Front Row - Whales vs dinosaurs in art; A.Dot; Nick Laird; Igor Levit

Whales vs dinosaurs in art; A.Dot; Nick Laird; Igor Levit

Download Whales vs dinosaurs in art; A.Dot; Nick Laird; Igor Levit

As the Natural History Museum in London replaces Dippy the Dinosaur with a Blue Whale skeleton, we debate which animal group has inspired the best art. Broadcaster Matthew Sweet champions whales while historian Tom Holland is on the side of the dinosaurs, but who will convince Samira theirs is best?

Frank Ocean's ground-breaking album Channel Orange is chosen for our Queer Icons series by rapper A.Dot, who presents the BBC Radio 1Extra Breakfast Show.

Samira talks to pianist Igor Levit backstage at the Royal Albert Hall as he prepares to perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3 in the First Night of the Proms tomorrow.

The poet and novelist Nick Laird's new book, Modern Gods, is set in Ulster and New Ulster, which is an imaginary part of very real Papua New Guinea. Despite seeming worlds apart, Laird explores the strange parallels between these contested tribal lands.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Hannah Robins.

Published on Thursday, 13th July 2017.

Available Podcasts from Front Row

Subscribe to Front Row

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the Front Row webpage.