Jade Cuttle explores new words in nature writing
Published on Monday, 31st March 2025.
Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal looks at “service with a smile”
Jack Symes considers how we value life and face death
Shona Minson explores the pardoxical thinking around sending mothers to prison
Becca Voelcker describes experiments in filmmaking in China, Japan and the Philippines
Jacob Downs considers what it means to listen closely to the radio.
From 'lying in' to bedside cots: Emily Baughan traces childbirth changes.
Janine Bradbury questions our motivation when choosing what to read.
Jonathan Egid tells the story of a mysterious Ethiopian thinker named Zera Yacob.
Kirsty Sinclair Dootson on the dark side of colour film.
In a 2024 interview, Michael Longley talks about his love poems and 60 years of poetry.
Published on Thursday, 13th February 2025.
In a 2024 interview, the late poet Michael Longley talks about his nature poems.
Belfast poet Michael Longley speaking in 2024 on writing about the Troubles.
In a 2024 interview, the late poet Michael Longley talks about his World War 1 poetry.
In a 2024 interview, the late poet Michael Longley talks about Belfast and the classics.
Ade Mardiyati visits the master gamelan makers of Tihingan village in Bali.
Published on Saturday, 30th November 2024.
Phoebe Amoroso reports from Ochanomizu in Tokyo, famous for shops selling electric guitars
Guy Hedgecoe visits the luthiers of Madrid.
BBC Türkçe journalist Esra Yalcinalp visits Galip Dede Street, Istanbul's Tin Pan Alley.
BBC Beijing Correspondent Stephen McDonell visits the music shops of Xinjiekou Street.
Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
Published on Wednesday, 6th November 2024.
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their careers after injury or illness.
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their lives and careers after injury.
Adjoa Osei has been delving into the personal archives of some 1930s Plaza Tiller dancers.
Published on Thursday, 19th September 2024.
Eleanor Chan delves into the world of a Huguenot bookmaker who used music as a code.
Oskar Jensen on what links Liverpool politics, a street ballad and the American anthem.
Christina Faraday tells us how Robert Cecil used a song to curry favour with Elizabeth I.
Naomi Paxton shares research on a suffrage song with a special performance by Lucy Stevens
Karine Polwart considers music's ritual power to connect, soothe, honour and remember.
Published on Friday, 5th July 2024.
Published on Thursday, 4th July 2024.
Published on Wednesday, 3rd July 2024.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd July 2024.
Published on Monday, 1st July 2024.
Elizabeth Elliott, a talented musician who became deaf, shares her inspiring journey.
Published on Friday, 31st May 2024.
Paul Whittaker is a deaf sign language performer for classical and musical performances
Chisato Minamimura, a deaf artist with a fascination for sound gives us her take on music
Hard of hearing musician Nigel Braithwaite takes a wry look at his musical career.
Ruth Montgomery reflects on growing up deaf but determined to be a professional flautist.
Michael Goldfarb remembers his theatrical life as an actor.
Published on Thursday, 11th April 2024.
Isabella Rosner explains why needlework challenges our idea of Quaker simplicity
Published on Friday, 29th March 2024.
Ana Baeza Ruiz shares reflections from artists in the 70s women's liberation movement.
Published on Friday, 22nd March 2024.
Sam Johnson-Schlee draws links between Dr Feelgood, Canvey Island and energy policies
Isabella Rosner explains why needlework challenges our idea of Quaker simplicity.
Published on Thursday, 21st March 2024.
Gemma Tidman describes a board game created by a Jesuit seeking Mohawk converts.
Dan Taylor considers the way communities along the A13 are looking to the future.
Louise Brangan reflects on the legacies of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.
Kerry McInerney on the promises of the ‘sustainable AI’ movement and how AI may develop
How the shape of words for mother helps babies eat their food. Rebecca Woods explains
Published on Monday, 18th March 2024.
Published on Thursday, 14th March 2024.
Kerry McInerney explores the promises of the ‘sustainable AI’ movement and how AI develops
Marianne Hem Eriksen on the meaning of a skull bone carved with 'pain' thrown onto a tip.
Andrew Cooper on the school teacher who tried to ignite a feminist revolution in Germany.
How the shape of words for mother helps babies eat their food. Rebecca Woods explains.
Traditional Variety through the lens of a writer’s childhood fascination.
Published on Thursday, 11th January 2024.
Essays about our favourite puddings. Christmas pudding, the essence of a British yuletide.
Published on Friday, 5th January 2024.
Essays about our favourite puddings. A disputed antipodean Christmas classic: pavlova.
Essays about our favourite puddings. A rich French classic with surprises: Crème brûlée.
Essays about our favourite puddings. The spectacular summer pudding has many surprises.
A series of essays about our favourite puddings, starting with the loved and hated tapioca
Khadijah Ibrahiim looks at what changes to Leeds's environment tell us about its identity.
Published on Thursday, 14th December 2023.
Ian Duhig takes us on a virtual poetic journey along Blind Jack Metcalf's road.
Michelle Scally Clarke talks about William Kenneth Armitage's statue Both Arms.
Jeremy Dyson takes us back to the Victorian architectural splendour and status of Leeds.
The city of Leeds seen through its public art past, present and future.
Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky (author of Deaf Republic) on the city of his birth.
Published on Friday, 24th November 2023.
Published on Thursday, 23rd November 2023.
An Essay and reflection in poetry on the reintroduction of wild animals into the Highlands
Kate Kennedy reflects on a reimagined cello whose story is yet to begin.
The unlikely story of the reconstruction of the 'Mara' Stradivarius.
How the cellist of Auschwitz, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch's life was saved by her cello.
The story of an abandoned cello that a physicist has filled with 400,000 bees.
Kate Kennedy reflects on her quest to find Pal Hermann's cello, and his soul.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd November 2023.
Published on Tuesday, 21st November 2023.
Published on Monday, 20th November 2023.
Art historian Katy Hessel on the symbolism of the spine in Frida Kahlo's Broken Column.
Published on Friday, 29th September 2023.
Writer Sarfraz Manzoor discusses one moment in the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams.
Published on Thursday, 28th September 2023.
Sam Leith on his fascination with a background figure in Judith Kerr's classic book.
Published on Wednesday, 27th September 2023.
Novelist Joan Williams, after a promising start, just disappeared. Why?
Published on Friday, 30th June 2023.
How Philip Roth's writing alienated him from the Jewish community in America.
Published on Thursday, 29th June 2023.
Michael Goldfarb looks at how Norman Mailer's misogyny eventually caught up with him.
Published on Wednesday, 28th June 2023.
How poet and playwright Amiri Baraka cancelled himself in a single public appearance.
Published on Tuesday, 27th June 2023.
Should a white man write about a black revolutionary?
Published on Monday, 26th June 2023.
Writers choose a Black Country scene to reveal something of this strangely hidden region.
Published on Friday, 16th June 2023.
Published on Thursday, 15th June 2023.
Published on Wednesday, 14th June 2023.
Published on Tuesday, 13th June 2023.
Published on Monday, 12th June 2023.
Five more writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
Published on Friday, 9th June 2023.
Series 2. Five writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
Published on Thursday, 8th June 2023.
Published on Wednesday, 7th June 2023.
Published on Tuesday, 6th June 2023.
Published on Monday, 5th June 2023.
Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England.
Published on Friday, 5th May 2023.
Published on Thursday, 4th May 2023.
Jerry Brotton looks at those from around the world who made their homes in Tudor England
Published on Wednesday, 3rd May 2023.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd May 2023.
Published on Monday, 1st May 2023.
Published on Friday, 28th April 2023.
Published on Thursday, 27th April 2023.
Published on Wednesday, 26th April 2023.
Published on Tuesday, 25th April 2023.
Published on Monday, 24th April 2023.
Author and historian Marina Warner chooses a speech from early in Othello: Act 1, Scene 3.
Published on Friday, 21st April 2023.
Playwright David Hare chooses Macbeth's imagining of old age from Act 5, Scene 3.
Published on Thursday, 20th April 2023.
Professor Islam Issa chooses a passage spoken by Julius Caesar in Act 2, Scene 2.
Published on Wednesday, 19th April 2023.
Actor Michelle Terry chooses a speech by 'love doctor' Rosalind from Act 3, Scene 2.
Director Richard Eyre chooses a speech by Lear to his daughter Cordelia - Act 5, Scene 3.
Published on Monday, 17th April 2023.
Sabina Dosani looks at the ritual of Mizuko Kuyo and modern ceremonies marking miscarriage
Published on Tuesday, 11th April 2023.
Oskar Jensen tells the tall tale of a court case inspired by a best-selling novel
Published on Thursday, 6th April 2023.
Emma Whipday explores the demonisation of single mothers in English witch trials.
Published on Wednesday, 5th April 2023.
Shirin Hirsch explores the way boxer Len Johnson fought a Manchester pub ban.
Louise Creechan looks at the impact of 19th-century ideas about intelligence.
Sabina Dosani on the ritual of Mizuko Kuyo and modern ceremonies marking miscarriage.
Ellie Chan looks at the life and music of the Tudor composer who died 400 years ago.
Clare Siviter looks at attempts to liberate and then censor expression in 1790s France.
Oskar Jensen tells the tall tale of a court case inspired by a best-selling novel.
The father of modern computing thought the sea could communicate. Joan Passey tells us why
Jade Munslow Ong reads 20s writing by Solomon T Plaatje, Roy Campbell and William Plomer.
Five writers walk the beguiling routes of tidal causeways. Today, Lindisfarne.
There’s never been a better time to get on our bikes insists cycling devotee Andrew Martin
Published on Friday, 31st March 2023.
Andrew Martin and his bike catch a train to Derby to enjoy a long leisurely country cycle.
Published on Thursday, 30th March 2023.
Andrew Martin examines the intriguingly flamboyant history of cycling attire.
Published on Wednesday, 29th March 2023.
Andrew Martin considers the changing politics of cycling over the ages.
Published on Tuesday, 28th March 2023.
Writer Andrew Martin casts an affectionate eye over his long and colourful cycling career.
Published on Monday, 27th March 2023.
Five writers take us along the routes of tidal causeways. Today, Sunderland Point.
Published on Friday, 24th February 2023.
Five writers walk us along the beguiling routes of tidal causeways. Today, Burgh Island.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd February 2023.
Five writers walk the beguiling routes of tidal causeways. Today, the Isle of Wight.
Published on Tuesday, 21st February 2023.
Five writers walk the beguiling routes of tidal causeways. Today, St Michael’s Mount.
Published on Monday, 20th February 2023.
Margaret Heffernan explores the benefits of uncertainty in both life and art.
Published on Monday, 13th February 2023.
Margaret Heffernan explores how an artist knows when to stop.
Margaret Heffernan explores how artists tolerate the fear of uncertainty.
Margaret Heffernan considers how artists use uncertainty when starting a new project.
Margaret Heffernan explores how artists embrace uncertainty to create their work.
Psychologist Professor Victoria Tischler celebrates outsider art.
Published on Thursday, 9th February 2023.
Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns completes his exploration of South African food.
Lindsay Johns introduces us to bunny chow, a curry dish invented in Durban.
Lindsay Johns introduces us to snoek, pickled fish and the Gatsby steak sandwich.
Lindsay Johns samples the cuisines of South Africa’s Xhosa and Zulu township communities.
Lindsay Johns finds out about the place of meat in white South African cuisines.
Tom Smith reads Olivia Wenzel’s novel, which was longlisted for 2020's German Book Prize.
Published on Friday, 3rd February 2023.
Clare Walker-Gore revisits Charlotte M Yonge's best-selling novel from 1853.
Sarah Jilani reads Latife Tekin’s magical realist novel about 1960s Istanbul shanty towns.
Xine Yao reads the first novel by African American writer Frances EW Harper (1825-1911).
Sarah Dillon tells us about the nuclear short story by atomic energy adviser Philip Wylie.
Convent-educated, lapsed Catholic Olivia O'Leary asks where all the Irish nuns have gone.
Published on Friday, 6th January 2023.
Convent-educated, lapsed catholic Olivia O'Leary asks where all the Irish nuns have gone.
Published on Thursday, 5th January 2023.
Published on Wednesday, 4th January 2023.
Published on Tuesday, 3rd January 2023.
Published on Monday, 2nd January 2023.
Bathsheba Demuth journeys to the Yukon River to investigate our relationship with salmon.
Published on Monday, 19th December 2022.
Bathsheba Demuth explores the impact of reindeers' sensitivity to the Arctic climate.
Historian Bathsheba Demuth seeks human and animal traces in the Arctic ice and tundra.
Bathsheba Demuth examines how different Arctic peoples have valued bowhead whales.
Bathsheba Demuth looks at the shifting relationship between humans and dogs in the Arctic.
Published on Monday, 12th December 2022.
Actor Sophie Stone explores communication, performance and deaf identity.
Published on Friday, 2nd December 2022.
Published on Thursday, 1st December 2022.
Published on Wednesday, 30th November 2022.
Published on Tuesday, 29th November 2022.
Published on Monday, 28th November 2022.
Nicholas Kenyon explores early music at the BBC in the 1970s.
Published on Friday, 4th November 2022.
Nicholas Kenyon explores early music at the BBC in the 1950s and 60s.
Published on Thursday, 3rd November 2022.
Nicholas Kenyon explores early music at the BBC in the 1940s.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd November 2022.
Nicholas Kenyon explores early music at the BBC in the 1930s.
Published on Tuesday, 1st November 2022.
Nicholas Kenyon explores early music at the BBC in the 1920s.
Published on Monday, 31st October 2022.
Samuel West and Andrea Smith discuss diversity in BBC radio's productions of Shakespeare.
Published on Friday, 28th October 2022.
Samuel West and Andrea Smith discuss sound in BBC radio's productions of Shakespeare.
Published on Thursday, 27th October 2022.
Actor Samuel West and Dr Andrea Smith discuss changing styles of acting in Shakespeare.
Published on Wednesday, 26th October 2022.
Samuel West and Andrea Smith talk about performances of Shakespeare during WWII.
