Podcast Conversations Insights

Catherine Carr shares her experience of talking to strangers.

You may be surprised to learn that one of my ideas of top entertainment is to people-watch. You’ll find me at it in cafés, bars, on trains. The only thing that can beat it is to take the extra step and strike up a conversation. Not the party kind one. I prefer the bigger sort, with feelings and explanations of passions, maybe with a bit of childhood thrown in.
Early on in my career as a radio reporter, this preference for the personal over the professional was obvious. I didn’t make the greatest of newshounds, as I was often completely diverted by the lives which surrounded the headline. Often, after switching off the recorder, instead of hurrying back to file my piece, I ended up chatting some more and more.
Some time later, I moved to Colchester and started recording my podcast, Where Are You Going? Its concept is simple: I potter around any location talking to strangers and asking them that question. The answers are sometimes funny, sometimes surprising, tragic or shocking. Occasionally they take your breath away. On one single sunny day, for instance, I recorded interviews with an artist in a fluffy orange cardigan, a pair of retired special needs teachers on their way to buy ice-creams, and a trio of Iranian refugees.
Or, I remember a hot September lunchtime, when I started talking to a man I have never met before. He was on the way to Boots and he told me he’d been married for years and was currently waiting for a hip replacement. He played in a rock band that performed all over Essex. He then told me how his Italian father had met his English mother. His parents’ marriage was a happy one and the story was precious to him. He told me about his trips to Tuscany and lovely meetings he had with the Italian relatives.
This September, the podcast won an award at the British Podcast Awards and lots of listeners tell us they have found a blueprint for creating connections of their own, understanding it can be quite possible to talk to people you don’t know and share a little of each other’s lives.
In his fascinating book Hello, Stranger writer William Buckingham writes that there is something freeing and comfortable in talking to strangers, in the possibilities they bring. Strangers are unentangled in our worlds and lives and this lack can lighten our own burden. This is why strangers can unexpectedly become confidants.” He says that strangers often trade the most surprising revelations and confidences as there’s little chance of ever seeing each other again.
At the beginning, I assumed lots of people would wave me away or tell me not to invade their privacy, or just be baffled by the whole idea of me asking: “Where are you going?” But the vast majority do not and aren’t. People seem to want to talk and very often about really important things.
Gina, a friend of mine, who is a psychotherapist, was less surprised that people opened up in this way. In her experience, people in therapy often blurt out the most vulnerable and important thing just as the hour’s session is ending. She explained that it’s a safe window of time, after which they leave the room and there is no comeback.
The few minutes I spend with people I talk to are perhaps a cross between the confessional described by Buckingham and the last few ticks of the clock in the therapy room. Interviewees are always anonymous and – after we chat – we go our separate ways. Even though the conversation can become intimate very quickly, it is also only a brief moment shared, which then sort of closes up behind us.
In the time since I started asking strangers where they are going, the world has changed, politics has become more divisive and spaces to talk openly feel rarer. A lot of interactions take place online and – as we all know – can become angry pretty quickly. So I’m always expecting the people I approach to reflect that – and to be hostile to the idea of talking to a stranger about things that really matter to them. But instead, I keep finding the opposite. People are as open as ever and – post pandemic – even more keen for connection.

1.
Catherine’s two main passions are


watching people and imagining what their lives are like.


observing strangers and initiating conversations with them.


looking at people from a café or train window.


going to cafes and talking to people in public transport.

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2.
What is TRUE about Catherine’s job at the radio station?


She set her own interests above professional ones.


She efficiently emailed interviews after completing them.


She was one of the top newsmakers at the time.


She worked overtime by making long interviews.

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3.
The main concept of Catherine’s podcast is


to talk to random people anywhere.


to choose respondents meticulously.


to talk to strange and unconventional people.


to record exceptional life stories.

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4.
The man who Catherine talked to at lunchtime shared


his background and family history.


his band’s successes all over the country.


his failing health and unhappy marriage.


his wish to reconnect with his Italian roots.

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5.
Listeners of the podcast shared the opinion that the programme


inspired them to start their own podcasts.


laid out a plan for how to start talking to strangers.


helped them understand other people better.


let them become more open and communicative.

