Garlic & Pearls
Episodes
La dictée: How did a school spelling test become a French obsession and symbol of Frenchness?
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel goes back to school to explore how in France the spelling test called la dictée became the backbone of French education. Who introdu...
The Christmas Tale Face-Off: A Christmas Carol or Les Misérables?
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In our last episode of 2025, Suzanne and Muriel consider soberly which is more atmospheric and replete with the spirit of Christmas - is it Dickens wi...
The Christmas Drink Face-Off: Indulgent Irish Cream or astringent coupe de champagne?
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cheers! Santé! Suzanne retraces the history of a 1970s Soho brainwave of deliciousness and Muriel obeys the traditional Pavlovian call of Champenois ...
The Christmas Telly Face-Off: Reithian British Monument or Gallic social satire?
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne brings a whole lotta Christmas to the table and parses the delights of the double issue of the Radio Times; Muriel unpacks a cult French sitco...
The Christmas Carol Face-Off: Pre-Raphaelite Poetry or Socialist Manifesto?
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne makes a compelling case for the evocative beauty of In the Bleak Midwinter and its landscape imagery infused with spirituality; Muriel wonders...
The Christmas Treat Face-Off: Quality Street or marrons glacés?
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel and Suzanne are swapping seasonal treats: masses of cheerful multicoloured candy vs a handful of meticulously crafted products of the terroir. ...
The Christmas Chart-Topper Face-Off: Beguiling Pop or Kitsch Cosiness?
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne takes a punt at the 2025 Christmas No1 and crowns 1984 as the very best vintage of British Christmas charts; Muriel explains how and why the F...
Metal Detectors: What goes 'beep beep' all over the land and is typically British? The gentle army of treasure seekers hoping to find an Anglo-Saxon hoard!
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In which Suzanne unearths the story of a major British hobby and its relationship with landscape and the romance of the past. Why are the British obse...
French Politicians and Clairvoyants: The French worship Reason and critical thinking, don't they? So why do Presidents (and mayors), who serve the French Republic, love the occult so much?
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel tackles an awkward truth: the French may love rigour and rationality – France is the nation of Descartes, after all – but they are also sus...
The British Tax Year: Silent legacy of the past; wrinkle in time; further proof of British eccentricity!
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In which Suzanne investigates profound differences between our two cultures by asking why the British tax year is not, like in France, aligned onto th...
Greatest Play Ever! Britain vs France, part 2. The Bald Prima Donna - Zany Avant-Garde on the Paris Left Bank
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second half of our theatrical diptych, Muriel tells Suzanne about the 'atomic bomb' of the French theatre, an experimental Absurdist masterpiec...
Greatest Play Ever! Britain vs France, part 1. The Mousetrap - Agatha Christie's Not So Cosy West End Whodunnit
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne and Muriel consider the brilliance, longevity and significance of Agatha Christie's murder mystery play The Mousetrap, which has been running ...
The Paris Catacombs: palace of death, gigantic memento mori and a way of solving the problem of excess bones
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's Halloween and Muriel encourages Suzanne to think about the Gallic bones displayed and staged in the Paris Catacombs in a neo-classical early...
The Real Making of Britain and France: A myth-busting, panoramic trip through time and space with our guest, the historian Graham Robb!
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Following on from his book The Discovery of France, Graham Robb has produced another fascinating work of exploration, The Discovery of Britain. Graham...
Rhyming Slang: A distinctly British and creative code that's definitely not 'brown bread'
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Would you Adam and Eve it? Suzanne tutors her 'old China' Muriel in a coded language that is full of wit, inventions and surprises. Rooted in old...
Brigitte Bardot: Top French Icon and The Face of France
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Where Muriel explains the mythology of the actress, singer, animal activist and all-round contrarian. How did Bardot re-invent French femininity for t...
Giant Redwoods in the UK: A story of intrepid botanists and explorers, and a Victorian British craze
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is there a Californian landscape growing in Britain to the tune of half a million Giant Redwoods? Suzanne recounts the 19th-century story of adventuro...
How to Eat Everything in Paris: Our guest, food writer Chris Newens, shares revelatory findings!
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel and Suzanne hop around the arrondissements of Paris explored by Chris Newens in his food memoir Moveable Feasts, comparing and contrasting cuis...
Conkers: from Victorian pastime to urban Battle Royale
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Where Suzanne ushers in autumn and educates a baffled Muriel in the great British game of conkers, at once nostalgic, ruthlessly competitive and contr...
