Programme Index:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
0-9 etc

Night Waves

First broadcast from 19950919 to 20091019.

85 episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Description
04	Sacred Monsters
	Programme Catalogue - Details: 19 September 1995	19950919	Producer: J. GOUDIE Next in series: 10 October 1995 Previous in series: IN LAS VEGAS Broadcast history 19 Sep 1995 22:45-23:30 (RADIO 3)
	Programme Catalogue - Details: 10 January 1996	19960110	Producer: P. QUINN Next in series: 11 January 1996 Previous in series: IN SIN CITY Broadcast history 10 Jan 1996 22:45-23:30 (RADIO 3)
	Programme Catalogue - Details: 11 January 1996	19960111	Producer: J. GOUDIE Next in series: 07 February 1996 Previous in series: 10 January 1996 Broadcast history 11 Jan 1996 22:45-23:30 (RADIO 3)
	Programme Catalogue - Details: 07 February 1996	19960207	Producer: J. GOUDIE Next in series: 26 March 1996 Previous in series: 11 January 1996 Description The arts programme presented by Lisa JARDINE. Producer Abigail APPLETON. Subject Categories discussion programmes (programme format) arts programmes (genre) shows (general) design (art and design) tate gallery cezanne exhibition the hundred secret senses (novel) dances with death (ballet) Broadcast history 07 Feb 1996 22:45-23:30 (RADIO 3) Contributors Lisa Jardine Paul Stobart (pno) Amy Tan (rdr) Christopher Frayling (Speaker) Nicholas Serota (Speaker) Alice Rawsthorn (Speaker) Matthew Hart (Speaker) Jan Parry (Speaker) Gillian Smith (Speaker) Claire Catterall (Speaker) John Drane (RCA (spkr)) (Speaker) Vasko Vassilev (vln)
		20040512	Undercurrents After two "fake" newspaper story scandals and reports that fewer and fewer Americans are watching TV news programmes, Philip Dodd and guests discuss the crisis in American journalism and consider its implications for the British media.
		20080915	Philip Dodd begins the new Night Waves season with a rare, extended interview with Philip Roth, one of America's most feted living writers. Roth discusses his life and work, including his latest book Indignation, set in 1951 and focusing on the son of a kosher butcher who escapes the confines of New Jersey to attend a conservative college in Ohio. The author gives his thoughts on the role of fiction in his life and about his own impact on America, describing the attraction of mixing fiction with elements of autobiography and about the expectations people have of the writer. He also talks about the ageing process and about his writing environment in the countryside north of New York.
		20080916	Rana Mitter talks to historian Tom Holland about his new book Millenium, which tells the story of the two centuries on either side of the apocalyptic year 1000. He explains that this crucial period gave rise to Europe's distinctive culture, Willam the Conqueror, Vikings, the earliest castles and the invention of knighthood, as well as the primal conflict between church and state.
		20080917	Matthew Sweet speaks to celebrated novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux about his new book, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, a sequel to his ground-breaking travel book The Great Railway Bazaar. Theroux tells Matthew about the many political changes around the world and various personal changes that have taken place in the intervening years and how they have profoundly coloured his experiences of travel and writing.
		20080918	Philip Dodd talks to author Howard Jacobson about his new novel The Act of Love, charting the tumultuous course of Felix and Marisa Quinn's marriage, which descends into adultery and jealousy - but with a difference. Felix wants his wife to cheat on him and, when she finally does, he wonders if he is at last a happy man. Howard discusses the perverse logic at the heart of his novel and explains why he felt it important to tackle what he sees as one of the last erotic taboos.
		20080929	Matthew Sweet reviews a new film update of Evelyn Waugh's classic novel Brideshead Revisited. Memorably adapted into a lavish TV series in the 1980s starring Jeremy Irons, this new cinematic version's screenplay was written by Andrew Davies, the writer behind many award-winning TV literary adaptations. Matthew sees how Waugh's themes of religious redemption, forbidden love and loss of innocence translate to the big screen.
		20080930	Rana Mitter talks to Elie Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 and author of Night, a memoir that described his experiences during the Holocaust. His book is a vivid and terrifiying account of his imprisonment as a teenager in Auschwitz and then in Buchenwald, and the increasing horrors he endured, including the death of his parents and his sister. As he turns 80, and to coincide with the re-publication of Night, Wiesel talks about why his story had to be written down and how he feels about the criticism sometimes levelled at him because of his undivided support for Israel.
