Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Hetta Howes and Mark Vernon join Matthew Sweet. Read more
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God's Body
Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Hetta Howes and Mark Vernon join Matthew Sweet.
The Imperial War Museum Remembrance Discussion 2021
How do we define a war? Anne McElvoy and guests look at how language changes attitudes.
Dogs
Labradors Olive and Mabel became a Covid internet hit - can we know what a dog thinks?
Being Human 2021
Reseach into covid comics, codes in Dickens, projecting books onto hospital ceilings.
Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex
One of the key French existentialists in the 50s, how does Simone de Beauvoir read today?
Marvin Gaye's What's Going On
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss what inspired Marvin Gaye's 1971 album What's Going On?
Faking It and Trompe-l'oeil
From fake flowers carved by Grinling Gibbons to modern craft and internet images.
Romanian History and Literature
Novelists Mircea Cărtărescu and Georgina Harding and historian Philippe Sands on Romania.
Christopher Logue's War Music
Shahidha Bari and guests read Logue's version of Homer's Iliad and look at its language.
Toys
How toys are shaped by politics and why they have a spooky side.
Dürer, Rhinos and Whales
Writer Philip Hoare, curator Robert Wenley, historian Helen Cowie talk celebrity animals.
Caribbean Art
As a Tate Britain show opens, Shahidha Bari looks at Caribbean post-war writing and art
The Day of the Triffids
Matthew Sweet and guests re-read John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic novel from 1951.
The TV Debate
Gore Vidal v William F Buckley Jr, Germaine Greer v Norman Mailer. Have debates changed?
Witchcraft and Margaret Murray
Matthew Sweet and guests look at 1921's The Witch-Cult in Western Europe and witches now.
Early Buddhism, Sheila Rowbotham
Two Buddhism scholars and British socialist feminist Sheila Rowbotham join Rana Mitter.
Colm Tóibín, David Cohen winner, Dullness
Is it a good thing to stand out? Anne McElvoy and guests explore the virtue of being dull.
Jean-Paul Belmondo and the French New Wave
The French film star who burst onto the scene in 1960 in Godard's Breathless.
Gloves
From python skin to Nintendo gaming, PPE to vegan materials: how gloves are evolving.
Appeasement
How does Neville Chamberlain's capitulation to Hitler in 1938 affect politics in 2022?
Adapting Molière
Liz Lochead is one of Anne McElvoy's guests discussing how to update Molière.
Mélusine
The mermaid-like figure from medieval folklore is discussed by Shahidha Bari and guests.
Mind-Altered States
Matthew Sweet and guests knock on the doors of perception.
Writing Love: Sarah Hall, Monica Ali, Adam Mars-Jones
Shahidha Bari talks to authors about writing love stories set against troubling times.
Paper
An exploration of the cultural and social history of paper.
Touki Bouki
A close look at Djibril Diop Mambéty's classic 1973 film with Matthew Sweet and guests.
Diverse Classical Music
Digging into the music of composers Joseph Bologne, Kikuko Kanai and Julia Perry.
Yishai Sarid, Marking Holocaust Memorial Day 2022
Anne McElvoy talks to Israeli novelist Yishai Sarid & hears about new historical research.
Asta Nielsen
Matthew Sweet and guests look at the Danish star of androgynous early romcoms and Hamlet.
How to Create a Modernist Masterpiece
Will Self, Alexandra Harris, Kevin Le Gendre and Owen Hatherley build up a manifesto.
Modernism around the World
Rana Mitter looks at Bauhaus in Delhi, Japanese and South African novels and Mexican art.