Best Andrew Frankel Podcasts (2025)

1
The unbearable terror of your first motor race #251 46:38

1d ago46:38

46:38

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel reveal what it's like to compete in a motor race for the very first time. From not knowing where to be and when, being unsure if you have the right safety gear or not, worrying you might line up in the wrong grid slot and more, your first race is a uniquely terrifying prospect. And that's before you've done your belts…

1
679 The Jolly Corner by Henry James - Part 1 1:15:52

3d ago1:15:52

1:15:52

Although the writer Henry James (1843-1916) was born in New York City's Washington Square, he spent most of his adulthood in Europe, where he wrote such masterpieces as The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, and The Golden Bowl. Late in life, he returned to New York after a thirty-three year absence to find the city much transformed, as sky…

1
678 Fernando Pessoa (with Bartholomew Ryan) | My Last Book with Robin Waterfield 1:09:28

7d ago1:09:28

1:09:28

Jacke's been trying to come to grips with Portuguese modernist poet Fernando Pessoa ever since Harold Bloom named him one of the 26 most influential writers in the entire Western canon. But it's not easy! As a young man, Pessoa wanted to be, in his words, "plural like the universe," and he carried this out in his poetry: writing verse in the style …

1
McLaren's Zak Brown: Our drivers will compete for the 2025 championship #250 33:45

8d ago33:45

33:45

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel are joined by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown for episode 250 of The Intercooler podcast. Having orchestrated one of the most remarkable turnarounds F1 has ever seen, taking one of the slowest teams on the grid in early 2023 to the constructors' championship in 2024, Brown has his sights set on more title glory in 2025. …

1
677 Dylan Thomas (with John Goodby) | Emily Brontë and the Search for Hope 1:07:50

10d ago1:07:50

1:07:50

Dylan Thomas: brilliant poet or self-indulgent blowhard? In this episode, Jacke talks to John Goodby, co-author of the biography Dylan Thomas: A Critical Life, about the misconceptions swirling around the famous Welsh poet, and the approach that he and fellow author Chris Wigginton took in presenting a revealing and fresh introduction to Thomas's l…

1
676 "Mrs Spring Fragrance" by Sui Sin Far (with Mike Palindrome) 1:25:52

14d ago1:25:52

1:25:52

Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters Club, joins Jacke for a reading and discussion of "Mrs. Spring Fragrance" by Sui Sin Far. The story, which takes place against a backdrop of waves of immigration to America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (and the racist anti-Asian laws that followed), depicts an enterprisi…

1
Why the new Porsche 911 GT3 is different to previous models #249 48:54

15d ago48:54

48:54

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel discuss the latest version of the Porsche 911 GT3, which Dan has driven on road and track in Spain. Though this latest model is as brilliant to drive as ever, it's been developed against a very different backdrop to earlier versions. In fact, might this be the last 911 GT3 as we know it...? Dan and Andrew also discuss…

1
675 Zora Neale Hurston (with Cheryl Hopson) | Jack Kerouac's Newly Discovered Writings 1:10:18

17d ago1:10:18

1:10:18

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was the most published African American woman writer of the first half of the twentieth century; her signature novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is still read by students, scholars, and literature lovers everywhere. In this episode, Jacke talks to Hurston biographer Cheryl R. Hopson (Zora Neale Hurston: A Critical Li…

1
674 Nabokov vs Freud (with Joshua Ferris) [Ad-Free Re-Release] 51:13

21d ago51:13

51:13

“I admire Freud greatly,” the novelist Vladimir Nabokov once said, “as a comic writer.” For Nabokov, Sigmund Freud was “the Viennese witch-doctor,” objectionable for “the vulgar, shabby, fundamentally medieval world” of his ideas. Author Joshua Ferris (The Dinner Party, Then We Came to the End) joins Jacke for a discussion of the author of Lolita a…

1
The man who made the Aston Martin Valkyrie a record breaker #248 1:01:22

22d ago1:01:22

1:01:22

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel are joined by professional racing driver Darren Turner. A three-time Le Mans class winner with Aston Martin, Darren recently broke the production car lap record at Silverstone in a Valkyrie hypercar, lowering the bar by 10 whole seconds. Darren explains how the attempt compared to a GT3 qualifying lap, reveals how muc…