		20081001	Philip Dodd talks to nature writer Tim Robinson about the second volume of his trilogy which examines life in Connemara, Ireland's most westerly region. Robinson, originally from Yorkshire, moved to the area more than two decades ago, and his first part won him the prestigious Irish Book Award for Non-Fiction. Also, Philip gives the verdict on the British Museum's first exhibition of contemporary art, Statuephilia, which includes a 50 kilo solid gold Kate Moss sculpture and 200 new plastic skulls designed by Damien Hirst
		20081002	Gray's Anatomy For the series of Night Waves programmes championing cultural landmarks, Isabel Hilton and guests explore the significance of the iconic medical text, Gray's Anatomy, 150 years since its first publication. The book was the brainchild of Henry Gray, whose interest in the subject was kindled by his study of the endocrine glands and the spleen. This work led to his appointment in 1853 as a lecturer at St George's Hospital Medical School in London. Two years later he suggested to a colleague that they produce an anatomy text book for their students and in 1858, the first edition appeared. There have been 39 editions since and the book is a feature of any aspiring doctor's training. Isabel is joined by neurosurgeon Henry Marsh and historian Ruth Richardson to discuss the book's creation, its charismatic author who died at the age of 34, three years after its publication, plus the impact of the anatomy on medical history and generations of doctors in the English-speaking world.
		20081006	Arts and cultural news and debate.
		20081007	Arts and cultural news and debate.
		20081008	Arts and cultural news and debate.
		20081009	Arts and cultural news and debate.
		20081014	Rana Mitter talks to historian Richard Evans, who has just been appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University. Evans discusses how the practice of history has changed in his three-decade career and how the focus of his work has been to ensure that one of the 20th century's greatest tragedies is fully understood by the generations who are born after it. He also talks about the final volume in his trilogy on Hitler's Germany, The Third Reich at War.
		20081015	Philip Dodd talks to historian David Starkey, who discusses his new biography of Henry VIII, a lifelong focus of his research.
		20081016	Bidisha gives the verdict on Burn after Reading, the latest film from Hollywood film director siblings Joel and Ethan Coen. Boasting a star-studded cast including George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt, the film tells the story of what happens when a disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees.
		20081020	Matthew Sweet discusses the film Quiet Chaos, which stars Italian enfant terrible actor-director Nanni Moretti and focuses on a father's love for his ten-year-old daughter as he copes with the unexpected death of his wife. Marking the first time Moretti has starred in a film not directed by him in 13 years, Quiet Chaos has Already sparked controversy for a sex scene between Moretti and actress Isabella Ferrari.
		20081021	Rana Mitter discusses the big autumn exhibition at the Royal Academy in London which features 340 objects from the Byzantine Empire, including icons, wall paintings, mosaics, ivories and gold and silver metal work. Plus writer Jackie Wullschlager on her biography of Russian-born French painter Marc Chagall.
		20081022	Anne McElvoy is joined by biographer Duncan Wu to discusses the life of William Hazlitt, considered to be one of the first and one of the greatest British journalists. A passionate, restless idealist with a personal life full of sex, drink and scandal, he was hounded by the Tory press and condemned as a radical, Jacobin and whoremonger.
		20081023	Matthew Sweet and a panel discuss the ideas that are currently being debated in the field of economics.
		20081111	Free Thinking Special In a special debate recorded in front of an audience at this year's Free Thinking festival Matthew Sweet is joined by philosopher and management consultant Robert Smith, novelist Andrew O'hagan and brain scientist Susan Blackmore to explore the value of experience and accumulated wisdom in today's often youth-oriented and innovation-driven society.
		20081112	Matthew Sweet discusses Gethsemane, the new play by David Hare which is set in the world of modern political fundraising. Written for and performed at the National Theatre, Gethsemane looks at the way business, media and politics are now intertwined. The cast is headed by Tamsin Greig and also includes Anthony Calf, Jessica Raine and Nicola Walker
		20081113	Free Thinking Special In a rare, extended interview in front of an audience at this year's Free Thinking Festival, Philip Dodd talks to former Northern Ireland First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley. A preacher, author and one of Britain's best-known and most controversial politicians, Rev Paisley discusses his faith, his career and his remarkable political journey.
		20081117	Isabel Hilton presents the arts and ideas programme - with interviews, debate and reviews of this week's key cultural events.
		20081118	Free Thinking Special As part of Radio 3's Free Thinking festival in Liverpool, Matthew Sweet chairs a discussion in front of an audience on bridging the generation gap. He considers evidence gathered by two members of the public - a senior citizen and a teenager - who were sent out to discover what each of their generations would like to say to the other. Does a 16-year-old in Britain have more in common than a fellow 16-year-old in China than they do with octagenarians in their own country? And is the chasm over such issues as privacy, language, technology and sex now simply too large to be bridged?
		20081120	Free Thinking Special Matthew Sweet presents a discussion from Radio 3's Free Thinking festival in Liverpool in which Trevor Phillips, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, poses six vital questions which our society can't answer. Phillips asks whether modern liberal democracies have all the answers to the most important questions of our age, or whether some of the challenges thrown up by today's hyper-diversity will stump even our most progressive thinkers.
