The Unmade Podcast - 166: One Word Per Week

Episode Date: August 9, 2025

Tim and Brady discuss a glacially slow podcast, things used to judge people, and the winners of the inaugural Brady Haran and Tim Hein Medals. Go to Patreon to see some bonus videos and extra material - https://www.patreon.com/unmadeFM Here’s Tim opening a box and seeing the medal in ‘real life’ for the first time - https://www.patreon.com/posts/136004794 And here’s Brady and Tim seeing the medals for the first time together via a video call - https://www.patreon.com/posts/big-medal-reveal-134196243 Join the discussion of this episode on our subreddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/Unmade_Podcast/ USEFUL LINKS The Glacial Podcast is here (only available on the web, not podcast players at the moment) - https://www.unmade.fm/glacial Mike Merrifield’s video about the Atlas of Creation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dylv1EiMejI Pictures of the medals (spoilers, contains winner names engraved on medals) - https://www.unmade.fm/episode-166-pictures How Am I Supposed To Live Without You - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFood_bTOX4 Catch the podcast on YouTube where we often include accompanying videos and pictures - https://www.youtube.com/@unmadepodcast

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episodes, question mark, format, equal sign, RSS. Listening is just that simple. So for today's episode, so for today's episode,

everyone, Tim and I are each going to do an idea in the great tradition of the Unmade podcast, sometimes more honored in the breach and the observance but we're each got an idea for a podcast and then we're going to go into a special phase where we talk about the Tim Hine and Brady-Haron medals, which has really

come to a bit of a crescendo and we can't wait to share a bit about that with you all and we're going to even be awarding some. Very significant occasion. Huge. Yeah. Huge. What happens with the Nobel Prize? Do they just post them like on Twitter or something or is they like a... No, they have a special like a press conference in Sweden. in this special posh room and it's they come out and they announce it like at a table

to the to the world's press who the winners are and then they've usually got one or two of them on the phone so they'll then say and we're speaking to them now on the phone and they've usually found out like half an hour to an hour before if that oh wow and and there's no nominations are there it's not like they read out five names and then and then the winner no no they don't know they just straight to the straight to the winner nice well that's how we'll do it too. Well, hang on, have you got nominations or you're just going to go straight to the winner? No, I'll be going straight to a winner. Anyway, enough spoilers. We'll come to that. We'll come to that. There's lots to talk about there, lots. But let's just do ideas for a podcast first,

you know, just meat and potatoes, unmade podcast. Should I, I've had, I've had a bit of a wacky idea. Right, right. But I'm thinking of executing it as well. So I'll be curious to hear what you think. Making the idea. So this is like a workshop, this kind of conversation. really we're going to workshop your idea into reality maybe maybe if you think i'm workshoppable and don't just want to do my own thing uh yeah well i hope i get to name it all right go ahead go ahead well i've got a name for it already it's called the glacial podcast or glacial podcast glacial is in glacially slow very slow right and the idea for this podcast is it's a weekly podcast and it really

strings out the suspense because what I do with this podcast is I release just one word a week. That's awesome. I love it. I love these meta ideas. So if you want to find out what's going to happen next

and what it's about and what's going on and what I have to say, you've got to be in for the long hole because each week I publish a new word. Brilliant. Brilliant. Is there going to be bonus content for Patreon? supporters and stuff.

Well, the thing I thought would be good is if every episode had like a big intro, like an introduction saying, this is the glacial podcast. Here's today's episode. You do sponsors and all sorts. Yeah. And then you just cut to the word. And then you have an outro. Next week, we'll have another word.

So you can build all this hype around it and the shrubbery of podcasts. But the actual meat of the podcast is just one word a week. Genius. Genius. Brilliant idea. I love it, absolutely love it, yeah. And you're not going to give any hints about what the sentence is or what the topic is or even. Well, yeah, I think maybe that could be part of the part of it.

And I have got some ideas in that regard as well. But I don't want to talk about them here because I hope that I'm going to make this glacial podcast and just put it somewhere. Maybe not on podcast, like on proper podcast feeds because that might be too much work. And there's a bit of hustle there. But maybe. But there are ways I can do it. but I want to do the Glacial podcast and release it and have people come by, you know, maybe just, you know, Monday morning.

Oh, I wonder what the word is this week. Ooh, I think I know where he's going now. That's great. That would be interesting to know whether people listen for it and keep it to themselves or whether it's immediately shared on Twitter or in Reddit, you know, like, this is the word, this is the word. I'd like to think there was a bit of a culture of not telling. Yeah, it's a bit like wordal when everyone's like keeps secret what that day's word is.

so they don't really wordle for everyone else. Yeah, yeah, great idea. Here's the question. Do I, like, pretend the first sentence was, Hello, Tim, how are you, right? Do I release episode one, and it says, hello, and episode two is just me saying Tim, or is episode two, hello Tim?

So you don't have to, so you, like, you do all the words so far, or do you have to listen to each episode individually to get the words? I think individually. Oh, right. So it builds up and builds up. Yeah, otherwise you could just jump to the latest episode and they'll say, look, you'll get it all. But no, you want to make people glacially move through.

