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
-
![]()
-
![]()
The English Civil War
Tue 31 Jan 2023
Rana Mitter talks about politics, religion and divisions in 17th-century England.
-
![]()
Holocaust Memorial Day 2023
Thu 26 Jan 2023
Matthew Sweet looks at the experiences of Portuguese Jewish and Roma communities.
-
![]()
William Stukeley
Wed 25 Jan 2023
Rana Mitter considers the life and legacy of the first person to survey Stonehenge
-
![]()
Audrey Hepburn
Thu 19 Jan 2023
Matthew Sweet marks the 30th anniversary of the death of this icon of film and fashion.
-
![]()
Higher Education for women and working class students
Wed 18 Jan 2023
Anne McElvoy hosts a conversation about higher education and the history of its expansion
-
![]()
The Wife of Bath
Tue 17 Jan 2023
Marion Turner talks to Shahidha Bari about different versions of Chaucer's heroine
-
![]()
New Thinking: Language Loss and revival
Fri 13 Jan 2023
John Gallagher is joined by Gwenno, who writes and sings in Cornish, and others
-
![]()
Phillis Wheatley
Thu 12 Jan 2023
The enslaved African American woman, Phillis Wheatley who became a celebrated poet.
-
![]()
Anna Kavan
Wed 11 Jan 2023
Matthew Sweet reads Ice and other works of this experimental writer who died in 1968
-
![]()
Katherine Mansfield & Mavis Gallant
Fri 6 Jan 2023
Claire Harman, Kirsty Gunn, Laurence Scott and Shahidha Bari discuss short story writing
-
![]()
Am铆lcar Cabral
Fri 6 Jan 2023
Rana Mitter and guests discuss the pan-Africanist poet and anti-colonial leader.
-
![]()
Wilkie Collins & disability
Thu 5 Jan 2023
How the Victorian author鈥檚 own pain and drug dependency fed into his sensational novels.
-
![]()
1922: Wimbledon and tennis fashions
Thu 22 Dec 2022
Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough finds out about the All England Club's move to a new home
-
![]()
1922: Leisure and Sport
Thu 22 Dec 2022
From Agatha Christie surfing to weight-lifting '20s style. John Gallagher looks at sports
-
![]()
1922: The Hollywood Bowl
Thu 22 Dec 2022
From a series of starlit concerts in the 20s to America's principle outdoor concert venue
-
![]()
1922:Food fads
Thu 22 Dec 2022
John Gallagher talks to Annie Gray and Elsa Richardson about iguana soup and protein bars
-
![]()
1922: Reader's Digest
Thu 22 Dec 2022
The "agreggator" of stories - we look at how it launched and revolutionised reading
-
![]()
Landladies
Fri 16 Dec 2022
Historical accounts and fictional depictions of the women who ran boarding houses.
-
![]()
-
![]()
-
![]()
Depicting AIDS in Drama
Thu 8 Dec 2022
Russell T Davies, Jill Nalder, Sabina Dosani and Matthew Sweet recorded with an audience
-
![]()
Trapeze acts and circus celebrities
Wed 7 Dec 2022
Shahidha Bari hears about the aerialists Lillian Leitzel and Pablo Fanque.
-
![]()
New Thinking: Language, the Victorians and Us
Tue 6 Dec 2022
From Lancashire dialect protest poetry to Hardy's Dorset vowels. John Gallagher hosts.
-
![]()
How do we look at Art?
Wed 30 Nov 2022
Catherine Fletcher with Vid Simoniti; Cleo Hanaway-Oakley; Lamin Fofana and Sally Booth
-
![]()
Soil, Chickens and City Farms
Tue 29 Nov 2022
Ahead of world soil day, Anne McElvoy looks at changes to both rural and urban farming.
-
![]()
Star Trek
Fri 25 Nov 2022
Matthew Sweet with George Takei, Naomi Alderman, Una McCormack and Jos茅-Antonio Orosco
-
![]()
Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment
Thu 24 Nov 2022
Stephen Frears, Matthew Reisz & Lucy Bolton join Matthew Sweet to look at this 1966 film.
-
![]()
Arabian queens, Bangladeshi mothers and women's tales
Wed 23 Nov 2022
From the Arabian nights to refugee stories - female voices fictional and real
-
![]()
New Thinking: Game of Thrones and history
Wed 23 Nov 2022
Sarah Peverley talks to Carolyne Larrington and Danielle Park about tv and history
