Sideways

Boston, Massachusetts, 1985. Dr Joe Upton is struggling to reattach a severed ear onto a little boy. Using incredible skill and the best in modern equipment he re-attaches the arteries, but the veins are proving difficult. Blood keeps getting congested and the little ear is turning black. Just when it looks like all is lost, Joe remembers leeches.Once used to treat every malady imaginable, the vampiric worms fell out of favour when we gained a better understanding of how the body works. But, Matthew Syed wonders, did the medical backlash against leeches go too far, squandering the ancient wisdom contained in the worm? In seeking to find out what other potentially useful cures have been consigned to history, Matthew learns about an Anglo Saxon recipe for an eye balm which uses garlic and bovine bile and may have MRSA busting qualities. He learns how the chants and charms accompanying such potions had incredibly practical purposes but why the newly professional doctors of The Enlightenment were keen to deride homespun medicine as quackery. Matthew draws out why we dismiss certain knowledge and experience in favour of modernity and progress and asks what we risk losing as a result.With Microsurgeon Dr Joe Upton, Carl Peters-Bond of Biopharm Leeches, Micro-biologist Dr Freya Harrison of Warwick University, Nottingham University Anglo Saxon expert Dr Christina Lee and 18th Century Medical historian Dr Kathryn Woods of Goldsmith’s University.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Marilyn Rust Series Editor/Exec: Katherine Godfrey Researcher: Nadia Mehdi Music Sound, Design & Mix: Rob Speight Additional mixing: Alex Portfelix Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Iona Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Lee Chambers is an undeniable success. From his parents' single bedroom, with the boiler humming away day and night, he founds an e-commerce video games business that gives him a healthy bank account in seven months. Next comes the car, the house, the fancy holidays with his wife. But all the time, Lee feels like a total failure. Everyone is telling him he’s a success, but he can’t see it. He’s on the verge of being overwhelmed, until his body intervenes to stop him in his tracks.In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed asks us to question the myths we’re fed about success and redefine its meaning for ourselves. Is it always about working harder? Can we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, or, actually, do many more of us need a leg up from others? Matthew explores the way toxic myths about successful entrepreneurialism are sold to us, which often ignore the uneven access to risk-taking and the importance of timing. With philosopher Dr Gwen Bradford, of Rice University, Matthew asks us to reconsider what achievement really means. And, ultimately, asks us to create a healthier approach to what it takes to become successful.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer and Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Researcher: Nadia Mehdi Music, sound design and mix: Nicholas Alexander Additional mixing: Alex Portfelix Produced by Novel for BBC Radio 4

At a school assembly, 16-year-old Simon Day discovers an acute fear of public speaking. Faced with a crowd of expectant faces, panic begins to set in.Soon, Simon finds that words fail him at almost every turn, threatening his career, relationships and, ultimately, his happiness.Matthew Syed follows Simon’s journey to find his voice, uncovering the science of how we speak and the complex factors that leave us lost for words.With Joe Moran, author of Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness; psycholinguistics expert Dr Alissa Melinger; and former palliative care consultant Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Pippa Smith Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Arlene Blum has scaled some of the most treacherous peaks in the Himalayas. When she’s not climbing mountains, she’s fighting to get toxic chemicals banned from everyday household goods. Arlene says that her experience leading expeditions has helped her acquire the personal skills and attributes required to push through bold new science policies. Matthew Syed asks whether transferable resilience from one field to another is the secret to reaching the top not just once, but throughout our lives.Arlene is not alone in her experience. Riteesh Mishra, a retired pro-footballer turned coach and talent manager, is a big advocate for “dual careers". Likewise, Professor Julia Richardson has led a study looking into how sportspeople can adapt their skills to second careers, drawing on their experiences in one area in order to excel in another. Living a dual life as a mountaineer and a chemist has equipped Arlene with resilience and determination, but there’s something else that’s led Arlene to the top, and that’s the ability to question the ways things have always been done. Professor Steven Nadler, a philosopher specialising in early modern philosophy, says that Arlene can be considered a modern heretic. Do we need a bit more heretical thinking to get to the top of our own mountains?Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Claire Crofton Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Researcher: Nadia Mehdi Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Matthew Syed introduces the new series, which focuses on endurance, courage & resilience.