Yeah, yeah. And they have to have gone through it all and kept a list. Also, I just had an idea that didn't occur to me. That would be quite cool. And I'm not going to say whether I'm going to do this or not. but it would be a really good twist if the glacial podcast actually has two hosts but no one realizes until about four years in because that's when the second host talks for the first time what do you think tim well brady it's interesting you say that

oh that's like oh my god there's a second person in the room there's a co-host oh that's fantastic oh love it i really love it oh god you're only going to get 52 words a year I mean, that's, that's just a sentence or two, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, that's right. But, you know, a lot of people, they overestimate how much they can do in one year and underestimate how much they can achieve in 10 years. And I think this is an idea, man. Over 10 years, you may get, you know, a regular podcast worth of content.

A short one, a very short one, but nice. Watch out for that one, people. I like the idea that maybe the patron, like extra bonus content could be a, footnote. But that comes out, you know, extremely slowly as well. It's just like a little, you know, asterix. And then it's like, when I say, Tim, I hear. Why on earth would one become a Patreon supporter of this podcast? Like, like it's, yeah, unless you did something really elaborate like that. Yeah. Like, yeah, the story, the story behind the story. What went into the making of this episode? Well, I wrote a word and said it. I love it. I really love it. And I wonder if it would

become like some of those TV shows like lost where people think the creators kind of you know lost the plot a bit and didn't really know where they were going with it and people would be like does Brady know where this podcast is going or is he just making it up as he goes like and there would be like theories and fan theories and conspiracy theories about where it's going and what's going to happen next or I don't know I think I know what next week's word's going to be or you know next week's word must be this otherwise the sentence won't make sense and things like that Well, how do you know when the sentence is finished? Are you not going to denote when punctuation occurs, are you?

So. And you could do twists. Like you could have my name is. And everyone's thinking, well, next week we know what the word's going to be. It's going to be the name of the presenter. But it could be something I am not going to tell you. So you could sometimes throw them a curveball where they think they know what's coming next. And I do think this needs tension.

Like it needs to be in its own way, apart from the, you get past the novelty, right? But a few words in it. It needs to be a damn good sentence. Like it needs, you know how there's a real tight pith, you know, in haiku or those very mini short stories that do something? There needs to be a way in which you genuinely hook people. How can you work with that? Interesting and worthy of much more thought. Wow.

Let's just glacially consider it quietly for a while. Oh, well, you've liked that idea more than I thought, so you've increased my enthusiasm for it. I do, yeah, yeah. I think it's a shame we've talked about it. I think you should have just done it. I think that's great. Well, I'm going to do it. My plan is to have it in place before this episode's released.

Oh, right. Okay. So what you're saying is it now exists. It is made. Hopefully, if I've got my act together. It doesn't exist right now for you and me, but I'm hoping it will exist for the listeners. Yeah, they can go and listen to the first.

They can even go and listen to the first word. I mean, I think you could double down. I think you could release one episode per year. Yeah, that did occur to me. And you could do, or you could do like one per day. You could go the other way. But I think once a week is good. You could have special bonus weeks where you release two words.

and like would the podcast go on hiatus over like Christmas like we're not going to have a word for the next few weeks but we'll be back in January with another word I'm sorry about the break in between episodes it's been a very busy time who would sponsor this podcast do you think you could get sponsors there could be a cause-based sponsor

something that's drawing attention to the you know the melting of the ice packed or something like that, you know, that there's sort of another subtext to it. I like your thinking. Yeah, there's a few things spring to mine there. That's a good idea. Wow. All right. Brilliant. Brilliant. Good stuff. Thank you. I'll get to work on that. Do you have an idea for a podcast, Tim? Yeah, yeah. Well, I do actually. I was at the supermarket the other day, and I know you'd be shocked by this, I bumped into someone that I know. No.

Yes. Actually, having said that, we should check that this is public knowledge. Like, if he's told his employer before we release this episode. That's a good point, actually. Yeah. Which is quite... Do you want to call him and ask him if it's public knowledge? Yeah, go on.

Yeah, go on. Because, say we were making a podcast about... Oh, good-day. It's a Tim Hine here. Is he there? Oh, I'm very sorry. Bye-bye. That's an old number.

Let me try this other one here. Your call has been forwarded to voicemail. Oh, damn. Who could I try? Okay, everyone. Tim had a great idea for today's episode, but we've had to embargo it at the very last minute because of some potential confidentiality privacy issues we're unsure about.

So we're going to skip that idea for another episode. We will come back to it. But in the meantime, I actually had a second idea, that you inspired, so it's kind of your idea anyway. So let me tell you about it and see what we think. And this is called, what do I judge people by? Because I remember I was talking to you a while back and you were telling me about a meeting you had with someone in their office.

And you were like glancing over the books on their bookshelf behind them. And it really coloured your impression of that person, you said, how you felt about them, how you felt about the meeting, how you even felt about the possible business you were looking at doing. all because of the books on the shelves behind them. And it got me thinking, we all have these little prejudices, don't we? There's little things that we will make a little judgment goal by.