Published on Tuesday, 25th October 2022.
Samuel West introduces a centenary celebration of BBC radio productions of Shakespeare.
Published on Monday, 24th October 2022.
Personal essays on what Vaughan Williams means to five different writers.
Published on Friday, 14th October 2022.
Published on Thursday, 13th October 2022.
Published on Wednesday, 12th October 2022.
Published on Tuesday, 11th October 2022.
Published on Monday, 10th October 2022.
Alvin Pang performs an essay recorded at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival.
Published on Friday, 30th September 2022.
Anil Pradhan performs an essay recorded at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival.
Published on Thursday, 29th September 2022.
Isabelle Baafi performs an essay recorded at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival.
Published on Wednesday, 28th September 2022.
Roy McFarlane performs an essay recorded at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival.
Published on Tuesday, 27th September 2022.
Tishani Doshi performs an essay recorded at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival.
Published on Monday, 26th September 2022.
Returning to Birmingham after a holiday and reliving childhood memories in Nechells.
Published on Friday, 23rd September 2022.
Re-visiting a childhood home in Sparkbrook, Birmingham
Published on Thursday, 22nd September 2022.
Returning from London on a train at night to home in Birmingham.
Published on Wednesday, 21st September 2022.
Driving home to Birmingham after a very demanding day at work in prison.
Published on Tuesday, 20th September 2022.
Memories of clubbing in 90s Birmingham and an encounter with an oil painting
Published on Monday, 19th September 2022.
Personal essays exploring the history, layers and nuances of British Sign Language.
Published on Friday, 16th September 2022.
Published on Thursday, 15th September 2022.
Published on Wednesday, 14th September 2022.
Published on Tuesday, 13th September 2022.
Published on Monday, 12th September 2022.
The influence of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg on postwar US non-conformists.
Published on Friday, 1st July 2022.
Michael Goldfarb, in his study of US bohemians, turns to Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.
Published on Thursday, 30th June 2022.
Michael Goldfarb tells the story of Jackson Pollock, another T-shirt-wearing bohemian.
Published on Wednesday, 29th June 2022.
Michael Goldfarb explores why black US writer James Baldwin took to wearing T-shirts.
Published on Tuesday, 28th June 2022.
Michael Goldfarb on why Marlon Brando and Stanley Kowalski took to wearing T-shirts.
Published on Monday, 27th June 2022.
Sitting in a cafe becomes miraculous when all around it coalesces into the one moment.
Published on Friday, 24th June 2022.
Joanna Robertson celebrates the minutiae of daily life by imagining the lives of others.
Published on Thursday, 23rd June 2022.
Joanna Robertson celebrates the minutiae of life, showing they are not small but infinite.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd June 2022.
Joanna Robertson celebrates the impact the views from her windows have on her life.
Published on Tuesday, 21st June 2022.
Unlike Virginia Woolf, Joanna Robertson celebrates the minutiae of daily life.
Published on Monday, 20th June 2022.
Five writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
Published on Friday, 17th June 2022.
Published on Thursday, 16th June 2022.
Published on Wednesday, 15th June 2022.
Published on Tuesday, 14th June 2022.
Published on Monday, 13th June 2022.
Florence Hazrat looks at the history of punctuation marks (such as brackets) and emojis.
Published on Thursday, 5th May 2022.
Adjoa Osei celebrates Elsie Houston, who mixed Afro-Brazilian folk with European opera.
Published on Friday, 29th April 2022.
Sarah Jilani on the lessons about power in films by Ousmane Sembene and Souleymane Cissé.
Published on Monday, 25th April 2022.
Fariha Shaikh reads accounts from Thomas de Quincey (1821) to Timothy Mo and Amitav Ghosh.
Julia Hartley asks why we call Alexander the Great.
Vid Simoniti considers eco-art from Olafur Eliasson to videos by Bo Zheng.
Jake Subryan Richards reads the letter sent by a captured man who arrived in Cuba in 1854.
Lauren Working on what fashion reveals about life for C16 English settlers in America.
Mirela Ivanova on the countries claiming to be the birthplace of the Cyrillic script.
Jake Morris-Campbell carries the ashes of poet Bill Martin from Sunderland to Durham.
Lauren Working explores the cavalier look from Charles I to Harry Styles.
Published on Monday, 7th March 2022.
Tom Smith links school blazers and clothes worn by East German soldiers to clubbing.
Jade Halbert looks at the designs inspired by English history created by Angela Holmes.
Shahidha Bari looks at what the contents of a handbag can tell us.
Sophie Oliver looks at a Mina Loy corselet and the history of reshaping bodies.
Nuala O'Connor explores a passage from the novel's final episode, Molly Bloom's soliloquy.
Published on Friday, 4th February 2022.
Mary Costello chooses a passage from an episode towards the end of Ulysses: Ithaca.
Published on Thursday, 3rd February 2022.
Colm Tóibín explains singing in Ulysses, exploring a passage from the Sirens episode.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd February 2022.
Short story writer John Patrick McHugh chooses the fourth episode of Ulysses: Calypso.
Published on Tuesday, 1st February 2022.
Anne Enright gives us a close reading of the opening pages of James Joyce's Ulysses.
Published on Monday, 31st January 2022.
Novelist Glenn Patterson on Belfast's hairdressers and clothes shops during the Troubles.
Published on Friday, 10th December 2021.
Writer Claire Mitchell peels back the layers of her hometown to find a radical history.
Published on Thursday, 9th December 2021.
Poet Míchéal McCann navigates the careful etiquette of a rural Northern Irish wake.
Published on Wednesday, 8th December 2021.
Poet Gail McConnell on the inspiration of the sea in Louis MacNeice's work and her own.
Published on Tuesday, 7th December 2021.
Author Jan Carson on the women who kept her church supplied with tea and traybakes
Published on Monday, 6th December 2021.
From sea level to volcanic crater in search of the entrance to the centre of the earth.
Published on Friday, 5th November 2021.
As wreathes of mist lift from a moorland, birdsong is captured in the darkness.
Published on Thursday, 4th November 2021.
The songs of invisible birds are captured in the isolation of a lake in Finland.
Published on Wednesday, 3rd November 2021.
A quest for nocturnal sounds at the pinnacle of an isolated sea rock as sirens sing below.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd November 2021.
Chris Watson vividly recalls how he captured the sounds of 'The Great White Silence'.
Published on Monday, 1st November 2021.
The early powerful ruler who summoned spirits as well as armies.
Published on Friday, 30th July 2021.
The 11th-century courtier who wrote what is thought to be the world's first novel.
Published on Thursday, 29th July 2021.
The terrifying warlord who brought much of Japan under his control
Published on Wednesday, 28th July 2021.
The creator of Atom Boy, who brought Japanese cartoons to the world.
Published on Tuesday, 27th July 2021.
The brutal coach who achieved a gold medal for Japan at the 1964 Olympics.
Published on Monday, 26th July 2021.
Joanna Robertson is living in Albania and meets the king. But can she stay?
Published on Monday, 12th July 2021.
It's the mid-90s in Albania, all hell breaks loose and Joanna Robertson gets her scoop.
It's the mid-90s and Joanna Robertson explores Albania's rural north and riotous south.
It’s the mid-90s, and Joanna Robertson explores life in Albania’s capital Tirana.
It's the mid-1990s and Albania is in turmoil, so Joanna Robertson sets off to live there.
A personal memory of the controversial Nobel laureate, who began his career in radio.
Published on Friday, 2nd July 2021.
The Jamaican woman of letters behind Henry Swanzy discovered hidden in the archives
Published on Thursday, 1st July 2021.
A moving recollection of 'Miss Lou', maternal love and Jamaican dialect
Published on Wednesday, 30th June 2021.
Reimagining the man at the centre of the black literary scene in the mid-20th century
Published on Tuesday, 29th June 2021.
A personal search for the poetry and 'voice' of a trailblazing Jamaican broadcaster
Published on Monday, 28th June 2021.
Peter Brathwaite shares his love of the voice of Vera Hall and why it is so special.
Published on Friday, 14th May 2021.
Peter Brathwaite shares his love of the voice of Robert McFerrin and why it is so special.
Published on Thursday, 13th May 2021.
Peter Brathwaite shares his love of the voice of Eric Bentley, and why it is so special.
Published on Wednesday, 12th May 2021.
Peter Brathwaite shares his love of the voice of Leontyne Price and why it is so special.
Published on Tuesday, 11th May 2021.
Peter Brathwaite shares his love of the voice of Marian Anderson and why it is so special.
Published on Monday, 10th May 2021.
Noreen Masud finds inspiration in fenlands, polished tables and Kazuo Ishiguro's novels.
Published on Friday, 30th April 2021.
Lucy Weir learns dark lessons from newspaper coverage of Black Metal and satanic rituals.
Published on Thursday, 29th April 2021.
Darragh McGee on the history of gambling, from 18th-century card games to phone apps.
Published on Wednesday, 28th April 2021.
Alexandra Reza's Essay considers the Gilets Noirs, Ousmane Sembène and Nathalie Quintane.
Published on Tuesday, 27th April 2021.
Seren Griffiths tells the story of the soldier turned archaeologist Francis Buckley.
Published on Monday, 26th April 2021.
Xine Yao suggests that a poker Chinese face can be a good way of fighting back
Published on Sunday, 25th April 2021.
Diarmuid Hester sorts through stuff saved by Francis Bacon, Vivian Maier and his own dad.
Published on Friday, 23rd April 2021.
Tom Scott-Smith uses four recipes to track social reforms and changes in what we value.
Published on Wednesday, 21st April 2021.
Sophie Oliver on motherhood, a dress and rereading Wide Sargasso Sea
Published on Tuesday, 20th April 2021.
Christienna Fryar looks at Caribbean earthquakes and fires and lessons for rebuilding now
Published on Monday, 19th April 2021.
Lisa Mullen looks at depictions of war-time factory workers in the novel by Inez Holden
Published on Friday, 19th March 2021.
4/5 New Generation Thinker Diarmuid Hester on the transgressive writing of Dennis Cooper
Published on Thursday, 18th March 2021.
Preti Taneja on the writing and politics of Bengali author and activist Mahasweta Devi
Published on Wednesday, 17th March 2021.
2/5 Clare Walker Gore explores how Dinah Mulock Craik subverted Victorian expectations
Published on Tuesday, 16th March 2021.
New Generation Thinker Christopher Harding reads the Japanese equivalent of Conan Doyle.
Published on Monday, 15th March 2021.
Nandini Das curates essays from across the globe on differing sensory responses to rain.
Published on Friday, 5th March 2021.
Nandini Das introduces another essay about the global differences in our response to rain.
Published on Thursday, 4th March 2021.
Nandini Das curates global essays on five different sensory experiences of rain.
Published on Wednesday, 3rd March 2021.
Nandini Das curates essays from across the globe on five different experiences of rain.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd March 2021.
Published on Monday, 1st March 2021.
James Burke leads us via steam engines and iron coffins to the modern orchestra.
Published on Friday, 12th February 2021.
James Burke touches on pine trees, chintz, bowler hats – and ends up on the ivories.
Published on Thursday, 11th February 2021.
James Burke connects Italian electricity to Debussy via a baron's seances and your fridge.
Published on Wednesday, 10th February 2021.
James Burke links planetary orbits, the teeny-weeny and fake Scottish literature.
Published on Tuesday, 9th February 2021.
Broadcaster James Burke links organisms that might not exist to a freemason’s opera.
Published on Monday, 8th February 2021.
Geoffrey Colman invites us to join him on a walk through a day as an acting coach.
Published on Friday, 5th February 2021.
Geoffrey Colman describes the ways in which reality TV has changed acting.
Published on Thursday, 4th February 2021.
Geoffrey Colman explores the differences between acting on stage and on screen.
Published on Wednesday, 3rd February 2021.
Geoffrey Colman discusses drama schools in his second Essay on acting.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd February 2021.
Geoffrey Colman considers the art of acting and asks: what makes a great actor?
Published on Monday, 1st February 2021.
Writer Gillian Darley celebrates the unsung and lesser-known delights of mid-Essex.
Published on Friday, 29th January 2021.
Writer and social historian Ken Worpole introduces us to Essex's radical past.
Published on Thursday, 28th January 2021.
Writer Lavinia Greenlaw takes us back to the formative landscape of her childhood.
Published on Wednesday, 27th January 2021.
Writer AL Kennedy takes us on a watery journey through the county she now calls home.
Published on Tuesday, 26th January 2021.
Billy Bragg explores the London-Essex borderland that fuelled his childhood imagination.
Published on Monday, 25th January 2021.
Radio 3 presenter Jess Gillam celebrates German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
Published on Friday, 11th December 2020.
Radio 3 presenter Jumoké Fashola celebrates the American singer-songwriter Nina Simone
Published on Thursday, 10th December 2020.
Radio 3 presenter Ian Skelly celebrates the French composer Jean Mouton
Published on Wednesday, 9th December 2020.
Radio 3 presenter Elizabeth Alker celebrates the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina
Radio 3 presenter Hannah French celebrates the Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi
Geoffrey Smith on the connection Sonny Rollins forged with his British audience.
Published on Saturday, 21st November 2020.
Geoffrey Smith on the work of Stan Tracey, paragon of British jazz and of jazz in Britain.
Published on Friday, 20th November 2020.
Geoffrey Smith on how Britain influenced the work of two celebrated American jazz artists.
Published on Thursday, 19th November 2020.
Geoffrey Smith looks at the how the audience for jazz in Britain has evolved over time.
Geoffrey Smith reflects on perceptions of jazz in Britain and questions the term 'jazzer'.
Lindsay Johns ends a series of essays on cities changed by African migration in Cape Town.
Published on Monday, 26th October 2020.
Lindsay Johns's tour of cities influenced by Africa continues in Fort-de-France.
In Kingston, Jamaica, Lindsay Johns explores another city influenced by African migration.
Lindsay Johns continues exploring cities influenced by African migration, in Philadelphia.
Lindsay Johns discusses how Marseille has been influenced by African migration.