		20081124	Matthew Sweet discusses the actress and suffragette Sybil Thorndike with Jonathan Croall. Matthew Sweet discusses the early 20th century actress and suffragette Sybil Thorndike with her biographer Jonathan Croall. Throughout the First World War, Thorndike led the pioneering Old Vic company and became a household name with Saint Joan, a play that George Bernard Shaw wrote for her. She was also an ardent feminist, socialist and pacifist, fighting against Apartheid in South Africa and actively helping the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War.
		20081125	Philip Dodd looks at what makes certain people successful with writer Malcolm Gladwell. Philip Dodd explores what makes certain people successful with Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point. Gladwell's new book Outliers: The Story of Success explores the difference between high achievers and ordinary people, asking what connects Bill Gates, The Beatles and Mozart.
		20081126	Bidisha discusses the art of Saul Steinberg, who worked on The New Yorker for six decades. Bidisha discusses the work of Saul Steinberg, the American illustrator who worked on The New Yorker for six decades, and whose retrospective is about to open at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Steinberg's noted works include View of the World from 9th Avenue, his famous 1976 New Yorker cover, one of nearly 90 he drew for the magazine. He also completed over 1,200 drawings for the magazine.
	Free Thinking Special	20081127	Ruth Deech asks what high-profile divorce settlements say about partnership. BBC Radio Merseyside's Roger Phillips hosts an event recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2008 in which Ruth Deech offers a new perspective on women and money. The former chair of the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority argues that certain high-profile divorce settlements and the growing trend to equate cohabitation with marriage show that the law is out of touch with the real meaning of partnership. Free Thinking Special BBC Radio Merseyside's Roger Phillips hosts an event recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival in which Ruth Deech offers a new perspective on women and money. The former chair of the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority argues that recent high-profile divorce settlements and the growing trend to equate cohabitation with marriage show that the law is out of touch with the real meaning of partnership.
		20081201	Matthew Sweet discusses the first production of Dylan Thomas's newly discovered radio play Matthew Sweet discusses the first ever production of Dylan Thomas's radio play The Art of Conversation. Found by Thomas's biographer Andrew Lycett among a sheaf of papers, the play is a short piece of wartime propaganda, taking as its theme the decline of conversation. It also features 'contributions' from the likes of Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and Dr Johnson, frequently reminding listeners that 'careless talk costs lives'. Matthew also reviews Julia, the film starring Tilda Swinton in which she plays an alcoholic, a role which is expected to gain her an Academy Award nomination. He explores Swinton's surprising trajectory from Derek Jarman muse to Hollywood high priestess.
		20081202	Isabel Hilton finds out what ingredients are necessary to make a good Eyptyian gallery. Isabel Hilton finds out, with the help of an Egyptologist, just what ingredients are necessary to make a successful Egyptian gallery. They consider what kind of artefacts and treasures are the hallmarks of a good Egyptian gallery and whether such a place could ever hope to rival the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo.
	Baz Luhrman's Australia	20081208	Rana Mitter discusses Baz Luhrman's epic film Australia, starring Nicole Kidman. Rana Mitter reviews Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrman's epic film Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and set on a ranch in Northern Australia during the Second World War. The country's tourist board along with the local film industry are hoping for a revival of their fortunes with this the most expensive Australian film ever made. And Rana asks whether the traditional professional classes are slowly being dismantled, given Bank of England warnings of a white collar jobs implosion, social workers under fire and plans to 'liberalise' the legal system. But are the traditional professional classes a closed-shop relic of a bygone age or are they bastions of integrity and expertise whose independence and status should be respected?
	Samson Agonistes	20081209	As part of BBC Radio 3's season marking the 400th anniversary of John Milton's birth in 2008, Philip Dodd discussions his classic text Samson Agonistes. There has been much scholarly debate over whether Milton's dramatic poem, condones or criticises Samson's suicidal and genocidal attack on the Philistines. Since 9/11, that debate has taken on a topical urgency. Some scholars have questioned whether the work should be taught in schools, while others have regarded the notion of a terrorist act at the centre of Western Christian and literary history as a positive corrective to prevailing stereotypes. Philip Dodd asks what Milton's classic text Samson Agonistes tells us about terrorism.
		20081210	Anne McElvoy talks to distinguished French scholar Gilles Kepel, whose new book Beyond Terror and Martyrdom argues that the global clash between the neo-conservative world view of the War on Terror and the jihadist myth of martyrdom needs to be rethought and reimagined. He claims both narratives are bankrupt, arguing that building Mediterranean alliances is the key to resolving the tension between Islam and the West.
		20081211	In a discussion in front of an audience at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2008 in Liverpool, Susan Hitch is joined by former Labour MP and cabinet minister Tony Benn to reflect on one of the key themes of the festival: the value of experience. He talks about being taken by his father to meet Gandhi when he was six years old, and the pleasure he still remembers when the father of Indian independence asked him questions and listened to his thoughts. He muses on the importance of listening to the young as well as advising them, and describes Marx as the last of the Old Testament prophets. Crucially, he explains that his own experience of two world wars, his time as a pilot and the deaths of friends and his brother, are intrinsic to his commitment to peace. He also talks about his new practical invention 'Benn's Safe Seat'.