What do I judge people by? So that's one to think about. Could this be a podcast? People come on and talk about those little things in life that if I see that person wearing socks with sandals, that's it. I've made an instant judgment goal about them. Things like that.

On the one hand, it feels like it's terrible to admit, right? Because it makes it sound like you're judgmental. on the other side I think it is a little bit discerning like I remember that exact meeting and I remember looking behind at the office it was a meeting in their office about something prospectively happening

and I remember looking at a couple of books and just knowing oh this isn't going to happen no this isn't going to work I can you know what I mean like I can just by by what they're reading I yeah no this isn't going to work can you tell me anything about the nature of those books without like you know without spoiling anything or without dropping anyone

it. What were the kind of books that were making you think that? Oh, look, it was a Christian context. They were kind of, they were Christian books, right? But not your Christian books. No, no, they weren't good Christian books. They were the wrong Christian books. They were really sort of super spiritual kind of hot, you know, like about, they like elevated, how can I say this, like, you know, about demons and supernaturally things that didn't that not from a not in a credible way you know what I mean like highly speculative kind of stuff

and I was like not your thing not your thing well it was more a case of I if you're reading that then I know where you're coming from and I can tell that we're gonna miss each other like you know what I mean like this isn't gonna work now that's yeah it's terrible because they may have had those books as an example of the kind you know yeah here's something that you know I wouldn't read or I'm debunking yeah yeah that's right or they may have been

it may not have been their office right they may have been using someone else's office or something like that but I could just tell I was like oh hello now that I mean I'm sure in the academic world that happens a lot because you can get a sense of who people are and what they're studying and what they're researching by what's on their shelf

but the classic way to do this is of course in since post-COVID you know every news television show that crosses to some expert, they don't get them into the studio anymore. It's via Zoom and they're at home and they've got all these books behind them. And so you're looking over their shoulder

and you know that everyone's sort of savvy enough now to put the books there that they kind of want people to know that they've read. And so they're creating an impression. It's kind of like, here's my CV of stuff I've read. And I know, like with politics and things, I'm looking over their shoulder going, okay, that biography, read that, read that, read that, read that.

You know, it's interesting that they've put those books there rather than other books and so they are kind of wanting to be judged a little bit by what's been put as props behind them fair enough that's fair call one of the people i make videos with tim's a astronomy professor called mike merrifield he's actually recently retired but i filmed in his office hundreds of times and his bookshelf was behind him and on his bookshelf there was a really thick, mighty tone with a really big spine. You couldn't help but see it. It was the most outstanding book on his shelf. And it was a book called The Atlas of Creation. And it was made by a guy who has beliefs in evolution and creation that I would say don't jibe with most scientists.

Right. Big believer in creation and evolution. But created this book with all these photos in it to sort of, I think it was to kind of prove his case and state his case. But it was a beautifully made book and lots and lots of money was put into it and it was just chocker block with fantastic color photographs and he sent it to lots of scientists and people around the world to try and make his case and one copy got sent to mike and mike looked at it and thought this is just a beautiful book full of great photos i don't believe what he's saying it's not it doesn't i think it's rubbish actually but it's a beautiful book and he put it on his shelf to keep he couldn't

throw it away. Yeah. And then obviously it started appearing in my videos and everyone could pick it out in the background all the time and started writing comments about it. I even said to him, do you want to move it? Because we just get so many comments about it and it's getting a bit distracting. But Mike's a pretty stubborn guy. And he was like, I'm not moving.

I'm not taking something off my bookshelf because of YouTube commenters. I kept the book. It's there on my shelf. I'm not ashamed of that. So he kept it there. But we had to make a second video about why that book was on his shelf where he talked about it. said this is the book this is what it's about this is why i've kept it even though i'm not a creationist

um and it got to so it got to a point where people pointed out the book all the time i could then leave a comment saying go and watch this video go and watch this video go and watch this video instead of having to type replies and things like that so people were judging him by that book for sure to the point where we had to have like a caveat because he was keeping it as a kind of debunking type reason there should be a new sort of axiom which is not just don't judge a book by its cover but don't judge a person by the cover of the book behind them. That's right. It might catch on.

Right down the other end of the kind of judging people's spectrum. I remember an episode of Sex in the City where one of the girls, I can't, the brunette, I can't remember her name. Charlotte. Charlotte, right, was dating a guy. And then they ended up just while they're walking around New York, they walked into a department store. And they happened to be in the sort of crockery section, you know, plates and crockery and all that kind of stuff and he just half offhandedly you know just said no this looks nice and it says you know Charlotte broke up with him immediately she could not be with

someone who could possibly entertain you know that particular pattern of crockery and it's a she made a total massive life decision based on an offhanded comment about a crockery it's like no this isn't going to work there are certain fashion items or stylistic choices people might make that I take heed of I don't know if I'd make life decisions based on it I will also there are obvious things like politics if someone says something

you know steps on certain landmines of who they voted for or what they believe about things certain like you know some of the hot topic issues you can guess what so those issues are or politicians I might it might change my thinking about them