Peter Brathwaite takes us into the world of his Rediscovering #BlackPortraiture project.
Published on Friday, 16th October 2020.
Peter Brathwaite takes us into the world of his Rediscovering #BlackPortraiture project
Published on Thursday, 15th October 2020.
Published on Wednesday, 14th October 2020.
Published on Tuesday, 13th October 2020.
David J Silverman explores the motivations of resistance leader Metacom
Published on Friday, 18th September 2020.
Rebecca Fraser’s portrait of Susanna White-Whitlow, Mayflower passenger
Published on Thursday, 17th September 2020.
Michael Goldfarb on crew member turned colonist John Alden.
Margaret Verble considers the role of Squanto in the Mayflower myth.
Published on Tuesday, 15th September 2020.
Nick Bryant reflectis on what the Mayflower 400th anniversary means to Americans in 2020.
Published on Monday, 14th September 2020.
Dina Rezk explores the power of humour in protest.
Published on Thursday, 9th July 2020.
Brendan McGeever looks at anti-Semitism, from Russian attacks to the present day.
New Generation Thinker Jeffrey Howard asks if it is ever ok to escape from prison.
Published on Wednesday, 1st July 2020.
From duelling injuries to eye patches - Emily Cock asks how we respond to people's faces.
Published on Sunday, 28th June 2020.
From duelling injuries to eye patches - Emily Cock asks how we respond to peoples' faces.
How does sewing a dress add to Jade Halbert's understanding of disappearing skills.
Published on Friday, 26th June 2020.
Susan Greaney asks whether Neolithic attitudes to the earth could shape our thinking.
The link between VR dinosaurs and a Tudor wall painting of the Judgement of Solomon.
Published on Thursday, 25th June 2020.
Ella Parry-Davies draws on experiences of migrant domestic workers in the UK and Lebanon.
Tom Smith on the early pioneers of Berlin's music scene and arguments about whiteness.
Kenneth Steven visits another island and responds to its landscape in poetry and prose.
Published on Tuesday, 9th June 2020.
Ian Sansom reflects on the supreme sociability of Christopher Isherwood.
Published on Friday, 29th May 2020.
Ian Sansom explores his own and Graham Greene’s active dream life.
Published on Thursday, 28th May 2020.
Helen Mort's daily walks echo the explorations of Dorothy Wordsworth in the Lake District.
Published on Wednesday, 27th May 2020.
AL Kennedy on the fortitude and humanity of Edward Wilson's Antarctic diaries.
Published on Tuesday, 26th May 2020.
AL Kennedy pursues the ever-restless wanderings of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Published on Monday, 25th May 2020.
leading writers share their secrets of places of inner sanctuary 10.Aida Edemariam
Published on Friday, 22nd May 2020.
Leading writers share the secrets of places of inner sanctuary 9.David Constantine
Published on Thursday, 21st May 2020.
leading writers on places of inner sanctuary in times of crisis 8.michael morpurgo
leading writers on a place of inner refuge in times of crisis 7.evie wyld
Published on Tuesday, 19th May 2020.
leading writers share the secrets of their internal places of refuge in times of crisis
Published on Monday, 18th May 2020.
Leading writers share secrets of their place of internal refuge 5.Alice Oswald
Published on Friday, 8th May 2020.
leading writers share the secrets of places of internal refuge in crisis 4.Tessa Hadley
Published on Thursday, 7th May 2020.
leading writers evoke places of internal refuges which they visit in times of crisis
Published on Wednesday, 6th May 2020.
Leading writers share the secrets of places of internal refuge in times of crisis
Published on Tuesday, 5th May 2020.
Writers on personal places of refuge in times of crisis 1.Alan Hollinghurst
Published on Monday, 4th May 2020.
Marybeth Hamilton on the ghosts of Joe Hill and Paul Robeson and their linked fates.
Published on Wednesday, 15th April 2020.
Paul Robeson's life and struggle through songs .Tayo Aluko on Robeson's Zog Nit Keynmol.
Paul Robeson's life and struggle told through music. Matthew Sweet on the Canoe Song.
The life of Paul Robeson in songs. Granddaughter Susan Robeson on Ol' Man River.
Paul Robeson's life and struggle through song. Shana Redmond on No More Auction Block.
Jon Gower explores the five mountain ranges of Wales.
Published on Saturday, 21st March 2020.
Published on Friday, 20th March 2020.
Published on Wednesday, 18th March 2020.
Published on Tuesday, 17th March 2020.
Published on Monday, 16th March 2020.
The Scottish writer whose comic heroine Miss Marjoribanks bucks 19th-century conventions.
Published on Friday, 28th February 2020.
The English Renaissance poet whose reputation at court was ruined by her writing.
The Romantic poet who inspired Wordsworth is profiled by Sophie Coulombeau.
A Yorkshire-born writer with a European outlook who campaigned for World War II refugees.
Zoe Norridge describes translating the testimony of a Rwandan survivor.
In York, author and academic Sophie Coulombeau finds a city and self changed by motherhood
Published on Friday, 14th February 2020.
Writer and walker Nat Segnit seeks recovery and retreat in the unseen mountains of Ibiza.
Writer Stephanie Victoire has a haunting hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia.
Published on Wednesday, 12th February 2020.
Writer Michael Donkor crosses Wandsworth Bridge, from childhood memory to adulthood
Published on Tuesday, 11th February 2020.
Lancastrian writer Jenn Ashworth ponders the promises of Preston's Harris Library.
The extraordinary life of Arthur Cravan and his influence on modern art.
Published on Friday, 31st January 2020.
Published on Thursday, 30th January 2020.
Published on Wednesday, 29th January 2020.
Published on Tuesday, 28th January 2020.
Published on Monday, 27th January 2020.
Published on Friday, 24th January 2020.
Published on Thursday, 23rd January 2020.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd January 2020.
Published on Tuesday, 21st January 2020.
Published on Monday, 20th January 2020.
Historical author Philippa Gregory writes a new end for Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
Published on Friday, 27th December 2019.
Elif Shafak chooses Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.
Published on Thursday, 26th December 2019.
AL Kennedy chooses Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows
Published on Wednesday, 25th December 2019.
Man Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo chooses Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway.
Published on Tuesday, 24th December 2019.
Ian Rankin chooses William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
Published on Monday, 23rd December 2019.
Caryl Phillips reflects on young African John Ocansey exercising his freedom in Liverpool.
Published on Friday, 22nd November 2019.
Author Anne Bailey reflects on two remarkable women, Mary Prince and Sally Hemings.
Published on Thursday, 21st November 2019.
David Olusoga on the life of a girl sold into slavery and gifted to Queen Victoria.
Published on Wednesday, 20th November 2019.
Daina Ramey Berry reflects on Isaac, whose life ended in a final act of defiance.
Published on Tuesday, 19th November 2019.
Caryl Phillips reflects on the life of African priest Philip Quaque.
Published on Monday, 18th November 2019.
Ute Lemper looks at the enduring appeal of Weimar music and song.
Published on Friday, 15th November 2019.
Film critic Clarisse Loughrey looks at the cinema of the Weimar Republic.
Published on Thursday, 14th November 2019.
Author Katie Sutton looks at sexuality in the Weimar Republic.
Published on Wednesday, 13th November 2019.
Film critic and historian David Thomson stares back at Ridley Scott's puzzling future.
Dr Beth Singler explores the ethics of AI sexbots in Zhora and the Snake.
Five writers explore Blade Runner's legacy. 3: More Human Than Human - Ken Hollings.
Five writers explore Blade Runner's legacy of ideas and images. 2: Frances Morgan on sound
Five writers explore Blade Runner's legacy of ideas. 1: Deyan Sudjic on the city.
Camilla Smith looks at the art of the Weimar Republic.
Published on Tuesday, 12th November 2019.
Historian Jochen Hung presents his view of the Weimar Republic from Berlin.
Published on Monday, 11th November 2019.
Author Philip Hoare transcends the elements and talks about being reshaped by the sea.
Published on Friday, 27th September 2019.
Writer and journalist Ed Vulliamy talks about the musicians crossing the age barrier.
Published on Thursday, 26th September 2019.
Writer Wendy Erskine takes us through doorways that open up portals into other worlds.
Published on Wednesday, 25th September 2019.
Poet Stephen Sexton talks about the margins between language and image.
Published on Tuesday, 24th September 2019.
Irish writer Sinead Gleeson talks about how pain, inequality and borders separate us.
Published on Monday, 23rd September 2019.
The forests of Middle Earth explored by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough.
Published on Monday, 9th September 2019.
Enjoy the lush, romantic delights of the Pre-Raphaelite forest.
Published on Monday, 26th August 2019.
Perfumer, Roja Dove, explains the power of the heady scents of the forest.
Published on Thursday, 22nd August 2019.
Forests are the perfect place for outlaw artists to hide, says writer Will Ashon.
Published on Tuesday, 20th August 2019.
Singer Nancy Kerr explains why forests provide such perfect metaphors in folk music.
Published on Monday, 19th August 2019.
Radio 3 presenter Kate Molleson celebrates French composer Eliane Radigue.
Published on Friday, 16th August 2019.
Radio 3 presenter Andrew McGregor celebrates Thomas Tallis's powerful Lamentations.
Published on Thursday, 15th August 2019.
Radio 3 presenter Kathryn Tickell celebrates composer and folksong fanatic Percy Grainger.
Published on Thursday, 8th August 2019.
Radio 3 presenter Tom McKinney celebrates French composer Olivier Messiaen.
Published on Tuesday, 6th August 2019.
Radio 3 presenter Penny Gore celebrates the Czech composer Leoš Janáček.
Published on Monday, 5th August 2019.
Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny celebrates English composer Lennox Berkeley.
Published on Friday, 2nd August 2019.
Radio 3 presenter John Toal celebrates French composer Maurice Ravel.
Published on Thursday, 1st August 2019.
Clemency Burton-Hill celebrates Romanian composer George Enescu
Published on Wednesday, 31st July 2019.
Radio 3 presenter and poet Ian McMillan celebrates the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Published on Wednesday, 24th July 2019.
Radio 3 presenter Fiona Talkington celebrates French composer Joseph Canteloube.
Published on Monday, 22nd July 2019.
Author Natasha Carthew on Rame Head Chapel, near Whitsand Bay, Cornwall.
Published on Friday, 12th July 2019.
Writer Bridget Collins takes us backstage to Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells.
Published on Thursday, 11th July 2019.
Author James Rebanks, the Lake District shepherd, talks about Malcolm's place in Uig.
Published on Wednesday, 10th July 2019.
Novelist Beth Underdown on Rochdale Town Hall.
Published on Tuesday, 9th July 2019.
Author Louise Welsh reflects on Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art.
Published on Monday, 8th July 2019.
Alistair Fraser on the fates and fortunes of Glaswegian tough guys.
Published on Friday, 21st June 2019.
Sarah Goldsmith on an immortal trio jacket, waistcoat and trousers.
Published on Thursday, 20th June 2019.
Tom Smith on the East German Military's fascination with its soldiers' sexuality
Published on Wednesday, 19th June 2019.
Emma Butcher on the publishing phenomenon that was the traumatised Napoleonic Redcoat
Published on Tuesday, 18th June 2019.
Alun Withey on what made 18th-century men shave off centuries of manly growth.
The Essay from Hay Festival 2019
Published on Friday, 31st May 2019.
Alys Conran reflects on what it's like to read Robinson Crusoe as a novelist.
Published on Thursday, 30th May 2019.
Alex Wheatle reflects on Robinson Crusoe's themes of imperialism and slavery.
Published on Wednesday, 29th May 2019.
Horatio Clare explores the castaway myth.
Published on Tuesday, 28th May 2019.
Reflections on Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel, Robinson Crusoe, from the 2019 Hay Festival.
Published on Monday, 27th May 2019.
Poet Elizabeth-Jane Burnett swims the River Avon in search of inspiration.
Published on Friday, 17th May 2019.
Helen Czerski shares a physicist's view of the River Thames
Published on Thursday, 16th May 2019.
Once lead singer of The Undertones, Feargel Sharkey now gets his kicks from rod and line.
Published on Wednesday, 15th May 2019.
Driftwood, a Victorian poison bottle and a sailor's lost boot. Potent inspiration for art.
Folk singer Julie Fowlis conjures kelpies, selkies and waterfall banshees from Gaelic song
Ian Sansom writes to William Trevor to ask if every silver lining must have a cloud.
Published on Friday, 3rd May 2019.
Ian Sansom writes to poet Marianne Moore to finally ask her about that tricorn hat
Published on Thursday, 2nd May 2019.
Ian Sansom is in the gutter looking at the stars again as he writes to Oscar Wilde.
Published on Wednesday, 1st May 2019.
Ian Sansom writes to Frankenstein author, Mary Shelley, to ask her how on earth she coped?
Published on Tuesday, 30th April 2019.
Ian Sansom drops a quick line to Dante.
Published on Monday, 29th April 2019.
Dafydd Mills Daniel looks at links between the UN, Richard III and Disney's Jiminy Cricket
Published on Friday, 12th April 2019.
What the BBFC archives tell us about censorship debates & a film depicting Salman Rushdie.
Published on Wednesday, 10th April 2019.
Lisa Mullen looks at the contribution of Orwell's wife Eileen to his writing.
Published on Tuesday, 9th April 2019.
Gulzaar Barn asks questions about commercial surrogacy and the way we view our bodies.
Published on Thursday, 4th April 2019.
Ben Anderson looks at fights over land rights, access to nature & care of the environment
Published on Wednesday, 3rd April 2019.
Daisy Black conjures up images of breaking bread and cannibalism in mystery plays
Published on Tuesday, 2nd April 2019.
Des Fitzgerald is a sociologist at Cardiff Uni. researching health, illness & cities
Published on Monday, 1st April 2019.
Comedian and author Viv Groskop explores five forgotten feminist futures.
Published on Friday, 8th March 2019.
Published on Thursday, 7th March 2019.
Published on Wednesday, 6th March 2019.
Published on Tuesday, 5th March 2019.
Published on Monday, 4th March 2019.