An Evening with Garlic & Pearls: where Muriel and Suzanne make their first live appearance!
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As guests of the Durning Library at the Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival, Muriel and Suzanne discuss Frenchness, Britishness and their podcast adv...
French Roundabouts: are they about safety, strategy or symbolism?
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel introduces Suzanne to the surprisingly whimsical world of French roundabouts. Why does France have so many? Why are the rules so maddening...
Shinty: 'Quite a violent version of hockey'
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Camans at the ready! Suzanne and our special guest from the Isle of Skye, the skipper, photographer and shinty player Izzy Law, delve into the origins...
Summer Shorts: The 'Sorry' and 'Pardon' face off
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne and Muriel thread their way through how the British and the French apologise and ask for forgiveness. What does it reveal about attitudes to p...
Summer Shorts: The béret and bobble hat face off
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a story of sheep, sailors, Royals, Résistants, football fans and actresses, practicality spars with glamour as Suzanne spots Welsh Monmouth caps i...
Summer Shorts: The high vis jacket and gilet jaune face off
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fluorescent high-vis clothing - beacon of hope or luminous nightmare? Suzanne has embraced high vis as a liberating garment and analyses its uses in p...
Club Med: From campsites in Spanish pine groves to Tahitian 'villages' in Morocco, how the French brought their edenic dream holiday to life
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel recounts the story of Club Méditerranée, 'the antidote to civilisation' born in traumatised postwar France as a socialist-inflected dream of ...
British Camping: How Britain devised a distinctively gruelling kind of holiday which is part dream and part nightmare.
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Seasoned camper Suzanne has survived plagues of horseflies and finding ice on the inside of her tent. She revisits memories of the testing, yet strang...
The Revolutionary Calendar: How French utopians tried to recalibrate time and reshape Republican humanity
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel takes Suzanne back to a time when a coalition of Enlightenment poets and scientists and radical political reformers drew a line under the Ancie...
1217: The French Invasion You Never Knew About (Part 2)
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's D-Day, helmets are glinting and everything hinges on William Marshall – and on formidable Lincolnshire sheriff Nicola de la Haie – as th...
1217: The French Invasion You Never Knew About (Part 1)
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the occasion of President Macron's state visit to Britain, Suzanne retraces the background to a momentous clash between France and England – the ...
Orangina: How a home-grown Algerian drink became a French icon
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel takes Suzanne – shaken, not stirred – back to the origins of the odd little yellow bottle, from sun-drenched Algerian orange groves to the ...
Pirates: Why the British treasure the Robin Hoods of the seas
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ahoy! Suzanne sails off to the Spanish Main and the Barbary Coast, introducing Muriel to a cast of buccaneers, corsairs and privateers against a ...
French Theme Parks: Running the Gamut From Fun to Propaganda
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do France's homegrown theme parks tell us about Frenchness? asks Muriel. From the 'ethnographic exhibitions' at the Jardin d'Acclimatation t...
Pimms: The journey, joys and jeopardy of the quintessential British summer drink
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In time for Wimbledon, Suzanne encourages Muriel to celebrate the British season with a glass of Pimms, and the history, associations and meaning behi...
Identity Cards: A French story of the struggle between liberté and securité
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why does France have ID cards while Britain does not? Muriel unpacks a national narrative of medieval identity theft, Revolutionary ideals of collecti...
Bungalows: The perfect British design for living?
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Britain has a lot of bungalows, but why and how did this begin? Suzanne goes enthusiastically utilitarian and modular and introduces Muriel to the his...
Surrealism: How and why Paris became a vortex for artists unleashing the subconscious
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel surprises Suzanne with an enigmatic tea cup covered in fur – the Surrealist object par excellence. Who was Meret Oppenheim, the woman who mad...
Toast: An ode to distinctly British crisp buttered deliciousness – with some true crime thrown in
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We all dream of the perfect piece of hot toast dripping with butter, but is it ever to be had in this world? Suzanne gives Muriel 9-step instructions ...
Into the Deep: What draws the French so powerfully to the briny depths?
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel takes Suzanne on a downward journey into the French passion for diving and underwater life. Why was the film The Big Blue such a hit in France?...
Jigsaw Puzzles: The amazing British invention that went from geographical 'dissection' to universally popular form of meditation
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne tells Muriel the riveting story of an invention devised in London by one inspired man, in an 18th-century world of map-making, mezzotints and ...