I won't again it won't affect you know if I'll work with them or if I'll be friends with them but it does, it colours your thinking, like, and sometimes for quite a while. Also, moon landing conspiracy theories, if someone, you know, if someone finds out about me quite early on that I'm really interested in space and the moon landings and they're like, yeah, yeah, oh, that was all faked. I will, I will put them in a certain bucket for a little while, until I'm, until other things

come into play, so. There is, there is, that's the idea of the shibboleth, isn't it? That idea that someone says a word that's code and it's like, oh, okay, I can see a whole worldview here because you've used that particular word, you know, that's code word or something, you know. Tell me more about Shibboleth. This is the second time. This is a new piece of knowledge to me. You mentioned it to me recently as well and it made me do a bit of research about it, but flesh that out for me. What's Shibboleth? Where does it come from? Well, my understanding is that it's an Old Testament term, that it's a Hebrew word, which is a, I don't actually know the

origins of it, and how it's used. I actually don't. I know how it's functionally used today, but I just happen to know it's a word that was used in the Old Testament by the people of Israel, but I don't know. And if someone said it, it told you something about them. Yeah,

like if a person uses a particular term, you know they, it's a shibboleth. Like if, um, or what's a way of saying? It's like a giveaway. A giveaway, yeah. If they refer to, um, here's what it says on the dictionary on the internet, mate.

A custom principle or belief. distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one, regarded as outmoded or no longer important. Okay. So it's a little bit like I can tell where you're from, if you use that word. We're looking at Judges 126.

They said onto him, Say now Shibboleth, and he said Shibuleth, for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they laid hold on him and slew him at the forwards of the Jordan. So some guy who couldn't pronounce Shibuleth correctly. It was killed in the Bible because they gave something away about him. Oh, okay. So it's literally the right word.

So maybe that's the spies coming out of the promised land or something like that. And it's like, if you say this correctly with the right accent, it's a bit like a spy, you know, and learning to pronounce something the correct way. And if they don't pronounce it the correct way, you know that they're faking the accent or something. Gawlami. I haven't actually watched that film in Glorious Bastards. What's that from? Is it in Glorious Bastards?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Where they've got to, he gets them to say their names in Italian lots and lots of times. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Goralami. That is, that is, that is, that is, Goral army. That, that is very funny when Brad Pitt, with his rich American accents,

pretending to be Italian. Yeah, that's great. It's a very violent film, but it has its moments, yeah. Anything else you judge people by besides the books on their shelves? Do you judge people by what they wear? Oh, I think you do size people up and get a sense of them. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't think you, when you say judge, you don't mean judge and discount.

You go, well, here we go. Here's a sense of this person. Yeah. Particularly because people use fashion as to signal things about themselves. It's part of their identity. So that's that theme. I feel like that means less the older you get. And it can be misleading as well.

You know, it can throw you off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think when people, you can see they're trying to impress you or trying to be impressive in what they're wearing, opposed to someone who's a bit less pretentious. I remember someone saying once, don't let your clothes be louder than your opinions or be the most fascinating thing about you or something like that that I've always taken a bit on, clearly taken on board. I'm quite a messy and scruffy dresser, I think, and there've been a few times I've gone into shops to make big purchases for one reason

or another, you know, with the intent of spending a significant sum on something. Oh, yeah. And not being able to get customer service. And I think it's because of how I was dressed and just walked out in disgust pretty woman style you know do you go back the next day in like a beautiful frock and say big mistake huge oh dear so i think i probably get judged a bit by what i by how i dress i seriously and i mean seriously used to judge people harshly based on their musical tastes what would be like what would a red flag be if someone said i'm really into this what would that be like don't know you're not you're not you're not my cup of tea. Yeah, well, stuff like, you know, that's just really bland, you know, bands like

Creed and Nickelback, or, you know, certain types of, you know, kind of horrendous R&B pop music and stuff like that. It doesn't, it was just, oh, no, no, this isn't going to work. Do you not still feel that way? Well, I just like to think I'm less superficial as a person that I'm more interested in the person than their musical taste. Right. And my palette for music is less snobby as well. I'm not so purest in my musical taste. And I'll come to that a little bit later on when we're, when we, yeah, well, I'll come to that in a little bit moment. We'll come back to that.

If people have got things that they judge others by, let us know, send us, you know, all the usual things, emails, Reddit, social media, get in touch, let us know. We might share some of them in an upcoming episode. Let's move on to the Tim High. and Brady-Harran medals. I discussed recently how I think bestowing a medal is a nice thing. I received a medal called the Christopher Zeeman Medal, and his family, one of his family members, came along to the event,

and it made me think, this was a really nice thing. It was coming sort of in his memory and stuff like that. It was just a nice event, and it made me think, wouldn't it be nice if we had medals that we could bestow on people that we thought deserve them? we kind of joked around about it at the time and we hadn't really discussed criteria for it but we sort of jokingly Tim

we kind of jokingly thought maybe they should go to people who are like us in some way or had traits in common with us and we jokingly I think we jokingly ended up presenting a fake one to I think it was it was Jason Kelsey for me and I think it was Bob Dylan for Tim we'll come back to all this soon

but wipe that slate clean all right wipe that slate clean all right wipe that slate claim because what we've done is we've actually had the medals made i had designs done they've been struck if you look in the show notes now or on the video you can see them for the first time unless you're a patreon supporter and then you've seen them before but if you're a normal listener you can see these medals and before we talk about the awarding of them Tim, how magnificent are these medals? Oh, incredible.

