Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A City Is Not A Park | 20190401 | Des Fitzgerald tracks the relationship between the modern city and its green environs. Drawing together psychological research with urban history and literature it asks: what would change, psychologically, socially, emotionally, if we covered the concrete and brickwork of our towns and cities with vines, plants and vertical gardens? A city is not a park but should it be? Des Fitzgerald is a sociologist at Cardiff University who is researching health, illness and city living. The Essay was recorded at the Free Thinking Festival with an audience at Sage Gateshead. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select 10 academics each year who can turn their research into radio. Producer: Torquil MacLeod. What would happen if we covered the industrial fabric of our cities with plantlife? Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |||
| Big Emotion | 20180817 | 20220902 (R3) | A billion-pound industry is emerging to convert our feelings into data. Biosensors, motion trackers and facial-recognition software capture and quantify our emotions, which are then crunched by Sentiment Analysts.' But while our feelings become big business, they are also getting us into personal trouble. Voicing an opinion online brings backlash from the social media mob, as if our misworded asides and careless thoughts carry the weight of a tyrant's edict. New Generation Thinker Laurence Scott asks will our feelings start to change in this world of magnified emotion? New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select ten academics each year who can turn their research into radio. Laurence Scott's books include The Four-Dimensional Human and Picnic Comma Lightning: In Search of a New Reality (published in July by Heinemann). Producer: Debbie Kilbride New Generation Thinker Laurence Scott asks if feelings are becoming data, do they change? Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | ||
| Cooking And Eating God In Medieval Drama | 20190402 | Daisy Black looks at religious imagery, food, anti-Semitism and product placement in medieval mystery plays. Eaten by characters, dotted around the stage as saliva-prompting props, or nibbled by audiences - a medieval religious drama is glutted with food but Christianity's vision of God as spiritual nutrition could provoke horror and fear as well as hunger. We'll hear about some of the gristly, crunchy medieval episodes of culinary performance as the Essay investigates the relationship between faith and food. In one play, sacramental bread is attacked in a kitchen, drawing disturbing parallels between the Eucharist and cannibalism. Daisy Black lectures in English at the University of Wolverhampton and performs as a storyteller and freelance theatre director. Her essay was recorded at this year's Free Thinking Festival with an audience at Sage Gateshead. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select 10 academics each year who can turn their research into radio. Producer: Luke Mulhall Daisy Black conjures up images of breaking bread and cannibalism in mystery plays. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |||
| Healthy Eating Edwardian-style | 20190405 | Elsa Richardson uncovers the early history of the wellbeing industry and introduces Eustace Hamilton Miles, a diet guru who made his name selling health to Edwardian Britons. Reformers promoted the simple life', one that emphasised fresh air, exercise and the consumption of sun-fired' foods such as wholegrains, fruits and vegetables but this simple life' was also a highly profitable enterprise. Elsa Richardson teaches on the history of the emotions and is a Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. The Essay was recorded at this year's Free Thinking Festival with an audience at Sage Gateshead and you can hear her answering audience questions in the BBC Arts&Ideas podcast. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select ten academics each year who can turn their research into radio Producer: Zahid Warley Elsa Richardson on the diet guru who set up a Covent Garden cafe and sold health products. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |||
| Postman's Knock | 20150505 | David Hepworth on the changing rituals of courtship, from dance cards to 'hook-up' culture Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |||
| Shopping Around The Baby Market | 20190404 | Commercial surrogacy - the practice of paying another woman to carry a pregnancy to term - has been criticised for being exploitative, particularly when poorer women are recruited. Even if these women were paid more, and the exploitation element were reduced, would unease remain about `renting out` your body in this way? This essay from New Generation Thinker Gulzaar Barn will explore what, if anything, is different about the buying and selling of bodily services from other forms of trade. Should the body should be taken off the market? Gulzaar Barn taught philosophy at the University of Birmingham and is now researching at King's College, London in the Dickson Poon School of Law. The Essay was recorded at the Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead and a longer version with audience questions is available as a BBC Arts&Ideas podcast. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select 10 academics each year who can turn their research into radio. Producer: Zahid Warley Gulzaar Barn asks questions about commercial surrogacy and the way we view our bodies. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |||
