Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

Hello, I'm Eleanor Rosamond Baraklough, and the past, present and future of museums is our topic for today's episode in the new thinking strand of the Arts and Ideas podcast.

As museums continue to reopen while dealing with the uncertainties of this pandemic, we wanted to celebrate their role in society and explore what the future might hold for these much-loved institutions.

With me today, three guests with very different backgrounds, but all seeking to uncover areas of the UK museum sector that often get overlooked.

Or trying to imagine a new way of seeing

museums and the roles they perform in a post-COVID, more online world.

Welcome all, and I'd like to start by asking each of you why tea shops and gift shops aside,

museums hold such a special place in your heart.

So our first guest is Fiona Candlin, Professor of Museology at Birkbeck University of London.

She leads the mapping museums research project and does just that, with over 4,200 of the UK's

independent museums.

Fiona, what is it about museums that makes you so devoted to documenting them?

Well, I'm particularly interested in very small independent museums,

and they tend to be set up by groups and people who care strongly about something in particular.

So in visiting them or in researching them, you get a view into their world and what matters to them.

And I've always found that fascinating.

Well, Henrietta Litchie is chief curator at the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands. Henrietta, we'll talk about your research into military collections with the National

Museum Scotland shortly, but what is it about museums for you? I was thinking about this recently.

It's a little bit like Alice in Wonderland, so first you're in Wonderland and then you're through the looking glass. And I think what I love about museums is that as a visitor, you walk into them and you see all of these extraordinary objects. And then as someone who works in them, you realise that they're an object in themselves.

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