I continue to be amazed that you've got these made. They really are quite stunning. They're like side, the Brady Harron Medal is a side profile of me. The Tim Hyde Medal is a side profile of Tim. Like, in 3D, like in relief. Look, it's very inspired by the Nobel Prize medal. On the other side is an unmade podcast logo and a little blank space for names to be engraved of winners.

But they're, and they come in these lovely leather boxes, faux leather boxes with gold decoration on them. They look posh. I like the fact that our, we're looking in the opposite direction. So they're kind of, if you put them side by side, we're kind of looking at each other. That's a pretty significant thing. Or away from each other. Well, that's right. Indeed, indeed.

People will know in future if they've found, if there's a fake, you know what I mean? Because it's like, oh, that's a Brady, but it's facing the wrong way. And that's going to be one of those clues that experts in the future. you will look to me. Like if one of these appears on antics roadshow and they're like, well, hang on, I'm sorry to say, you know, you've overpaid for this because... My decision to have us facing in opposite directions

is inspired by the coins and the stamps in the UK where they use like the Queen's head on the back of a coin or a stamp. And then when a monarch dies, the next one is flipped. So they alternate. That's kind of a tradition. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. So I kind of, I was quite... That was in my head when I thought you and I should be looking in opposite direction.

directions. The king is dead. Long live the king. Is that the idea? Something like that. I don't know which one of us is dead in this analogy, but... No, I was born first, though. I'm older than you, so... So you're dead. Well, I'm not dead, but I'm, you know, largely redundant. Well, go and have a look at these medals. We're really proud of them, and we're going to start awarding them when we see fit. These are different to colonel ships. I would say these are a level above colonel ships, but also So colonelships are well established as kind of service to the podcast, part of the team, whereas these medals, I think, are kind of, in my mind, going to be external to the podcast and they're just awarded to people in the world, in the universe, that we want to recognize

and bestow honour upon. And these may well be people who've never heard of the podcast. In fact, there's a pretty strong chance they've never heard of the podcast, but we want to bestow honor upon them, and this is our way of doing it by awarding them one of these magnificent golden medals. How is this going to work? I mean, they're going to hear about it when we announce them in just a few moments, and this episode goes out. And then, like, have you arranged, like, postal delivery, or are there security guards or some sort of security company that are turning up to take the medals to them? How's this going to work? Is this going to be one

of those situations where someone, like, we have to, you know, pay for a seat on a plane for the security guard and then pay for the seat next to them for the medal where it sits? In business class. In business class? Or is that going to be like, that's the decoy? And then it turns out there was someone at the back of the plane. It just slipped it into their pocket. And that was like, you know what I mean?

Like this special thing so that people might. I'm actually thinking of buying tickets on multiple planes. So people don't even know what country it's flying to. So we'll have like seven or eight business class seats on various planes. and people don't know which one's got the actual medal. Right. Or it might get there and then just, you know, get a return flight home and people are like, what, what?

Just going on a holiday. The medal just wanted to see the world. Yeah. Nice. So I cannot tell you how beautiful and impressive these medals are. These are a great thing to win. Now, just to be a bit meta for a moment, I do hope that this is going to be fun

Like, you know, we're going to award a lot of them With a spirit of fun Maybe engage the people who've won If they're engageable, maybe not I don't know exactly what direction it's going to go in And we're happy to be guided But unlike when we joked about it X number of episodes ago

And said, oh, they go to people Who are like us in some way I think we have to scrap that This is just Tim and I Bestowing honour upon people we think deserve it And it's within our gift So it's within my gift So it's within my gift to bestow a Brady-Harrin medal

And it's within Tim's gift to bestow a Tim Hine medal Indeed, indeed, indeed. Yeah, the last thing someone wants is to receive the Tim Hine medal Having lived their old life, people saying, Oh, you're so much like Tim Hine. And then just, you know what I mean? They're getting over it, getting past it, trying to create their own life and identity And suddenly a medal turns up in the mail.

No. Tim Hine medal. None of that. That's going to feel like an insult, isn't it? I'm ready to award the first Brady-Harran medal. And by the way, it's not just medals I've had created, Tim. I've had a special fanfare created by the maestro Alan Stewart, who creates most of my music and does most of the sound effects and jingles for the Unmade podcast.

The maestro, Alan Stewart, has created a fanfare. So you will hear the fanfare played every time a name is officially announced as a winner. So that's something extra special. All right. Well, I think you should go first. I think you've put quite a lot of effort. into this and I think you're no doubt given this very careful consideration and a lot of thought who is the inaugural winner of the Brady Harron medal well Tim I did say I want these to be quite fun and joking and have a sense of fun about them as well as well as you know some honor to

them but my first medal the inaugural Brady Harron medal is going to be serious is going to be like you know from the heart right something that something I mean, okay? Like, it's not going to be jockey. But don't think they're always going to be like this. But my first one I want to be from the heart. That's not to pressure Tim into doing likewise. In fact, I specifically told Tim I don't want him to do likewise

because I don't want these to all be, you know, too serious. So Tim might, Tim hopefully will not go in this direction, but I kind of have. Because Tim, in my life, I've, for some reason, like, I've ended up falling into a career and a path. that lends itself to occasionally getting medals and awards and things. I've noticed. Yeah, and I was reflecting on this. Like, how come this happens to me a little bit?