| Why Trespassing Is The Right Way To Go | 20190403 | Have you ever been somewhere you shouldn't? In this essay, New Generation Thinker Ben Anderson creeps around, and explains how trespassers in the early-twentieth century helped create new attitudes to nature by stepping off the path. Descriptions of late-nineteenth century trespass and rock-climbing show how different experiences of nature led to fights with landowners and gamekeepers for the rights of urban people. People going off-piste also led to efforts to expose environmental inequalities in the Alps, and calls for the protection of wilderness as a playground for hard men. At a time of ever increasing awareness of the environment, walk your thoughts around how our own, personal experience of nature defines what we come to value, and what we might fight to protect, alter or improve'. Ben Anderson lectures in twentieth century history at Keele University. The Essay was recorded at the Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead and - like all the Essays this week - a longer version including audience questions is available as an Arts& Ideas podcast. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select 10 academics each year who can turn their research into radio. Producer: Ben Anderson on fights over land rights, access to nature and care of the environment. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |||
| Young Artists Day: Sunita | 20150504 | A new short story by acclaimed young Nigerian writer Chibundu Onuzo for BBC Radio 3's Young Artists Day For Dolapo, a young Nigerian graduate job seeker living in London, getting her first hair weave is a bit of a milestone. But whether your hair is wavy, straight, light or dark, is a highly contested issue in her community. For her it's about aspiration. And so despite her misgivings about using human grown hair from India, she gets her first weave. But when she starts having strange dreams about her new hairstyle's origins, she is forced to reconsider some of her own assumptions about identity. Writer: Chibundu Onuzo Reader: Joan Iyiola Producer: Simon Richardson BBC Radio 3's Young Artists Day. Radio 3 salutes some of the new and upcoming talent active in the arts today under the age of 25. As well as hearing from young choreographers, composers, musicians and writers throughout the day, Radio 3 will be playing music of great composers in their youthful periods, alongside recordings of seminal performers made when they were young. A new short story by young Nigerian writer Chibundu Onuzo for Radio 3's Young Artists Day. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |||
| 01 | Forests Of The Imagination | 20180618 | 20201206 (R3) | What is it about forests that inspires our imagination? In this series of Essays for our Into the Forest season, Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough takes five woodland walks with writers and artists who find themselves moved by the sounds, textures and smells of the forest. She's joined first by Fiona Stafford, author of 'The Long, Long Life of Trees' and expert on the Romantic poets. Fiona is fascinated by the moment in the late 18th century when Britain's great forests were swept away by the demands of the Royal Navy and the Enclosure Acts. As the dark forests with their brigands and wild beasts disappeared, novelists and visual artists were free to conjure up their own dappled glades, to create spaces of romantic imagination. Producer: Alasdair Cross In midsummer week, Radio 3 enters one of the most potent sources of the human imagination. 'Into the Forest' explores the enchantment, escape and magical danger of the forest in summer, with slow radio moments featuring the sounds of the forest, allowing time out from today's often frenetic world. Fiona Stafford asks why artists are drawn to the imaginative possibilities of the forest. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 01 | Mark Ravenhill: The Gall Bladder | 20141013 | 20150921 (R3) | Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to write an essay. In this first edition, playwright Mark Ravenhill asks whether his identity has changed since his gall bladder was removed. In a compelling synthesis of biology and literature, we'll hear the 'dark continent' of our inner body, scrutinised through its hidden constituents - the organs. Across the series Mark Ravenhill, Christina Patterson, Daljit Nagra, Naomi Alderman and Ned Beauman, take on one of the body's mysterious organs. They reflect on the intestines, skin, lungs, gall bladder and appendix. In each case they've met an expert in their chosen organ who has regaled them with its medical function, but ultimately they express what the organ's significance is to them, linking to history, culture and personal experience. 