Mark Ravenhill on staging the play on which Hitchcock based Blackmail. Read more
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Blackmail and Shame
Mark Ravenhill on staging the play on which Hitchcock based Blackmail.
The Stasi poetry circle, Nazi schools and German culture
How an East German creative writing class fought the cold war - was their poetry any good?
Vikings
From the Victorian craze to modern takes on Norse myths, Netflix and archaeological finds.
John Maynard Keynes
From HM Treasury to Versailles and Bloomsbury: a look at the life and legacy of JM Keynes.
After Dark Festival: Equinox
Finding meaning in the moment when the length of day and night is equal.
Dark Places
A poet, crime writer, theologian and marine biologist explore darkness.
Enter the Dragon and Bruce Lee
Matthew Sweet watches the 1973 martial arts film made before Bruce Lee's death aged 32.
Leopoldo Torre Nilsson's Hand in the Trap
Confronting the man who jilted you is the plot of this 1960s Argentine expressionist film
New Generation Thinkers 2022
Laurence Scott introduces the ten academics chosen to share their research on radio.
Bridgerton and Georgian Entertainment
Shahidha Bari with Ian Kelly, Hannah Greig, Sophie Coulombeau, Brianna Kirkland-Robertson.
China: World Politics, Ink Art and Insomnia
Kevin Rudd talks about avoiding catastrophic conflict between China and the USA.
Grief
Matthew Sweet and guests look at the role of ritual, laments and how we express grief.
Ships and History
Artist Hew Locke plus historians Sarah Caputo, Jake Subryan Richards and Tom Nancollas.
Housework
Gender, class and domestic tasks. Matthew pulls on his rubber gloves and gets stuck in.
Preserving our heritage
From knitting patterns to greetings cards: Naomi Paxton looks at a series of UK archives
Shakespeare, history, pathology and dissonant sound
Shahidha Bari on a new staging of Shakespeare's Henry VI. Why is Warwick a key figure?
Teaching and Inspiration
Novelist Julian Barnes, historian Daisy Hay and New Generation Thinker Louise Creechan.
Speaking Welsh
Catherine Fletcher explores the relationship between Cymru and Cymraeg - Wales and Welsh.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Anne McElvoy discusses the visionary poet with a composer and two literature experts.
May Day Rituals
Matthew Sweet and guests explore ideas about community, collective action and May revels.
Kawanabe Kyōsai and Yukio Mishima
Japanese cultural experimentation: painter Kyōsai 1831-1889 and writer Mishima 1925-1970.
Windows
From Rear Window to stained glass, TB to paintings at Dulwich. Shahidha Bari hosts.
Odessa Stories
Linda Grant and Boris Dralyuk discuss the writer Isaac Babel with Matthew Sweet.
Mental Health
Anne McElvoy looks at ASMR, clean air, loneliness and a memoir exploring mental health.
Soil
John Gallagher and guests dig deep into the significance of soil.
Soho
Matthew Sweet is joined by Jingan Young, Benjamin Halligan and David McGillivray.
Gandhi, Indian architecture
Rana Mitter looks at a new play at the National Theatre about the man who murdered Gandhi.
Goddesses
Christopher Harding investigates the feminine divine with Ronald Hutton and others.
Tattoos
Shahidha Bari traces the move from markings on convicts and aristos to today's body art.
The Tudor Mind
Donne, Hamlet, mathematics and the Tudor portraits composed by Vaughan Williams.
Tudor families
Tangled bloodlines, executions and a big, gold inflatable thing belonging to Henry VIII.