The Idea

Catrin Nye is back with a new series of The Idea – food for the mind and inspiration for the soul. This week's theme is The Art of Conversation – in which three speakers share their wisdom and experience on the subject of communication.

Rev Dr Andrea Russell, Warden of the Gladstone Library in Flintshire, tells us why conversation – if we do it well – could really change the world. She says: “I've got this idea that a conversation is probably the most amazing, joyous, risky, terrifying thing we will ever do as human beings. ?

Playwright Lowri Jenkins talks about why putting a show on the stage is, for her, the best way of starting a big conversation about identity, sexuality and politics. And Prof Michael Handford, a linguistics expert, scans the way that cancer doctors talk to their patients about their condition, and he draws partly from his personal experience.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers talking in depth about their big idea.

The Idea is a Bengo Media production for BBC Radio Wales

Links relevant to the programme:

https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/melc/the-metaphor-menu/

https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/

https://www.shermantheatre.co.uk/

Inspirational talks from renowned entrepreneurs and academics.

Catrin Nye presents inspiring talks providing food for the brain and the soul. In this episode, three speakers share their wisdom and experience on the subject of communication.

[LISTEN NOW]

Catrin Nye explores how people affect and are affected by the places they live or travel in: People in Their Landscape.

Author, gardener and naturalist Carwyn Graves lives in Carmarthenshire and draws heavily on his family's deep roots in the area to track how the Welsh landscape bears the marks of how people have lived and worked in it for more than a thousand years. “Extreme botanist ? Chris Thorogood goes further afield to the jungles of the Philippines to find a giant flower that has obsessed him since he was a boy. And when he finds it, the emotion he feels is overwhelming. And poet and writer Fiona Sampson tells why the story of limestone country, and the people who live in it, is so special.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers talking in depth about their big idea.

The Idea is a Bengo Media production for BBC Radio Wales

Three inspiring talks and interviews with the speakers in depth about their big idea.

Inspirational talks from renowned entrepreneurs and academics.

Catrin Nye presents three inspiring talks providing food for the brain and the soul. in this episode, how people affect, and are affected by, the places they live or travel in.

[LISTEN NOW]

Catrin Nye is back with another episode of The Idea – food for the mind and inspiration for the soul. This week's theme is The Dying of the Light, exploring death, and grief and how we face them.

Catrin's guests bring three different perspectives to this huge subject. Nobel Prize winner Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan is a molecular scientist who can tell us a lot about why we die, and what determines how long we – and other animal species – tend to live. He lays down some factual foundations for the other contributions to the programme.

Delyth Badder is an expert in Welsh folklore, and in particular in customs that developed over hundreds of years around dying and death. She also gives Catrin some fascinating detail on the rich variety of stories about death omens – where people would see phenomena which foretold their own death or that of loved ones.

How we try to face our own demise is one thing, but coping with the loss of a loved one is another. Writer Clare Mackintosh lost a baby, who was five weeks old, and years later has written a book sharing what she has learned about dealing with profound loss and grief. It's called I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This and it aims to help others through the most agonising mental pain imaginable.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection and interviews with the speakers talking in depth about their big idea.

The Idea is a Bengo Media production for BBC Radio Wales

Links relevant to the programme:

hayfestival.com

https://www.folklorewales.com

claremackintosh.com

Three perspectives on death and grief, and how we face them.

Inspirational talks from renowned entrepreneurs and academics.

Catrin Nye introduces three perspectives on death and grief, and how we face them.

[LISTEN NOW]

Catrin Nye is back with a new series of The Idea – food for the mind and inspiration for the soul. This week's theme is The Art of Conversation – in which three speakers share their wisdom and experience on the subject of communication.

Rev Dr Andrea Russell, Warden of the Gladstone Library in Flintshire, tells us why conversation – if we do it well – could really change the world. She says: “I've got this idea that a conversation is probably the most amazing, joyous, risky, terrifying thing we will ever do as human beings. ?

Playwright Lowri Jenkins talks about why putting a show on the stage is, for her, the best way of starting a big conversation about identity, sexuality and politics. And Prof Michael Handford, a linguistics expert, scans the way that cancer doctors talk to their patients about their condition, and he draws partly from his personal experience.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers talking in depth about their big idea.

Links relevant to the programme:

https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/melc/the-metaphor-menu/

https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/

https://www.shermantheatre.co.uk/

Catrin Nye presents inspiring talks providing food for the brain and the soul. On this episode, three speakers share their wisdom and experience on the subject of communication.

