Monstrosities Mon Amour
Monstrosities Mon Amour
Podcast Description
In Monstrosities Mon Amour we celebrate places and things that have been unfairly monstered in popular opinion. Host John Grindrod will be your excitable guide to a world beyond the lazy stereotypes of crap towns and guilty pleasures. He'll be meeting people who’ll share their enthusiasm for monsters major and minor, places that get a bad press and cultural artefacts that need to be rescued from the bin.
‘Warmly, welcomingly geeky.’ Jude Rogers, Observer
‘What a breath of fresh air … a genuine celebration of places and culture it’s all too easy to dismiss.’ Radio Times
Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando.
You can support the podcast by subscribing through Substack or https://ko-fi.com/grindrod.
Thank you for listening. johngrindrod.substack.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into themes of cultural appreciation, urban spaces, and pop culture phenomena, with episodes focusing on towns that face stigma, quirky architectural features, and nostalgia for forgotten trends. For example, episodes celebrate the gothic architecture of Minster Court and the American-style relics of Swindon while discussing topics like class and excess in society.
In Monstrosities Mon Amour we celebrate places and things that have been unfairly monstered. Host John Grindrod is your excitable guide to a world beyond the lazy stereotypes of crap towns and guilty pleasures. He meets people who share their enthusiasm for monsters major and minor, places that get a bad press and cultural artefacts that need to be rescued from the bin.
‘Warmly, welcomingly geeky.’ Jude Rogers, Observer
‘What a breath of fresh air … a genuine celebration of places and culture it’s all too easy to dismiss.’ Radio Times
Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando.
You can support the podcast by subscribing through Substack or https://ko-fi.com/grindrod.
Thank you for listening.
It’s a home-town kidnapping in this episode, when award-winning beer writer David Jesudason whisks me down the road to the Point cinema in Milton Keynes.
Exploring the shiny mirrored red framed pyramid, a huge landmark of 80s entertainment and a multiplex pioneer. David grew up in nearby Dunstable, and so here he pits the wonders of the sleepy glider-town against the bright new city of MK, where the Point helped hollow out his town’s high street, but also was a massive attraction to young David. Discover a world of blockbusters, arcade games and the mysterious Le Club.
David’s minor monster mirrors the 8-bit delights of the Point: the Atari 2600, an early games console from 1977 more famed for its failed ET game than for its functional simplcity.
So let’s go Back to the Future in the DeLorean* in the latest episode of Monstrosities Mon Amour.
*Austin Maxi
David Jesudason is the author of the award winning Desi Pubs, and is twice Michael Jackson Beer Writer of the Year (2023 and 2025). Journalist and Substacker: davidjesudason.substack.com
Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod
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