TudoRama
TudoRama explores the nature and practice of creativity in the arts, sciences, politics and above all in everyday life. Tudor Rickards is Emeritus Professor of Creativity and Organizational Change at the University of Manchester. Tudor studied chemistry and radiation chemistry at The University of Wales at Cardiff. Following post-doctoral research at New York Medical College, he returned to the UK to work in technical management before joining Manchester Business School. He has published numerous books and articles on creativity, sporting management and leadership, as well as fictional works involving the mythical University of Urmston. He has been influential in the de...
Developing creative prompting skills for the age of AI
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An important skill for the age of AI is developing skills at prompting AI agents. This audio note outlines some preliminary thoughts of my own, and an interesting publication on the topic.
First, a working definition. What do I mean by creative prompting?
Creative prompting is the process of obtaining powerful suggestions from an AI system through the prompts provided by an individual or group.
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This week, the United Kingdom discovered a new sporting heroine, in the European Games. Amy Hunt won four gold medals in an increasing blaze of publicity.
As the BBC enthused
Amy has never been afraid to choose the hard path. Undertaking an English Literature degree at Cambridge University, she was determined to prove - as she did in winning silver at last year's World Championships - that you can be "an academic badass and a track goddess"
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs c...Watching the World go dark. The 2026 Eclipse
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Wednesday 12 August 2026
Tonight the world will go dark. Light from the Sun will be blocked off for a few minutes.
Put simply, the orbit of the moon gets between the Sun and the Earth. This briefly blocks the light waves from the Sun.
I report how the spectacular event impacted on myself, on thousands of eclipse watchers around the northern hemisphere and on the BBC reporters following it.
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Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!How the BBC creates rather than reports a news story: The death of a police officer
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The BBC has recently presented a significant news event in a way that seems to me to be utterly irresponsible and biased. It shows how reporting the news can slide into creating a news story to achieve an implicit goal.
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This week in the United Kingdom, two people were thrust into the headlines. One is a university professor. The other is a convicted criminal whose rehabilitation as a local counsellor is being backed by the leader of the Conservative Party.
It sometimes seems that such stories have an increased chance of success if the key figure has an extremely unusual name, or unconventional appearance...
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One of those stories you want to believe in, even if you suspect there is an element of promotional wishful thinking about it.
The four grandmothers, Lynn, Susie, Rose, and Christine met wrestler Gordon DeReiss while travelling to Las Vegas to scatter the ashes of Rose's late husband, Pete.
As sometimes happens, Gordon was sitting in one of their seats. He was wise enough not to get into an argument with the four grandmothers …
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I wrote it this song initially for myself. It is called Dusky Come Ride with Me. An Anglo-Welsh Odyssey.
I hope someday it will be heard and maybe sung by a new generation, with a deeper appreciation of the dynamic interplay between the English and Welsh languages and their cultures.
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Recently, a new nightmare known as Gazundering has entered into the process of selling a house…
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Guess what?
I lost my phone yesterday. I did all the usual stuff searching many times in the same place and getting the same result.
That’s one definition of insanity according to Albert Einstein.
As I was carrying out my futile search, the enormity of my loss struck me. The first obvious reason was that I could not contact anyone to help in my search, because I had deprived myself of my main means of communication…
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For many years, local elections in England have been brightened by the appearance of a bizarre figure dressed in a surreal costume topped by a space age dustbin.
Some have been angered by what they see as making a mockery of the sacred democratic process. Others have celebrated it as an example of quirky English humour lighting up the drab political scene.
Count Binface grabbed the publicity from Nigel Farage when in July 2026 the latter announced his intentions to retire as an MP and then fight for his return i...
How to create a name for a new product
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Coming up with a new idea for a product is one of those examples of a search for everyday creativity. The challenge crops up in a wide range of contexts and the approach I’m going to describe is one of various ways of carrying out a successful search.
It can, however, be applied across a wide range of practical situations. I will take an example an attempt to provide a title for a new song by a small team of songwriters.
I will describe the process in a gen...
Agatha Christie: Another unsolved mystery
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As regular listeners to my audio casts will know, I am addicted to detective thrillers and particularly to those in the so-called golden age roughly between the first and second world wars.
Among the galaxy of star writers, one blazed more brightly than the others. Agatha Christie‘s personal life has become as much a mystery in several ways as those fictional mysteries which brought her fame and fortune.
I have acquired two of her works that were unknown to me but reissued recently. Perhaps they are clues in th...