Sarah Churchwell celebrates various stars of the silver screen from the 1930s and 1940s.
Published on Friday, 15th February 2019.
Published on Thursday, 14th February 2019.
Published on Wednesday, 13th February 2019.
Published on Tuesday, 12th February 2019.
Published on Monday, 11th February 2019.
Writer AL Kennedy concludes her exploration of voice.
Published on Friday, 8th February 2019.
Writer and broadcaster AL Kennedy explores voice.
Published on Thursday, 7th February 2019.
Writer and broadcaster AL Kennedy continues her exploration of voice.
Published on Wednesday, 6th February 2019.
Writer and broadcaster AL Kennedy on voice and the importance of being heard.
Published on Tuesday, 5th February 2019.
AL Kennedy on the power of voice.
Published on Monday, 4th February 2019.
Andrew Martin's five essays that muse on the county of his birth and upbringing.
Published on Friday, 25th January 2019.
Published on Thursday, 24th January 2019.
Published on Wednesday, 23rd January 2019.
Published on Tuesday, 22nd January 2019.
Published on Monday, 21st January 2019.
Paul Batchelor explores possibly the least familiar of the great Keats odes of 1819.
Published on Friday, 11th January 2019.
John Keats's stunningly fertile year - 1819 - celebrated by five contemporary poets
Published on Thursday, 10th January 2019.
Sean O'Brien explores the depth and meaning of Keats's Ode on Melancholy,
Published on Tuesday, 8th January 2019.
Alice Oswald explores Keats's great poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn.
Published on Monday, 7th January 2019.
Frances Leviston celebrates perhaps Keats's Ode to Autumn.
Clive Anderson discusses the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold Godwinson.
Published on Friday, 4th January 2019.
Stephen Baxter creates a portrait of Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor.
Published on Thursday, 3rd January 2019.
Simon Keynes discusses the life of the Anglo-Saxon monarch Aethelred.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd January 2019.
Leslie Webster on the life of the smith and his ambivalent status in Anglo-Saxon society.
Published on Tuesday, 1st January 2019.
Michael Wood discusses Alfred the Great, King of Wessex and king of the Anglo-Saxons.
Published on Monday, 31st December 2018.
Scholar of the Anglo Saxons Lilian Groves explores the life and times of St Bede.
Published on Friday, 28th December 2018.
The late Seamus Heaney's exploration of the great bard of the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf.
Published on Thursday, 27th December 2018.
Richard Gameson explores the literary, historical and artistic legacy of scribes..
Published on Wednesday, 26th December 2018.
Historian Tony Morris explores the life of Cuthbert, the popular saint of the Northeast/
Published on Tuesday, 25th December 2018.
Martin Carver on the inhabitant of the magnificent Sutton Hoo ship burial
Published on Monday, 24th December 2018.
Ian Sansom corresponds with Caravaggio on the links between fine art and violence.
Published on Friday, 16th November 2018.
Ian Sansom wonders how Frida Kahlo feels about her merchandise.
Published on Thursday, 15th November 2018.
Ian Sansom pens a missive to Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
Published on Wednesday, 14th November 2018.
Ian Sansom asks Picasso about his mid-life crisis.
Published on Tuesday, 13th November 2018.
Ian Sansom thanks Albrecht Durer for his instructive, selfless vanity.
Published on Monday, 12th November 2018.
The impact of World War One on great artists through the prism of a single work of art.
Published on Thursday, 8th November 2018.
Published on Wednesday, 7th November 2018.
The impact of World War One explored through single works of art by great artists.
Published on Tuesday, 6th November 2018.
Published on Monday, 5th November 2018.
Poet Simon Armitage talks about finding an unexpected in tenderness Ted Hughes's work.
Published on Friday, 26th October 2018.
Poet Zaffar Kunial explores Ted Hughes's personal obsession with dates and anniversaries.
Published on Thursday, 25th October 2018.
Poet Karen McCarthy Woolf on finding solace in Hughes's work during a troubled childhood.
Published on Wednesday, 24th October 2018.
Poet Helen Mort reads Hughes's poems about creatures in light of her own animal phobia.
Sean O'Brien returns to his native Hull to consider the work of two very different poets.
Published on Tuesday, 23rd October 2018.
Brian Sibley guides Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough around the home of Winnie the Pooh.
Published on Friday, 19th October 2018.
Join Mowgli and Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough in the forest of Kipling's imagination
Published on Thursday, 18th October 2018.
Dare to enter the dark Germanic forest of the Brothers Grimm.
Published on Tuesday, 16th October 2018.
Joanna Robertson now lives in France, but more despite the food than because of it.
Published on Monday, 24th September 2018.
Joanna Robertson's deep connection with food has created families, and changed them.
Joanna Robertson's deep and intimate relationship with food goes disastrously wrong.
Joanna Robertson's deep connection with food leads her to top artists and musicians.
Since early childhood, Joanna Robertson has been lured by both real and fictional food.
Twm Morys looks into the reputation of Lloyd George in the village of his birth
Published on Friday, 21st September 2018.
Twm Morys tells the story of Jack Ystumllyn, an African man in North Wales in the 1770s
Published on Thursday, 20th September 2018.
Poet Twm Morys delves into the cultural links between Brittany and Wales
Published on Wednesday, 19th September 2018.
Twm Morys looks at the poetry of ploughing songs
Published on Tuesday, 18th September 2018.
Poet and musician Twm Morys tells the story of the oldest lullaby in Britain.
Published on Monday, 17th September 2018.
Sarah Churchwell discusses her affection for the work of Hollywood actress Joan Crawford.
Published on Monday, 20th August 2018.
Poet Kenneth Steven on the Scottish islands.
Published on Wednesday, 15th August 2018.
Poet Kenneth Steven reflects on on Scottish island life.
Published on Tuesday, 14th August 2018.
Poet Kenneth Steven reflects on Scottish island life.
Published on Monday, 13th August 2018.
Sarah Churchwell discusses the original 'blonde bombshell', actress Jean Harlow.
Published on Friday, 10th August 2018.
Sarah Churchwell discusses the work of actress Barbara Stanwyck.
Published on Thursday, 9th August 2018.
Author Sarah Churchwell explains how actress Katharine Hepburn inspired her.
Published on Tuesday, 7th August 2018.
Novelist Ian Sansom has a theory to put to Queen of crime, Agatha Christie.
Published on Friday, 20th July 2018.
A letter of apology to Virginia Woolf from novelist, Ian Sansom.
Published on Thursday, 19th July 2018.
Novelist Ian Sansom pens a missive to George Eliot...
Published on Wednesday, 18th July 2018.
Novelist Ian Sansom fires off a letter to Geoffrey Chaucer...
Published on Monday, 16th July 2018.
How a novel about American slavery is used to train medical students.
Published on Sunday, 1st July 2018.
Dr Rita Charon traces literary parallels in the responses of New Yorkers to 9/11.
What does it mean to be human, and how can physicians respond to life's mysteries?
Finding a model for the physician in the pages of Henry James.
How James Baldwin's short story helped break down divisions of class, age and race.
Joanna Cohen looks back at the manifesto which remodelled the Declaration of Independence.
Published on Friday, 29th June 2018.
Curing lovesickness or learning alchemy's secrets. Seb Falk on Chaucer's friend John Gower
Published on Thursday, 28th June 2018.
Lucy Powell tells the story of a radical community of women set up in 1760s rural England.
Published on Wednesday, 27th June 2018.
The tale of Mary Moders, a C17 bigamist and media sensation, is retold by John Gallagher.
Published on Tuesday, 26th June 2018.
Sophie Coulombeau challenges the way we look at failure in the story of a C18 entrepreneur
Published on Monday, 25th June 2018.
What's the most creative force in the forest? Andrew C Scott believes that it's fire.
Published on Friday, 22nd June 2018.
Fiona Stafford asks why artists are drawn to the imaginative possibilities of the forest.
Published on Monday, 18th June 2018.
Mab Jones on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
Published on Friday, 1st June 2018.
Francesca Rhydderch on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
Published on Thursday, 31st May 2018.
Fiona Sampson on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
Published on Wednesday, 30th May 2018.
Bettany Hughes on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
Published on Tuesday, 29th May 2018.
Afua Hirsch on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
Published on Monday, 28th May 2018.
How buying food in Paris is not just for the tastebuds, but also a serious part of culture
Published on Monday, 21st May 2018.
Joanna Robertson on buying dreams of wealth in Tirana in the aftermath of communism.
How shopping for toys in Berlin reveals an attitude to childhood that is unique to Germany
Joanna Robertson on how book-shopping in New York can be about intellectual validation.
Joanna Robertson argues that when Romans go shopping they buy into a local identity.
Does mental illness in Japan indicate a rejection of a narrow modernity?
Published on Friday, 27th April 2018.
How a famous crime is also a metaphor for 1960s Japan.
Published on Thursday, 26th April 2018.
How Buddhism was reimagined in the service of Japanese militarism.
Published on Wednesday, 25th April 2018.
Chris Harding explores contrasting models of 'family' in turn-of-the-century Japan.
Published on Tuesday, 24th April 2018.
Japan's uneasy embrace of modernity, exemplified by a controversial 19th-century building.
Published on Monday, 23rd April 2018.
Celebrating the French composer and her inspirational long-form sense of perspective.
Published on Friday, 20th April 2018.
Reflections on the powerful Lamentations of English composer Thomas Tallis.
Published on Thursday, 19th April 2018.
Folk musician Kathryn Tickell celebrates the Australian-American folksong fanatic.
Published on Wednesday, 18th April 2018.
Celebrating the birdsong-inspired music of the 20th-century French composer, Messiaen.
Published on Tuesday, 17th April 2018.
Celebrating a composer whose music is shot through with the uncertainties of life.
Published on Monday, 16th April 2018.
Artist and writer Harland Miller reveals how an eventful past has fed into his work..
Published on Wednesday, 11th April 2018.
Artist and writer Harland Miller reveals how an eventful past has fed into his work.
Published on Tuesday, 10th April 2018.
Published on Monday, 9th April 2018.
The poet and playwright on the fantasy comedy 'Pyramids'.
Published on Friday, 6th April 2018.
Tony Blair's former spokesman on how Flaubert inspired his love of French culture.
Published on Thursday, 5th April 2018.
The artist describes the inspiration of these legendary tales.
Published on Wednesday, 4th April 2018.
Neurosurgeon and writer Henry Marsh on the influence of Tolstoy's epic novel.
Published on Tuesday, 3rd April 2018.
How journalist and writer Hirsch changed her view of Jean Rhys's novel.
Published on Monday, 2nd April 2018.
Paul Morley concludes the series of essays debating music as a civilising force.
Published on Friday, 30th March 2018.
Jameela Siddiqi explores the civilising force of music from an Indian perspective.
Published on Thursday, 29th March 2018.
Professor Kofi Agawu examines the civilising force of music from an African perspective.
Published on Wednesday, 28th March 2018.
Anatomist and osteoarchaeologist Alice Roberts looks at music's humananising force.
Published on Tuesday, 27th March 2018.
Sir Roger Scruton explores the civilising force of music.
Published on Monday, 26th March 2018.
Simon Beard, from the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, on AI and Douglas Adams.
Published on Friday, 23rd March 2018.
Emma Butcher looks at the view of war in the childhood writings of the Bronte family.
Published on Thursday, 22nd March 2018.
Joanne Paul on satire, flattery and document leaks in the C16 and C17 centuries and now.
Published on Wednesday, 21st March 2018.
New Generation Thinker Islam Issa looks at Shakespeare in 1916 Egypt to Arabic pop songs.
Published on Tuesday, 20th March 2018.
Christopher Bannister on the way a fashion show in Buenos Aires helped win World War II.
Published on Monday, 19th March 2018.
Alistair Fraser on teenagers, gangs and filling time.
Published on Friday, 16th March 2018.
Eleanor Lybeck on the women campaigners satirised in an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Published on Thursday, 15th March 2018.
Tom Simpson on a study of suspicion in a 1950s Italian village and community relations now
Daisy Fancourt's research shows the arts can improve health so should we prescribe them?
Published on Wednesday, 14th March 2018.
Hetta Howes looks at male fears + why Margery Kempe was criticised for crying and bleeding
Kenneth Steven sees the new routes opening the Highlands to tourists for the first time.
Published on Friday, 23rd February 2018.
Kenneth Steven looks at the project to build a canal through the heart of the Highlands.
Published on Thursday, 22nd February 2018.
Kenneth Steven reveals how the central belt of Scotland was transformed by land clearance.
Published on Tuesday, 20th February 2018.
Poet Kenneth Steven remarks on the history of the Scottish Highlands.
Published on Monday, 19th February 2018.
Louise Welsh reflects on the uncanny in the novels of Muriel Spark.
Published on Friday, 9th February 2018.
Val McDermid discusses Muriel Spark - crime novelist.
Published on Thursday, 8th February 2018.
Janice Galloway discusses Muriel Spark- code maker and code breaker.
Published on Wednesday, 7th February 2018.
Kate Clanchy discusses the work of Muriel Spark - poet.
Published on Tuesday, 6th February 2018.
Ali Smith presents the first in a series of essays celebrating the work of Muriel Spark.
Published on Monday, 5th February 2018.
Five writers on the pleasures of viewing a phenomenon or social activity closely.
Published on Friday, 2nd February 2018.
Five writers consider the pleasures of viewing a phenomenon or social activity closely.
Published on Thursday, 1st February 2018.
Published on Wednesday, 31st January 2018.
Published on Tuesday, 30th January 2018.
Five writers consider the art of viewing a phenomenon or social activity closely.
Published on Monday, 29th January 2018.
Poet Fiona Hamilton contrasts clay's different states, before and after it's baked hard.
Published on Friday, 12th January 2018.
Archaeologist Rose Ferraby gets to grips with gypsum, the key mineral in plaster.
Published on Thursday, 11th January 2018.
Esther Woolfson contrasts Aberdeen, the 'Granite City', with its oil and gas industry.
Published on Wednesday, 10th January 2018.
Writer Sara Maitland conjures with Lewisian gneiss, two-thirds the age of the earth.