Not a crazy amount, but it does happen to me sometimes that I'll win medals and awards. And I think it's a combination of factors. One of the biggest ones is a lot of my work overlaps with academia and universities and things. And academia and universities have quite a structure in place to give awards and they like honours and things like that. So I've kind of fallen into that world a little bit. So that's one of the reasons. I also have quite a solitary job where I'm at the forefront,

so I probably get a bit more recognition than I really deserve as like a sort of a solo operator, not part of a big collective. And I think that kind of individualism sometimes lends itself to recognition. That's probably not deserved, but happens. So for whatever reason, I receive medals and awards. from time to time. Lucky me.

Now, unlucky for my wife because she has to come to some of these ceremonies sometimes and she's always so happy for me and really supportive. This is my wife, Guyley. But she has had a life where she doesn't get medals and awards.

In fact, she often tells me about how she's never, ever won any kind of medal, which amazes me in a way. But that's because when she was younger, she wasn't competitive and she wasn't really into sport. And I think a lot of us cut our teeth of getting medals and prizes playing junior sport, don't we? That's always where we win our first medals.

She never had any of that. And through her career, she hasn't won medals and awards, despite being a really high achiever. So the inaugural winner of the Brady-Harran medal is... Oh, man. Wow. Can I read you the citation? Kylie Pentelow is my wife. I'm going to read you the citation.

Here we go. The inaugural winner of the Brady Harron Medal is Kylie Pentelow. Kylie is, of course, my wife. She's an extraordinary mother to our son, Edward. How she balances all she does for our family and her career is mind-boggling. But this medal is awarded solely for her professional success and qualifications. qualities. Kylie has risen to the lofty heights of live presenting in the BBC's most important and highest profile studios. But unlike many who have done so from a life of privilege,

she's done so from a humble background, the first member of her family to even attend university. From the Bath Chronicle to the BBC to ITV and back to the BBC, Kylie has fronted national and international TV news programmes and become a familiar face on our screens. In more recent times, she's become a friendly, trusted voice on flagship radio programs. Obviously, Kylie is blessed with some qualities that make for a great presenter. A quick and inquiring mind, calmness under pressure, a broadcast quality voice, and a beautiful face. But there are other qualities that set her apart from many in the cutthroat and energy-sapping media world. She is brave, willing to throw herself into unfamiliar and challenging environments. and doing so live in front of millions of people.

She is not fearless. Kylie gets nervous, but that is why she is so brave. She is not one to take refuge in a comfort zone. Kylie is also determined always pursuing new ideas and opportunities, striving for what's next. Sometimes, like everyone, she has to take no for an answer. But rather than walk away or wallow and self-pity, Kylie simply dusts herself off and asks the next question.

But most importantly, she is kind. Kylie never wants her success to come at the expense of others. She takes joy in the achievements of her colleagues and helps others at every opportunity, whether it's mentoring junior journalists or praising her peers. Everyone seems to love working with Kylie because she is, for lack of a better word, fundamentally good. For these reasons, Kylie is not only a rare diamond in the media world,

she's someone I admire, someone I look up to and wish I could emulate. there's no one who deserves a medal more than Kylie. I'm just sorry. This one has my face on it. Wow. I don't know. I mean, in an unbelievable coincidence, the Tim Hine medal was also heading to go up into Lowe.

Oh, she can have two. Two in a day. I think you will be, you will do better having, having been the bestower of this medal. well that is actually a surprise there we go let me show you hang on let me show you I've been to the engravers already I don't know how well you'll see it on the camera

but I'll try there you go wow you're not joking her name is engraved on the first Brady-Harran medal along with the year in Roman numerals just to make it look more posh does she know does she know yet or it's been enough here for the first time no she does not know how are you going to tell her

are you going to play this episode for her would you like me to I think that's probably the way to do it. Yeah? Yeah. You can't just randomly walk up to her and hand her a medal. No. No.

All right. If she's agreeable, I'll play the episode to her and I'll see if I can sneakily film myself doing it. Wow. Wow. Look, I don't want to say it's not earned, but I want to say that's one of the biggest suckups in modern history. Seriously, though. I cannot believe she has. There's never won any kind of medal or trophy or anything,

and it makes me feel guilty because I feel a little bit undeserving of recognition sometimes, and she does deserve it. So... That's beyond doubt. You're clearly undeserving, and she's clearly magnificent. You just have to listen to her talk. I just won't give her a medal. She sounds fantastic.