1
673 Edna Ferber (with Julie Gilbert) | My Last Book with Jessica Kirzane 1:04:39

24d ago1:04:39

1:04:39

Novelist and playwright Edna Ferber (1885-1968) lived a wondrous life: residing in Manhattan as a member of the famed Algonquin Round Table, writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (So Big), and producing works that Hollywood turned into twentieth-century classics, including the Kern & Hammerstein musical Show Boat and George Stevens's Giant, starri…

1
672 The Little Review (with Holly A. Baggett) | My Last Book with Phil Jones 58:43

28d ago58:43

58:43

Founded in Chicago in 1914, the avant-garde journal the Little Review became a giant in the cause of modernism, publishing literature and art by luminaries such as T.S. Eliot, Djuna Barnes, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Gertrude Stein, Jean Toomer, William Carlos Williams, H.D., Amy Lowell, Marcel Duchamp,…

1
Porsche expert exposes 911 market secrets #247 52:24

29d ago52:24

52:24

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel are joined in the studio by Porsche expert Mark Sumpter, founder of Paragon Porsche. In this episode Mark reveals where the value is in the used 911 market right now, which models he thinks will perform strongly in the coming years, how Porsche oversupplied 992 Turbos and what the effect on values was, and why GT3 and…

1
671 Shakespeare's Tragic Art (with Rhodri Lewis) | My Last Book with Joel Warner 1:00:06

1M ago1:00:06

1:00:06

It is a truth universally acknowledged that tragedy is one of the world's highest art forms, and that Shakespeare was one of the form's greatest practitioners. But how did he do it? What models did he have to draw upon, and where did he innovate? In this episode, Jacke talks to Shakespeare scholar Rhodri Lewis about his new book Shakespeare's Tragi…

1
670 The Parable 1:43:02

1M ago1:43:02

1:43:02

Inspired by an email (from a listener?) with mysterious origins, Jacke takes a look at the brief narrative form the parable. How did parables get their name? What are their key features? Why did Jesus rely on them so heavily to communicate to his listeners? And what meaning does "A Parable" have for us today? Additional listening: 634 The Bible: A …

1
The greatest supercar bloodline of all time #246 47:20

1M ago47:20

47:20

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel celebrate 50 years of arguably the greatest supercar bloodline of all time – Ferrari's two-seat, mid-engined V8. The first was the 308 GTB of 1975, the last the F8 Tributo that arrived in 2019. Dan and Andrew talk about the best and worst of the lot, the hardcore limited edition variants like the 458 Speciale, the con…

1
669 Obsessed with Melville (with Jennifer Habel and Chris Bachelder) | My Last Book with Alexander Poots 56:00

1M ago56:00

56:00

What happens when a woman becomes obsessed with Herman Melville during the pandemic? What if the process of sorting fact from fiction in Melville's work inspires a midlife reckoning with her own marriage and ambition? And what if she (a poet) and her husband (a novelist, by the way) write a book about all of it? Well, the result would be something …

1
668 Book and Dagger - The Scholars and Librarians Who Became Spies and Fought the Nazis (with Elyse Graham) | Jane Austen Turns 250 1:04:08

1M ago1:04:08

1:04:08

When the U.S. joined the war in the 1940s, it had a problem: its military had virtually no intelligence service. Enter the librarians! In this episode, Jacke talks to Elyse Graham about her work Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, which tells the story of the efforts to recruit academics and train…

1
Slow, cheap and French, but we love them anyway #245 47:00

1M ago47:00

47:00

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel discuss their favourite small French cars, from the Citroën 2CV to any number of sporty Renault Clios. Some are hot hatches but by no means all – in fact, some of these machines can be painfully slow. So why are little French hatchbacks so charming, such fun and so enduring? Use coupon code pod15 at checkout to get 15…

1
667 Sui Sin Far (with Victoria Namkung) | My Last Book with Samantha Rose Hill 55:33

1M ago55:33

55:33

Edith Maude Eaton (1865-1914) grew up in unusual circumstances: her father was an English merchant who traveled to China on business, and her mother was a formerly enslaved tightrope walker and human knife-throwing target who traveled all over the world with an acrobatic troupe. The eldest daughter among fourteen children, Eaton mostly grew up in M…

