics, his friendship with WG Grace, his legacy and delayed inclusion in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. Richard Cashman is a sports historian based at the University of Technology Sydney…

1
Billy Murdoch – Part 1 – with Richard Cashman & Ric Sissons 46:52

1+ y ago46:52

46:52

Billy Murdoch was a colossus of Australian cricket in the 19th century. He captained Australia in its first victory on English soil giving rise to the Ashes, and as a stylish but determined batsman, he scored the first triple century in Australia and the first Test double century. He’s often been called Australia’s answer to W.G. Grace. But he cour…

1
Claire Corkhill on Geological Radioactive Waste Disposal 31:07

1+ y ago31:07

31:07

In many countries, nuclear power is a significant part of the energy mix being planned as part of the drive to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions. This means that we will be producing a lot more radioactive waste, some of it with half-lives that approach geological timescales, which are orders of magnitude greater than timescales associated …

1
Short Leg – 1st Test of 1894/95 at the SCG, Australia v England – Part 2 19:54

1+ y ago19:54

19:54

This episode of 'Short Leg' is Part 2 of Tom looking back on the famous 1st Test at the SCG of 1894, in which Australia hosted Andrew Stoddart's England side. The match is often credited with being the first great match of the new era, and one that saw many new records established. CREDITS: Presenter & Producer: Tom Ford All music used in podcast c…

1
Short Leg – 1st Test of 1894/95 at the SCG, Australia v England – Part 1 16:14

1+ y ago16:14

16:14

This episode of 'Short Leg' – a new series of short episodes re-living the great matches, innings or moments of the Golden Age – discusses the famous 1st Test at the SCG of 1894, in which Australia hosted Andrew Stoddart's England side. The match is often credited with being the first great match of the new era, and one that saw many new records es…

1
Mahesh Anand on What Human Return to the Moon Means for Lunar Geology 32:30

1+ y ago32:30

32:30

We have learned a great deal about the geology of the Moon from remote sensing instruments aboard lunar orbiters, from robot landers, from the Apollo landings, and from samples returned to the Earth by Apollo and robot landings. But in 2025, when NASA plans to land humans on the Moon for the first time since 1972, a new phase of lunar exploration i…

1
Susan Brantley on Earth's Geological Thermostat 27:44

1+ y ago27:44

27:44

At the core of Earth’s geological thermostat is the dissolution of silicate minerals in the presence of atmospheric carbon dioxide and liquid water. But at large scales, the effectiveness and temperature sensitivity of this reaction depends on geomorphological, climatic, and tectonic factors that vary greatly from place to place. As described in th…

1
Clark Johnson on the Banded Iron Formations 28:42

1+ y ago28:42

28:42

Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) are a visually striking group of sedimentary rocks that are iron rich and almost exclusively deposited in the Precambrian. Their existence points to a major marine iron cycle that does not operate today. Several theories have been proposed to explain how the BIFs formed. While they all involve the precipitation of ferr…

1
Catherine Mottram on Dating Rock Deformation 36:05

1+ y ago36:05

36:05

The geological history of most regions is shaped by a whole range of processes that occur at temperatures ranging from above 800°C to as low as 100°C. The timing of events occurring over a particular temperature range can be recorded by a mineral which crystallizes over that range. The mineral calcite is suitable for recording low-temperature proce…

1
Martin Van Kranendonk on the Earliest Life on Earth 33:28

1+ y ago33:28

33:28

In this episode, Martin Van Kranendonk lays out a convincing case for life on Earth going back to at least 3.48 billion years ago. To find evidence for very ancient life, we need to look at rocks that have been largely undisturbed over billions of years of Earth history. Such rocks have been found in the Pilbara region of northwest Australia. As ex…

1
'Tibby' Cotter – Part 2 – with Max Bonnell 51:22

2y ago51:22

51:22

In Part 2, Max discusses Tibby's prowess as a batsman, his involvement in the infamous 'Big Six' dispute of 1912, his career as a stretcher bearer in the First World War, and the mystery surrounding his death at the Battle of Beersheba in October 1917. ABOUT MAX BONNELL: Max is a lawyer and writer from Sydney. He has published around 20 books on sp…

1
'Tibby' Cotter – Part 1 – with Max Bonnell 52:53

2y ago52:53

52:53

If cricket fans know one thing about Albert 'Tibby' Cotter, it's likely to be that he was the only Australian Test cricketer to have died in combat during the First World War. But as his biographer Max Bonnell explains, there was much more to the life and career of the Australian fast bowler. In Part 1, Max details Tibby's early life, his rise to i…

1
Rob Butler on the Origin of the Alps 30:46

2y ago30:46

30:46

The Alps are the most intensively studied of all mountain chains, being readily accessed from the geological research centers of Europe. But despite this, there remains considerable uncertainty as to how they formed, especially in the Eocene (about 40 million years ago) when the events that led directly to Alpine mountain-building started. In the p…

1
John Wakabayashi on the Franciscan Complex 32:45

2y ago32:45

32:45

The Franciscan Complex is a large accretionary prism that has been accreted onto the western margin of the North American continent. Unlike most such prisms, which are submarine, it is exposed on land, making it a magnet for researchers such as John Wakabayashi. In the podcast, he describes this remarkable complex and explains the mechanisms that m…

1
Bruce Levell on Bias in the Sedimentary Record 33:56

2y ago33:56

33:56

How can we tell if the sedimentary record is good enough to make solid inferences about the geological past? After all, it can be difficult, or even impossible, to infer what is missing, or indeed whether anything is missing at all. As he explains in the podcast, Bruce Levell tackles this question by combining fieldwork with systematic analysis bas…

1
'Ranji' – Part 2 – with Simon Wilde 35:09

2y ago35:09

35:09

In the second part of my chat with The Sunday Times cricket correspondent, Simon Wilde, we discuss Ranjitsinhji's batting style and how he changed the appearance of 'batsmanship', the fluctuating fortunes of his only Test tour - that to Australia in 1897-98, his dramatic drop in form in 1902, and his less than successful return to cricket in 1920 w…

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