		20081218	Matthew Sweet presents more highlights from the 2008 Free Thinking festival of ideas. As part of the 2008 Radio 3 Free Thinking festival of ideas, Susan Hitch explores the history, architecture and significance of Liverpool's two cathedrals with the new chair of the National Trust Simon Jenkins, architectural historian Gavin Stamp, artistic director of the Catholic Metropolitan cathedral Sister Anthony Wilson and, from the Anglican cathedral, canon Anthony Hawley. How did a huge gothic cathedral come to be built as late as the 20th century and why did Edwin Lutyens's ambitious plans for the Metropolitan cathedral end up as they did? As cathedrals now host art exhibitions, restaurants and corporate events, what is the role of these great buildings today? Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio Merseyside.
		20090108	Bill Drummond talks about the future of music and his campaign to end recorded works. Susan Hitch presents a programme recorded in front of an audience at the FACT arts centre in Liverpool as part of the 2008 Radio 3 Free Thinking festival of ideas. KLF musician and conceptual artist Bill Drummond explains how his life story informs his new thesis on the future of music. His latest project, called 17, combines music, art and polemic and involves him travelling up and down the country, assembling choirs choirs composed of 17 members. They perform a work, which is then destroyed in order to illustrate Drummond's theory that recorded music is dead, and that the future lies in the live musical event.
		20090112	Rana Mitter talks to psychologist Penelope Leach, author of the book Your Baby and Child. Rana Mitter talks to psychologist Penelope Leach, author of the bestelling book Your Baby and Child, which changed British attitudes to child rearing in the 1970s sparking the growth of 'child-centred parenting'. She talks about the changing politics and social codes which have shaped parenting over the last 30 years and discusses her latest book, which addresses our complex and ambivalent relationship to child-care in the 21st century. Plus a review of the Arnaud Desplechin film Un conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale), which stars Catherine Deneuve as the mother of a dysfunctional family brought together during the holiday season. A critical and commercial hit in France, the film was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
		20090113	Philip Dodd talks to psychoanalyst Adam Phillips about the virtues of kindness. Philip Dodd examines whatever happened to the concept of kindness with psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and historian Barbara Taylor, who argue in a new book that it is essential to our emotional and mental health. Plus a discussion of the influence of French writer Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, seen by many as the first ever anarchist thinker, and a review of the Darren Aronofsky film The Wrestler, which stars Mickey Rourke as a retired fighter, and which won the top prize at the 2008 Venice Film Festival.
		20090114	Matthew Sweet interviews Auschwitz survivor and human rights judge Thomas Buergenthal. Matthew Sweet interviews Holocaust survivor Thomas Buergenthal, whose memoir describes his experience in Nazi death camps and his subsequent career as a human rights judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. At the age of seven, Buergenthal was imprisoned in Nazi ghettos and camps, and was among the youngest of prisoners. He was separated from his parents in Auschwitz, survived the Death March of 1945 and was liberated by Soviet and Polish troops at the age of 11. Miraculously, he was reunited with his mother a year and a half later. The rest of his family and almost all of his friends were killed.
		20090115	Prof Sean Spence discusses the ethics of using pharmacology to regulate human behaviour. Bidisha hosts a debate recorded in front of an audience at Liverpool's FACT centre, for Radio 3's Free Thinking festival of ideas, with Sean Spence, professor of psychiatry at the University of Sheffield giving a talk on the ethics of using pharmacology to regulate human behaviour. He argues that in the case of antisocial people who want to reduce their risk to society, the prescription of behaviour-modifiying drugs is not coercive, imposed control, but a postive step - something he calls 'collaborative pharmacology'.
		20090126	Rana Mitter talks to Christopher Frayling, outgoing chair of Arts Council England, to get his assessment of the state of the country's cultural sector five years after he started the job. How prepared are the heavily subsidised arts for the tough economic times ahead? American controversialist Jonah Goldberg claims in a new book that it is no coincidence that Franklin D Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler both came to power in 1933. He discusses with Rana's guests the idea that traditional liberals share many of the same repressive instincts as those of the fascist right. Plus a review of Revolutionary Road, the keenly anticipated new film from husband-and-wife team director Sam Mendes and actress Kate Winslet. Winslet has Already won widespread praise and a Golden Globe award for her performance as a frustrated 1950s suburban housewife. Rana Mitter talks to Christopher Frayling, outgoing chair of Arts Council England.
		20090128	Anne McElvoy talks to psychotherapist Susie Orbach about our growing obsession with body image, and how those western body obsessions are spreading across the globe, from the boom in cosmetic surgery in Iran to reconstructive surgery in China. Orbach has written and campaigned on issues of women's attitudes to food and health since the 1970s and is most famous for having written the book Fat is a Feminist Issue. Richard Coles reviews the UK premiere of the rediscovered work Die tote Stadt, which opens at the Royal Opera. Written by Hollywood film composer Erich Korngold, this previously neglected opera from 1920 was penned before Korngold left Austria for America. Psychotherapist Susie Orbach talks about our growing obsession with body image.