The Metric System: Born of a perfect storm of Enlightenment and Revolution
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel tells Suzanne how the French dream of the metric system became realised when the Enlightenment scientists' desire for reliable measurement...
Bluebells: Why does this enchanting native blue flower make the British giddy?
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne explores the complex botanical, mythical and poetic aspects of the British bluebell cult. Hope and death, secrecy and display and even asparag...
Glamour: What – and who – do the French find so bewitching about Britain?
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Happy Entente Cordiale! It is, Muriel explains, when at their most conventional that the British are at their most glamorous to French eyes....
Panache: How a French king's white feather came to define a Gallic core value
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne digs for the roots of French panache, encountering kingly pageantry, Cyrano de Bergerac and the emblem of the cockerel. Hosted on Acast. See a...
Eccentrics: Why do they grow in Britain and not in France?
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's Muriel's turn to express admiration of the vivid anarchic creativity of British eccentrics, and to ask if there is something in the water.&n...
Insouciance: What is it and can the British ever achieve it?
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne's first choice of French word du jour. Vanessa Paradis embodies it. A paradox: there is nothing harder to pull off than insouciance, the ...
The Theatre of Horrors: How the visceral Grand-Guignol thrilled Paris to the core
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In which Muriel tells Suzanne about the rise and fall of the once ultra-fashionable Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, where, not far from the Moul...
Trailer: Garlic & Pearls Cordiale Corkers
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Great excitement at Garlic & Pearls HQ: the anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between France and Britain is near. To celebrate, Muriel and Suzan...
Rescue Puppies: The whys and wherefores of Britain’s unparalleled devotion to animals
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne reflects on British attitudes to animals, from the Reverend Humphrey Primatt’s ‘animal theology’ to the founding of the RSPCA 200 years ...
The Map of Love: How a modern Frenchwoman from the 17th-century imagined courtship as a hike through an imaginary landscape
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In which Muriel introduces Suzanne to a group of brilliant women: the Précieuses, headed by Madeleine de Scudéry. Novelists, scholars and ...
Harris Tweed: How sturdy wool woven in the outer Hebrides became the very fabric of Britishness
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne gathers a fashionable cast - including Sherlock Holmes, Coco Chanel and Vivienne Westwood – to take Muriel through the warp and weft of Harr...
The Misfortunes of Sophie: A darkly vivid 1850s classic that still shapes and fascinates French children today
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel introduces Suzanne to the French equivalent of Alice in Wonderland, a memorably unsettling portrayal of childhood with enduring appeal, th...
Ski Sunday: How the British fell in love with skiing and made it fun
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne remedies Muriel’s ignorance of cult BBC2 programme Ski Sunday and in the process unpacks the British obsession with and transformation of sk...
Absinthe: Was the iconic drink of the Belle Epoque enchanting or poisonous?
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over a glass of the legendary green aperitif, Muriel presents Suzanne with the history and myths of absinthe – its rise from local Alpine speciality...
Valentine’s Day: How French amour courtois turned into Victorian enterprise
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this special day for swains and sweethearts Suzanne leads Muriel down surprising heritage pathways: tracking the relic of St Valentine’s head, wo...
Johnny Hallyday: The French Elvis?
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Where Muriel introduces Suzanne to a colossal French star who was the ambassador of American rock in France and became both a national monument and th...
The Orsini Bomb: Made in Britain and designed to kill the French Emperor!
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne untangles an astonishing plot to do away with Napoleon III in 1858 Paris. Unfolding in the coffee houses of London and the industrial workshop...
The Black Polo Neck: French national dress, political uniform, or philosophical flag?
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In which Muriel unpacks for Suzanne the various hidden meanings taken on in France by the black polo neck. From Hollywood to the Left Bank, the humble...
Wheelie Bins: Blessing or curse?
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alegedly invented by accident in Slough, the army of wheelie bins now lining our streets is the latest iteration of British society’s atte...
The Concierge: The pantomime villain that the French love to hate?
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In which Muriel tells Suzanne the story of French concierges – the guardians of French buildings – involving systematic and distinctive ...
Marmalade: Who invented it and how did it become a shortcut for Britishness?
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
James Bond spread it on his breakfast toast; Paddington and Queen Elizabeth II kept marmalade sandwiches ‘for emergencies’; Scott of the Antarctic...
Galette Des Rois: Let them eat cake - for the Epiphany!
27 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Where does the almond-filled ‘galette des rois’ come from? And why have the French clung so tenaciously to it through the centuries? Muriel unveil...
