Manchester - Alchemical City

Episodes

EpisodeTitleFirst
Broadcast
Comments
01Beginnings20141208

Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of the city of Manchester, from its Celtic roots to the present day and beyond. She takes to the streets of the city to tell the stories of the disparate groups and events which formed this combative and insubordinate urban centre.

Jeanette was born and works in Manchester and regards the city as always influencing, always transforming - an alchemical place.

The sounds of Manchester, past and present, are woven between her words and thoughts.

Episode 1: Beginnings
From the Brigantes, the native inhabitants of the Pennines, and Queen Cartimandua and her arrangements with the Roman occupiers, to the birth of 38 Manchesters around the World. Underground Manchester, wild Manchester, watery Manchester. Damp, good for cotton, an underground rich with coal. Early education, the alchemy of John Dee and Puritanism.

Written and Presented by Jeanette Winterson

Produced by Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of Manchester.

Jeanette Winterson presents a personal exploration of Manchester.

02The Golden Sewer20141209

Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of the city of Manchester, from its Celtic roots to the present day and beyond. She takes to the streets of the city to tell the stories of the disparate groups and events which formed this combative and insubordinate urban centre.

Jeanette grew up in Accrington in Lancashire and regards the city of Manchester as always influencing, always transforming - an alchemical place.

The sounds of Manchester, past and present, are woven between her words and thoughts.

Episode 2: The Golden Sewer.
From the site of the world's first passenger railway station, we journey by rail and canal into the land of Cottonopolis.

Written and Presented by Jeanette Winterson

Produced by Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Jeanette takes listeners on a journey by rail and canal into the land of Cottonopolis.

Jeanette Winterson presents a personal exploration of Manchester.

03Politics20141210

Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of the city of Manchester, from its Celtic roots to the present day and beyond. She takes to the streets of the city to tell the stories of the disparate groups and events which formed this combative and insubordinate urban centre.

Jeanette grew up in Accrington in Lancashire and regards the city of Manchester as always influencing, always transforming - an alchemical place.

The sounds of Manchester, past and present, are woven between her words and thoughts.

Episode 3. Politics
Anti-slavery protests, Peterloo, the Manchester Guardian, and mill workers 'pulling the plug out'. An exploration of radical Manchester - the city where Marx and Engels sat together and where Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney challenged with questions on Votes for Women.

Written and Presented by Jeanette Winterson

Produced by Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Anti-slavery protests and striking mill workers: Jeanette explores radical Manchester.

Jeanette Winterson presents a personal exploration of Manchester.

04Music20141211

Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of the city of Manchester, from its Celtic roots to the present day and beyond. She takes to the streets of the city to tell the stories of the disparate groups and events which formed this combative and insubordinate urban centre.

Jeanette grew up in Accrington in Lancashire and regards the city of Manchester as always influencing, always transforming - an alchemical place.

The sounds of Manchester, past and present, are woven between her words and thoughts.

Episode 4: Music
The cotton had gone, the ship canal had gone, the money had gone. Then music arrived. From Herman's Hermits to Joy Division and The Smiths, making music that moved beyond the stereotype of the northern practical man.

Written and Presented by Jeanette Winterson

Produced by Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

The cotton had gone, the ship canal had gone, the money had gone. Then music arrived.

Jeanette Winterson presents a personal exploration of Manchester.

05Vision of the Future20141212

Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of the city of Manchester, from its Celtic roots to the present day and beyond. She takes to the streets of the city to tell the stories of the disparate groups and events which formed this combative and insubordinate urban centre.

Jeanette grew up in Accrington in Lancashire and regards the city of Manchester as always influencing, always transforming - an alchemical place.

The sounds of Manchester, past and present, are woven between her words and thoughts.

Episode 5: Vision of the Future.
A computer called BABY, Alan Turing, 25 Nobel prize winners and the wonders of graphene. An ice age boulder connects Manchester with its own long history back through time.

Written and Presented by Jeanette Winterson

Produced by Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

A computer called Baby, Alan Turing, 25 Nobel prize winners and the wonders of graphene.

Jeanette Winterson presents a personal exploration of Manchester.