		20090203	Philip Dodd hears how some African thinkers are now rejecting the idea of overseas aid. Western countries want to help poverty-stricken countries - but does their help exacerbate, not alleviate, problems? Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian banker based in London, wants to destroy the myth that it actually works. In her new book, she controversially argues that globalisation and the financial markets - often blamed for Africa's problems - are an opportunity for its success. Philip challenges Dambisa to put her case to a group of guests. Philip Dodd hears how some African thinkers are now rejecting the idea of overseas aid.
	Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses	20090205	Matthew Sweet presents a Night Waves Landmark dedicated to one of the most politically controversial novels of recent times - Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa on Valentine's Day in 1989, calling for the writer's death for what was seen as an insult to the prophet Muhammad in the book. It caused Rushdie to go into hiding and created an international cause celebre, whose reverberations can still be felt today. Matthew and a round-table of guests from all sides of the dispute discuss the legacy of the Rushdie affair, examining the broader issues it raised, such as the value of freedom of expression, the question of whether art can offend and the place of Islam and multiculturalism in British society. Matthew Sweet explores the legacy of the fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie in 1989.
	Berlin Film Festival 2009	20090209	Matthew Sweet hears the latest news from the Berlin Film Festival, which features a selection of films marking the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The festival showcases a series of feature-length movies made in both Germanys and Eastern Europe during the last decade of the Cold War - films that convey a sense of the radical changes to come and which were made in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, as well as low-budget independent ones. Many will be shown in Germany for the first time at the Festival, including the Polish film The War of the Worlds, a previously banned science-fiction parable about life under a dictatorship. Matthew Sweet hears the latest news from the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.
	Richard Bean	20090210	Matthew Sweet talks to playwright Richard Bean about his new play England People Very Nice. Set in London's East End, the work explores the area's rich immigrant past and present. Drawing parallels between the four main waves of migration in Bethnal Green - French Huguenots, Irish, Jewish and Bengali - it also tackles head-on the place of Islam in modern Britain. Bean talks to Matthew about why this area of London is a perfect lens through which to investigate the British Muslim and migrant experience. Matthew Sweet talks to playwright Richard Bean about his play England People Very Nice.
	Abraham Lincoln	20090211	Anne Mcelvoy reassesses the legacy of Abraham Lincoln on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Although America's new president, Barack Obama, has made much of his own admiration for his predecessor, a new generation of historians has been re-examining the question of Lincoln's relationship to race and slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and supported a constitutional amendment to outlaw slavery, but he also harboured grave doubts about the intellectual capacity of African-Americans and favoured the voluntary 'colonisation' of freed slaves to Africa and the Caribbean. Anne and her guests discuss what Lincoln's ambivalent attitudes meant for his generation and whether they have echoed down through generations of American society. Plus a look at outsiders' views of British sex education on film: as an anthology of films is released which takes in almost 60 years of British sex education, Anne finds out what two Europeans make of British attempts to teach people about sex over the decades. Anne Mcelvoy reassesses the legacy of Abraham Lincoln 200 years after his birth.
	Charles Darwin	20090212	As part of the BBC season on Charles Darwin's work, Rana Mitter hosts a programme exploring his legacy, along with two other important figures of 20th Century thought - Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. In 1950 there would have been no question that it was Marx and Freud who were shaping the world to the greatest degree, but 60 years later the tables have turned - and Darwin is apparently the figure with real influence on our age. Rana Mitter asks who has been the most influential: Charles Darwin or Marx and Freud?
	Eonnagata	20090302	Bidisha discusses Eonnagata, a new Sadler's Wells collaboration between dancer Sylvie Guillem, director Robert Lepage, choreographer Russell Malipant and fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Its story focuses on the transvetite spy and diplomat Charles de Beaumont, the Chevalier d'Eon. A member of the King's Secret, a network of spies under the control of Louis XV, de Beaumont was perhaps the first spy to use transvestism in the furtherance of his duties and his true gender was a source of speculation, even provoking public bets in the late 18th century. The project draws its inspiration partly from the ancient Japanese Kabuki technique of Onnegata, in which male actors portray female roles in an extremely stylised fashion. Bidisha discusses Eonnagata, Sylvie Guillem's dance project about a 17th-century spy.
	Constable's Portraits	20090304	Artist Maggi Hambling discusses John Constable's portraits, the focus of a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Celebrated for his landscape paintings such as The Hay Wain, Constable's work as a portrait painter is far less well-known and, in fact, he produced more than 100 during his career. Hambling - now best-known for her controversial scallop sculpture dedicated to Benjamin Britten in Aldeburgh, and her memorial to Oscar Wilde in central London - talks about this less-explored part of Constable's work and discusses her own portraits - particularly of the jazz musician George Melly. Artist Maggi Hambling discusses John Constable's lesser-known portraits.