'Jenkinson pushed the piece of paper back across the table to me. 'With our contemporary access to food' he said, 'we only need about ten per cent of the stomach's capacity'. I looked down. He'd drawn a dotted line to create a thin tube of a stomach, cut free from the redundant ninety per cent, our hangover from hunter-gatherer days.' Mark Ravenhill, playwright, actor and journalist, on the Gall bladder. Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to reflect starting with Mark Ravenhill. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 02 | Christina Patterson: The Skin | 20141014 | 20150922 (R3) | Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to essay. In her piece, journalist Christina Patterson reflects on the skin and her own experience of living with acne. In a compelling synthesis of biology and literature, we'll hear the 'dark continent' of our inner body, scrutinised through its hidden constituents - the organs. In this series, five writers, Mark Ravenhill, Christina Patterson, Daljit Nagra, Naomi Alderman and Ned Beauman, take on one of the body's mysterious organs. They write an essay on the intestines, skin, lungs, gall bladder and appendix. In each case they've met an expert in their chosen organ who has regaled them with its medical function, but ultimately they express what the organ's significance is to them, linking to history, culture and personal experience. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 03 | Daljit Nagra: The Lungs | 20141015 | 20150923 (R3) | Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to essay. In his piece, poet Daljit Nagra describes how the lungs are an exchange system, similar to poetry. In a compelling synthesis of biology and literature, we'll hear the 'dark continent' of our inner body, scrutinised through its hidden constituents - the organs. In this series, five writers, Mark Ravenhill, Christina Patterson, Daljit Nagra, Naomi Alderman and Ned Beauman, take on one of the body's mysterious organs. They write an essay on the intestines, skin, lungs, gall bladder and appendix. In each case they've met an expert in their chosen organ who has regaled them with its medical function, but ultimately they express what the organ's significance is to them, linking to history, culture and personal experience Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to reflect. In this edition Daljit Nagra Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 04 | Naomi Alderman: The Intestines | 20141016 | Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to reflect. In her piece, novelist and journalist, Naomi Alderman reflects on the incredible labyrinth that is the intestines. In a compelling synthesis of biology and literature, we'll hear the 'dark continent' of our inner body, scrutinised through its hidden constituents - the organs. In this series, five writers, Mark Ravenhill, Christina Patterson, Daljit Nagra, Naomi Alderman and Ned Beauman, take on one of the body's mysterious organs. They write an essay on the intestines, skin, lungs, gall bladder and appendix. In each case they've met an expert in their chosen organ who has regaled them with its medical function, but ultimately they express what the organ's significance is to them, linking to history, culture and personal experience. Five writers choose an organ of the body to reflect on. In this edition, Naomi Alderman. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | ||
| 05 | Ned Beauman: The Appendix | 20141017 | 20150924 (R3) | Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to reflect. In his piece, novelist and journalist Ned Beauman confronts the idea that the appendix is redundant. In a compelling synthesis of biology and literature, we'll hear the 'dark continent' of our inner body, scrutinised through its hidden constituents - the organs. In this series, five writers, Mark Ravenhill, Christina Patterson, Daljit Nagra, Naomi Alderman and Ned Beauman, take on one of the body's mysterious organs. They write an essay on the intestines, skin, lungs, gall bladder and appendix. In each case they've met an expert in their chosen organ who has regaled them with its medical function, but ultimately they express what the organ's significance is to them, linking to history, culture and personal experience. Five writers choose an organ of the body on which to reflect. In this edition, Ned Beauman Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 01 | 01 | Paris: The Christmas Truce | 20141229 | Christian Carion, Heroism and the Christmas Truce One hundred years ago the First World War set the course for the modern world: for the countries that took part nothing would be the same again. In these special editions of The Essay we gain an international perspective on the war as we hear from cultural figures from around the world taking part in an international series of events called The War That Changed The World, made in partnership with the British Council and the BBC World Service. Christian Carion is the director of the French film 'Joyeux No뀀l' shortlisted for an Oscar in 2006. He is a child of farmers of the fields of northern France and grew up among the battlefields of the First World War. He has lost friends to the live ordnance which is still being ploughed up every year. This is a war which still claims lives. For this Christmas edition of The Essay, recorded with an audience at Hotel National des Invalides, in Paris - the historic and ceremonial heart of the French Arrmed Forces - Christian Carion will look at heroism and the truce of Christmas 1914. Christian Carion asks what the mud and degradation of WWI did to the idea of heroism. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 01 | 01 | Yew | 20121210 | Fiona Stafford explores the symbolism and importance of the ancient tree, the Yew. Some yews witnessed the Romans in Britain. Yet today these ancient trees have the most modern of uses - as part of the fight against cancer. This is the first of five essays about Britain's tree varieties and their history as part of the landscape - a subject which has taken on a new urgency with the announcement that Ash Dieback disease has entered the country with a potentially devastating effect. Professor Stafford's other essays examine the story of the Ash itself, Oak, Willow and Sycamore. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Europe's oldest tree at over 3,000 years old, was already a veteran when the Romans arrived. Often ancient yews predate the churchyards where they stand, because they marked ancient, sacred sites on which the relatively new religion could be built. Though often planted in churchyards because their leaves might be toxic to grazing livestock, the tree itself has long associations with death and immortality. The astonishing longevity of the yew and its evergreen branches suggests comforting thoughts of everlasting life to mourners in churchyards, while the dark, dense boughs offer privacy and stillness. Although the fruit is sweet and relished by birds, the seed inside is highly poisonous to humans, yet there is great hope that taxol, a compound found in the yew's reddish bark, can be developed into a powerful cancer-fighting drug. Producer: Turan Ali. Fiona Stafford explores the symbolism and importance of the ancient yew tree. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 01 | 02 | Ash | 20121211 | Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises about five different trees and, across the series of essays, our ambiguous relationship with trees. In this Essay she tackles the tree which has suddenly hit the headliness. The Ash has been threatened by the arrival in Britain of dieback disease. But the Ash has survived since the birth of humanity and met mortal threats before. Despite many different near fatal epidemics over the centuries, delicate ash trees have survived for millennia. Our history with the ash is long. The ash exudes a sugary substance that was fermented to create the Norse Mead of Inspiration. In Norse mythology, the World Tree Yggdrasil is commonly held to be an ash tree, and the first man, Ask, was formed from an ash tree. Elsewhere in Europe, snakes were said to be repelled by ash leaves, shadows from an ash tree would damage crops, ash was thought to cure warts or rickets and in Sussex the ash was known as the Widow Maker because the large boughs would often drop without warning. Ash is musical, often used as material for guitar bodies and drum shells.Charmingly, ash is still used for suspension in Morgan cars. But how will we start to replace this flexible, delicate yet persistent wood and protect the timber from which humanity was formed, while it fights off yet another threat to its own existence? Fiona Stafford on the history and symbolism of ash trees, threatened by dieback disease. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 01 | 03 | Oak | 20121212 | Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises about five different trees and, across a series of essays, our ambiguous relationship with trees. In this edition, the Oak. Sturdy, stalwart, stubborn, the oak is a symbol of enduring strength, inspiring poets, composers and writers for millennia. Civilisations have been built from oak, as its hard wood has been felled for houses, halls and cities, its timber turned into trading ships and navies. Other woods are as strong, but few are as long-lasting as oak. Sacred to the Celts and the Ancient Greeks, the Oak tree is a mainstay of British culture, present in place-names and national songs - Heart of Oak, Rule Britannia; yet it is in fact the national tree of dozens of countries. The resistant, native oak also figures largely in the distinctive cultures of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, embodying ideas of natural connection and growth. Ancient oaks, vast enough to hide a secret room within, have been religious meeting places, rallying points, refuges for kings and outlaws, party venues for friends and families. Although by no means the longest lived of ours trees, its slow growth is the ever-present home to ecosystems of insects, fungi, birds and animals and was once the most common European tree. The huge demand for oak wood in the furniture and food industries threatens oak trees worldwide through poaching, according to some. However, quicker growing oak plantations are now being developed with claims that there is no loss in strength or quality of the wood. Why is the oak tree the epitomy of Britishness when its existence is threatened? Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 01 | 04 | Willow | 20121213 | Fiona Stafford explores the symbolism, importance and topicality of five different trees, and charts our ambiguous relationship with trees, across a series of essays. In this edition, she explores the Willow. A wood of the wetlands, willows seem almost as fluid as the rivers they fringe. They are trees of mobility, change, displacement. Shakespeare gave their sad music to his tragic heroines, with Ophelia sinking into the brook by the willow and Desdemona singing her willow song on the last night of her life. For many, the willow conjures up dreams of childhood, coloured by Kenneth Grahame's famous book Wind in the Willows and later children's writers. In Harry Potter, the Whomping Willow is a tree with attitude that lives on the Hogwarts grounds; we share J K Rowling's thinking of its modernity. But the willow also has traditional associations with dreams and divination, and wands made from willow are linked to the moon. Their power has also been harnessed very differently by sportsmen wielding cricket bats or by doctors prescribing pain relief derived from the willow's salicylic acid, which gave the world aspirin. The quick-growing, ever-generous willow has always offered pliable twigs for basket-weaving, wicker-work, cradle-making, thatching or fencing, and once cut, the branches will turn into new trees. The willow is the ultimate entrepreneur embracing change. Willows now have the potential to be green heroes, a saviour of the wood biofuels movement - as they are so fast growing, they can be harvested very frequently, and so are a tree of choice for wood fuels. There are willow-fuelled power stations being planned. Fiona Stafford discusses the willow, a strong, highly versatile and fast growing tree. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 01 | 05 | Sycamore | 20121214 | Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises about five different trees and, across the series of essays, our ambiguous relationship with trees. This edition is dedicated to the sycamore. Sycamore seeds have their own propellers, sending them far and wide on the wind; hence, they take root all over Britain and Ireland. Being hardy trees, resistant to salt, they even grow easily in the coastal areas of the north. A familiar feature of almost every rural area, their thick foliage offers shade to sheep and cattle, shelter to solitary farmhouses, and inspiration to poets as varied as John Clare and W. B. Yeats. For the Compleat Angler, the sycamore's shade was the perfect place for quiet meditation, and in 'Tintern Abbey', Wordsworth expressed his profound delight in the Wye valley from under a 'dark sycamore'. The oldest sycamore is probably the Tolpuddle tree, where the Dorset labourers gathered to stand up for their rights and numerous visitors have come to pay homage since. The hated, yet common and useful - a theme humanity understands well. Sycamore leaves are 'the wrong kind of leaves on the line' that so disrupt British railways each year. Loved by urban councils, the sycamore is the most common tree in cities as it tolerates pollution and harsh city streets so well, yet some countryside organisations see it as a 'weed' which needs to be removed. Seen as an ordinary tree, the sycamore has never been valued for its rich timber, even though its wood is as strong as oak, and more easily dyed; the sycamore stands for extraordinary possibilities latent in the commonplace. Fiona Stafford on the common tree that for many has been much maligned as a nuisance. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 02 | 01 | Sydney, Stories That Bind | 20150629 | Celebrated playwright and theatre director Wesley Enoch is a proud Noonuccal Nuugi man. During his career he has directed many plays by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Building up to the First World War centenary, Wesley developed the Black Diggers project about the experience of indigenous soldiers in World War One with the playwright Tom Wright. In these special editions of The Essay we gain an international perspective on the war as we hear from cultural figures from around the world taking part in an international series of events called The War That Changed The World, made in partnership with the British Council and the BBC World Service. Wesley Enoch's essay, Stories that Bind, is delivered at the ABC headquarters in Sydney. In it he explores the powerful legend of Anzac in Australia and how that can leave out an important part of the story. Producer, Charlie Taylor. Wesley Enoch explores the powerful mythology of the Anzacs in Australia. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 02 | 01 | The Meaning Of Trees: Pine | 20140519 | 20151102 (R3) | Essay One: Pine Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of five trees common in the UK. In this second series, she explores our ambiguous relationship with trees. Pine is a big native Scot and economically the world's most important tree, not just the obvious uses in the furniture, building and paper industries, but also its medicinal properties in treating bronchitis and pneumonia for millennia and its resin used for turpentine, adhesives, wax, waterproofing and fragrances. It has been a British native tree for over 4000 years and yet its modernity is also assured as the tree that furnished the world. Forests of native pine were plentiful but there was an increase in temperature some 5000 years ago meaning that pines were driven out by deciduous trees which took over. Pine is also responsible for fuelling the industrial revolution, along with coal, and this along with its presence in cheap household articles gives a sad image to a huge, majestic, truly ancient British tree that has had its dignity stripped by the modern world, along with its bark. Producer, Turan Ali A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3. Professor Fiona Stafford on the workhorse of the forest, the pine tree. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 02 | 02 | The Meaning Of Trees: Hawthorn | 20140520 | 20151103 (R3) | Essay Two: Hawthorn Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of five trees common in the UK. In this second series, she explores our ambiguous relationship with trees. The hawthorn is such a common sight in the British countryside that people hardly notice its presence - and yet this hardy tree, when cut and laid, is in many ways responsible for our very idea of the British countryside because of its usefulness for hedging. When much of Britain was enclosed in the eighteenth century, the new fields were marked by hawthorn tree hedges, shaping the landscape into the familiar patchwork of fields. In spring, the hawthorn bursts into beautiful 'May' blossom, almost as if the hedge has been covered in creamy custard - a phenomenon which has inspired a massive range of painters and paintings. One of the most famous thorn trees is at Glastonbury, and according to local legend the original grew when Joseph of Arimathea arrived in Britain, after the crucifixion, and his wooden staff was turned by a miracle into a living thorn that blossoms on Christmas day. Hawthorn contains chemicals which are sedative, diuretic and anti-spasmodic - so it is an excellent natural regulator of arterial blood pressure, and is also proffered by herbalists as a treatment for heart diseases and as a heart stimulant. Despite this, hawthorn throughout history has been seen as unlucky, with tales of woe being brought upon those who brought the blossoms into the house or displayed them. Add all this to it being frequently misrepresented as the crucifixion crown of thorns and one can see why this tree is such a divisive force. Professor Fiona Stafford on hawthorn trees, which have divided Britain for centuries. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 02 | 02 | Washington - Safe For Democracy | 20150630 | David Frum is a Washington-based political advisor and an editor of the Atlantic Magazine. He is also the former Special Advisor and speech writer to President George W Bush, and was working at the White House when America was attacked by terrorists on September 11th 2001. In this essay, recorded with BBC Partners the British Council at the United States Library of Congress, he explains how World War One came to shape US Foreign Policy through the twentieth century and still has a strong effect on how American engages with the world today. David Frum explains how World War One still defines American foreign policy. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 02 | 03 | Amman - Jordan, A Country Of Nationalists | 20150701 | There are currently wars in two of Jordan's neighbouring countries. The kingdom has a long history of absorbing trouble from its orders and has its origins in the settlement after World War One. Lina Attel is Director General of the King Hussein Foundation, National Centre for Culture and Arts. In this essay, recorded with partners the British Council at the Haya Cultural Centre, Amman, she explains how Jordan's strong cultural identity has sustained it through the turbulent century since the First World War. She says it is a knowledge of the stories of its cultural heroes that will keep the country together as it faces further threats. Lina Attel explores how Jordanian national culture has survived since World War One. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 02 | 03 | The Meaning Of Trees: Apple | 20140521 | 20151104 (R3) | Essay Three: Apple The second series written and presented by Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, exploring the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of five trees common in the UK. The Apple, which seems the most British of trees, cultivated in orchards nationwide, but actually originates in Kazakhstan. There are in the region of 7,500 cultivars of the Apple, and the apple seems to go back to the very beginnings of the human race - it's there in the story of Adam and Eve, as well as being important in Ancient Greek and Old Norse mythology. But the apple-tree that features in so many Renaissance paintings of the Garden of Eden is actually a descendant of the wild apple - or crab apple which is the only truly British apple. Producer, Turan Ali A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3. Fiona Stafford discusses the apple tree, which has been loved and hated for centuries. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 02 | 04 | Delhi - Parting Words | 20150702 | The First World War is a difficult history for Indians to remember. Although over a million soldiers from India served, their contribution was not rewarded with independence for their country and disappointment was met with harsh repression. The writer, diplomat and Indian MP Shashi Tharoor presents his essay at the Indian International Centre in Delhi, in partnership with the British Council. In 'Parting Words' he explores the troubled associations of the war and its aftermath, and explains that India is finally honouring its heroes of World War One. Shashi Tharoor explores Indian remembrances of the World War One. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 02 | 04 | The Meaning Of Trees: Poplar | 20140522 | 20151105 (R3) | Essay Four : Poplar The second series written and presented by experienced essayist, Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, exploring the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of five more trees common in the UK. Poplar's not much good as wood these days - it's mainly used for matches, but it was used for shields and all sorts for centuries. However, it is the most modern and high tech of all trees, being the first tree to have had its complete DNA sequenced, revealing many surprises and secrets. There are many literary references which is surprising if, as many do, one thinks of the poplar as a tall column like tree, but there are lots of varieties, including those feared in former days because of being the tree from which the Cross was made, and the spreading branches of the abundant American poplar made it the tree of choice for lynch mobs throughout the southern States, as referred to in Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday's song describing the scene after a lynching. This second series written and presented by experienced essayist, Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of five more trees common in the UK. Across the series of essays, our ambiguous relationship with trees is explored. The first series was hugely popular and an illustrated book of the essays in planned for 2015. Producer, Turan Ali A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3. Fiona Stafford on the poplar, the most modern tree and the first to have its DNA sequenced Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 02 | 05 | Dar Es Salaam - Ubhuche, Invisible Histories Of The First World War | 20150703 | World War One ravaged Tanzania. East Africans were recruited as carriers and fighters, and many more were affected by the destruction of crops by retreating forces. As many as a million died from starvation and sickness as well as from their wounds, yet the war is barely remembered there now. Oswald Masebo, Professor of History at the University of Dar es Salaam, explores the conundrum with an audience at the auditorium of the British Council in Tanzania. Exploring why WWI is almost forgotten in Tanzania despite the casualties it suffered. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. | |
| 02 | 05 | Rowan | 20140523 | Essay Five : Rowan The second series written and presented by experienced essayist, Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, exploring the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of five trees common in the UK. The rowan comes in many guises: white ash, mountain ash, quickbeam, whispering tree, witchwood. This shifting identity suits a tree that is at once safe and suburban and a tree sacred to antiquity and renowned for its protective powers. In neat modern gardens, the pretty, delicate branches with fine leaf patterns give little hint of their ancient powers. The distinctive creamy blossom, vibrant autumn leaves and scarlet berries make it a tree for all seasons, but it is a tree for parallel worlds. As a native of the Northern hills, the rowan figures large in Irish, Scottish and Scandinavian traditions, its berries being the food of the gods. It features in old Irish poems, such as the story of Diarmid, and also in the poems of Seamus Heaney; in Scottish tradition, the rowan brings colour to the old Border ballads and songs as well as to many modern poems. The rowan has many associations with magic and witches. Its old Celtic name is 'fid na ndruad' which means wizard's tree. The protective power is thought to come from the bright red berries, as red was thought to be the best colour for fighting evil and rowan wood was worn by travellers in the shape of a cross. Mystery, respect and foreboding. Producer, Turan Ali A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3. Rowan is a magical tree, equally feared and loved, taking over our cities and parks. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |