Looking at housing and the home in the UK without looking at migration is impossible. From the Romans, to The Windrush generation and beyond, its impact on how we live our lives is undeniable. It has shaped all aspects of our culture, including how we live in our towns and our homes.
In our fourth episode, we are focused on the wave of refugees fleeing the rise of fascism in Central Europe in the 1930s and how they shaped our town's architecture and much more.
To look at this perhaps under explored aspect of British migration - which included some of the century’s greatest thinkers like Bertol Brecht, Ruth Glass and Erno Goldfinger - Jack and Clara are joined by Owen Hatherley to discuss how it shaped living in modern Britain.
Owen is a historian, writer and cultural critic who has published an array of books such as Red Metropolis, A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain and The Chaplin Machine. Previously, the cultural editor of Tribune magazine, he appeared in Jacobin, BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, covering topics such as architecture, politics and culture.
His new book The Alienation Effect: How Central Emigres Transformed the British Twentieth Century explores the many ways their lives contributed to our ideas of the home, whether that be architecture, city planning or just their ideas.
It is out via Penguin on 27 March
Music is by Sion Lewin, the graphics are designed by Bella Harter, and the show is produced by Clara Hill and Jack Witek. It was recorded at MayDay Rooms.