	David Cesarani	20090305	Philip Dodd and historian David Cesarani discuss the terrorist attacks on Britain by groups fighting for a Jewish state in the 1940s, and the lengths to which the British secret service would go in a last-ditch defence of the British mandate in Palestine. Cesarani's book, Major Farran's Hat, investigates the case of the abduction of a teenager in Jerusalem, for which an ex-SAS officer was acquitted and the Zionist underground response, which was to penetrate British homeland security and send its top man after him. Cesarani looks at the reason why Britain left Palestine in 1948, why its counter-insurgency strategy collided with its diplomacy, and why the tactics of the security forces were poorly executed and futile. Philip Dodd and David Cesarani discuss attacks on Britain by Zionist groups in the 1940s.
		20090311	Anne McElvoy presents the arts and ideas programme.
	Slavoj Zizek	20090316	Rana Mitter talks to Marxist philosopher Slavoj Zizek, nicknamed 'the Elvis of cultural theory' because his writings mix political analysis, pop culture and flamboyant delivery. He responds to criticism accusing him of being an apologist of Stalinism and an anti-Semite. Rana Mitter talks to famous Marxist philosopher Slavoj Zizek.
	Jules Et Jim	20090319	In a Night Waves Landmark programme, Philip Dodd explores one of post-war France's iconic love films - Jules et Jim. The film was released in 1962, when the New Wave directors were at their height of their influence. It starred Jeanne Moreau as the capricious Catherine and chronicled her life over 20 years in the 1920s and 30s with two friends, Jules and Jim, who both fall in love with her. For many people, the film is the embodiment of French panache - with its romantic scenes, carefree sparkle and tragic edge. Despite its breezy and youthful feel, the film was based on a novel by Henri Pierre Roche (quite different in feel) written when Roche was 75 years old and picked up by Truffaut when he was browsing through a Parisian bookshop. What made Jules et Jim such a revolution at the time of its release? And how did it convey so many of the techniques that the new wave were trying to convey to audiences? And why have so many recent film-makers - from Quentin Tarantino to Wes Anderson - managed to include mini-homages to the film in their own work? Philip Dodd and a round-table of guests attempt to answer these questions. Philip Dodd explores one of post-war France's iconic love films - Jules et Jim.
	Tyson	20090323	Matthew Sweet is joined by art critic and boxer Lynda Nead to review the much-anticipated documentary about the life of Mike Tyson. Tyson grew up in New York amid crime and violence, but after being spotted by the famous boxing coach Cus D'Amato he went on to become arguably the most feared fighter of his generation. But after his trainer's death, his career spiralled into shame and disgrace, culminating in his biting off a chunk of an opponent's ear. Matthew Sweet and art critic Lynda Nead review a documentary about the life of Mike Tyson.
	Amit Chaudhuri	20090324	Rana Mitter meets celebrated Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri and talks to him about his novel The Immortals, which is a meditation on the power and importance of music. Rana also examines the contrast between Catholic and Protestant art, ranging from the ebullience of the baroque era to the control and discipline of post-Reformation Europe. Rana Mitter talks to celebrated Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri about his novel The Immortals
	James Lovelock	20090325	In an extended conversation, Philip Dodd talks to pioneering scientist James Lovelock - originator of the concept of Gaia - about his remarkable life and the future of our planet. Lovelock's life in science has spanned some of the most advanced changes of the 20th century. He worked for Nasa on the Mars projects at one of its most exciting periods in the 1960s and it was during this time he developed his famous Gaia Hypothesis - now Gaia Theory - that the Earth functions as a living, self-regulating super-organism. But the man and his theory continue to divide scientists and environmentalists. Despite everything that he has done for raising the danger of global warming, Lovelock restates his view that much of the Green movement lags far behind science. Environmentalists, in turn, are hostile to his support for nuclear power as an interim solution to the world's energy problems. Philip asks Lovelock why he has spent so much of his life as an independent scientist, living and working at his rural home in Cornwall, and asks him to stand by his prediction that much of humanity could perish as a result of global warming by the end of this century. In an extended conversation, Philip Dodd talks to pioneering scientist James Lovelock.
	Wayne Mcgregor	20090326	Anne Mcelvoy talks to award-winning choreographer, dancer, director and designer Wayne Mcgregor as he prepares to open his productions of Handel's Acis and Galatea and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In this much-anticipated double-bill, both productions unite the performing companies at Covent Garden, with dancers from the Royal Ballet performing alongside aritsts from the Royal Opera, including singing stars Sarah Connolly and Danielle de Niese. McGregor discusses combining the disciplines of opera and dance, the challenges of bringing contemporary aesthetics to traditional ballet and about the continuing power of the music of arguably two of the greatest composers ever to work in London. Anne Mcelvoy talks to choreographer, dancer, director and designer Wayne Mcgregor.