The Assassination of Keir Starmer, 22 June 2026
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Keir Starmer’s historic final hours as prime minister.
Shortly after 9 am, it was clear the moment was imminent, when he and his wife Victoria appeared in front of No 10 Downing Street.
It is often a symbolic changing of the political guard. Staff from No 10 are in the street applauding.
Starmer begins the most difficult speech he has ever had to make…
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Over the course of many years, I had probably over quoted the story about Archimedes and his moment of discovery which has become known as the Eureka phenomenon.
As it gets taught in universities around the world, Archimedes discovered his famous principle while in his bath prompting him to leap out and run through the streets of Athens crying something loosely transliterated into English as Eureka, that is to say ‘I’ve found it’.
The Eureka moment is the moment of discovery accompanied by intense emotional pleasure.
So we...
Question Time. A gruesome disappointment
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I’m still getting my head around what I witnessed watching Question Time, yesterday evening. I was attracted to the idea of the programme with the leading candidates in the Makerfield by-election.
Some years ago, I enjoyed Question Time, when it permitted intelligent debate between guests with interventions from the audience. This seemed to change with the departure of the authoritative but skilfully impartial chairmanship at the time, by Robin Day and his successor David Dimbleby…
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The question of copyright has become a hot issue with the rise of creative products assisted by artificial intelligence systems.
I started thinking about this recently with a specific case example. It cropped up the work directed by Jonathan Levitt in
producing a wide range of songs supported by his lyric writers, including myself, with Stephen Tranter, and a range of distinguished poets whose work has passed beyond the limit of copyright legislation.
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up t...Where is Sasha? Dark Russian Humour
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This example of dark Russian humour was published on X translated from a Portuguese source.
The story is about the interrogation of President Putin in a question and answer session at a Russian school. The first question is from Sasha….
How to spot the Traitor
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How to spot a traitor
This audio Post was triggered by the timing of my return from a visit to my tennis club every Saturday morning.
I still enjoy listening to radio five for the sports programs. On Saturdays, there is a problem called ‘spot the traitor’. It involves three football fans, each eulogising on the football team. However, one of the fans is fake, a traitor if you like. I understand spotting a traitor has become a National TV pastime. thanks to another program.
Listening week afte...
Hannah Spenser's Not so Green
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I use Amazon a lot. But my appreciation of Amazon’s outstanding delivery service goes along with a considerable concern I have about the impact of its business practices at a local and a global level.
I asked Dr Google ‘Why is Amazon criticised for its business practices?’
This is what I learned …
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Celtic win breaks Hearts
Hearts football club lost the title in a race they had been leading through throughout most of the season too many times champions Celtic. They lost in a devastating fashion at the last minute.
Celtic have been serial winners of the competition. Hearts have never won it. Celtic fans enjoyed that fantastic moment.
Hearts returned to their home territory where they were welcomed by their faithful fans. as heroes as if they had returned with victory.
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Yesterday I was left feeling depressed at what I saw as hideous bias in the coverage of the upcoming local elections. Very late, I knew what I wanted to happen and feared it was probably too late
How to warn people about voting for charlatans?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I asked myself, if everyone could listen to my message before they cast their votes on Thursday. After that the idea almost wrote itself.
So here it is, a cry that may have to wait for another occa...
Three poets and a music-maker: Creating a website
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It is now nearly a year since I became involved in a music-making project. The music is generated by an AI system by one member of a small team.
This may become a more common approach to generating music which also has implications for theory and practice.
We have now reached the inevitable stage of a start-up operation, namely the creation of a website. As a starting point, our team leader and music maker GM Jon has drafted a mission statement.
Yes, that’s one of the...
Life is Sadness, life's a Bitch
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Life is sadness, life’s a bitch
I thought it might be interesting to record an audiotape about the origins of a song currently being worked on by music-making colleague GM Jon.
Sometimes you can trace an idea to some starting event. In this case, it was a suggestion from Jon that we should put together several candidate lyrics on the general topic of old age.
The idea struck me as sufficiently distant from most songs we had worked on that it at least considered serious considerations
Natural talent and its weaknesses
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I came across a splendid analysis of the weakness of relying on natural talent, in a piece published in the Quora website. The author publishes under the title Halftime Legend.
It makes sense, and may even contribute to the debate on the nature of creativity.
It may be of more interest to Chess players, than to other listeners to my podcasts.
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to si...Brexit Rap: Where do new ideas come from?
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Where do new ideas come from?
