Arts & Ideas Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives 鈥� looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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Michel Piccoli
Tue 6 Jun 2023
Matthew Sweet on the French actor who worked with Bu帽uel, Varda, Ferreri and Godard.
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Nature Memoirs
Wed 31 May 2023
Rana Mitter looks at fens, flatlands, wild swimming and a little-changed Bulgarian valley
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Europe
Wed 31 May 2023
Ece Temelkuran, Ben Judah, Misha Glenny and Timothy Garton Ash with Rana Mitter at Hay
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The Troubles in Northern Ireland
Fri 26 May 2023
As an Imperial War Museum show opens, Anne McElvoy and guests discuss art and the Troubles
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Sneezing, smells and noses
Fri 26 May 2023
From Montaigne on sneezing to losing the sense of smell & historians using their noses.
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Linda Grant and Jewish history
Thu 25 May 2023
Julia Pascal, Rachel Lichtenstein, Linda Grant and curator Alex Cropper + John Gallagher
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Mermaids, Caribbean tales and copyright
Wed 24 May 2023
Shahidha Bari looks at sea creatures and a Caribbean re-telling of The Little Mermaid.
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Essex
Fri 19 May 2023
Looking beyond the stereotypes of the county that's often described as 'much maligned'.
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Rocky Horror and camp
Wed 17 May 2023
Shahidha Bari is joined by Louise Creechan, Joan Passey and Paul Baker
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Zimbabwean writing
Tue 16 May 2023
NoViolet Bulwayo's We Need New Names on stage plus "enfant terrible" Dambudzo Marechera
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Agoraphobia
Fri 12 May 2023
More than just a fear of going out - the history & lived experience of a phobia explored.
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Mountaineering, Lizzie Le Blond, sport and science
Wed 10 May 2023
Rachel Hewitt has been researching the pioneering Irish climber Mrs Aubrey Le Blond.
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Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
Mon 8 May 2023
Shahidha Bari hears about two inspirational medieval women mystics who wrote about faith
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Kingship and ceremony
Fri 5 May 2023
Anne McElvoy looks at royalty, pomp and glory in opera, ancient Persia and Tudor England.
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Sidney Poitier
Thu 4 May 2023
Matthew Sweet and guests consider the career of the Bahamian-American actor (1927-2022)
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Sound, conflict and central heating
Tue 2 May 2023
Matthew Sweet finds out how extreme temperatures changed Erland Cooper's music
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Lady Antonia Fraser
Thu 27 Apr 2023
Rana Mitter talks to the author about her life & the art of writing historical biography.
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Queen Charlotte, fashion and music
Tue 25 Apr 2023
Shahidha Bari and guests on a Royal Collection exhibition and the new Bridgerton spin off
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New Thinking: Fashion, sustainability and Earth Day
Thu 20 Apr 2023
From outfits which double as tents to material and algae: Lucy Orta and Monica Buchan-Ng
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Hilma af Klint
Thu 20 Apr 2023
The spiritual paintings of the Swedish artist are discussed by Matthew Sweet and guests
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Tartan, Kidnapped and Highland writing
Wed 19 Apr 2023
Tartan at V&A Dundee, RL Stevenson's Kidnapped on stage, the Highland Book prize 2022
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Galatea and Shakespeare
Tue 18 Apr 2023
Trans narratives in pre-Shakespearian drama plus Twelfth Night and the First Folio.
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Caruso, Elsie Houston, Peter Brathwaite
Thu 13 Apr 2023
Exploring the flow of cultural influences in both directions across the Atlantic.
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Land and soil politics
Thu 13 Apr 2023
Jim Scown on the links between Goethe, George Eliot and the storming of the US Capitol
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Ginger Rogers
Wed 12 Apr 2023
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss the Hollywood star's dancing, comic timing and "sass".
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Children of the Waters
Tue 11 Apr 2023
Sabina Dosani looks at the ritual of Mizuko Kuyo and modern ceremonies marking miscarriage
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Pirates
Tue 11 Apr 2023
From Treasure Island to Kynance Cove, Anne Bonney to Captain Pugwash: Anne McElvoy hosts
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Revolutionary free speech
Fri 7 Apr 2023
Clare Siviter looks at attempts to liberate and then censor expression in 1790s France.
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Fugitive slaves, Victorian justice
Thu 6 Apr 2023
Oskar Jensen tells the tall tale of a court case inspired by a best-selling novel
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