[LISTEN NOW]

Catrin Nye explores how people affect and are affected by the places they live or travel in: People in Their Landscape.

Author, gardener and naturalist Carwyn Graves lives in Carmarthenshire and draws heavily on his family's deep roots in the area to track how the Welsh landscape bears the marks of how people have lived and worked in it for more than a thousand years. “Extreme botanist ? Chris Thorogood goes further afield to the jungles of the Philippines to find a giant flower that has obsessed him since he was a boy. And when he finds it, the emotion he feels is overwhelming. And poet and writer Fiona Sampson tells why the story of limestone country, and the people who live in it, is so special.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers talking in depth about their big idea.

Three inspiring talks and interviews with the speakers in depth about their big idea.

Catrin Nye presents three inspiring talks providing food for the brain and the soul. On this episode, how people affect and are affected by the places they live or travel in.

[LISTEN NOW]

Catrin Nye is back with another episode of The Idea – food for the mind and inspiration for the soul. This week's theme is The Dying of the Light, exploring death, and grief and how we face them.

Catrin's guests bring three different perspectives to this huge subject. Nobel Prize winner Professor Venki Ramakrishnan is a molecular scientist who can tell us a lot about why we die, and what determines how long we – and other animal species – tend to live. He lays down some factual foundations for the other contributions to the programme.

Delyth Badder is an expert in Welsh folklore, and in particular in customs that developed over hundreds of years around dying and death. She also gives Catrin some fascinating detail on the rich variety of stories about death omens – where people would see phenomena which foretold their own death or that of loved ones.

How we try to face our own demise is one thing, but coping with the loss of a loved one is another. Writer Clare Mackintosh lost a baby, who was five weeks old, and years later has written a book sharing what she has learned about dealing with profound loss and grief. It's called I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This and it aims to help others through the most agonising mental pain imaginable.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection and interviews with the speakers talking in depth about their big idea.

Links relevant to the programme:

hayfestival.com

https://www.folklorewales.com

claremackintosh.com

Three perspectives on death and grief and how we face them.

Catrin Nye introduces three perspectives on death and grief and how we face them.

Inspiring talks and in-depth interviews with three speakers about their big idea.

[LISTEN NOW]

Professor Olivette Otele makes a powerful case for a profound approach to reparation for the damage caused to people and nations by the historic crime of slavery. Criminologist Professor Tim Newburn makes us think hard about our attitudes to parking on double yellow lines and picking up our dogs' poo – and, in the case of more serious crimes, he argues for justice which gives greater consideration to the victims. Novelist Leslie Skase, who writes about crime in Pontypridd in the late Victorian era, says we might be surprised at how often the courts in that period tried to protect criminals from the most extreme punishment

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers in depth about their big idea. food for the mind and inspiration for the soul.

Catrin Nye introduces three perspectives on law and order.

Catrin Nye presents talks with a Welsh connection and interviews the speakers. In this programme, she introduces three different takes on the theme of crime, punishment and reparation.

Art historian James Fox tells his audience how he fell in love with colour, and why he has made it his life's work. He says he can't think of beauty without thinking of colour.

It's difficult to talk about beauty without exploring the pressures on women to conform to standard views of how they should look. Mediaeval literature specialist Laura Kalas takes her audience through a fascinating, if sometimes gory, account of how some early Christian women took drastic steps to avoid being attractive to men.

And writer Jasmine Donahaye discusses her profound relationship with wild places and urges us to find beauty in what is common – like dandelions – not just what is rare.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers in depth about their big idea.

Three inspiring talks and interviews on the subject of beauty.

Catrin Nye presents three inspiring talks and interviews on the subject of beauty.

Three speakers who spend their lives thinking about what we eat share their thoughts. There's lots to enjoy they say, but a lot to worry about too.

Philip Lymbery is arguing for radical change in our approach to farming because if we carry on as we are with industrial-scale factory methods, we have only 60 harvests left before the soil dies.

Robbie Davison runs a not-for-profit food production company which provides meals for care homes, schools and people on low incomes. He says the massive increase in ultra-processed food consumption is causing a major public health crisis. He says we need to change our food supply chain so everyone can afford good food and knows how to cook it.

Welsh chef Angela Gray runs a cookery school where she demystifies good cooking and makes it feel easy and fun. She wants to take the snobbery out of fine food, and get us all eating more local produce.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers in depth about their big idea.

Three inspiring talks from people who spend their time thinking about the food people eat.

Catrin Nye speaks to three inspiring people who spend their time thinking about the food people eat. We hear the talks they deliver and then interview them about their central idea.