Given that we recorded episode 2 pretty much immediately after recording episode 1, I think there is already something of an evolution. We’re still pretty wedded to a format at this stage and, if I’m honest, the insistence on a format was very much me. Ben has always been certain that we’d be better off ditching the format and just talking, and to a large extent, our more recent episodes prove him right. But I still have vivid memories of the ‘van recordings’ we did, and I think having the format for the early episodes really helped us to find our feet. And frankly, it let me get a word in edgeways.
The theme of the episode is ‘Primary vs Secondary’, but our goal was never to provoke any rivalry between the two sectors. We did want to point out that there was a difference, though, to justify our USP of being the only explicitly secondary education-themed comedy podcast. Our credentials as both secondary specialists and comedians are perhaps still unproven even at this stage, but the point remains that if people are convinced that we are both funny and secondary teachers, then we are the only people doing this. Why doing this is a bad idea can wait until my episode 7 retrospective.
The real star of this episode was the teaching agency website I found that tries to explain the difference between the sectors. I’m not sure we’d have settled so firmly on the mocking of lists had I not discovered this gem. When we recorded the episode, Ben did express some misgivings about using the agency’s actual name, but I was very much of the view that it’d be fine. They weren’t an agency based in Reading, I reasoned, so there was no conflict of interest.
When it came to editing, I realised, however, that I had mentioned the agency a lot of times during the episode and, given that they aren’t the only agency that posts ridiculous and unhelpful guidance on their website, I thought it might be better to edit their name out with the school bell sound effect. So I did that. I think it’s quite funny actually, but you’ll note we don’t mention any of the organisations we mock anymore. Apart from the DfE, and they are fair game, I feel. As will Ofsted be if we ever get around to them. And we definitely will get around to them.
The postcard for this episode was also one I made up, but I was quietly confident I’d be able to buy it. And I was. I refer to it as the anatomically incorrect lion that stands in Forbury Gardens. It is actually known as the Maiwand Lion. And it is anatomically correct. For some reason, there is a local myth that the sculptor got it wrong and committed suicide, but actually, he didn’t do either of those things. The lion stands in Forbury Gardens and is actually pretty impressive. It’s probably one of my favourite things about Reading. I would take this opportunity to apologise to the artist, George Blackall Simonds, but he did die in 1929, so I can’t. I don’t imagine he’d have been too bothered anyway. He made a statue of a lion for goodness’ sake. All I’ve made are a few episodes of a podcast that doesn’t even manage to be about what it says it’s about.