Category Archives: Culture

929. Sarah Donnelly: The Only American In Paris + UK vs US Accent Quiz

Sarah Donnelly comes back onto LEP to catch up and to tell us about her stand-up special, now available to watch on YouTube, and to do a British English vs American English pronunciation quiz.

Sarah’s show is called The Only American in Paris and we discuss some of the themes of the show – the real experience of being a US citizen living in Paris, the Netflix show Emily in Paris, cultural differences, learning French, plus a pronunciation quiz to help you compare UK and US English.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/2iLkgCv5984?si=M9sguk4b5QOLO0cH

Get the episode PDF👇 (pronunciation quiz and full transcript)

927. Walk & Talk: Medieval Museum (with Amber, Paul & Kyle)

Finally, it’s here – the medieval museum episode with Amber & Paul. Join us as we visit the museum of the middle ages in Paris. Learn about the history of the middle ages, find out about some of the art and artefacts from that period, including some fantastic symbolic tapestries, sculptures and weapons, and have fun with a few jokes along the way.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/OVyAGFojRaw?si=of1m8TELIBbb4QON

The audio and video versions are slightly different. The audio version has more content recorded in the studio, with lessons about the historical context of the middle ages and an overview of the main historical periods in European history.

922. Words of the Year (with Amber)

Amber joins me for a discussion of some words which reflect various cultural movements of the last 12 months or more. Learn some trending words and listen to discussions of topics such as the influence of online content on mental health, the Oasis concert ticket scandal, an exploration of the ‘lore’ of LEP, romantic fantasy books, the rise of AI and more. Includes a PDF with my episode notes and vocabulary lists.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/z2VRyVsQG44?si=LyHjUX5zg_RSI3Mo

Get the PDF with notes and word lists 👇

Links

Previous episodes of “Words of the Year”

An example of NotebookLM’s AI-generated audio podcast “deep dive” 👇

Nick (from the comment section crew) used NotebookLM (a generative AI language model available from Google) to create this AI-generated podcast about episode 922 Words of the Year. He inputted the PDF for this episode into NotebookLM, and it generated this. It is 100% AI generated, including the voices of the hosts. This is what AI can do today, in February 2025.

921. From Comedy to Cosy Crime (with Ian Moore)

Ian Moore returns to the podcast to talk about his career shift from stand-up comedy to writing “cosy” crime novels. After several decades as a professional stand-up comedian, Ian has transitioned to writing murder mysteries. Now he is a bestselling author and his books are being adapted for television. In this episode Ian talks about ending his stand-up comedy career, why he was not suited for life as the host of a guesthouse in the French countryside, writing books on trains, and why his COVID lockdown was actually great. Includes comprehension questions and a PDF transcript.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/0iitR4Ve3XU?si=DaqR79yQUoL9GzxS

Get the PDF transcript here 👇

917. Listener Stories: How LEP has helped my listeners with their English ★ Success & Advice

This is a listener-generated episode, meaning that the content is mostly written by listeners of this podcast. In this one I read out various comments and messages from listeners who have improved their English with the podcast. They describe the progress they’ve made and how they did it. Expect lots of success stories and plenty of advice for improving your English in 2025.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/BlH-bFyVcv0?si=-WmTiFteVhRlFpot

👇Get the PDF with transcript, vocabulary list, study guide and essays 👇

914. A Midwinter Ramble ❅ Luke’s English Podcast

An end-of-year rambling episode with some seasonal good wishes 🎄, comments on recent episodes 🎧, an update about upcoming content 📲, anecdotes about seeing Paul McCartney live in concert 🎸, playing music at the British Ambassador’s residence 🇬🇧 and visiting the British Library in London 📚, lots of library jokes (explained) 😂 and a vocabulary review at the end 🙇‍♂️. PDF available.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

Get the PDF with vocabulary quiz 👇

902. “A Year on the Fosse” by Rick Thompson (English History & Wildlife) Dad’s New Book – Out Now

A conversation with my dad about his new book, which is about the history and wildlife of a famous Roman road which passes right through the heart of England. Expect stories from various periods of English history, plus descriptions of typical English bird life. English history and culture on Luke’s English Podcast.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

https://youtu.be/MvO0edpmFvE?si=a-tzy_W8f3I0-xli

👉 GET THE BOOK ON AMAZON HERE 📖

900. Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results (with Amber & Paul)

It’s a catchy title! Episode 900 is here, and what better way to celebrate than by inviting my pals Amber & Paul back onto the podcast? Amber & Paul have been regular guests on this podcast for 10 years. We usually have light-hearted and tangential conversations and these episodes are often very popular with long-term listeners. This time we talk about Episode 900 celebrations 🎉 the title of this episode 🔁 Paris Olympics 2024 🏟️ encounters with dead animals in Paris 😢 Paul’s Olympic marathon run 🏃 the dangers of sneezing 🤧 and more…

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

YouTube video version👇

Paul’s Olympic marathon medal 👇

891. The Bilingual Journalist (with Charles Pellegrin)

Talking to bilingual journalist Charles Pellegrin (France 24) about how the conventions of broadcast journalism influence the way the English is used in news reports, how Charles started as a journalist, the challenge of making TV news reports, our time at university, the Olympics in Paris, and Charles’ experiences of living and working in China.

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

My guest today is Charles Pellegrin, a bilingual (English & French) journalist working for the TV channel France 24. Charles currently works as the presenter of a morning business program, but used to be based in China, where he lived in Beijing for 3 years. Charles also does stand-up comedy in English, which is how I know him, and we are doing a 2-man show together this Friday, 19 July 2024 (details below).

In this conversation we talk about why reporters speak in a certain way when they read the news, how the conventions of broadcast journalism influence the way the English is used, how Charles started as a journalist, the challenge of making TV news reports, our experiences at university, the Olympics in Paris and whether it will be beneficial for France, and Charles’ experiences of living and working in China.


Links

Luke & Charles’ stand-up comedy show in Paris on 19 July

Charles on Instagram & X
https://www.instagram.com/chpilgrim/
https://www.x.com/chpilgrim/ https://www.instagram.com/charles_pellegrinf24/

884. British Music: Madness (with James)

A conversation with my brother about one of the most successful British bands of all time – Madness. We talk about the story of the band, our early memories of their music, the songs, the members, their lyrics, their popularity and why we’ve always been big fans!

[DOWNLOAD AUDIO]

Check out this playlist of our favourite Madness music videos 👇

Watch “Take It Or Leave It” – The Madness film 👇

James wearing his old Madness t-shirt (probably in about 1984) 👇

Luke & James 👇

Ambient Anthology (by James)