Sound, conflict and central heating

Matthew Sweet finds out how extreme temperatures changed Erland Cooper's music

• 44 mins

Kingship and ceremony

Anne McElvoy looks at royalty, pomp and glory in opera, ancient Persia and Tudor England.

• 44 mins

Sidney Poitier

Matthew Sweet and guests discuss the career of Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier.

• 44 mins

Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe

Historian Hetta Howes, novelists Claire Gilbert and Victoria MacKenzie join Shahidha Bari.

• 44 mins

Mountaineering, Lizzie Le Blond, Sport and science

Rachel Hewitt has been researching pioneering Irish climber Mrs Aubrey Le Blond.

• 44 mins

Agoraphobia

Writer Graham Caveney joins Matthew Sweet and guests.

• 44 mins

Zimbabwean writing

NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names on stage plus 'enfant terrible' Dambudzo Marechera.

• 44 mins

Rocky Horror and camp

Shahidha Bari is joined by Louise Creechan, Joan Passey and Paul Baker.

• 44 mins

Essex

Looking beyond the stereotypes of the county that's often described as 'much maligned'.

• 44 mins

Martin Amis talking with Philip Dodd in 2014

Martin Amis (1949-2023) talks to Philip Dodd about Jewish history and ideas about evil.

• 38 mins

Linda Grant and Jewish history

John Gallagher looks at the Manchester Jewish Museum and talks to novelist Linda Grant.

• 44 mins

Mermaids, Caribbean tales and copyright

Shahidha Bari looks at sea creatures and a Caribbean re-telling of The Little Mermaid.

• 44 mins

Sneezing, smells and noses

From Montaigne on sneezing to losing the sense of smell and historians using their noses.

• 44 mins

The Troubles in Northern Ireland

As an Imperial War Museum show opens, Anne McElvoy and guests discuss art and the Troubles

• 44 mins

Europe

Ece Temelkuran, Ben Judah, Misha Glenny and Timothy Garton Ash with Rana Mitter at Hay.

• 44 mins

Nature Memoirs

Rana Mitter looks at fens, flatlands, wild swimming and a little-changed Bulgarian valley.

• 44 mins

Michel Piccoli

Matthew Sweet on the French actor who worked with Buñuel, Varda, Ferreri and Godard.

• 44 mins

Yellowface, AI and Asian stereotypes

Novelist R F Kuang, Dr Kerry McInerney, Ghislaine Boddington and MIT's Daron Acemoglu.

• 44 mins

Adam Smith

From the East India Company to Silicon Valley: the big ideas in his tercentennial year.

• 44 mins

Ideas about health

Gavin Francis on Thomas Browne, Polly Morland on John Berger, Matt Smith on mental health

• 44 mins

Portraits

The NPG re-opens. A look at portraiture in art, photography, documentary and oral history.

• 44 mins

The Kitchen: art, film, life

Sarah Kent, Marianne Hem Eriksen, Melanie Williams and Angela Hui join Matthew Sweet.

• 44 mins

The Sorrows of Young Werther

The book of the Sturm und Drang generation. Anne McElvoy explores the ideas behind it.

• 44 mins

Diva

As the V&A opens an exhibition about performers, Naomi Paxton discusses what makes a diva.

• 44 mins

Gut instinct

From gut feelings in your stomach to the language of disgust. Matthew Sweet hosts.

• 44 mins

Boyhood to Manhood

Chris Harding with Luke Turner, Jeffrey Boakye and Lisa Sugiura discuss growing up now.

• 44 mins

Julian the Apostate

We examine Rome's last pagan ruler via Ibsen's drama to apostasy in contemporary politics.

• 44 mins

Dystopian thinking

As Kay Dick's They opens at MIF, Matthew Sweet and guests trace the history of dystopias.

• 44 mins

A lively Tudor world

From needlework to marriage portraits to depicting music on the page.

• 44 mins

Liverpool Biennial and art at MIF

Catherine Fletcher talks to three artists with new works at the Liverpool Biennial.

• 44 mins