1
666 "Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (with Mike Palindrome) | My Last Book with Lev Grossman 2:02:56

2M ago2:02:56

2:02:56

First published in December of 1922, "Winter Dreams" was one of the short stories known as the "Gatsby cluster," as F. Scott Fitzgerald worked out the characters, themes, and prose style that would later make his famous novel The Great Gatsby (1925) an American classic. Telling the story of Dexter Green, a Midwestern golf caddy who becomes a wealth…

1
The year's best and worst new cars #244 51:28

2M ago51:28

51:28

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel reflect on the year just gone by remembering the best and worst new cars. Highlights include the latest Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche 911 S/T and Renault 5, while the electric Mini Cooper SE and Mercedes-AMG C63 are among the notable low points. Dan and Andrew also look ahead to 2025 and share some updates on the exce…

1
665 Keats's Great Odes (with Anahid Nersessian) [Ad-Free Encore Edition] 1:08:22

2M ago1:08:22

1:08:22

In 1819, John Keats quit his job as an assistant surgeon, abandoned an epic poem he was writing, and focused his poetic energies on shorter works. What followed was one of the most fertile periods in the history of poetry, as in a few months' time Keats completed six masterpieces, including such celebrated classics as "To Autumn," "Ode to a Nightin…

1
664 James Joyce's "The Dead" Part 2 [Ad-Free Encore Version] 1:24:30

2M ago1:24:30

1:24:30

Happy holidays! In this episode, presented without commercial interruption, Jacke revisits the second half of the classic James Joyce short story "The Dead." [This episode was originally released on December 22, 2017.] Additional listening: 368 The Story of the Nativity (with Stephen Mitchell) 172 Holiday Movies (with Brian Price) 407 "The Old Nurs…

1
Richard Porter aka Sniff Petrol in the studio #243 1:03:27

2M ago1:03:27

1:03:27

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel are joined in the studio by Richard Porter. Richard, otherwise known as Sniff Petrol, is one half of the Smith & Sniff podcast, former script editor at Top Gear and The Grand Tour and contributor to various magazines and newspapers. Dan and Andrew ask Richard about his love of car magazines, how he fell into podcastin…

1
663 James Joyce's "The Dead" Part 1 [Ad-Free Encore Edition] 31:33

2M ago31:33

31:33

Happy holidays! In this episode, presented without commercial interruption, Jacke revisits the first part of the the classic James Joyce holiday story, "The Dead." [The full version of this episode was originally released on December 19, 2017.] Additional listening: 123 James Joyce's The Dead (Part 1) [Full Version] 72 The Best Christmas Stories in…

1
662 Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction - Black Women Writing Under Segregation (with Eve Dunbar) | My Last Book with Deni Kasa 1:05:00

2M ago1:05:00

1:05:00

Generally speaking, a common conception of U.S. race relations in the mid-twentieth century runs like this: segregation was racist and bad, the doctrine of "separate but equal" masked genuine inequality, and the racial integration brought about by the famous Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education was a long-awaited triumph. But is th…

1
Hot hatches to supercars – what we've been living with this year #242 47:52

2M ago47:52

47:52

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel discuss the cars they've been living with in 2024, from a Volkswagen Up GTI to a McLaren Artura, via a basic Porsche 911 and an electric Audi. Does Andrew's bottom of the range Porsche 911 Carrera feel like the poor relation in the 911 line-up? Why did Dan sell the Up GTI that he so enjoyed driving? Dan and Andrew als…

1
661 James Baldwin (with Colm Tóibín) 1:02:13

2M ago1:02:13

1:02:13

Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. Inspired by the illumination and insight in Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín would soon become a lifelong fan. In this episode, Tóibín tells Jacke about that original encounter, the qualities he most admires in Baldwin's work, Baldwin's spiritual …

1
660 "Wakefield" by Nathaniel Hawthorne | My Last Book with Amelia Possanza 56:18

2M ago56:18

56:18

Before his marriage, before meeting Herman Melville, and before the publication of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne was living in near seclusion, writing the stories that formed his first collection Twice-Told Tales. Edgar Allan Poe was impressed: "His tone is singularly effective," he wrote, "wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accorda…

