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0120160829Joe Moran has spent his life trying to get to grips with his shyness. In this Field Guide to Shyness, he explores the hidden world of reticence, navigating the myriad ways scientists and thinkers have tried to explain and cure shyness, and uncovering the fascinating stories of the men and women who were 'of the violet persuasion'.

'It feels like coming late to a party when everyone else is about three beers in and entering that state that allows them to have fluent exchanges that settle on some pre-agreed theme as if by magic.'

Darwin referred to shyness as an 'odd state of mind'. It has no obvious benefit to our species, so why is it so pervasive, not only in humans but in other creatures - from the Virginia opossum to salamander larvae?

Read by Nigel Planer

Written by Joe Moran

Abridged and produced by Hannah Marshall

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Joe Moran creates a field guide to shyness, which Darwin called an odd state of mind.

0220160830Joe Moran has spent his life trying to get to grips with his shyness. In this Field Guide to Shyness, he explores the hidden world of reticence, navigating the myriad ways scientists and thinkers have tried to explain and cure shyness, and uncovering the fascinating stories of the men and women who were 'of the violet persuasion'.

'It feels like coming late to a party when everyone else is about three beers in and entering that state that allows them to have fluent exchanges that settle on some pre-agreed theme as if by magic.'

In a culture where it's good to talk, where workplaces favour collaboration and talking things out, what place is there for people like King George VI, Prime Minister Clement Attlee, and Moran himself, who are tongue tied by shyness? And do stammerers get a kind hearing that's not always granted to those who are merely unwilling or incoherent speakers?

Read by Nigel Planer

Written by Joe Moran

Abridged and produced by Hannah Marshall

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

In a culture where it's good to talk, what place for people tongue tied by shyness?

0320160831Joe Moran has spent his life trying to get to grips with his shyness. In this Field Guide to Shyness, he explores the hidden world of reticence, navigating the myriad ways scientists and thinkers have tried to explain and cure shyness, and uncovering the fascinating stories of the men and women who were 'of the violet persuasion'.

'It feels like coming late to a party when everyone else is about three beers in and entering that state that allows them to have fluent exchanges that settle on some pre-agreed theme as if by magic.'

The autistic scientist and writer Temple Grandin has suggested that the very first cave paintings might have been created 40,000 years ago by 'some Asperger sitting in the back of a cave'. Psychiatrist Lorna Wing felt that having some autistic traits might be an essential ingredient of the creative life. Moran explores the artistic worlds of the staggeringly shy LS Lowry - Mr Lowry as he preferred to be known - and the grumpily solitary Alfred Wainwright, and asks could the origins of art itself lie in our capacity for introversion, the need to make strategic retreats from social life in order to make sense of our experiences?

Read by Nigel Planer

Written by Joe Moran

Abridged and produced by Hannah Marshall

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

Could the origins of art lie in the human capacity for introversion?

0420160901Joe Moran has spent his life trying to get to grips with his shyness. In this Field Guide to Shyness, he explores the hidden world of reticence, navigating the myriad ways scientists and thinkers have tried to explain and cure shyness, and uncovering the fascinating stories of the men and women who were 'of the violet persuasion'.

'It feels like coming late to a party when everyone else is about three beers in and entering that state that allows them to have fluent exchanges that settle on some pre-agreed theme as if by magic.'

Early 20th century working class British culture valued shyness in its men. But by the 1960s this natural reserve no longer fitted with our confident, post-war view of ourselves as a nation. Could the swinging 60s sweep away our shyness? It was now seen as a disability it was everyone's duty to overcome. And yet, two decades later, indie music made stars out of paralysingly shy men like Steven Morrissey. Moran explores our ambiguous War on Shyness.

Read by Nigel Planer

Written by Joe Moran

Abridged and produced by Hannah Marshall

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

In a New York brownstone in 1965, the first skirmish in the war against shyness began.

05 LAST20160902Joe Moran has spent his life trying to get to grips with his shyness. In this Field Guide to Shyness, he explores the hidden world of reticence, navigating the myriad ways scientists and thinkers have tried to explain and cure shyness, and uncovering the fascinating stories of the men and women who were 'of the violet persuasion'.

'It feels like coming late to a party when everyone else is about three beers in and entering that state that allows them to have fluent exchanges that settle on some pre-agreed theme as if by magic.'

In 1993, a drug initially intended as an antidepressant, Paxil, was marketed in the US as alleviating social anxiety disorder. Since then, many other drugs, like Prozac and Zoloft, have been rebranded as treating social anxiety. But when does shyness become pathological?

Read by Nigel Planer

Written by Joe Moran

Abridged and produced by Hannah Marshall

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

When does shyness turn pathological?