	The Free Thinking Lecture - Will Self	20090330	Presented by Matthew Sweet. In a recording from October 2008, made in front of an audience at the Bluecoat arts centre, celebrated author and columnist Will Self delivers the opening lecture at Free Thinking 2008, Radio 3's festival of ideas in Liverpool Self argues that the way the mind is portrayed in novels is preposterous. Why are we so resistant to attempts to represent the mind as we really experience it, in all its terror, exhilaration and confusion? Are many of our finest novels designed to reassure us that we are 'normal'? Celebrated author and columnist Will Self gives the opening lecture at Free Thinking 2008.
	Roberto Benigni	20090331	Bidisha talks to Oscar-winning Italian actor Roberto Benigni - best known for his comic film set during the Holocaust, Life Is Beautiful - about his obsession with Dante and his one-man show TuttoDante. Benigni is often remembered outside Italy for his behaviour at the 1998 Academy Awards when accepting the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for Life Is Beautiful - he climbed on the backs of the seats for his procession to the stage and applauded the audience. Benigni is regarded in Italy as an excellent improvisatory poet and he can recite Dante's Divine Comedy from memory. His one-man theatre show inspired by the Divine Comedy and mixed with observations on current affairs and his own past experiences has been a huge success in Italy. TuttoDante (Everything about Dante) was seen on television by more than ten million people. Bidisha asks whether something so Italian can make the transfer to Britain. Bidisha talks to Oscar-winning Life Is Beautiful actor Roberto Benigni about Dante.
	Peter Singer	20090401	Philip Dodd talks to philosopher Peter Singer about his new book The Life You Can Save, in which he explores the ethics of philanthropy and poses a challenge to affluence and what he regards as Western apathy. He argues that giving at least five per cent of what we earn would eradicate poverty, and calls on the developed world to address this as a burning moral issue. Singer is professor of bioethics at Princeton University and the author of Animal Liberation, widely regarded as a touchstone of the animal liberation movement. The man who first championed the ethics of eating and spoke about the fallacy of cheap food, Singer has often espoused controversial ideas and his appointment at Princeton in 1999 was fiercely opposed by some - particularly for his views on abortion. And writer Jed Mercurio discusses his new novel American Adulterer, about John F Kennedy and his love life. Portraying the 35th US president as a habitual philanderer who goes to extraordinary lengths to conceal his affairs from his wife Jackie and his political rivals, Mercurio paints a portrait of a virtuous man in the grip of an uncontrollable urge. Philip Dodd talks to philosopher Peter Singer about his plan to eradicate world poverty.
	Landmarks: The Norman Conquests	20090413	In a Night Waves Landmark programme, Matthew Sweet marks Alan Ayckbourn's 70th birthday with an exploration of his most famous work, the 1974 trilogy The Norman Conquests. A huge theatrical hit when they were first performed in the early 1970s, each of three plays comprising the Norman Conquests are set in a different rooms of a suburban house over one weekend, and chart the comic relationships between six characters. The original West End production featured a celebrated cast which included Michael Gambon, Penelope Keith, Felicity Kendall, and Tom Courtenay as the bearded and feckless Norman. However, successful as Ayckbourn's plays have always been with audiences, there has been a perception from some in the theatrical critical establishment that this was no more than comfortable entertainment. He was not considered worthy of the respect given to a Pinter, Osborne or Hare. When Kevin Spacey decided to stage The Norman Conquests in 2008 at The Old Vic, it was seen as a risky decision - what amused an audience back in the early 1970s was thought unlikely to hit home today. But the the production was successful with audiences and critics alike. Ayckbourn was reassessed, found to have a core of darkness beneath the comedy and was pronounced to be the 'Chekhov of the Suburbs'. Matthew and guests examine Ayckbourn's craft, asking: 'What is his critical reputation?'. Matthew Sweet discusses the 1974 play trilogy The Norman Conquests by Alan Ayckbourn
	Handel Week - Handel's Borrowing	20090415	Presented by Rana Mitter. For Radio 3's Handel week, the programme revisits the great debates of the 18th century about artistic originality, asking if the 21st-century arts, riven by arguments about intellectual property in an age of new technology, could learn something from Handel and his artistic peers. Handel's compositions were littered with borrowings and copying from not only his own work, but other musicians as well. Even by the standards of his day he was liberal with the sources of his inspiration. But for much of 18th century society this didn't matter - there were no obsessions with artistic originality, unlike now. And this very different attitude to originality could be found across the cultural world of the day. Historian Margaret MacMillan - winner of the Samuel Johnson prize for her book Peacemakers - talks to Rana about her book The Uses and Abuses of History, which explores the way history has been hijacked by individuals and governments, and exaggerated, distorted or suppressed. MacMillan argues that post-war Germany's attempts to deal with Nazism was exemplary, unlike Turkey's treatment of its Armenian past, and asks whether governments should apologise for the sins of the past? MacMillan urges us to treat the past with care and respect. Rana Mitter revisits the great debates of the 18th century about artistic originality.