1
Reflecting on the memorable 2024 F1 season and the new Jaguar concept #241 49:21

2M ago49:21

49:21

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel discuss the 2024 Formula 1 season, which looked set to be a carbon copy of the tedious 2023 campaign until it suddenly turned into one of the most watchable seasons in years. Dan and Andrew talk about this season's heroes and zeroes and what F1 has in store for us in 2025. Will Max Verstappen win a fifth consecutive t…

1
659 The Legend of King Arthur (with Lev Grossman) 58:26

2M ago58:26

58:26

A legendary king, knights of the round table, magic and myths and valiant quests - the stories of King Arthur (also known as the "Matter of Britain") have captivated readers since the Middle Ages. It's potentially rich material for a contemporary novelist, but as Lev Grossman found, some of the Arthurian world's lesser-known characters can be just …

1
658 "The Snow Fairy" by Claude McKay | Literary Journeys (with John McMurtrie) 48:51

3M ago48:51

48:51

After taking a look at a wintry poem by Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay, Jacke talks to editor John McMurtrie about his new book Literary Journeys Mapping Fictional Travels Across the World of Literature, which celebrates passages of literature that have sent readers to the ends of the earth from Ancient Greece to today. Additional listening: …

1
657 Auden's England (with Nicholas Jenkins) | My Last Book with Gabriele Pedulla 1:09:36

3M ago1:09:36

1:09:36

From the beginning of his career as a poet, W.H. Auden wrestled with the meaning of Englishness. He came out with a collection of poems entitled On This Island, but what exactly was this island? A world in ruins? A beautiful (if morally compromised) haven? In this episode, Jacke talks to Nicholas Jenkins (The Island: War and Belonging in Auden's En…

1
ICONS: Is the BMW M3 the greatest M-car ever? #240 45:41

3M ago45:41

45:41

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel discuss the near 40-year history of the BMW M3. They talk about the cars that inspired the very first, the E30 of 1986, plus that model's extraordinary racing heritage. They then talk about all the models that followed, both good and bad, as well as the present day M3 that isn't offered for sale in the UK and what the…

1
656 Novelist Chigozie Obioma on Literature, Life, and His Love for Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day [HOL Encore] 1:09:08

3M ago1:09:08

1:09:08

By listener request, Jacke presents a conversation with Nigerian-born novelist Chigozie Obioma (The Road to the Country, The Fishermen, An Orchestra of Minorities). Obioma, hailed by the New York Times as "the heir to Chinua Achebe," tells Jacke about his childhood in Nigeria, the moment he knew he wanted to be a storyteller, what he values in lite…

1
655 Guilty Pleasures (with Mike Palindrome and Laurie Frankel) | My Last Book with Mary Flannery 1:13:18

3M ago1:13:18

1:13:18

Guilty pleasures! We use the phrase all the time, but what does it really mean? Can reading a book ever be a guilty pleasure? A listener suggests that it can - and Jacke invites two frequent History of Literature guests to test the theory. For this day-before-Thanksgiving special treat, Laurie Frankel (This Is How It Always Is, Family Family) and M…

1
We explore the wonderful world of car tuning #239 52:53

3M ago52:53

52:53

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel are joined by Nick and Owen from Motor Addicts to discuss car tuning. In this episode they talk about the benefits of tuning, the potential pitfalls, the best (and worst) tuner cars they've come across and how to get started tuning your own car. This episode was made possible by HP Tuners. Find out more about HP Tuner…

1
654 Loving (and Reclaiming) Sylvia Plath (with Emily Van Duyne) 1:14:25

3M ago1:14:25

1:14:25

Troubled patron saint of confessional poetry? Quintessential literary sad girl? Genius poet rightfully viewed as the heir to Emily Dickinson? In her tragically brief life, Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) somehow managed to inspire all of these images and more. In this episode, Jacke talks to Emily Van Duyne about her book Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamatio…

1
653 J.D. Salinger 1:11:51

3M ago1:11:51

1:11:51

He's best known as the author of The Catcher in the Rye, one of the great publishing and cultural successes of the twentieth century. But there was more to the Jerome David Salinger (1919-2010) story than a single book. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Salinger's childhood and education, his youthful romance thwarted by an unlikely turn of ev…