Published on Tuesday, 9th January 2018.
Alan Garner sparks with flint, the stone that has enabled human civilisation.
Published on Monday, 8th January 2018.
Nikesh Shukla on Watershed in Bristol and how it helped him fall in love with the city.
Published on Friday, 5th January 2018.
Travel writer Phoebe Smith on Hafod Eryri and the chutzpah of building on mountains.
Published on Thursday, 4th January 2018.
Andrew Hurley on the haunting qualities of a 17th-century manor house near Preston.
Published on Wednesday, 3rd January 2018.
Novelist Melissa Harrison on the joy of 'sleeping with books' at Gladstone's Library.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd January 2018.
Pianist Stephen Hough on Wigmore Hall and how its 'shoebox' design catches the ear.
Published on Monday, 1st January 2018.
Ian Sansom writes to Irish novelist and playwright, William Trevor
Published on Monday, 27th November 2017.
Ian Sansom is in the gutter looking at the stars as he writes to Oscar Wilde
Ian Sansom writes to Frankenstein author, Mary Shelley, to ask her how on earth she coped
Ian Sansom drops a quick line to Dante
Ian Sansom writes to poet Marianne Moore and asks her about that tricorn hat
Silent movie accompanist Neil Brand reappraises Eisenstein's influential film October.
Published on Friday, 17th November 2017.
Political historian Tariq Ali recalls a tour of Constructivist Moscow in the 1980s.
Published on Thursday, 16th November 2017.
Ceramicist Claire Curneen tells the strange story of the State Porcelain Factory.
Writer Elaine Feinstein compares the impact of the Revolution on two great Russian poets.
Published on Wednesday, 15th November 2017.
Musicologist Tamsin Alexander considers the industrially inspired music of Mosolov.
Published on Tuesday, 14th November 2017.
Art historian Christina Lodder describes the influence of sculptor Vladimir Tatlin.
Published on Monday, 13th November 2017.
Richard Eyre appraises the Revolution's impact on theatre director Meyerhold.
Published on Friday, 10th November 2017.
Former ballerina Deborah Bull on Nijinsky and the impact of his ballet The Rite of Spring.
Published on Thursday, 9th November 2017.
Historian Helen Rappaport reappraises American eyewitness to the Revolution, John Reed.
Published on Wednesday, 8th November 2017.
Writer Martin Sixsmith considers how the Russian Revolution affected choices for artists.
Published on Tuesday, 7th November 2017.
Catherine Loveday explores the relationship between memory loss and landscape.
Published on Friday, 13th October 2017.
How do we remember facts or details? Professor David Shanks tells us the secret techniques
Published on Thursday, 12th October 2017.
Forensic psychologist Fiona Gabbert explores the strength and weaknesses of human memory.
Published on Wednesday, 11th October 2017.
Psycologist Chris French looks at childhood memories and asks how reliable they are.
Published on Tuesday, 10th October 2017.
Adam Zeman on the void of amnesia and how it impacts identity and consciousness.
Published on Monday, 9th October 2017.
How do you deal with the stuff from your late mother's house while in the depths of grief?
Published on Friday, 6th October 2017.
Getting rid of stuff is hard at the best of times, but books and personal letters?
Published on Thursday, 5th October 2017.
Decluttering is all the rage - so how do the stylish Parisians go about it? Or do they?
Published on Wednesday, 4th October 2017.
Joanna Robertson aims for a 'tidy home, tidy mind'.
Why does stuff have such an emotional hold on us? Joanna Robertson on moving house.
Poet Don Paterson reflects on Robert Frost's 'Design'.
Published on Friday, 29th September 2017.
Poet Don Paterson reflects on Sylvia Plath's poem 'Cut'.
Published on Thursday, 28th September 2017.
Poet Don Paterson reflects on Elizabeth Bishop's 'Large Bad Picture'.
Published on Tuesday, 26th September 2017.
Poet Don Paterson reflects on Michael Donaghy's 'The Hunter's Purse'.
Published on Monday, 25th September 2017.
Poet Don Paterson reflects on Seamus Heaney's 'The Underground'.
John Siddique reflects on the 70-year legacy of Partition as reflected in Indian culture.
Published on Monday, 14th August 2017.
Writer Stella Duffy on growing up as a lesbian in New Zealand in the 1960s and 70s.
Published on Tuesday, 11th July 2017.
Daisy Hay on the role in the history of English Romanticism of publisher Joseph Johnson.
Published on Friday, 7th July 2017.
Tom Charlton explores press reporting, scandal and politics in the 17th century.
Published on Thursday, 6th July 2017.
Jonathan Healey on changing ways of resistance to state control and prevailing ideology.
Published on Wednesday, 5th July 2017.
Christopher Kissane from the London School of Economics explores the history of fasting.
Published on Tuesday, 4th July 2017.
Corin Throsby explores attitudes towards breastfeeding.
Published on Monday, 3rd July 2017.
Santanu Das explores the poetic world of Bristol-born Isaac Rosenberg.
Published on Friday, 23rd June 2017.
Elif Shafak on the elaborate and provocative performances and photo shoots of Mata Hari.
Published on Thursday, 22nd June 2017.
Joanna Bourke on Siegfried Sassoon and his celebrated protest against the conflict.
Published on Wednesday, 21st June 2017.
Tarek Osman considers the writing of Gertrude Bell.
Published on Tuesday, 20th June 2017.
Heather Jones on the war connections and controversy around Marcel Duchamp's work Fountain
Published on Monday, 19th June 2017.
Brian Cummings tells the story of Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther's right-hand man.
Published on Thursday, 4th May 2017.
Dr Stephen Rose discusses Johann Walther, the man behind Luther's musical Reformation.
Charlotte Woodford on the contribution of Katharina Von Bora to Luther's Reformation.
Andy Drummond profiles Thomas Muntzer, the failed revolutionary of the Reformation.
Lyndal Roper profiles the father of the Reformation, Martin Luther.
Thoughts on writing fiction as you get older from the novelist Penelope Lively.
Published on Friday, 28th April 2017.
Author Andrew Martin discusses sex shops, especially those in London's Soho.
Writing back the years: thoughts on poetry after retirement by Douglas Dunn.
Published on Thursday, 27th April 2017.
Writing age: thoughts on keeping going by Diana Hendry.
Published on Wednesday, 26th April 2017.
Poet Vicki Feaver gives her thoughts on writing as one becomes older.
The novelist Paul Bailey discusses writing in his ninth decade.
Published on Tuesday, 25th April 2017.
Author Andrew Martin discusses milkmen and their floats.
Published on Thursday, 20th April 2017.
Author Andrew Martin explains his liking for traditional telephones.
Published on Wednesday, 19th April 2017.
Andrew Martin on ventriloquists' dolls, one of the social phenomena managing to survive.
Published on Tuesday, 18th April 2017.
Andrew Martin celebrates the pastime of sailing model boats on ponds.
Published on Monday, 17th April 2017.
Christopher Harding discusses Tokyo in the early 20th century.
Published on Friday, 31st March 2017.
Exploring Fynes Moryson's An Itinerary, a European travel book from the early 17th century
Published on Wednesday, 29th March 2017.
Victoria Donovan explores the dilemmas of post-war reconstruction in Soviet Russia.
Published on Friday, 24th March 2017.
Preti Taneja on the architectural links between Letchworth Garden City and New Delhi.
Medical historian Matthew Smith explores 1970s US psychiatry: a time of hope and promise.
Published on Thursday, 23rd March 2017.
Catherine Fletcher on the story of her grandfather, a missionary in India.
Katherine Cooper on the work by British writers to save colleagues in Europe during WWII.
The story of Alexander the Great's lost city, buried beneath Bagram air base, Afghanistan.
Published on Tuesday, 21st March 2017.
New Generation Thinker Louisa Egbunike explores the legacy of the Biafran war.
Seb Falk discusses the 14th-century monks who studied astronomy.
Published on Monday, 20th March 2017.
Author and broadcaster Sarah Churchwell discusses the work of actress Bette Davis.
Published on Friday, 10th March 2017.
Naomi Alderman describes a trip to the Arctic, where she spent much time confined to bed.
Published on Friday, 10th February 2017.
Writer John Walsh describes sleeping in a hammock in the jungle in Guyana.
Published on Thursday, 9th February 2017.
Philip Hoare on spending a night in a hospital observation ward after falling off his bike
Published on Wednesday, 8th February 2017.
Journalist Rachel Cooke on spending a night in accommodation in the wilds of Scotland.
Published on Tuesday, 7th February 2017.
Colin Thubron recalls booking into a room that once belonged to a merciless Chinese leader
Published on Monday, 6th February 2017.
Poet and writer Salena Godden explains her relationship with her skin.
Published on Friday, 3rd February 2017.
Lindsay Johns explains the inspiration he draws from a black and white photo on his desk.
Published on Thursday, 2nd February 2017.
Xiaolu Guo remembers lessons learned from her father growing up in China.
Published on Wednesday, 1st February 2017.
Writer Glyn Maxwell on whether we have become too black and white, and too binary.
Published on Tuesday, 31st January 2017.
Farrah Jarral talks about what it means to be fluent in something one doesn't understand
Published on Monday, 30th January 2017.
Heather Jones explores the deadly symbolism of the Howth Mauser
Published on Friday, 27th January 2017.
Nicholas Rankin explores the emergence of the deadly 'force reducer' that is the sniper
Published on Thursday, 26th January 2017.
John Gallagher duels with the noisy story of guns 300 years ago
Published on Wednesday, 25th January 2017.
Brian DeLay reveals the life & arms deals of the most dangerous man you've never heard of
Published on Tuesday, 24th January 2017.
Catherine Fletcher unveils handguns' explosive Renaissance origin
Published on Monday, 23rd January 2017.
Simon Heffer explores Billy Liar, the 1963 British New Wave film starring Tom Courtenay.
Published on Friday, 20th January 2017.
Simon Heffer examines the powerful 1963 film version of This Sporting Life.
Published on Thursday, 19th January 2017.
Simon Heffer explores the 1962 film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
Published on Wednesday, 18th January 2017.
How Alan Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was made into a film.
Published on Tuesday, 17th January 2017.
Simon Heffer re-examines the 1959 British New Wave film Room at the Top.
Published on Saturday, 14th January 2017.
Poet Alyson Hallett is drawn to chalk landscapes and the large horse at Westbury in Wilts
Published on Friday, 13th January 2017.
Novelist Sarah Moss discusses basalt and dolerite, the fire rocks that underpin castles.
Published on Thursday, 12th January 2017.
Writer Paul Evans traces a family line back through Shropshire's seams of coal.
Published on Wednesday, 11th January 2017.
Derbyshire poet and climber Helen Mort visits Stanage Edge, famed for its millstone grit.
Published on Tuesday, 10th January 2017.
Linda Cracknell reflects on the appeal of the quartz on Ben Lawers, her local Munro.
Published on Monday, 9th January 2017.
Journalist Bethany Bell on living in Modling, a town near Vienna where Schoenberg lived.
Published on Friday, 6th January 2017.
Tom McKinney on his 'first contact' with the music of Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra.
Published on Thursday, 5th January 2017.
Gillian Moore talks about Alban Berg's relationships with the women in his life.
Published on Wednesday, 4th January 2017.
Stephen Johnson discusses Schoenberg's String Quartet No 2.
Published on Tuesday, 3rd January 2017.
Sarah Walker on learning and playing Schoenberg's Suite for Piano, Op 25, for her MA.
Published on Monday, 2nd January 2017.
Andrew tells tales of the undead from resonant times of the year.
Published on Friday, 16th December 2016.
Andrew celebrates the tome Phantasms of the Living.
Published on Thursday, 15th December 2016.
Andrew considers the contrast between 'solid' Medieval ghosts ephemeral modern sightings.
Published on Wednesday, 14th December 2016.
Andrew reflects on sightings, with even Google Street View having recorded a ghost.
Published on Tuesday, 13th December 2016.
Andrew contemplates whether he actually believes in ghosts.
Author Julian Barnes considers whether his perception of time has changed over the years.
Published on Friday, 9th December 2016.
Julian Barnes on his changing views about books and their authors, especially EM Forster.
Author Julian Barnes discusses his changing views about politics over the years.
Published on Wednesday, 7th December 2016.
Julian Barnes on how he uses words, asking what did they ever mean and what they mean now.
Published on Monday, 5th December 2016.
Author Julian Barnes explores ideas of vacillation, uncertainty and memory.
Novelist Ian Sansom has a theory to put to the Queen of Crime.
Published on Friday, 11th November 2016.
A letter of apology to Virginia Woolf from novelist Ian Sansom.
Published on Thursday, 10th November 2016.
Published on Wednesday, 9th November 2016.
Ian Sansom writes an imaginary letter to Jonathan Swift and interrogates him about his art
Published on Tuesday, 8th November 2016.
Published on Monday, 7th November 2016.
Director Sir Richard Eyre on how he was inspired by Angus Calder's book The People's War.
Published on Friday, 4th November 2016.
Artist Tacita Dean on how Marguerite Yourcenar's book Fires changed her life and art.
Published on Thursday, 3rd November 2016.
Journalist Ben Anderson explains how The Autobiography of Malcolm X inspired him.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd November 2016.
Singer Pauline Black discusses Harper Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird.
Published on Tuesday, 1st November 2016.
Creator of the TV series The Wire David Simon on the book Let us Now Praise Famous Men.
Published on Monday, 31st October 2016.
Novelist Kit de Waal reflects on the architecture of the prison where she once worked.
Published on Friday, 14th October 2016.
Dr Gavin Francis on the largest balanced cantilever bridge ever to be built.
Published on Thursday, 13th October 2016.
Poet Helen explains why Chesterfield's Crooked Spire Church has inspired her.
Published on Wednesday, 12th October 2016.
Painter Humphrey Ocean introduces Impington College, built by architect Walter Gropius.
Published on Tuesday, 11th October 2016.
Novelist Mark Haddon reflects on the house in Northamptonshire that was his childhood home
New Generation Thinker Seán Williams on the depiction of hairdressers in prints and prose
Published on Saturday, 1st October 2016.