		20090420	In an event recorded in Liverpool at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking festival 2008, Bidisha introduces a lecture by Richard Reynolds and audience questions to him on the ethics and effectiveness of what be believes to be the fast-expanding craft of 'guerrilla gardening'. It involves taking over an abandoned section of land to cultivate crops or plants and is a form of non-violent direct action practised by environmentalists. Reynolds gardens wherever he finds himself, whether it is creating a garden in a number of neglected beds outside the block of flats where he lives or planting lavender on a traffic island. He believes any public space that has been undecorated by civic authorities and public alike can be turned into something more attractive and humanising for all. He claims he springs from a long line of radicals - he cites 17th-century Digger Gerrard Winstanley as a forebear - and he originally acted entirely without permission (although that has now changed in some cases), working on many sites that belonged to someone else - typically the public authorities. Richard Reynolds, the 'guerilla gardener', on why planting flowers is a form of politics.
		20090706
		20091012	Rana Mitter talks to Harvard moral philosopher Michael Sandel about justice, examining how we arrive at our notions of right and wrong. Should we not always tell the truth? Is killing sometimes morally justified? Considering the role of justice in society and in our lives, Sandel argues in his new book Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? that an understanding of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, religion and morality. Michael Sandel gave this year's BBC Radio 4 Reith lectures and his class at Harvard University is famous for attracting huge numbers of students - more than 1,200 each session. His influence is such that Matt Groening and his fellow creators of The Simpsons poked fun at Sandel by partly modelling the morally suspect Montgomery Burns character on him. Rana Mitter talks to Harvard moral philosopher Michael Sandel about justice.
		20091013	Anne McElvoy talks to historian Amanda Vickery about domestic life in Georgian England. The Georgian house is now celebrated for proportion and elegance, but what did it mean to its inhabitants? Delving into over 50 archives for her book Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England, Vickery explores the role of house and home in determining power and status, and examines the interiors of homes belonging to genteel spinsters, bachelor clerks, rich aristocratic families and penniless widows. Anne McElvoy talks to historian Amanda Vickery about domestic life in Georgian England.
		20091014	Matthew Sweet talks to Dave Eggers about his novel The Wild Things, focusing on the confusions facing a boy growing up. It's based loosely on the story Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and the Hollywood screenplay Eggers has co-written with Spike Jonze. When Dave Eggers was 21 and living in Lake Forest, Illinois, both his parents died of cancer five weeks apart, leaving Eggers to raise his eight-year-old brother Christopher. His memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Eggers went on to publish his first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity, in 2002. He also wrote the screenplay for Sam Mendes' recent film Away We Go. Matthew Sweet talks to Dave Eggers about his novel The Wild Things.
		20091015	Philip Dodd explores one of the most groundbreaking pieces of musical theatre of all time - The Threepenny Opera. In 1920s Weimar Berlin, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill took polite operetta and turned it into something jagged, political and contemporary. The Threepenny Opera became an international hit, an early talkie followed, as did stardom for Lotte Lenya. By the time the Nazis came to power and Brecht and Weill had fled Germany there had been no less than 130 productions around the world. Without it there would have been no Cabaret, no Chicago, no Mack the Knife. Every decade since has wanted its own Pirate Jenny and Peachum, its own interpretation of Brecht's tawdry London. But what echoes should we find in this modern classic today? Global recession and political disillusionment? Or eternal cynicism? On the eve of a broadcast of a new version for BBC Radio 3, Philip Dodd brings together a round table of guests to assess why The Threepenny Opera continues to intrigue, and whether it is the essential masterpiece of a duo who brought the cruelty of the 20th century crashing into musical theatre. Philip Dodd explores The Threepenny Opera.
	Mary Midgeley	20091019	To coincide with Radio 3's 2009 Free Thinking festival in Newcastle-Gateshead, Rana Mitter talks to arguably one of Newcastle University's most impressive minds. Moral philosopher Mary Midgely wrote no books until after 50 because, in her own words, she 'didn't know what (she) thought before then'. Mary tells Rana Mitter how she's made up for it since with a series of works on science, ethics and animal rights. Midgley strongly opposes reductionist versions of science and argues against any attempt to make science a substitute for the humanities, a role for which she argues it is wholly inadequate. She has written extensively about what philosophers can learn from nature, particularly from animals. She once declared that she hadn't engaged with Richard Dawkins' ideas as it wasn't necessary to break a butterfly upon a wheel. Rana Mitter talks to moral philospher Mary Midgely.
	A New Age Of Austerity?
	Amartya Sen/mark Ravenhill/richard English/schumann
	Arundhati Roy
	Glen David Gold
	Hanif Kureishi
	International Edition/moon Landing Anniversary
	Karen Armstrong/pompeii/china/mindaway
	Timothy Garton Ash