To compensate for my abysmal failure in steps per day, (according to my distance walked App) I resort to the treadmill at my local gym.
Recently, the experience was weird. My pounding on the treadmill seemed to produce a reaction. It was as if as if the treadmill was telling me something.
I interpreted its message as if I had been listening to a mechanical version of the Oracle at Delphi. The rest of this brief podcast explains what I heard and...
The Houdini tactic: An invaluable rescue weapon for the club player
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Written and narrated by Tudor Rickards
I cannot claim to have invented the Houdini tactic in chess. However, I hinted at it in one of my least successful books, The Double Houdini.
As will become obvious, the tactic does not work when you’re playing against a computer program.
This week, it contributed to a much needed victory by our second team, still with a fighting chance of gaining promotion into the first division of the Stockport league. Much needed, as some consolation for the dive into the s...
The Dark Side of the Augusta Masters Golf Championship
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Every year, the masters golf championship at Augusta, Georgia gets worldwide television coverage. The traditions are well-known, including ritual acceptance by the winner of the iconic green jacket, handed over by last year‘s winner.
This year, a contingency plan was smoothly executed as Rory McIlroy became the first player since 2002 to defend the Augusta title successfully.
But amid the drama and spectacle, there is a darker story of the most famous golf club, which can be seen as the Twickenham or Wembley of Golf…
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Donald Trump, in the midst of saving the world, finds time to excoriate his multiple enemies in a classic late-night rant on Truth Social...
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!A Tale of Two Tweets: Donald Trump's Easter Messages
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Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!Lewis Goodall: Where did it all go wrong?
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Listeners to this podcast will be aware that I have borrowed its title from a recent Channel 4 documentary entitled Kier Starmer: where did it all go wrong.
The broadcast triggered off a storm of criticism of its presenter Lewis Goodall, led by many disappointed supporters of his work in the United Kingdom, which had made him an icon of the left in a profession widely dominated by politically right-wing leaning journalists.
It was certainly a provocative headline by Channel 4. It was widely presumed to be signalling another hatchet job on...
Grandfather's Clock, by Henry C. Work
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A rendition of poem based on a favourite in the days of radio broadcasting by the BBC. With some help from tennis partners this morning (Lindsay, Neil, and Gordon) we reassembled what we believe to be the first lines of the poem, and quickly tracked down the original…
Newt Gingrich solves the Strait of Hormuz problem
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In the middle of the fantasy politics show starring Donald Trump, it was good for us to be reminded of some of the eccentric politicians that had recently departed the scene.
One such figure was former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.
This week, impatient with the suggestions of lesser Mortals, Newt popped up to offer the world a dynamic solution to The Strait of Hormuz problem…
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Eze Kingsley Ohaji posts on X about financial and political matters @ohajielom. His creative description of the war against Iran deserves wide circulation.
Trump: Open the Strait in 48 hours or I strike your power plants.
Iran: No.
Trump: You have 48 hours.
Iran: You said that already.
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up...Stockport against East Cheshire: A monumental battle
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Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!A Woman's History, by W.H.Davies
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A WOMAN’S HISTORY
by
W H Davies
When Mary Price was five years old
And had a bird that died
She laid its body under flowers;
And called her friends to pray to God,
And sing sad hymns for hours
When she before her fifteenth year
Was ruined by a man,
The neighbours sought him out, and said-
‘You’ll...
Mourinho Matters: A study in charismatic leadership
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In my book Mourinho Matters I take Jose Mourinho as a case example of a charismatic leader.
I will draw on the account as described in the book. I have selected an exerpt of the occasions when I was embarrassingly misunderstood by two other charismatic leaders, Pat Riley of Miami Heat, and sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United.
A product in a bottle. How to turn ideas into new products
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My topic for today is developing a plan for successful innovation.
The subject is one which continues to attract attention, and books continue to be published offering various approaches some with more outrageous claims than others.
I want to describe one approach which worked for many and varied organisations mainly in the United Kingdom. I believe it can be applied to today’s fast-changing world, in which so many activities are being influenced through IT products and practices
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current af...Staying on the Wagon, and other interesting English sayings
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David Atherton is a scholarly contributor to X He explains that he has became increasingly disillusioned with his reach on X, and decided to write about stuff he likes
.You can follow David on X , where he publishes as @DaveAtherton20.
In a recent post, he selects as his topic, English idioms. In it, he describes the origin of the terms: one for the Road, being on the wagon, pulling your leg, and money for old rope.
There is a grim humour about his selected topic as you wi...