Leah Broad considers 'the woman question' in 19th-century Scandinavian countries.
Poet Sarah Jackson explores the phone and its voices in philosophy and fiction.
Anindya Raychaudhuri considers people's memories of India and Pakistan in 1947.
Christopher Kissane explores the role of food in past and present conflicts over identity.
Marina Lewycka takes a trip up the Eiffel Tower to reflect on a lifetime of visiting Paris
Published on Friday, 30th September 2016.
Gervase Phinn joins the pilgrims on a visit to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Published on Thursday, 29th September 2016.
Edwina Currie returns to the Mersey, where she once took part in a schoolgirl ritual.
Published on Wednesday, 28th September 2016.
Michael Rosen visits Eastwood and the childhood home of DH Lawrence, who inspired him.
Published on Tuesday, 27th September 2016.
Lisa Appignanesi visits the Savoy Hotel, where she reflects on the glamorous Belle Epoque.
Published on Monday, 26th September 2016.
Poet Kenneth Steven writes on the remote islands of St Kilda.
Published on Friday, 23rd September 2016.
Poet Kenneth Steven writes on Raasay, an island close to Skye.
Published on Thursday, 22nd September 2016.
Kenneth Steven looks at Rum, a wild and windswept Hebridean island.
Published on Wednesday, 21st September 2016.
Poet Kenneth Steven writes on Hoy in the archipelago of the Orkney islands
Published on Tuesday, 20th September 2016.
Kenneth Steven writes on the Hebridean island of Iona.
Published on Monday, 19th September 2016.
Dahl's biographer Donald Sturrock recalls meeting the storyteller in his writing hut.
Published on Friday, 15th July 2016.
Michael Rosen celebrates the dazzling language and clever observation of Dahl's poetry.
Published on Thursday, 14th July 2016.
Performance poet Laura Dockrill remembers growing up with Dahl's heroine Matilda.
Jeremy Dyson remembers his 10-year-old self's discovery of Dahl's short stories for adults
Frank Cottrell Boyce on the myth Dahl built around his plane crash during World War II.
Published on Monday, 11th July 2016.
Daljit Nagra with his poem On your 'A 1940 Memory', in response to the Battle of the Somme
Published on Wednesday, 6th July 2016.
Jackie Kay reads her poem Private Joseph Kay, in response to the Battle of the Somme.
Bill Manhire reads his poem Known unto God, written in response to the Battle of the Somme
Yrsa Daley-Ward reads her new poem When your mother calls you, come.
Paul Muldoon reads his new poem July 1st 1916, with the Ulster Division.
Published on Tuesday, 5th July 2016.
Writer Alexander McCall Smith on playing saxophone and the Really Terrible Orchestra.
Published on Friday, 10th June 2016.
Film critic Peter Bradshaw describes how he was reunited with his electric guitar.
Published on Thursday, 9th June 2016.
Poet Fiona Sampson discusses her early life as a violinist.
Published on Wednesday, 8th June 2016.
Writer Joanne Harris discusses her love of playing the flute and bass guitar.
Published on Tuesday, 7th June 2016.
Impressionist and actor Alistair McGowan describes his attempts to relearn the piano.
Published on Monday, 6th June 2016.
Professor Emma Smith considers William Shakespeare's skills as a storyteller.
Published on Friday, 3rd June 2016.
Professor David Crystal asks how we can preserve for the future the story of language.
Published on Thursday, 2nd June 2016.
Broadcaster Clemency Burton-Hill considers the relationship between storytelling and music
Published on Wednesday, 1st June 2016.
Writer Jon Gower recalls lessons learned from a master storyteller: his grandfather.
Published on Tuesday, 31st May 2016.
Artist and writer Edmund de Waal considers the idea of storytelling through objects.
Published on Monday, 30th May 2016.
Gardener Jackie Bennett responds to Elizabethan thinker Francis Bacon's essay Of Gardens.
Published on Friday, 27th May 2016.
Journalist Helen Lewis reads poet John Milton's defence of a free press, Areopagitica.
Published on Thursday, 26th May 2016.
Soldier Harry Parker reflects on the personal memoirs of Ulysses S Grant.
Published on Wednesday, 25th May 2016.
Theatre critic Susannah Clapp exchanges views with Oscar Wilde and his essays on criticism
Lecturer Francis Gilbert reflects on Rousseau's template for a perfect education Emile.
Siobhan Keenan on the importance of touring to Shakespeare and the actors in his plays.
Published on Friday, 29th April 2016.
Preti Taneja considers Shakespeare's King Lear as a lens through which to view India today
Published on Thursday, 28th April 2016.
Joan explores the symbolism of food and eating in Shakespeare's plays
Published on Wednesday, 27th April 2016.
Joan Fitzpatrick explains her new research on what people ate in Shakepeare's England.
James explores the light Shakespeare throws on national identity, then and now
Published on Tuesday, 26th April 2016.
James Loxley explores what Shakespeare's plays say about questions of national identity.
How Shakespeare's heroines helped transform Victorian schoolgirls into Edwardian activists
Published on Monday, 25th April 2016.
Playwright and academic Elizabeth Kuti explores Sean O'Casey's "The Silver Tassie"
Published on Friday, 15th April 2016.
Photographer John D McHugh explores one of the war photos taken by Fr Francis Browne
Published on Thursday, 14th April 2016.
Poet and academic Gerald Dawe explores Francis Ledwidge's poem "O'Connell Street".
Published on Wednesday, 13th April 2016.
Dr Heather Jones of the LSE explores Elizabeth Bowen's novel "The Last September"
Published on Tuesday, 12th April 2016.
The writer Fintan O'Toole reflects on James Joyce's novel "Ulysses"
Published on Monday, 11th April 2016.
The attractions of daybreak... when five writers set off on foot - and report back.
Published on Friday, 25th March 2016.
Published on Thursday, 24th March 2016.
Published on Wednesday, 23rd March 2016.
Published on Tuesday, 22nd March 2016.
Published on Monday, 21st March 2016.
Cellist, performer, composer, blogger and educator Zoe Martlew discusses her life in music
Published on Wednesday, 9th March 2016.
Alice Farnham, one of Britain's leading female conductors, discusses her life in music.
Soprano Kathryn McAdam discusses her life in music as well as what and who inspires her.
Composer Nicola LeFanu discusses her musical career, spanning over half a century.
Published on Tuesday, 8th March 2016.
Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly on her career, her family and characters she has played.
Published on Monday, 7th March 2016.
Stephen Johnson studies the audience's reaction to Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks
Published on Friday, 4th March 2016.
Stephen Johnson considers how Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 thrilled the first audience
Published on Thursday, 3rd March 2016.
Stephen Johnson considers how Shostakovich's Symphony No 5 surprised it's first audience
Published on Wednesday, 2nd March 2016.
Stephen Johnson considers how Byrd's Mass for 4 voices was received by its first audience
Published on Tuesday, 1st March 2016.
Stephen Johnson considers how Mahler's Symphony no 8 was received by its first audience.
Published on Monday, 29th February 2016.
Novelist Rachel Joyce on how Charlotte Bronte reacted to becoming a literary sensation.
Published on Friday, 26th February 2016.
Jane Shilling explores a letter Charlotte Bronte wrote shortly before beginning Jane Eyre.
Lyndall Gordon examines Charlotte Bronte's response to advice from poet Robert Southey.
Published on Wednesday, 24th February 2016.
Claire Harman on the two years Charlotte Bronte spent as a mature student in Belgium.
Published on Tuesday, 23rd February 2016.
Biographer Claire Harman discusses Charlotte Bronte's experience as a governess.
Published on Thursday, 18th February 2016.
AL Kennedy discusses romantic love.
Published on Friday, 29th January 2016.
Writer AL Kennedy discusses family.
Published on Thursday, 28th January 2016.
AL Kennedy ponders friendship, which, as an only child, she put off as long as possible.
Published on Wednesday, 27th January 2016.
AL Kennedy contemplates the pitfalls of being old, young or something in between.
Published on Tuesday, 26th January 2016.
AL Kennedy reveals why, despite her fear of them, she hugs strangers in the street.
Published on Monday, 25th January 2016.
Journalist John Walsh recalls a pristine white suit in a short story by Ray Bradbury.
Published on Friday, 15th January 2016.
Justine Picardie, editor of Harper's Bazaar, celebrates Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night.
Published on Thursday, 14th January 2016.
Stephen Bayley celebrates some timeless eyewear, carried off brilliantly in a famous film.
Published on Wednesday, 13th January 2016.
Rachel Cooke on a famous pair of 'peddle pushers' in the novel Bonjour Tristesse.
Published on Tuesday, 12th January 2016.
Art historian James Fox describes an intriguing 1860s painting of a girl in a white dress.
Published on Monday, 11th January 2016.
Tom Service reflects on the lack of any seismic shocks in 21st-century music.
Published on Thursday, 7th January 2016.
Sarah Walker reflects on Steve Reich's radically minimalist Four Organs.
Published on Wednesday, 6th January 2016.
Ivan Hewett reflects on Brian Eno's creation of a new genre, which he named ambient music.
Sara Mohr-Pietsch on the appetite in the west for eastern European music after 1989.
Published on Tuesday, 5th January 2016.
Robert Worby reflects on the first performance of John Cage's 4'33".
Thomas Hylland Eriksen on Oslo's now-demolished Holmenkollen ski-jumping hill and Norway.
Published on Friday, 18th December 2015.
Ray Hudson on Carolyn Reed's Touching Fire and the US state of Alaska.
Published on Thursday, 17th December 2015.
Mette Moestrup on Pia Arke's Camera Obscura and Denmark and Greenland.
Hallgrimur Helgason on Kristin Jonsdottir's Fish Processing in Eyjafjord and Iceland.
Novelist Elizabeth Hay on David Milne's Painting Place III and Canada.
Jason Mark visits northern Alaska and reflects on the impact of our lust for hydrocarbons.
Published on Friday, 11th December 2015.
Daniel Kalder conjures the vast landscapes east of the Urals, where taiga becomes tundra.
Published on Thursday, 10th December 2015.
Gina Moseley describes leading a team of cavers into an unknown cavern system in Greenland
Published on Wednesday, 9th December 2015.
Travel writer Sara Wheeler recalls her time visiting Canada's Arctic region.
Published on Tuesday, 8th December 2015.
Poet John Burnside explores his fascination with the Sami landscapes of northern Norway.
Published on Monday, 7th December 2015.
AL Kennedy on what Scottishness means to her, discussing Scotland's many hidden identities
Published on Friday, 23rd October 2015.
Writer and comedian AL Kennedy celebrates the language of Scotland.
Writer and comedian AL Kennedy celebrates Scottish 'dourness'.
AL Kennedy reflects on the idea of what is a good sense of humour.
AL Kennedy reflects on tartan, the kilt and a sense of Scottish identity.
Ian Sansom on the most 'average' place in the UK and what is 'Middle England'.
Published on Friday, 2nd October 2015.
Novelist and critic Ian Sansom goes in search of the 'average' man or woman.
Published on Thursday, 1st October 2015.
The changing concept of the average working week in an age of zero hours contracts.
Published on Wednesday, 30th September 2015.
Ian Sansom discusses the scientific measurement of the average man and woman's dimensions.
Published on Tuesday, 29th September 2015.
Novelist and critic Ian Sansom focuses on why 'average' has become a byword for mediocrity
Published on Monday, 28th September 2015.
Exploring why WWI is almost forgotten in Tanzania despite the casualties it suffered.
Published on Thursday, 2nd July 2015.
Shashi Tharoor explores Indian remembrances of the World War One.
Lina Attel explores how Jordanian national culture has survived since World War One.
David Frum explains how World War One still defines American foreign policy.
Wesley Enoch explores the powerful mythology of the Anzacs in Australia.
Sasha Dugdale explores the impact of World War I on the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.
Published on Friday, 26th June 2015.
Richard Cork discusses Pablo Picasso's designs for the Ballets Russes production Parade.
Published on Thursday, 25th June 2015.
How Virginia Woolf and her great novel Mrs Dalloway were shaped by the 1914-18 conflict.
Published on Wednesday, 24th June 2015.
Comedian Arthur Smith presents a dadaesque account of Tristan Tzara's Dada Manifesto.
Published on Tuesday, 23rd June 2015.
Santanu Das discusses the Nobel lectures of the great Indian thinker Rabindranath Tagore.
Kirsteen McCue discusses singing and interpreting James Hogg's Scottish Napoleonic songs.
Published on Friday, 19th June 2015.
Writer Adam Nicolson recalls being a teenager as father wrote about Napoleon and 1812.
Writer Andrea Stuart celebrates Napoleon's first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais.
Julia Blackburn looks for the ghost of Napoleon on St Helena, where he died in exile.
Published on Thursday, 18th June 2015.
Paula Meehan explores the influence of the magical and the mystical in WB Yeats's work.
Published on Friday, 12th June 2015.
John Banville explains his long-held love for Yeats's 1928 collection of poetry The Tower.
Published on Thursday, 11th June 2015.
Poet Paul Muldoon discusses WB Yeats's post-First World War poem The Second Coming.
Published on Wednesday, 10th June 2015.
Writer and commentator Fintan O'Toole on his love-hate relationship with WB Yeats.
Published on Tuesday, 9th June 2015.
Fiona Shaw explains the impact of her childhood introduction to the work of WB Yeats.
Published on Monday, 8th June 2015.
Stuart Kelly discusses Brigadoon, the village of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
Published on Friday, 5th June 2015.
Stuart Kelly explores the fictional city Unthank, from Alasdair Gray's 1981 novel Lanark.
Published on Thursday, 4th June 2015.
Stuart Kelly discusses author Lewis Grassic Gibbon's fictional Scottish town Duncairn.
Published on Wednesday, 3rd June 2015.
Literary critic Stuart Kelly discusses JM Barrie's fictional Scottish town called Thrums.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd June 2015.
Literary critic Stuart Kelly explores the fictional locations of novelist John Galt.
