Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Oliver Jeffers and Randall Munroe

Artist Oliver Jeffers pops in to the studio to tell Chris about his new book Here We Are. Plus Randall Munroe joins us on the phone from Boston to talk about Thing Explainer.

Artist and illustrator Oliver Jeffers, who has sold over 10 million books around the world, drops by to tell Chris about his new book Here We Are: Notes For Living on Planet Earth, which was inspired by becoming a new dad. Former NASA robot builder Randall Munroe is live on the phone from Boston, Massachusetts to talk about his new book Thing Explainer, a collection of diagrams of complicated stuff explained in simple terms. We learn exactly why hamsters hibernate and why humans don't from listener and vet Gillian Mostyn. Cricket commentator Henry Moran joins Vassos in the Sports Locker with the latest from the Women's Ashes. There's a Top Tenuous on rocket science, plus writer and musician Jahnavi Harrison provides the daily Pause For Thought.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Tue 21 Nov 2017 06:30
成人快手 Radio 2

More episodes

Previous

Gemma Atkinson and Pedram Shojai

Next

Josh Groban and Britain's best bus driver

See all episodes from The Chris Evans Breakfast Show

Clips

See all clips from Oliver Jeffers and Randall Munroe (2)

Music Played

  • The Jacksons

    Can You Feel It

    • Fantastic 80's Go For It! - Various.
    • Parlophone.

  • U2

    Get Out Of Your Own Way

    • Songs Of Experience.
    • Island.

  • Louis Prima

    Pennies From Heaven

    • Louis Prima: Capitol Collectors Series.
    • Capitol.
    • 24.

  • Billy Ocean

    Love Really Hurts Without You

    • The Greatest Hits Of 1976 (Various).
    • Premier.

  • Lulu

    Shout

    • It's Party Time (Various Artists).
    • Magic.
    • 8.

  • Modern Romance

    Everybody Salsa

    • 25 Years of Rock 'N' Roll Volume 2 1981.
    • Connoisseur Collection.

  • The Banana Splits

    The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)

    • Television's Greatest Hits Vol. 5: In Living Color (Various Artists).
    • TVT Records.

  • Prince

    1999

    • 4Ever.
    • Warner Bros.

  • Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

    Holy Mountain

    • Who Built The Moon?.
    • Sour Mash Records.

  • Carly Rae Jepsen

    Call Me Maybe

    • (CD Single).
    • Interscope.

  • John Newman

    Come And Get It

    • (CD Single).
    • Island.
    • 001.

  • Jos茅 Feliciano & Jools Holland

    Feliz Navidad

    • Noel (Various Artists).
    • Trax Records.

  • Paloma Faith

    Guilty

    • (CD Single).
    • RCA.

  • Morrissey

    Spent The Day In Bed

    • Low In High School.
    • BMG.

  • Tracey Ullman

    They Don't Know

    • You Broke My Heart In 17 Places.
    • Stiff.

  • Judy Garland

    Get Happy

    • Musical Wonderland (Various Artists).
    • Warner Strategic Marketi.

  • Rag鈥檔鈥橞one Man

    Grace (We All Try)

    • Human.
    • Columbia.

  • U2

    The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)

    • Songs Of Innocence.
    • Island.

  • Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

    Born To Run

  • Boston

    More Than A Feeling

    • Rock Of America (Various Artists).
    • Trax Label.

  • D:Ream

    Things Can Only Get Better

  • Nick Mulvey

    Unconditional

    • (CD Single).
    • Fiction.
    • 002.

  • Blind Melon

    No Rain

    • Blind Melon - Classic Masters.
    • EMI.

  • Counting Crows

    Mr. Jones

    • (CD Single).
    • Geffen.

  • Elbow

    Golden Slumbers

    • (CD Single).
    • Polydor.

  • Elton John

    Rocket Man

    • Diamonds.
    • Virgin EMI Records.

  • Bill Wyman

    Si Si Je Suis Un Rock Star

    • Another Slice Of Vintage Cheese (Various Artists).
    • Universal.
    • 1.

Pause for Thought

Writer and Musician, Jahnavi Harrison.

I was in Paris this past weekend. Sounds so glamorous when someone says that right!? It was actually work related and it wasn鈥檛 particularly glamorous, although in-between riding the underground trains here and there and getting accosted by souvenir vendors, I did see one postcard worthy sunset over the river.

On that same walk, we passed by the Notre Dame cathedral, all lit up as the sky darkened.

The outside of the building is covered in incredible sculptures, and so I wasn鈥檛 surprised there were hundreds of people taking pictures. What did make me smile was the overwhelming amount of selfie sticks!

I saw a couple kissing, well really they were pretending to kiss while one of them held an arm extended, a selfie stick and a phone poised to capture them with the view in the background. It was kind of hard to get it all right in one go, with eyes closed, so they were frozen like a very wobbly amorous sculpture for a quite a few minutes.

I don鈥檛 know what it is with selfie sticks - I find them a bit ridiculous even though I can definitely understand they have a very practical function. All that awkwardness avoided in having to ask a stranger to take a picture of you - and you can actually see what you look like as you take it, an innovation that will surely go down in history :) .

Selfies, and the sticks that make them easier,聽 make me think a lot about my tendency to act like I鈥檓 the star of my own movie. It鈥檚 embarrassing. If my mind was broadcast for all to see, god forbid - but just being honest here, it is self focused A LOT of the time. Technology doesn鈥檛 make me be that way, it just helps to facilitate it.

So I am really grateful for the spiritual teachings and practices that push me to think of myself as a servant of others. In Sanskrit the word for servant is 鈥榙as鈥�, or 鈥榙asi鈥� if you鈥檙e a 鈥榣ady鈥� and I try to meditate on that every day, especially as the self absorbed thoughts wash in each morning like scraggly tangles of seaweed coming in at high tide.

Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I鈥檝e got nothing against taking a picture of yourself, and if a stick makes it easier - go for it! I鈥檓 just trying to be mindful of my own motives, and more than that, just think about other people and what I can do for them more often!

That said though - some of my friends are saying they don鈥檛 believe we鈥檙e actually in studio together unless they see proof, so can we do a quick selfie today Chris?

Broadcast

  • Tue 21 Nov 2017 06:30
    成人快手 Radio 2

Farewell Chris Evans: The best bits from his last shows at Radio 2

After eight years of hosting the Breakfast Show, Chris Evans leaves Radio 2.

500 Words

成人快手 Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.