Yeah. Wow. All right. There we go. I promise the next one will be more fun, and less Worthy Well, you know

No, no, you had to pay some bills there, man I understand And you've got that out the way All right What are you doing for your wife Well You know, I'm just scratching out the engraving here As we speak

What are you doing about the first Tim Hine medal You've clearly taken an enormous benefit Out of your medal Whereas mine's really for the fans Right So I'd like to dedicate my medal to all the unmade

podcast listeners out there. Well, that's going to be a big engraving job. Is that like when Time magazine made everyone in the world person of the year? That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

Was it Steve Martin that got up to win an award? He said, I'd like to thank anyone who has ever lived. I hope I'm not leaving anyone out. Yeah. No, what are you really going to do, Tim? Are you going to go give yours to a homeless person? Well, I'm going to be the homeless person once we find out that you gave yours to your wife, and I didn't. I'm going to give my next one to your wife.

That's the most undermining thing you could give if you'd done that. Oh, dear. Oh, classic. Oh, look. Well, well, that's, I mean, that is huge. Let's just let the dust settle on that for a little while. That'll clearly go viral. Massive, massive news and well, and well deserved, I would say.

Well deserved. Moving now to the main event. The Tim Hine medal. The one everyone wants. That's right. I, look, I'm going to award mine to someone. I'm not sleeping with and I'm look as you know I originally decided that I was going to give it to Bob Dylan and the reason I chose Bob Dylan is not because he's the you know greatest

songwriter of all time absolute you know probably the greatest solo artist of all time but because he's very similar to me that is he's funny looking with a not very strong voice who has written songs who believes in God is and is going a bit great And so I've been sitting with that Because actually putting aside his similarities to myself He's a pretty worthy winner And I have had whole years of my life And I've listened to nothing else but Bob Dylan

And read all these books I became really quite obsessed But then I think well actually He's not my favourite artist If I was to move into that genre Then I think I'd probably go with Of course, you know Nick Cave He's sort of in the same genre

He means a hell of a lot to me But I've met Nick Cave And I gave him a copy of my book and he signed some lyrics for me. So I feel like I've sort of paid my dues there of honoring him. And then I was thinking about, oh, maybe I don't want to go with the biggest and the best. But who else have we honored?

Who's been part of our law? And who's been someone who, against every possible reason, has somehow got under my guard. And despite appearances, despite genres, despite cool factor, despite credibility,

despite having never written a song, despite his hair has somehow managed to get into my playlist. And so I'm now today willing to announce that the inaugural winner of the Tim Hine medal is Michael Bolton. Michael Bolton. Yep. Who would have thought?

Pipping Bob Dylan. Yep, yep, just Maybe for the first time ever Yeah, and maybe for the last time ever Michael Bolton I can't get past him I mean, before we come to Michael Bolton Bob Dylan may yet win one one day

But he'll never be the inaugural winner That will always be Michael Bolton I hear by swear Bob Dylan will never, never win While I'm alive, the Tim Hine medal Wow He's been thoroughly considered He was nominated in my mind, and I sat with it for a long time.

He was even the dummy run. I mean, he is, as I said before. He has huge amounts of things going for him. He's funny looking, not a very strong voice. Good songwriter believes in God, going a bit gray, bit like myself. However, he's no Michael Bolton. The medal's going to Michael Bolton. Tell me a bit about Michael Bolton.

Just tell me the, you know, write me a love letter. Oh, look, I don't know much about Michael Bolton. Bolton. He's, he's, um, he's a Timine medalist. Look, well, that's right. He's a Tim High medalist. That's clearly going to be the first line in his Wikipedia from now on. He's, look, he's got long hair. I know he had a few albums that didn't do very well in the sort of 70s and then 80s. And then he, and then he had an album called Soul Provider in 1990 or 8990. And that featured a song called How, am I supposed to live without you

which probably hasn't left my ear since then like it's been an ear that's stuck despite Would you say that's his signature song? Yes I would Yes I would I think that's it

Followed up by How Can We Be Lovers Which is a very strong Second single from the album A bit pacier Yeah yeah And he's pretty much done covers since then.

Right. Like it's been, it's been, this is, see, this is what, this is actually, one of the reasons I love this, there's two reasons why I sort of landed on this in the end. One was because I like the idea, and it's an idea that's in the Bible too, that the least, you know,

shall be first. So he's not the, he's not the kind of person you would expect to be a Tim Hine medal winner. He's kind of, you know what I mean? He's the, is the, is the, I mean, he's a multi-million. and very successful.

So I don't know about calling him least, but I guess in the context of Tim Hine medals, you could have thought he was least. Indeed. It was unexpected. He himself will be shocked, obviously, to receive the bill. He won't believe it.

He would be amazed. And so I like that idea of going with the least person, a person with no cool factor really whatsoever. And yet somehow I listen to from, well, why do you listen to? Let's talk about why he deserves it, besides the fact he didn't deserve it. That seems to be the case you're making.

Tell me a bit more about why he's got it. I don't know. I just sing the song all the time. I just sing the song all the time. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and I just put it on and I go to sleep and I just, the song comes up and I sing it and I, every now and then I go and listen. I have no, I don't respect it. I don't appreciate it, clearly.