Published on Monday, 1st June 2015.
At the 2015 Hay Festival, Welsh poet laureate Gillian Clarke explains why she writes.
Published on Friday, 29th May 2015.
At the 2015 Hay Festival, novelist Frank Cottrell Boyce explains why he writes.
Published on Thursday, 28th May 2015.
At the 2015 Hay Festival, author and journalist Horatio Clare explains why he writes.
Published on Wednesday, 27th May 2015.
Literary journalist and writer Alex Clark explains why she writes.
Published on Tuesday, 26th May 2015.
Editor and translator Daniel Hahn explains why he writes.
Published on Monday, 25th May 2015.
Film critic David Thomson explores Orson Welles's complicated relationship with failure.
Published on Friday, 1st May 2015.
Sarah Churchwell discusses film-maker Orson Welles's capacity for self-mythologising.
Published on Thursday, 30th April 2015.
Film critic Peter Bradshaw gives his personal take on Orson Welles's film Citizen Kane.
Published on Wednesday, 29th April 2015.
Exploring Orson Welles's Shaksepeare film trilogy: Macbeth, Othello and Chimes at Midnight
Published on Tuesday, 28th April 2015.
Simon Callow tracks Orson Welles's transformation from schoolboy to prodigy.
Published on Monday, 27th April 2015.
Ian Sansom explores the literary, philosophical and cultural history of the table.
Published on Friday, 24th April 2015.
Columnist and historian Simon Heffer explores the life and work of comic actor Sid James.
Published on Friday, 17th April 2015.
Columnist and historian Simon Heffer on the life and work of comic actor Tony Hancock.
Published on Thursday, 16th April 2015.
Columnist and historian Simon Heffer discusses the life and work of actor Terry-Thomas.
Published on Wednesday, 15th April 2015.
Columnist and historian Simon Heffer discusses the life and work of actor Alastair Sim.
Simon Heffer on the career of actor Will Hay, best known for his anti-authoritarian roles.
Poet and author Andrew Motion considers the penultimate lines of the Lord's Prayer.
Published on Friday, 3rd April 2015.
Michigan-based poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch considers a line from the Lord's Prayer.
Published on Thursday, 2nd April 2015.
Rabbi Julia Neuberger considers the middle section of the Lord's Prayer.
Published on Wednesday, 1st April 2015.
Muslim academic Mona Siddiqui explores the second section of the Lord's Prayer.
Published on Tuesday, 31st March 2015.
Author Ali Smith discusses the first lines of the Lord's Prayer.
Published on Monday, 30th March 2015.
Martin Gayford describes his encounters with pianist Jimmy Rowles.
Published on Friday, 20th March 2015.
Martin Gayford recalls the lessons that he learnt from meeting saxophonist Sonny Rollins.
Published on Thursday, 19th March 2015.
Martin Gayford remembers revealing telephone conversations with cornettist Ruby Braff.
Published on Wednesday, 18th March 2015.
Martin Gayford recalls his meetings with British-American pianist Marian McPartland.
Published on Tuesday, 17th March 2015.
Martin Gayford recalls touring with octogenarian trumpeter Doc Cheatham.
Published on Monday, 16th March 2015.
Philip Hoare describes how he used to avoid the water before overcoming his reticence.
Published on Friday, 13th March 2015.
Kamila Shamsie describes a time with friends in Byron Bay, Australia.
Published on Thursday, 12th March 2015.
Marcus O'Dair describes swimming in Ullswater in the Lake District with his mother.
Published on Wednesday, 11th March 2015.
Antonia Quirke describes a dip in the south Pacific that reminded her of darker waters.
Published on Tuesday, 10th March 2015.
Christopher Hope describes swimming in outdoor pools in Pretoria during his youth.
Published on Monday, 9th March 2015.
Helen Wallace on Betty Freeman, perhaps the greatest patron of modern classical music.
Published on Friday, 6th March 2015.
Discussing Mary Gladstone, daughter of William, who brought music to Downing Street.
Published on Thursday, 5th March 2015.
Bethany Bell on the life of Leopoldine Wittgenstein, host of a Viennese musical salon.
Published on Wednesday, 4th March 2015.
Kate Kennedy tells the story of Lady Maud Warrender, an aristocrat and patron of music.
Published on Tuesday, 3rd March 2015.
Vanora Bennett on Tchaikovsky's generous benefactor, who refused to ever meet the composer
Published on Monday, 2nd March 2015.
Raymond Tallis explains how human fear is often led by thought and imagination.
Published on Friday, 27th February 2015.
Temple Grandin considers the role fear and anxiety plays in autistic people's lives.
Published on Thursday, 26th February 2015.
How Thomas Hobbes came to argue that fear underpinned all human motivation and action.
Published on Wednesday, 25th February 2015.
Kier-La Janisse on how educational films scared more children than any horror movie.
Published on Tuesday, 24th February 2015.
Matthew Sweet reflects on an experiment designed to induce fear in a toddler.
Published on Monday, 23rd February 2015.
Exploring how an 1866 photograph of a butcher taken in Australia changed British law.
Published on Friday, 20th February 2015.
Elizabeth Edwards on W Jerome Harrison's photo of the Broom cottages in Warwickshire.
Published on Thursday, 19th February 2015.
Jeanne Haffner discusses how aerial photography changed the spaces we live in.
Published on Wednesday, 18th February 2015.
Omar Nasim discusses the very first pictures of a nebula, taken by Henry Draper in 1880.
Published on Tuesday, 17th February 2015.
Kelley Wilder discusses how the 1896 x-ray photograph of a hand changed medicine.
Published on Monday, 16th February 2015.
Director Roger Michell describes working on his first television drama, Downtown Lagos.
Published on Friday, 13th February 2015.
Stephen Coates of the band the Real Tuesday Weld recalls writing an early song in London.
Published on Thursday, 12th February 2015.
Actress Janet Suzman recalls working on the film Nicholas and Alexandra.
Published on Wednesday, 11th February 2015.
Writer and painter Harland Miller on how a sign in his local eatery came to inspire him.
Novelist Deborah Moggach revisits her first book, written in Pakistan.
Published on Monday, 9th February 2015.
Writer Ken Worpole reflects on the grim forts and defences of the east coast of Britain.
Published on Friday, 30th January 2015.
Prof Roberta Gilchrist discusses the place of women in the history of British castles.
Published on Thursday, 29th January 2015.
Benjamin Wild recounts the siege of Kenilworth castle - the longest in English history.
Published on Wednesday, 28th January 2015.
Nicola Coldstream explores the careers of two master masons.
Published on Tuesday, 27th January 2015.
Professor Jeremy Black considers the primary military function of castles.
Published on Monday, 26th January 2015.
Actress and playwright Lolita Chakrabarti on Charles Dickens's book A Tale of Two Cities.
Published on Thursday, 22nd January 2015.
Journalist and writer Jon Ronson discusses Jonathan Coe's book What a Carve Up!
Published on Wednesday, 21st January 2015.
Jude Kelly of London's Southbank Centre discusses Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
Published on Tuesday, 20th January 2015.
Musician and singer Steve Earle discusses the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
Published on Monday, 19th January 2015.
Focusing on the residents of Venice who serve the many tourists who arrive each year.
Published on Saturday, 17th January 2015.
On the recent Biennale fashion of rigging-up neon strips of random text around Venice.
Writer Polly Coles focuses on the impact of celebrity on Venice.
Polly Coles on what 'home' and 'house' mean to various types of residents in Venice today.
Tom Shakespeare celebrates painter Lucy Jones, who was born with cerebral palsy.
Published on Friday, 9th January 2015.
Tom Shakespeare discusses the lives and works of a selection of disabled artists.
Published on Thursday, 8th January 2015.
Tom Shakespeare discusses sculptor Arturo Bispo do Rosario, who had schizophrenia.
Published on Wednesday, 7th January 2015.
Tom Shakespeare on painter Bryan Pearce, born with the metabolic disorder phenylketonuria.
Published on Tuesday, 6th January 2015.
Tom Shakespeare discusses the blind tenth-century Arabian poet Al-Ma'arri.
Published on Monday, 5th January 2015.
Herlinde Koebl discusses World War One, targets and killing.
Published on Friday, 2nd January 2015.
Haris Pasovic explores WWI's effect on the long history of nationalism in the Balkans.
Published on Thursday, 1st January 2015.
Joanna Bourke on the emotional, cultural and physical impact of WWI shelling on soldiers.
Published on Wednesday, 31st December 2014.
Novelist Tatyana Tolstaya tells a St Petersburg audience how World War I changed Russia.
Published on Tuesday, 30th December 2014.
Christian Carion asks what the mud and degradation of WWI did to the idea of heroism.
Published on Monday, 29th December 2014.
Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in Greece in the early 1960s.
Published on Friday, 19th December 2014.
Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in early 1960s Italy.
Published on Thursday, 18th December 2014.
Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in Franco's Spain during the late 1950s.
Published on Wednesday, 17th December 2014.
Frederic Raphael recalls his life as a young writer in the post-war Paris of Sartre.
Published on Tuesday, 16th December 2014.
Writer Frederic Raphael recalls living in wartime Britain as a boy.
Published on Monday, 15th December 2014.
Broadcaster Fi Glover on how radio voices 'make the global local and the local global'.
Published on Friday, 28th November 2014.
Roger Phillips describes his job as the listening anchorman of a daily phone-in programme.
Published on Thursday, 27th November 2014.
Media professor and historian David Hendy on early anxieties about radio's power.
Published on Wednesday, 26th November 2014.
Journalist and broadcaster Olivia O'Leary describes the influence of radio on her.
Actor Samuel West explores the art of performance and declarative language.
Entrepreneur Luke Johnson celebrates the classic self-help book The Magic of Thinking Big.
Published on Friday, 24th October 2014.
Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman on Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple.
Published on Thursday, 23rd October 2014.
Actor Simon McBurney on John Berger's And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd October 2014.
Singer Tracey Thorn on how Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch spoke to her as a teenager.
Published on Tuesday, 21st October 2014.
Politician Alan Johnson on how Dickens's David Copperfield affected the course of his life
Published on Monday, 20th October 2014.
Gabriele Ferrario unlocks a world of alchemy and magic in the heart of medieval Cairo.
Published on Sunday, 12th October 2014.
Daniel Davies describes the private papers of three very different medieval Egyptians.
Melonie Schmierer-Lee discovers the varying fortunes of women in medieval Cairo.
Ben Outhwaite reveals an intercultural trade network across the medieval Mediterrean.
Published on Saturday, 11th October 2014.
Esther-Miriam Wagner on discovering the Genizah, medieval manuscripts in a Cairo synagogue
Pianist and writer Natasha Loges discusses Brahms's views on the future of music.
Published on Friday, 10th October 2014.
Lesley Chamberlain asks what can be learnt by comparing the work of Brahms and Freud.
Published on Thursday, 9th October 2014.
Natasha Loges explores Brahms's complex political relationship with his homeland.
Published on Wednesday, 8th October 2014.
Writer Lesley Chamberlain investigates how Brahms was influenced by the natural world.
Published on Tuesday, 7th October 2014.
Pianist Natasha Loges considers what lay behind Brahms's famously gruff public persona.
Published on Monday, 6th October 2014.
Stephen Johnson on the reactions of the first audiences to Stravinsky's The Firebird.
Published on Friday, 26th September 2014.
Exploring the impact of Bach's St Matthew Passion on its first audiences in Leipzig.
Published on Thursday, 25th September 2014.
Exploring how Schumann's Scenes from Childhood were listened to by their first audiences.
Published on Wednesday, 24th September 2014.
Exploring the impact of Victoria's Lamentations on listeners in Counter-Reformation Rome.
Published on Tuesday, 23rd September 2014.
Exploring the impact of Haydn's Military Symphony on its first audiences in 1790s London.
Published on Monday, 22nd September 2014.
Photographer John Minihan on taking some of the best-known photographs of Samuel Beckett.
Published on Friday, 19th September 2014.
Director Netia Jones on the relationship between words and music in Samuel Beckett's work.
Published on Thursday, 18th September 2014.
Beckett expert Dr Mark Nixon on editing a Beckett story 80 years after it was written.
Published on Wednesday, 17th September 2014.
Commentator Fintan O'Toole on themes of mortality and death in Samuel Beckett's work.
Published on Tuesday, 16th September 2014.
Actress Lisa Dwan describes the demands of performing in works by Samuel Beckett.
Published on Monday, 15th September 2014.
Welsh poet Gillian Clarke counts the human cost of quarrying Snowdonia's ubiquitous slate.
Published on Thursday, 4th September 2014.
Sculptor Peter Randall-Page describes the obduracy of Dartmoor's granite boulders.
Published on Wednesday, 3rd September 2014.
Walker and geologist Ronald Turnbull reflects on sandstone's place in our landscapes.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd September 2014.
Sue Clifford, co-founder of Common Ground, reflects on England's limestone landscapes.
Published on Monday, 1st September 2014.
Richard Coles on the classic Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death.
Published on Wednesday, 23rd July 2014.
Deborah Bull on Powell and Pressburger's classic 1948 film The Red Shoes.
Published on Monday, 21st July 2014.
Jeanette Winterson considers a recent turning point in British attitudes to the arts.
Published on Friday, 11th July 2014.
Xiaolu Guo reflects on the role of Chinese 'coolies' on the battlefields of World War I.
German writer Daniel Kehlmann reflects on recent German history.
Writer Colm Toibin reflects on Ireland's role in World War I.
Published on Tuesday, 8th July 2014.
Turkish writer Elif Shafak reflects on a turning point in her native country's history.
Published on Monday, 7th July 2014.
Film critic Peter Bradshaw on Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's film Black Narcissus
Published on Saturday, 5th July 2014.
Ruth Padel reflects on German artist Kathe Kollwitz's memorial for her youngest son, Peter
Published on Friday, 4th July 2014.
Santanu Das discusses the Indian poet Sarojini Naidu's 1917 collection The Broken Wing.
Published on Thursday, 3rd July 2014.
BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet discusses Edith Wharton's reportage from wartime France.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd July 2014.