Matthew Syed has come to a horrible realisation about himself. He is in danger of becoming a big head. He’s worried that, with a successful podcast and best-selling books, every positive affirmation he receives is only serving to inflate his sense of entitlement. The Greeks had a word for this - hubris.In the final episode of this series, Matthew is on a mission to prevent his tragic downfall by exploring the line between over-confidence and useful pride, asking whether, with the right conditions, we could all be at risk of hubris - or whether it’s just him. He’ll explore how to spot and prevent hubristic leaders, remedies to this kind of arrogance and how we can access good confidence.With Eugene Sadler-Smith, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, University of Surrey; Joey T Cheng, Assistant Professor of Psychology, York University; Alessandra Tanesini, Professor of Philosophy, University of Cardiff.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer/Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Researchers: Nadia Mehdi and Alice Bloch Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

When the Danish men’s football team are called up to replace Yugoslavia in the 1992 European Championships, just 10 days before the start of the tournament, nobody fancied their chances, least of all the players themselves. In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed traces their fairy tale journey towards taking home the trophy and reveals what Denmark's story can teach us about the importance of prioritising team cohesion over individual stardom. For the Danish coach, Richard Møller Nielsen, it’s all about nurturing the ties between the players, putting the team ahead of the ego of any individual star. Møller Nielsen’s approach is unpopular with the press, the public and the players themselves. But as Matthew discovers, he’s hit upon a crucial element of social cohesion, one that has been powering our societies for centuries. While we often construct our sports teams, our businesses and our lives assuming that we need to motivate individuals, are we overlooking the importance of human connection? And is this connection the secret to success? With journalist and football writer Lars Eriksen, former Danish international player and commentator Morten Brunn, Alexandra Michel, leadership development expert and Adjunct Professor at Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Greg Walton, Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and Professor Josef W Meri, historian in interfaith relations at the College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Pippa Smith Series Editor and Executive Producer: Katherine Godfrey Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

When Amrou Al-Kadhi steps into a pair of heels and takes the stage, they step into another world, another persona where they can be whatever they want. In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed asks whether creating an alter ego is the key to finding our true self. For Amrou Al-Kadhi, performing as their drag alter-ego, Glamrou started out as an escape. Struggling with mental health issues, feeling like they had to suppress their femininity in some contexts, their Arab identity in others, it was a relief to take a break from it all and get into the mindset of a fearless woman who didn’t give a damn. But soon, Glamrou became so much for than an act. As Matthew discovers, alter egos might start out feeling like role play, but they have the power to transform us in profound and lasting ways. And it turns out that some of the most successful people around have used them to get the edge, from Beyoncé to Rafael Nadal.But the benefits of alter egos aren’t limited to the stage or the sports field. Studies show that even children can benefit from taking on alter-egos, and you might just find there are already things you do to harness other identities and shift your perspective when the moment calls for it. With screenwriter, author and drag performer Amrou Al-Kadhi (drag name Glamrou), author and coach, Todd Herman, and Ethan Kross, Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Michigan and the director of the Emotion and Self Control Laboratory. Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Claire Crofton Series Editor and exec producer: Katherine Godfrey Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