1
Reviewing the Alpine A290 and making EVs fun to drive #238 49:14

3M ago49:14

49:14

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel review the new Alpine A290 electric hot hatch. Is this the car that proves EVs can be fun to drive? And if not, what do car makers need to do make their electric vehicles as enjoyable as petrol-powered cars? Dan and Andrew also discuss what the election of Donald Trump in the US means for the car industry and Dan reve…

1
652 Writing a Comic Novel (with Charles Baxter) | My Last Book with Bill Eville 1:10:31

3M ago1:10:31

1:10:31

Jacke talks to award-winning novelist and short story writer Charles Baxter about his new book, Blood Test: A Comedy, which the New York Times says "provides a snapshot of a troubled America, disguised as a speculative comedy...a quiet masterpiece." PLUS Bill Eville (Washed Ashore: Family, Fatherhood, and Finding Home on Martha's Vineyard) stops by…

1
651 Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey | The Heroine's Labyrinth (with Douglas Burton) | My Last Book with Douglas Burton 1:22:14

3M ago1:22:14

1:22:14

In 1949, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces posited the existence of a "monomyth," a universal pattern that formed the basis of heroic tales in every culture. But although he maintained that more often than not the young heroes followed an archetypal journey--which in addition to ancient myths can be seen in everything from Star Wars to H…

1
The problem with today's hypercars #237 46:29

3M ago46:29

46:29

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel consider why the McLaren W1 and Ferrari F80 haven't caused the same excitement among enthusiasts as hypercars from the past. Are we just bored with very low-volume, extremely high-performance machines that few of us will ever get to experience for ourselves? Is there something inherently wrong with this new batch of h…

1
650 Dante's Divine Comedy (with Joseph Luzzi) 1:06:20

3M ago1:06:20

1:06:20

Written in the early 1300s, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy has been an essential component of Western literature for more than 700 years. In this episode, Jacke talks to Joseph Luzzi about his book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Biography, which gives an intimate portrait of the work that has challenged and inspired generations of readers. Additional l…

1
649 Mind and Media in the Enlightenment (with Collin Jennings) | Mike Recommends A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway | My Last Book with David L. Cooper 1:14:45

3M ago1:14:45

1:14:45

It's a Literary Feast Day at the History of Literature Podcast! First, Jacke talks to old friend Mike Palindrome about his love for A Moveable Feast, Hemingway's late-in-life recollection of his salad days (Pernod days?) in Paris. Then Collin Jennings (Enlightenment Links: Theories of Mind and Media in Eighteenth-Century Britain) explains how his a…

1
When Nürburgring track days go wrong (and how to make them go right) #236 54:02

4M ago54:02

54:02

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel are joined in the studio by Darren Langeveld, founder of Destination Nürburgring. Darren has been running Nürburgring track days for 20 years and knows more than just about anybody what it takes to organise a high quality event on the Nordschleife. He reveals the cost of hiring the circuit and how expensive barrier re…

1
648 Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls (with Alex Vernon) | My Last Book with Sandra Spanier 1:05:37

4M ago1:05:37

1:05:37

Throughout the 1930s, Ernest Hemingway was in the public eye as a journalist, short story writer, activist, and one of the most famous writers on the planet. But his 1937 novel To Have and Have Not fell flat, and critics wondered if the Hemingway who could write a novel on the level of The Sun Also Rises (1926) or A Farewell to Arms (1929) still ex…

1
647 The Brontes [HOL Encore] 1:03:18

4M ago1:03:18

1:03:18

Although their lives were filled with darkness and death, their love for stories and ideas led them into the bright realms of creative genius. They were the Brontes - Charlotte, Emily, and Anne - who lived with their brother Branwell in an unassuming 19th-century Yorkshire town called Haworth. Their house, a parsonage, sat on a hill, with the entic…

1
We've driven the new 717bhp BMW M5 #235 45:18

4M ago45:18

45:18

Dan Prosser and Andrew Frankel review the new hybrid BMW M5. With 717bhp it's easily the most powerful M5 yet, but at 2435kg it's the heaviest by a distance too. Has BMW M managed to overcome all that weight to make another great M5? Dan and Andrew also discuss Lando Norris's racing efforts in 2024 and talk to McLaren Automotive materials engineer …

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