EPISODE 89: I Am What I Am
Strangers on a Bench
Tom Rosenthal
4.8 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tom Rosenthal approaches a stranger on a park bench and asks if he can sit down next to them and record their conversation.
This is what happened!
Produced by Tom Rosenthal
Edited by Rose De Larrabeiti
Mixed by Mike Woolley
Theme tune by Tom Rosenthal & Lucy Railton
Incidental music by Maddie Ashman
End song : ''I Am What I Am' by Hetta Falzon
Stream it here : https://ffm.to/iamwhatiam-soab
Listen to all the end songs featured on the podcast (so far) on one handy playlist :
https://ffm.to/soabendsongs
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Instagram : @strangersonabench
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, sorry to bother you. Can I ask you a slightly odd question? |
| 0:09.0 | I'm making a podcast called Strangers on a Bench, where essentially I talk to people I don't know on benches for 10 or 15 minutes. |
| 0:19.0 | Are you up for that? Do you want to give it a go? Do you have a favourite day of the week? |
| 0:48.3 | I like Mondays and Thursdays because they're the days I come to Hampstead Heath. |
| 0:56.0 | But some of the other days I spend a lot of time writing, and I like those as well. |
| 1:02.0 | So I think they're all lovely for you now. |
| 1:05.0 | Yeah, I mean, I'm retired, so if any day isn't lovely, it's down to me. |
| 1:11.6 | I like it. |
| 1:12.2 | Yeah, that's it. You're taking full responsibility of your days. |
| 1:14.0 | Yes, well, you have to, don't you? |
| 1:15.8 | So why would you come to Hampsteteeth on a Monday and say not a Tuesday? |
| 1:20.9 | I like to give my weaker shape. |
| 1:24.5 | Like, on Wednesday, I received the grocery order and on Tuesday is the day I finalised |
| 1:34.4 | the grocery order. I do a stock check of our food. When was the last time you made a wild |
| 1:42.0 | decision on there? Do you like, I'm just suddenly going to get this? |
| 1:45.2 | Hmm. Maybe a month ago when I decided to buy some Biskopf biscuits. |
| 1:51.8 | This went wild for the Biskopf? |
| 1:53.6 | Well, for no reason that I could imagine. I suddenly remember what Viskof biscuits tasted like. |
| 2:03.7 | And I thought, I haven't had those for years. So what were you doing that made you think of Biskof? Did you see an advert for Biskopf? |
| 2:07.5 | No, no, there was no advert, just some stream of consciousness. |
| 2:12.9 | Fantastic. And when you finally tasted the Biskopf, did it... |
| 2:16.1 | Yeah, they tasted exactly as I remember. |
... |
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