I don't know why. I just sing the song all the time. And I have, I really don't have many reasons beyond that, except for the other day, I was walking down the road. And I was with a friend of mine, Jared, who looks a little bit like Michael Bolton, right? He's got a similar jaw structure, good-looking rooster. And, but as we're walking along, talking about something serious, a guy walked past with unmistakable Michael Bolton hair. And we both instinctively turned around to peer back at him just to go and just went, wow. But you don't see that very often anymore.

because Michael Bolton, I mean, he's shorn his locks now, but he did look pretty amazing. He also, if people want to know it a little bit more, he also does a version of a song, classic song called A Love So Beautiful. Again, it's a pretty, it's not a very substantial song, but there's something about it. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. What am I, because I'm obviously going to send Michael Bolton the medal with his name engraved on it, and I have to include a letter.

Yeah. I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to put in the letter to help him understand why he's won this. Like, can you give me a few phrases or lines that I can put in the letter? Oh, maybe you could take something out of your letter to Kylie, I guess. A few phrases there that I thought were pretty good. Maybe you could romp it up a little bit. Can I use formative in any way? Formative years or impression?

No, he didn't do a lot of good work in his formative years. No, but he was part of your formative years as a music aficionado. Well, that's right. I think of the first time I started listening to him was around the time, around 1989, 1990, he was a big hit with the girls at our school. Yeah. Not so much the guys, but with the girls at our school. Yeah.

And I remember him being played a little bit in our Year 12 room, you know, where we had sort of a hangout area and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Wasn't much into himself, myself at the time. But I thought, oh, this is nice. There's Michael Bolton again. Yeah. I actually grew to dislike him.

Maybe that's the attraction. I grew to dislike him as an artist because in some ways, you know, we're talking earlier about like judging people and being snobbish and stuff. He's down the bottom of the list. He has no credibility with me from an artistic point of view.

Everything that makes Bob Dylan great in my mind, Michael Bolton doesn't have. Has he got anything back? Has he got any credibility back? He's done, he has done like a comedy thing recently, which I think was pretty funny. He did like a Jack Sparrow song

that was like a, it was like, you know, rumor got out that he had a bit of a sense of humor and that was a lot of fun where he was playing on his, playing on his image as being a sultry kind of, you know, middle-aged ladies, man, sort of singer. And that is pretty funny, I think. Yeah, all right. But that didn't do much for me. That didn't do much for me. And so there's something about the fact that there's nothing there's nothing much about him that compels me or that I hold in high esteem, except, I mean, I'm sure he's probably a lovely guy. But for some reason, I listen to him. to him and and I think that is a hell of an effort from him that's like you know what it's a

credit to his voice it's probably a credit to his voice because he didn't he didn't write the song he just sung it he's obviously got a voice that transcends cultures and prejudices and fashions it just pure it's just pure it just speaks to your soul I mean I don't know how his career's going at the moment, but clearly this will give a second wind, won't it? Maybe a third wind. This will be massive for him. I mean, I'm aware of that. The medal, it'll be his pulp fiction.

It'll revive his career, like John Travolta. John Travolta. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's one of those things. Look, I, despite everything, I listen to him, and I'm pretty, as I said before, I didn't mean to say that before, in the context of this, but I'm pretty judgmental

when it comes to the music side, and I have to say he's got in there he's managed to get in there so congratulations Michael Bolton the inaugural winner the Tim Hine medal All right Michael Bolton or Michael Bolton's management

or record company or whoever I'm going to send the medal to keep an eye on the post there is a very very special piece of gold faux gold and faux leather coming your way

with Tim's beardy face engraved on the front Do you think, you know how sometimes they get the dual winners of something together? You know, like sometimes the Wimbled and Men's and the Wimbled and Women's champions, like dance at a ball or something? Yeah. Or, you know, they get the best actor and best actress to be photographed together.

You want to see Kylie and Michael Bolton have a dance? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I'll see what I can arrange. That would be quite. the event. She might be quite taken with him. All your big sucking up might be for nothing. It might backfire on you. That would not be it.

Well, you said you weren't going to give your medal for someone you sleep with and then you gave it to Michael Bolton. Michael Bolton, Kylie Pantolo, enjoy your medals. The medals will be back. We've had a few struck. There are more to be presented. I don't

know what the time frame will be if there'll be a routine tour or it'll just be on a whim we're open to suggestions of course but let's see where it goes I'll tell you I'll tell you

how often are we going to do this they weren't inexpensive and no they weren't a few more episodes Tim and we'll have paid for them I had to get special approval from Tim for us not to be paid for a while

to have these medals made that's wrong going to death No request room today because this episode was, I can't tell you why, it's a secret, but there's no request room today. But I will post some form of bonus content on Patreon to go along with this episode just to keep showing those stakeholders how much we love them. I've just received another text message man confirming that that thing that we didn't include earlier, it's good that we didn't do it. Right. that is. Okay. It is a secret. It is highly secretive. Good. So we'll hold onto that.

We'll sit on that for a little while. We could be holding onto that for a year or two by the sounds of it. Yeah, it may be. It's glad we didn't have to walk that one back. No. Good. Hopefully we can reveal what the situation was when we come to it.