Quotes from David Hepworth

The great children's author and illustrator Shirley Hughes marks her 90th birthday by appearing as Michael Berkeley's guest in 'Private Passions'.

The neurologist calls it 'Non-REM parasomnia'. For the sufferer, it might mean rising in the middle of the night, getting your motorbike out, going for a ride, and waking in the morning with no memory of the experience.

'The Canon' is a film podcast that also has much in common with books podcast 'Backlisted.' Both suggest you can get a lot of pleasure out of things that aren't new.

Led Zeppelin created their music from a diet of Bert Jansch, Memphis Minnie, John Fahey, Billy Fury, Phil Spector, Richard 'Rabbit' Brown, Moby Grape, Manitas De Plata and Om Kalsoum. Those who came afterwards were content with a diet of Led Zeppelin, which is not the same thing at all.

And like Elvis, they are relying on the one commodity that endures after the voice is no longer quite the same, the moves have grown rusty, and the inspiration no longer flows quite as readily. That is the audience's deep, surprising love for the music they made in the past.

'Constitutional' is an unashamedly educational podcast from the 'Washington Post.' Sub-titled 'a podcast about the story of America,' it's presented by Lillian Cunningham, who engages scholars to explain the fascinating story of how a nation is designed from scratch.

There are lots of podcasts that look at films from the audience's point of view. There are also plenty that look at it from the combatants' point of view. It's invariably the case that the less likely you are to have heard of the people talking, the more interesting they'll be.

I wouldn't wish a night of 1971 television on my worst enemy. But the records of 1971, again, still live for us now. And they had the benefit at the time of having the kind of uninterrupted, unimpeded concentration of a huge generation of people. Because the only thing I wanted to spend money on when I was 21 was records.

An interesting way into the celebrity interview podcast is via their dogs. Celebs may not be keen to let us into their homes, because they don't like us to see how wealthy they are. However, tell them you want to go for a walk on Hampstead Heath with them and their mutt, and they're only too happy.

'The Weeds' is a timely podcast from the news and opinion website Vox. It leaves the coverage of the Punch and Judy politics to others and confines itself to the details of policy.

John Lydon must be more famous for his efforts on behalf of dairy products than his music.

The people who talk on the edgier 'Song Exploder' have often made their entire record on their desktop. It's never been easier to compete, but it's never been harder to win, either.

Podcasting is a personal medium, and I savour those moments where details of the podcasters' lives glint through.

Some of the vintage comedy on Radio 4 Extra wasn't very funny to begin with, whereas some things just get funnier regardless of the changes in public attitudes over the years.

'Bombshell' is a remarkable podcast. In the course of it, three people who know what they are talking about cover 'military strategy, White House mayhem, and the best cocktails'.

'They Walk Among Us' is the work of husband-and-wife team Benjamin and Rosie. In the past, they've covered the Shannon Matthews case and the career of the prisoner known as Charles Bronson.

According to the producers of gripping podcast 'Death, Sex & Money', these are the three things we think about a lot but need to talk about more.

Radio people can't entirely shake off radio habits when they start doing podcasts. They sometimes bring with them things we don't need, like producers and explanatory voiceovers.

I think getting people's focus, getting people's attention on anything has never been harder, because the media has done everything in its power to try and dissolve people's attention, shift it round absolutely all the time.

The podcast 'Note to Self' is 'the tech show about being human'. Human notions of privacy have changed.

Justin Hayward was a teenager when he was drafted into the Moody Blues in 1966. He brought with him one song he had written for his girlfriend. This was called 'Nights in White Satin,' which subsequently made a fortune for a lot of people.

The podcast 'A History of Jazz' began telling its story in February - 100 years after the recording of 'Livery Stable Blues' by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the start of jazz as a legitimate branch of music.

Radio 3 shows such as 'Between the Ears' also make the kind of podcasts that draw the most from your noise-cancelling headphones. The programme commissions ideas that make adventurous use of sound.

The ads that podcasts manage to sell tell you a lot about who they think is listening. They include services that promise to make your investment portfolio ethical, deliver exotic, ready meals to your home, or guarantee better sleep thanks to luxury bed linen.