The Christmas Pudding Sandwich: Perfect for Boxing Day!
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne dives into a 1920s compendium of sandwiches by Mary Woodman, retraces sandwich history and ponders the art of Successful Sandwich Making. Host...
Flaming Boar’s Head Feast: All hail ‘the rarest dish in all the land’!
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne digs up an almost entirely forgotten British Christmas medieval tradition full of pomp and circumstance, including a special carol! Hosted on ...
The Discreet Charm of Presents on Christmas Eve: Scrap the suspense! Presents now!
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel tells Suzanne about France’s uncanny parallel universe, where Christmas happens the day before Christmas. But are the French missing out on t...
Crackers: Bang bang! It’s Christmas!
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne dissects the gloriously noisy tradition of the British Christmas cracker. There is a Victorian inventor, also some French bonbons, a diamond r...
Oysters: It’s Christmas –: bring on the piles of ice-cold raw shellfish!
22 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did oysters (les huîtres) become enshrined in France as a traditional Christmas food? Muriel investigates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...
France’s Ultimate Christmas Film: Father Christmas is a Git!
21 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel explains the appeal of the ferocious, dark and crude madcap comedy that encapsulates Christmas for the French. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...
Panto!: Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is!
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Where Suzanne opens Muriel’s Continental mind to the summit of British stagecraft – the rich and frivolous tradition of Christmas panto, an e...
Trailer - Garlic & Pearls Christmas Corkers
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Cockerel’s Cologne: Did the French invent perfume or did perfume invent the French?
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Taking as a starting point a highly symbolic empty bottle of Eau de Cologne discovered by Suzanne in Denmark, Muriel explores the ways in wh...
Bleakness: A dark poetic paradise in the heartland of the Industrial Revolution
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By way of Ted Hughes’s Remains of Elmet, Suzanne explores a scarred ancient landscape and brings back to life the ghosts of warring kings,...
Le Comic Strip: Girl fights pterodactyl in Belle Epoque Paris!
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The French adore comic book series – or bandes dessinées – featuring Asterix and Tintin. But Muriel tells Suzanne about another famou...
My Favourite A Road: Driving by numbers
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In which Suzanne explains another British obsession: the decision tree of how to get from A to B by way of A roads. A kinetic tale of Romans, speed, r...
Marseille Soap: France’s cleanest national treasure
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Muriel examines every facet of Marseille soap from the practical to the mythological, and takes Suzanne on a journey from the boiling vats of the soap...
Hassocks: English folk art and cultural identity in stitches
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In which Suzanne unfurls a panoramic history of Anglican church kneelers, showing the little embroidered cushions to be an extraordinarily expres...
Donkey Skin: Catherine Deneuve in the weirdest fairy tale you’ve never heard of
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In which Muriel tells Suzanne about a favourite children’s film involving dead donkeys, incest and psychedelia, and Suzanne wonders a little at the ...
Halloween: Turnips and chisels at the ready – we’re carving a path to the celebration's spooky roots!
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As we transition from harvest to winter, Suzanne leads Muriel back into the mists of time and elicits the origins of Halloween: the mumming and guisin...
Playing Cards: The French never miss a trick!
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In which Suzanne gives Muriel carte blanche to reveal the French origins of the ‘jeu de cartes’, and Muriel lays all her cards on the table and wo...
Hedgerows: A tale of British countryside, folklore and riots!
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why does Britain have such a staggering amount of hedgerows? Suzanne leads Muriel through a hedge backwards and finds a dazzle of biodiversity and a ...
La Cantine: How does the French Republic create petits gastronomes?
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Time for lunch! Muriel takes Suzanne through the workings of French school canteens. What’s on the menu? How does the French Republic make peti...
Sir Nigel Gresley: All aboard! Full steam ahead with a very British passion!
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What drives the British obsession with trains great and small? Suzanne takes Muriel on an epic journey, following the tracks of Sir Nigel Gresley, vis...
The Four-Colour Bic Pen: What goes “click” and is mightier than the sword?
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The four-colour Bic pen was a revolutionary invention. It’s also an emblem of optimistic Frenchness. Find out why as Muriel unpacks the pen’s orig...
Pickled Onions: Crossing a culinary chasm
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some might say that the pickled onion is a jewel in the crown of British gastronomy. But where does it come from? Suzanne explains all, including the ...
Garlic & Pearls: What makes the British so British and the French so French?
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What makes the British so British and the French so French? Suzanne Raine and Muriel Zagha astonish and entertain each other with a wide array of exam...