Ian Christie discusses Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin as a response to World War I.
Published on Tuesday, 1st July 2014.
Heather Jones on Henri Barbusse's Le Feu, the first explicit account of WWI conditions.
Published on Monday, 30th June 2014.
Michal Shapira explores Sigmund Freud's Thoughts for the Times on War and Death.
Published on Friday, 27th June 2014.
Prof David Edgerton discusses the 1916 Memorandum on the Neglect of Science.
Published on Thursday, 26th June 2014.
Cartoonist Martin Rowson on Otto Dix's Der Krieg, a cycle of prints of wartime experience.
Published on Wednesday, 25th June 2014.
Author Sara LeFanu reflects on Rose Macaulay's 1916 novel Non-Combatants and Others.
Published on Tuesday, 24th June 2014.
BBC correspondent Allan Little reflects on CRW Nevinson's 1917 painting Paths of Glory.
Published on Monday, 23rd June 2014.
Travel editor Simon Calder recalls the small-scale delights of Holguin in Cuba.
Published on Friday, 20th June 2014.
Michela Wrong on the Italianate buildings and futurist constructions in Asmara, Eritrea.
Vanora Bennett on Makhachkala in Russia, which she describes as 'beyond the mountains'.
Published on Wednesday, 18th June 2014.
Romesh Gunesekera on Kunming, considered to be unlike any other modern Chinese city.
Published on Tuesday, 17th June 2014.
Nicholas Shakespeare on Hobart's convict and whaling past, and the story of a monkey.
Poet and musician Twm Morys explores links between Dylan Thomas and Wales's poetic past.
Published on Friday, 9th May 2014.
Writer and poet Kevin Powell explores Dylan Thomas's influence on black American writers.
Published on Thursday, 8th May 2014.
Gwyneth Lewis takes a personal journey through the language of Dylan Thomas.
Published on Wednesday, 7th May 2014.
Andrew Davies reflects on the influence of Dylan Thomas, growing up in Wales in the 1950s.
Published on Tuesday, 6th May 2014.
John Goodby explores the ways in which Dylan Thomas's poetry and life crossed boundaries.
Published on Monday, 5th May 2014.
Dan Cruikshank on the work of neo-classical architect and interior designer Robert Adam.
Published on Friday, 2nd May 2014.
Writer and cartoonist Martin Rowson discusses the satiric genius of William Hogarth.
Published on Thursday, 1st May 2014.
Historian Amanda Vickery explores the life of Elizabeth Parker Shackleton.
Published on Wednesday, 30th April 2014.
Actor and writer Ian Kelly explores the life and times of David Garrick.
Published on Tuesday, 29th April 2014.
Claire Tomalin on the life of actress Dora Jordan, lover of the future King William IV.
Published on Monday, 28th April 2014.
Novelist Ian Sansom considers the symbolism of beds in literature, art and film.
Published on Saturday, 12th April 2014.
Novelist Ian Sansom explores what cupboards and cabinets reveal about human nature.
Published on Thursday, 10th April 2014.
Ian Sansom examines our complex physical, mental and emotional relationship with the chair
Published on Tuesday, 8th April 2014.
Novelist Ian Sansom explores the history and symbolism attached to wardrobes.
Philip Hoare describes seeing many animals while walking at the water's edge in Sholing.
Published on Friday, 4th April 2014.
Kirsty Gunn describes the start of spring on a walk in Sutherland.
Published on Thursday, 3rd April 2014.
John Walsh recalls his observations on an early spring walk near a village called Steep.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd April 2014.
Ross Raisin observes the onset of spring in the Yorkshire wolds.
Published on Tuesday, 1st April 2014.
Michele Roberts walks through Poznan and is reminded of Persephone, goddess of spring.
Published on Monday, 31st March 2014.
Radio 3 presenter Sara Mohr-Pietsch celebrates 12th-century composer Hildegard of Bingen.
Published on Friday, 21st March 2014.
Radio 3 presenter Martin Handley celebrates English composer Malcolm Arnold.
Published on Thursday, 20th March 2014.
Radio 3 presenter Lucie Skeaping celebrates Shakespeare's contemporary Thomas Ravenscroft.
Published on Wednesday, 19th March 2014.
Radio 3 presenter Tom Service celebrates the music of Scots-inspired composer Arnold Bax.
Sarah Walker celebrates English experimentalist composer John White.
Poet and author Tolu Ogunlesi asks if young people in Lagos can relate to the Commonwealth
Published on Friday, 14th March 2014.
Writer Farah Ghuznavi explains why she no longer sees the Commonwealth as an irrelevance.
Published on Thursday, 13th March 2014.
Author Noah Richler asks if Canada still needs ties like the Commonwealth.
Published on Wednesday, 12th March 2014.
Historian Fakir Aijazuddin on Pakistan's chequered relationship with the Commonwealth.
Exploring the Commonwealth's history. Has it made a difference and does it have a future?
Kamila Shamsie discusses Lubna of Cordoba, a female intellectual from the 10th century.
Published on Monday, 17th February 2014.
Narguess Farzad celebrates the much loved 13th-century Persian poet Al-Rumi.
Published on Friday, 14th February 2014.
Historian Jonathan Phillips reassesses the influence of 12th-century hero Saladin.
Published on Thursday, 13th February 2014.
Dr Amira Bennison considers the intellectual powerhouses of Baghdad and Cairo.
Published on Wednesday, 12th February 2014.
Professor Charles Burnett considers the philosopher Ibn Rushd.
Published on Tuesday, 11th February 2014.
Professor Mona Siddiqui discusses religious thinker and mystic Al-Ghazali.
Published on Monday, 10th February 2014.
Dr Simonetta Calderini discusses Al Hakim, the controversial Egyptian imam-caliph.
Published on Friday, 7th February 2014.
Professor James Montgomery discusses the Islamic scholar Al-Biruni.
Published on Thursday, 6th February 2014.
Dr Sussan Babaie discusses the architectural glories of the Islamic world.
Published on Wednesday, 5th February 2014.
Dr Tony Street assesses the great philosopher and physician Avicenna.
Published on Monday, 3rd February 2014.
Novelist Andrew discusses the decline of Sunday church-going.
Published on Friday, 31st January 2014.
Novelist Andrew Martin celebrates 'manual work', which he says fewer embrace today.
Published on Thursday, 30th January 2014.
Novelist Andrew Martin considers the loss of the 'old rules' and 'gentility'.
Published on Wednesday, 29th January 2014.
Novelist Andrew Martin laments the loss of 'not eating too much'.
Published on Tuesday, 28th January 2014.
Novelist Andrew Martin laments why 'not boasting' is fading from our lives.
Published on Monday, 27th January 2014.
Inspired by Rilke's classic text, Don Paterson writes a letter to a young poet of today.
Published on Friday, 17th January 2014.
A letter by TS Eliot Prize-shortlisted poet Moniza Alvi.
Published on Thursday, 16th January 2014.
A letter to a young poet from Belfast writer Michael Longley.
A letter to a young woman poet by 2014 TS Eliot Prize judge Vicki Feaver.
Published on Tuesday, 14th January 2014.
Inspired by Rilke's classic text, Michael Symmons Roberts writes to a young poet of today.
BBC news correspondent Emma Jane Kirby discusses London in 1914.
Published on Friday, 10th January 2014.
Steve Rosenberg revisits 1914 St Petersburg and an event that would define modern Russia.
Published on Thursday, 9th January 2014.
Stephen Evans focuses on life in Berlin in 1914, seen as the Silicon Valley of its time.
Published on Wednesday, 8th January 2014.
Hugh Schofield on the storm in Paris over the murder of pacifist Jean Jaures before WWI.
Published on Tuesday, 7th January 2014.
Bethany Bell evokes the elegance and dark tensions of 1914 Vienna - and their echoes now.
Rupert Goodwins on the potential of the internet to improve the future for blind people.
Published on Friday, 20th December 2013.
Rupert Goodwins tries to find if technology can limit his isolation from blindness.
Published on Thursday, 19th December 2013.
Rupert Goodwins reflects on the medical experience of losing his sight.
Published on Wednesday, 18th December 2013.
Writer Rupert Goodwins describes unexpected insights he gained as he lost his sight.
Published on Tuesday, 17th December 2013.
Rupert Goodwins on what going blind suddenly taught him about science, culture and life.
Published on Monday, 16th December 2013.
Professor Peter Adamson discusses the great Muslim philosopher Al-Farabi.
Published on Friday, 6th December 2013.
Hugh Kennedy discusses the life and times of the great historian of early Islam, al-Tabari
Published on Thursday, 5th December 2013.
Professor James Montgomery discusses the life and work of Arab philosopher Al-Kindi.
Published on Wednesday, 4th December 2013.
Jim Al-Khalili explores the legacy of mathematician and astronomer al-Khwarizmi.
Published on Tuesday, 3rd December 2013.
Narguess Farzad of SOAS discusses Persian poetesses Rabia Balkhi and Mahsati Ganjavi.
Published on Monday, 2nd December 2013.
Julia Bray explores the figure of Harun al-Rashid from the Thousand and One Night tales.
Published on Friday, 29th November 2013.
Jonathan Bloom explains how Islamic scholars and thinkers became early adopters of paper.
Published on Thursday, 28th November 2013.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi gives her personal take on Persian scholar Imam Bukhari.
Published on Wednesday, 27th November 2013.
Professor Robert Gleave discusses Ali ibn Abi Talib and the origins of Shia Islam.
Published on Tuesday, 26th November 2013.
Professor Hugh Kennedy explains how the Islamic state was established.
Published on Monday, 25th November 2013.
Adam Gopnik discusses Cubism in 1913 Paris, considering it as a form of poetic realism.
Published on Thursday, 21st November 2013.
Writer Michele Roberts assesses the impact of Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes.
Published on Wednesday, 20th November 2013.
Martin Sorrell explores on Apollinaire's ground-breaking volume of poetry, Alcools.
Published on Tuesday, 19th November 2013.
Why Marcel Proust's Swann's Way was among highlights of a great year for Parisian culture.
Psychotherapist Emmy van Deurzen on how existentialism has shaped her life and work.
Published on Friday, 15th November 2013.
Film-maker Gary Walkow reflects on how existential thinking has influenced his work.
Published on Thursday, 14th November 2013.
Michele Roberts on existentialist women writers and how these have influenced her own work
Published on Wednesday, 13th November 2013.
Theatre director Paul Hart considers the power and veracity of existentialist ideas.
Published on Tuesday, 12th November 2013.
Naomi Alderman on how existentialism affects the novels and computer games she creates.
Published on Monday, 11th November 2013.
Novelist Glenn Patterson with a uniquely Belfast view of Derry, UK City of Culture 2013.
Published on Friday, 18th October 2013.
Actress Nuala Hayes explores shirt-making and storytelling in Derry, UK City of Culture.
Published on Thursday, 17th October 2013.
Crime novelist Brian McGilloway explores how a city can shape a writer.
Published on Wednesday, 16th October 2013.
Composer Neil Cowley revisits his year as musician-in-residence for Derry-Londonderry.
Published on Tuesday, 15th October 2013.
Journalist Susan McKay returns to her native Derry to ask what is a 'City of Culture'?
Matthew Sweet explores silence in film and the effect on sound of digital technology.
Published on Friday, 4th October 2013.
Writer and film critic David Thomson explores how film composers create mood.
Published on Thursday, 3rd October 2013.
Writer Camille Paglia discusses the film music which has inspired her since childhood.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd October 2013.
Novelist Jonathan Coe explores how composer Miklos Rozsa came to write for film.
Published on Tuesday, 1st October 2013.
Matthew Sweet discusses the sounds of cinema's beginnings.
Published on Monday, 30th September 2013.
AL Kennedy discusses the 1945 Powell and Pressburger film I Know Where I'm Going.
Published on Friday, 27th September 2013.
Ian Christie on The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, dubbed the 'British Citizen Kane'.
Published on Tuesday, 24th September 2013.
For the BBC's Sound of Cinema season, Simon Heffer discusses the film Yield to the Night.
As part of the BBC's Sound of Cinema season, Simon Heffer discusses the 1953 film Mandy.
Simon Heffer on how the film The Long Memory shows Britan as depressed and worn out by war
Simon Heffer discusses the 1951 film The Browning Version.
Simon Heffer discusses the gritty world of the 1947 film It Always Rains on Sunday.
Film director Mike Figgis reflects on the hard lessons he learned in Hollywood.
Published on Friday, 12th July 2013.
Josie Rourke looks at what happens when things go wrong in the production of a play.
Published on Thursday, 11th July 2013.
Bartlett Sher examines the importance of rhythm when creating theatre.
Published on Wednesday, 10th July 2013.
Kneehigh Theatre's Emma Rice explores the director's role as a storyteller.
Published on Tuesday, 9th July 2013.
Roger Michell on emotions that go with starting a film, as he makes Hyde Park on Hudson.
Published on Monday, 8th July 2013.
Justin Cartwright reflects on the place that Christmas occupies in Charles Dickens's work.
Published on Friday, 21st June 2013.
Writer Alexander McCall Smith salutes Charles Dickens's mastery of the episodic form.
Published on Thursday, 20th June 2013.
AL Kennedy explores Dickens' literary response to the themes of poverty, misery and death.
Published on Wednesday, 19th June 2013.
Romesh Gunesekera on how Dickens addresses the move from childhood into the world beyond.
Published on Tuesday, 18th June 2013.
Tessa Hadley on how Dickens paints the reality of his world through characters' houses.
Published on Monday, 17th June 2013.
Professor John Deathridge explores the posthumous reputation of Wagner in the 20th century
Published on Friday, 24th May 2013.
Michael Tanner explores the relationship between Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Published on Thursday, 23rd May 2013.
Christopher Janaway explores Wagner's encounter with the philosophy of Schopenhauer.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd May 2013.
AC Grayling focuses on the crucial years before and after the Dresden uprising of 1849.
Published on Tuesday, 21st May 2013.
Roger Scruton explores the philosophical background that influenced the young Wagner.
Published on Monday, 20th May 2013.
