This is a really fun one. I was fortunate enough to get an interview the illustrious TV historian and presenter, Dr Tessa Dunlop, who, as it happens shares an agent with me, who shall be referred to in this episode as Hilary, because that is her name.
She has a passion for all things Romanian, including her husband, who she met when he was 12 – stick around for that story, if nothing else. She often appears on TV chat shows, and she also wrote the Century Girls about 100 year-old-women and the Bletchley Girls, about the women involved in the World War II Codebreakers at Bletchley Park of course. She’s totally risqué, naughty and flirty, but also one of the kindest and funniest people I know.
She’s here to discuss her new show Who Is Romania – where she delves into a fascinating history in a really fun and accessible way - you’ll find links to this free show on her Twitter account, @tessadunlop – or Instagram tessa_dunlop (if you’re going on Twitter, give me a follow on andrewgold_ok - or Instagram also andrewgold_ok, I have far fewer followers than Tessa and need your love much more). You’ll also find her series all over her Tessa Dunlop Facebook page, where the videos are getting mad crazy numbers of views, and her YouTube page, funnily enough, also called Tessa Dunlop.
Among other things, we bitch about the TV industry, talk inappropriately about woke culture and dive into the nuances of the Meghan versus the Royal Family debate. We also speak abut her time hunting for ghosts in Egypt with the late psychic TV personality Derek Acorah.
Hear me talk in the next episode with female Irish professional wrestler Rhia O’Reilly – about some pretty crazy stuff that’s been going on that has been wildly under-reported in the UK and the US. More on that at the end, when I’ll conclude and read out some reviews.
Other recent episodes include the one with NME music journalist James McMahon on OCD and the Coffin Confessor on how he goes to funerals to reveal the dead's secrets.