When Ray and Vi Donovan left court after the sentencing of three boys who murdered their 18-year-old son, Christopher, they said they had justice for Chris, but not the truth. They still didn’t know why Christopher was murdered on a May evening in 2001. That was a question the trial didn’t answer and only Christopher’s killers could. Years later, they would meet the three boys, by now men, to ask that question - why? Criminal justice asks what laws have been broken, who broke them, and how the lawbreaker should be punished. But Ray and Vi needed different questions answered. They started to go through a restorative justice process - an alternative way of understanding crime that centred on their needs as victims, which Ray says is ‘not rocket science, it’s two people talking’. Ray and Vi spent months preparing for each meeting, thinking about what they needed to know and what they wanted to happen afterwards. Until they met and talked with each of these three men. In this episode of Sideways, Ray and Vi tell of how restorative justice changed them. Matthew Syed examines the philosophy underpinning restorative justice, asking what needs it seeks to address and its relationship to criminal justice. With Ray and Vi Donovan, MBEs For Services to Restorative Justice, Dr Kerry Clamp, Associate Professor of Criminology, University of Nottingham, Professor Joanna Shapland, Edward Bramley Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Sheffield and Sam Fallows from the Probation Service. Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer and Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Boston, Massachusetts. 1970. A group of mothers and young children assembles outside the offices of the local TV station. It’s the first phase of a fight to improve kids’ TV that would go all the way to the United States Senate.Matthew Syed looks at how kids' TV got smart, and what we can learn about the developing mind from the programme makers who led the way.In the late 1960s, children’s television in the US was dominated by cheap cartoons and adverts for sugary snacks. Peggy Charren had something to say about it. She formed a grassroots activism group in her living room with other concerned mothers - Action for Children’s Television. It would become one of the most influential broadcast lobbying groups in history.Peggy was part of a wave of people who were starting to take kids’ TV seriously. From the creators of Sesame Street, to psychological researchers like Professor Daniel Anderson who brought science into children’s programme making, Matthew draws out what we can learn from these innovators who know how to create a hit show.With Debbie Charren, Peggy’s daughter, and former schoolteacher and reading specialist; Robert Krock, Action for Children’s Television’s former development director; Daniel Anderson, Professor Emeritus at the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Dr Michael Muthukrishna, Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics; and Andrew Davenport, creator, writer and composer of In the Night Garden, Moon and Me, and Teletubbies.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Caroline Thornham Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Our theme is Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

When a major earthquake hits California, it has to rebuild - but at what cost? A sunny afternoon in October, 1989. In San Francisco's Candlestick Park stadium, a pair of local sporting rivals are about to go head to head - the Oakland Athletics against the San Francisco Giants.But before the first ball is pitched, the game is interrupted - by a major earthquake. A section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge - the major transport connection for the two northern Californian cities - crumbles, killing one person. And across the Bay in West Oakland, a double decker freeway collapses. 42 lives are lost. In the months and years that follow, San Francisco and West Oakland face a seemingly simple question - how to rebuild. Two major projects emerge. But with very different results. While one brings a community together, the other becomes a political battleground. By examining the Iron Law of Megaprojects - which reveals how major infrastructure problems, far from being a silver bullet, become money-draining, ego-flattering albatrosses that overrun and under deliver - Matthew asks whether a simpler, more streamlined way to create the spectacular is possible. And in the end, is the pursuit of creating something sublimely beautiful even worth it? With Darrell Ford, member of the West Oakland Citizens Advisory Board; Steve Heminger, former executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission; Bent Flyvbjerg, Professor and Chair of Major Programme Management at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford; Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia; Dr Karen Trapenberg Frick, Associate Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. With thanks to Ms Margaret Gordon, co-founder and co-director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Eleanor Biggs Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

