Pick of the week: What Really Happened?

From Britney Spears’ breakdown to how Hitler’s drug abuse changed the course of history, new podcast What Really Happened? (Andrew Jenks Entertainment Inc/iTunes) looks at how historical moments are remembered. Co-produced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, it makes a strong debut with The Talk, an episode that delves into the story that Muhammad Ali once saved a man from suicide. It has been a long time in the making: film-maker and consummate storyteller Jenks has spent three years researching the incident. The moment in question happened in LA in 1981, when a Vietnam vet threatened to jump from the ninth floor of a building. With a “bloodthirsty” crowd below yelling for him to do it, Ali’s photographer (who just happened to be there) called the boxer. Moments later, he turned up in a Rolls-Royce, and 30 minutes later he had talked the man down off the ledge ... or so the story goes.

As Jenks dives deeper, questions pop up. Was Ali staging a stunt as an anti-Vietnam war statement? Was it an attempt to prove he was still the greatest? Or did he plan to shift the news agenda away from Ronald Reagan the day before his inauguration? “Ali knew – and he was right – the news that this would attract. The champ saving a guy ... showing up in a Rolls-Royce and doing so in LA where there’d be cameras galore,” notes Jenks. The host’s meticulous fact-checking leads him to question how Ali reached the scene in four minutes when, he says, it’s hard to get anywhere in LA in that time.

Jenks has a real fondness for Ali, and The Rock also pops up to recall the time his hero gave him permission to use his moniker The People’s Champion. “I might have cried,” he says. “Manly tears, of course.” The methodical style really suits the subject, and it’s clear that Jenks has gone to great lengths. Future episodes will feature the stories of Michael Jordan and Princess Diana, and you can bet if there’s something to unveil, he’s the man to do it.





Your picks: The ‘new norm’ of Islamophobia exposed; plus linguistic lessons and peculiar movie pitches

Mohamed Hassan from the Public Enemy podcast. Photograph: RNZ

Public Enemy

Amid a global pushback against immigration and multiculturalism, Public Enemy’s Mohamed Hassan hears from Muslim communities experiencing what he describes as a “new norm” of Islamophobia. He contextualises anti-Muslim sentiment in a post-9/11 world, weaving history around his interviewees’ personal accounts that make for uncomfortable listening with the ugliness of the US election barely in the rear view mirror.Recommended by Talia Shadwell

Mind your language ... the Word for Word podcast crew. Photograph: Léa Antigny

Word for Word

Host Kate Sherington chats to a range of language aficionados about the peculiarities, mysteries and joys of the English language. It’s linguistics for the layperson, with a distinctly Australian flavour. Topics range from the language of romance novels to the art of translating books into English via swearing and internet slang. A recent topical episode covered the singular non-gendered “they’. Peppered with vox-pops, mini-segments and behind-the-scenes conversations, each episode is a delicious mouthful of words, and host Sherington is the perfect dining companion. Recommended by Emma Rafferty

Pitch perfect ... the Dream Factory podcast. Photograph: John Harris

The Dream Factory

The dream factory is a user generated movie creation podcast, where film ideas are thrown around but only one can win. I spend every day of the week refreshing my podcast feed just to see if they’ve dropped another tasty morsel on to my plate. The two hosts, Joel and John, are so sincerely warm and genuine in the way they talk – especially about their love of 90s R&B and hip-hop – and each episode leaves me laughing with their bizarre pitches. A personal favourite of mine is episode five – Goosey Goosey Detective Goat – but I don’t think they’ve made a weak episode. Recommended by Stuart McKeown

Guardian Picks: Where Virtual Reality meets Podcasting

Party time ... it’s the Guardian’s new Virtual Reality podcast. Photograph: The Guardian

The Party: how can gender affect autism spectrum disorders? – Science Weekly podcast

As a former neuroscientist, there’s little I love more than discovering a new angle on a scientific topic I thought I knew well. And thankfully for me, that is exactly what happened when we decided to produce a podcast on how gender can affect autism spectrum disorders, as part of the Guardian’s new VR project The Party

Something I had never considered was how the diagnosis and experience of this historically male-skewed condition may differ for females diagnosed with the condition. It’s something Nicola Davis attempts to pick apart in the episode as she speaks with two researchers – one of whom herself was undiagnosed with an ASD until the age of 23 – to explore the role social expectations of young girls might play in misdiagnosis with other conditions and how this all ties in with broader themes of neurodiversity. Recommended by Max Sanderson

If you’ve got a podcast that you love, send your recommendations to rowan.slaney@theguardian.com