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The Big Interview

Long-form conversations about the lives and careers of the world's leading and most exciting names from the worlds of art, design, literature, politics, business and food. We hear from the masters themselves, about their art, their craft, their secrets and successes.

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Jung Chang:

The fearless author of ‘Wild Swans’ speaks to Monocle’s Georgina Godwin about her award-winning books and experience growing up inside Mao Zedong’s communist China.

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13915 Oct 2021
30 min

Jung Chang: 

The fearless author of ‘Wild Swans’ speaks to Monocle’s Georgina Godwin about her award-winning books and experience growing up inside Mao Zedong’s communist China.

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1388 Oct 2021
30 min

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: 

Belarus’s exiled opposition leader speaks to Monocle’s Tomos Lewis about the state of the resistance movement and her hopes for the country’s future.

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1371 Oct 2021
30 min

Benjamin Zander: 

We kick off a new season of The Big Interview with something magically different. Monocle’s Emma Nelson speaks to world-renowned conductor Benjamin Zander, the founder of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, about the transformative power of classical music.

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13630 Oct 2020
30 min

Theaster Gates: 

In our final episode of a special series of conversations ahead of the US elections, Chicago-born visual artist and urban planner Theaster Gates talks to Tomos Lewis about making art, redeeming spaces that have been left behind and the ongoing existence of racial violence in the US.

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13523 Oct 2020
30 min

Jane Fonda : 

The Academy Award-winning actor and legendary campaigner talks to Tomos Lewis about the importance of protest, using her celebrity platform for social change and why she is inspired by a new generation of activists.

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13416 Oct 2020
30 min

Charlie Sykes : 

The former radio host and founder of the conservative news website The Bulwark talks to Chris Cermak about a career of two halves: before and after the rise of Trump, losing listeners to Trumpism and how to win them back over to the moderate fold.

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1339 Oct 2020
30 min

Karen Donfried: 

In the third episode of our US election series, Karen Donfried, the president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, talks to Chris Cermak about the challenges for the transatlantic relationship and how to get the alliance back on track, regardless of who takes the White House in November.

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1322 Oct 2020
30 min

Chris Wallace: 

The veteran Fox News anchor was the man tasked with moderating the fractious first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In our second episode in our special US election series, Tomos Lewis speaks with Wallace about the state of US media, what makes a good question and why after a long career in journalism, moderating a presidential debate is still a nerve-wrecking event.

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13125 Sep 2020
30 min

Ben Rhodes: 

In our first episode of a special series on the US election, Monocle’s Tomos Lewis sits down with Ben Rhodes, the former speechwriter, foreign-policy adviser and deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama. He talks about how the US has changed since the Obama years and about his new podcast “Missing America”.

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13011 Sep 2020
30 min

Michel Comte: 

For more than 40 years, the Swiss artist and photographer has worked for all the major fashion houses and publications including ‘Vogue’ and ‘Vanity Fair’. The subject of his forthcoming book is his grandfather, Alfred Comte, a legendary Swiss aviation pioneer. He sits down with Tyler Brûlé to reflect on the golden age of commercial air travel and on the extraordinary life and achievements of his grandfather.

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1294 Sep 2020
30 min

Masha Gessen: 

Now a columnist for ‘The New Yorker’, the prize-winning journalist and author spent over two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia. Gessen’s latest book ‘Surviving Autocracy’, turns a lens on the US. Andrew Mueller spoke to Gessen about meeting Putin, Donald Trump’s America and how to find the tools, and the language, to recognise an autocracy, and survive it.

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12828 Aug 2020
30 min

Adam Goodes: 

One of the greatest ever players of Australian Rules football, former Sydney Swans captain Adam Goodes was also named Australian of the Year in 2014 for his advocacy for his fellow Indigenous Australians. In a rare interview, he talks to Andrew Mueller about connecting with his aboriginal roots, confronting racism on and off the football field and about changing things for the better for future generations.

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12721 Aug 2020
30 min

AC Grayling: 

Philosopher and author AC Grayling is one of the foremost thinkers of our time. He is founder of and master at the New College of the Humanities and has written and edited more than 30 books. He sat down with Monocle’s Georgina Godwin to talk religion, humanism and the role ethics can play in our lives, electoral reform and more. All of which are discussed in his latest book, ‘The Good State: On the Principles of Democracy’.

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12614 Aug 2020
30 min

Kevin Rudd: 

The twice former prime minister of Australia speaks to Andrew Mueller about his life in politics – the stakes, the achievements and how precarious the job of PM can be.

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1257 Aug 2020
30 min

Anne-Sophie Mutter: 

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the world’s pre-eminent classical soloists. For 40 years the German performer has collaborated with distinguished composers and musicians, winning numerous awards. She talks to Monocle’s Robert Bound about Beethoven, her Stradivarius and sending biscuits to John Williams.

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