It's 1990 and Birmingham metal band Judas Priest are on trial in court in Reno, Nevada. The band are accused of influencing the suicide and suicide attempt of two of their young fans by placing subliminal messages in their track Better By You, Better Than Me. What follows is a six week trial - the first to be filmed for Court TV - in which the lives of the boys’ families are devastatingly pulled apart in front of the cameras, junk science is flung around the courtroom. The band will have to prove their innocence, in a classic piece of courtroom theatre, by explaining the suspicious nonsense phrases found when they play their music backwards. Matthew Syed tells the story of the case and examines the stubborn myth of mind control and hidden influences. From the fascination with subliminal messages in mid-century advertising, to self-help tapes in the 1980s and the fear for the minds of young YouTube fans falling asleep to strange sounds in order to wake up with glowing skin, Matthew considers the misconceptions about the way we’re influenced. With David Van Taylor, filmmaker and director of Dream Deceivers: Heavy Metal on Trial; Timothy E. Moore, professor in the Department of Psychology, Glendon College, York University; and Hugo Mercier, research scientist at the CNRS Institut Jean Nicod, Paris. Wilson B. Key interview on KPFK courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives.BBC Action Line If you or someone you know are experiencing emotional distress, help and support is available here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/emotional-distress-information-and-support2 Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer/Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Bonfire night, November 5th 2015, 9.30pm. An agent fires off an email. An author is accused of plagiarism. His new book lies ready to be pulped.In the first of a new series of Sideways, Matthew Syed asks why we’re doomed to be unoriginal and why it hurts so much to be, well, not that special.In 1998, Hollywood directors Matthew Bay and Mimi Leder went head to head with suspiciously similar disaster movies - Armageddon and Deep Impact. Allegations of late-night spying flew around. But could there have just been something in the air? Matthew reveals that, four years earlier, fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet smashed into Jupiter and right into the American consciousness.This is the thing... As Matthew discovers, our brains are wired for unoriginality, we evolve as a collective brain, absorbing our shared cultural cues and looking for what has worked in the past. But if that’s the norm, why do we feel so disappointed when our ideas seem unoriginal, when someone else beats us to it? And is there a way out of this - to rekindle our originality?With author Ian Leslie, Kristen Lopez, TV editor for Indiewire and pop culture critic, Dr Michael Muthukrishna, Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics and Nick Groom, Professor of Literature in English, University of Macau.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer/Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Music, Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander Research and Development: Gavin Haynes and Madeleine Parr Theme Music: Seventy Times Seven by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Matthew Syed returns with the new series of Sideways, all about the ideas that shape our lives, with stories of seeing the world differently.

American science journalist Joshua Foer was a perfectly normal guy with a perfectly normal memory. Then he entered the USA National Memory Championships - and ended up giving the country’s brain power prodigies a run for their money. How did he do it? Matthew Syed takes a deep dive into the heady world of brain training - where ordinary people challenge themselves to reach new peaks of mental athleticism.Journeying from the methods of the Ancient Greeks, to the showbiz hacks of the 1960s, to the Manhattan competition hall where Joshua competed for the title of memory champion in 2006, Matthew learns that the desire to push the limits of our cognitive capacity has been around for thousands of years.But do these techniques work? In his effort to understand what’s possible when it comes to improving our minds and memories, Matthew examines the impact of nature and nurture on our brains - asking whether environmental inequality, or genetics, is the deciding factor in determining whether anyone could become a mental athlete.Producer: Eleanor Biggs.A Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2021.

You might not have heard of Max Martin, but you've definitely heard the songs he's written. You probably know the words whether you like the songs or not. Martin has written many of the world's biggest pop hits. He has 23 number ones, second only to Paul McCartney and John Lennon.Matthew Syed explores the extraordinary career of the enigmatic pop powerhouse who's one of Sweden's most significant musical exports. Matthew contrasts Martin's songwriting process with the practice of scientific research which has become overwhelmingly collaborative in recent years.Matthew discovers that Martin's unique approach to collaboration, drawing upon the experience and skill of a vast and diverse range of musicians, has enabled him to stay ahead of the pack when it comes to crafting world-beating pop songs.Produced by Thomas Curry and Russell FinchA Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2021.

A young entrepreneur builds the ‘happiest company in the world’, an online shoe retailer so profitable that Amazon snaps it up for over a billion dollars. But what if the company’s profits and happiness could be boosted by a radical reimagining of the workplace? No more bosses, no more job titles, just creativity, equality and pure joy. Matthew Syed tells the extraordinary story of Tony Hsieh, a visionary entrepreneur who abandoned social hierarchy in his Las Vegas-based shoe company. Could it be that the secret to happiness lies in making everybody equal? Producer: Robbie MacInnesA Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2021.