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6.
William Buckingham writes that while talking to strangers, people


tend to share their personal secrets.


feel free to tangle and argue with them.


aim to get feedback from their conversation partner.


try to sound light and unaffected.

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7.
After starting her podcast Catherine understood that


people were protective of their private lives.


many people were keen to answer her question.


her question put many people off.


her worst fears became reality.

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8.
According to Catherine’s friend Gina, people


feel vulnerable when you ask them a lot of questions.


tend to share most at the last minute.


feel safer when talking to a psychotherapist.


open up to strangers more easily.

Ответ можно сохранять несколько раз
9.
Catherine thinks that her podcast


is more intimate and confessional than both approaches.


is more therapeutic than a psychotherapy session.


is way different from what Buckingham describes.


is a mix of both approaches and descriptions.

surprised to learn that one of my ideas of top entertainment is to people-watch. You’ll find me at it in cafés, bars, on trains. The only thing that can beat it is to take the extra step and strike up a conversation. Not the party kind one. I prefer the bigger sort, with feelings and explanations of passions, maybe with a bit of childhood thrown in.
Early on in my career as a radio reporter, this preference for the personal over the professional was obvious. I didn’t make the greatest of newshounds, as I was often completely diverted by the lives which surrounded the headline. Often, after switching off the recorder, instead of hurrying back to file my piece, I ended up chatting some more and more.
Some time later, I moved to Colchester and started recording my podcast, Where Are You Going? Its concept is simple: I potter around any location talking to strangers and asking them that question. The answers are sometimes funny, sometimes surprising, tragic or shocking. Occasionally they take your breath away. On one single sunny day, for instance, I recorded interviews with an artist in a fluffy orange cardigan, a pair of retired special needs teachers on their way to buy ice-creams, and a trio of Iranian refugees.
Or, I remember a hot September lunchtime, when I started talking to a man I have never met before. He was on the way to Boots and he told me he’d been married for years and was currently waiting for a hip replacement. He played in a rock band that performed all over Essex. He then told me how his Italian father had met his English mother. His parents’ marriage was a happy one and the story was precious to him. He told me about his trips to Tuscany and lovely meetings he had with the Italian relatives.
This September, the podcast won an award at the British Podcast Awards and lots of listeners tell us they have found a blueprint for creating connections of their own, understanding it can be quite possible to talk to people you don’t know and share a little of each other’s lives.
In his fascinating book Hello, Stranger writer William Buckingham writes that there is something freeing and comfortable in talking to strangers, in the possibilities they bring. Strangers are unentangled in our worlds and lives and this lack can lighten our own burden. This is why strangers can unexpectedly become confidants.” He says that strangers often trade the most surprising revelations and confidences as there’s little chance of ever seeing each other again.
At the beginning, I assumed lots of people would wave me away or tell me not to invade their privacy, or just be baffled by the whole idea of me asking: “Where are you going?” But the vast majority do not and aren’t. People seem to want to talk and very often about really important things.
Gina, a friend of mine, who is a psychotherapist, was less surprised that people opened up in this way. In her experience, people in therapy often blurt out the most vulnerable and important thing just as the hour’s session is ending. She explained that it’s a safe window of time, after which they leave the room and there is no comeback.
The few minutes I spend with people I talk to are perhaps a cross between the confessional described by Buckingham and the last few ticks of the clock in the therapy room. Interviewees are always anonymous and – after we chat – we go our separate ways. Even though the conversation can become intimate very quickly, it is also only a brief moment shared, which then sort of closes up behind us.
In the time since I started asking strangers where they are going, the world has changed, politics has become more divisive and spaces to talk openly feel rarer. A lot of interactions take place online and – as we all know – can become angry pretty quickly. So I’m always expecting the people I approach to reflect that – and to be hostile to the idea of talking to a stranger about things that really matter to them. But instead, I keep finding the opposite. People are as open as ever and – post pandemic – even more keen for connection.

7.
After starting her podcast Catherine understood that


people were protective of their private lives.


many people were keen to answer her question.


her question put many people off.


her worst fears became reality.

Ответ можно сохранять несколько раз
8.
According to Catherine’s friend Gina, people


feel vulnerable when you ask them a lot of questions.


tend to share most at the last minute.


feel safer when talking to a psychotherapist.


open up to strangers more easily.