On the spacecraft Voyager, hurtling through deep space sits a golden record, filled with the music of planet earth. It is a cultural gift for unknown extraterrestrial life forms. If an alien species discovers this unique double LP, they'll be greeted by the singing of the Mbuti people of the Congo recorded by the anthropologist Colin Turnbull.Matthew Syed examines Turnbull's seemingly utopian experiences in the forest with the Mbuti and contrasts them with his utterly bleak account of the Ik people of Uganda. The Ik were, according to Turnbull, a "loveless" people devoid of culture, brutal and totally uncaring. He labelled them "the most selfish people on earth".Turnbull argued that the Ik offered a stark warning to westerners. This allegedly nightmarish society was, according to Turnbull, the way the west was headed.Matthew hears from Turnbull's critics who say he misunderstood the Ik and uses Turnbull's work to ask a profound question - is mankind fundamentally rotten and selfish at the core, or do kindness and compassion lie at the beating heart of human society?Producer: Mike MartinezA Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2021.

Matthew Syed asks what the world's greatest fighter pilot can tell us about decision making. He discovers a theory that transformed warfare and might have played a key role in Brexit.John Boyd was a rebel. The quintessential cigar-chomping fighter pilot. A legend within the US Air Force, he was known to be able to shoot down any opponent in a dogfight in under 40 seconds.He developed a decision making tool that would take the military by storm – OODA - observe, orient, decide, act. Boyd explained that this process looped, with each action leading to a new opportunity to observe. To defeat an enemy all you had to do was disrupt their OODA loop. Matthew reveals how Boyd devotee Dominic Cummings, deployed OODA during the Brexit campaign with great effect.While the OODA loop is highly effecting in confrontational settings, Matthew asks whether this form of thinking works when co-operation, rather than domination, is the name of the game.Producer: Robbie MacInnesA Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 2021.

Did a shift in our sexual behaviour 2000 years ago lead to the rise of the west as a globally dominant force?Matthew Syed wants to put the western mind in the spotlight. There’s a good reason for doing this. It turns out that 96% of psychological experiments have been carried out on western students. Why is this? Because western students are easy to access for a psychologist working in a university.This might sound convenient, but there’s a problem - it turns out that westerners think in a particular way. Easily reproducible experimental findings in the west don’t stack up when you use non-western subjects. Many of our classical assertions about the workings of the human mind are based entirely on the western human mind.Matthew digs into the deep roots of the western mind and asks whether a ban on cousin marriage triggered a surge of innovation in the west as tribal boundaries broke down.It’s an intriguing theory, but does it stack up? Matthew is determined to find out.Producer: Robbie MacInnesMusic, Sound Design and Mix: BenbrickSeries Editor: Russell FinchExecutive Producer: Sean Glynn and Max O'BrienA Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 2021.

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.In this episode, Matthew tells two stories, both of which raise profound questions about how we think. A group of terrified teenagers discover a disturbing app on social media. A world renowned doctor sets out to uncover hidden crimes.The tragic events Matthew examines lead to a mother getting jailed for killing her two children. The key piece of testimony in her trial hinges on a question of statistical probability. But, as Matthew reveals, human beings are extremely poor at understanding the improbable.Producer: Gemma NewbyA Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2021.

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.A criminal walks into a Swedish bank brandishing a machine gun. He takes a handful of bank workers hostage. The police lock the victims and their captors in the vault and then things start to get weird. Despite being held captive and threatened with violence, the hostages side with the criminals.Stockholm Syndrome is born.In this episode, Matthew Syed re-examines the birth of this peculiar psychiatric disorder and discovers that all is not what it seems.Producer: Gemma NewbyA Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2021.

Join bestselling author Matthew Syed as he explores the ideas that shape our lives. With sound design from Peabody Prize winner Benbrick, Sideways combines big ideas with narrative storytelling, offering a new perspective on the way we live.