Women of Substance

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday sang about alcohol and broken hearts and went to prison for drug use.

• 14 mins

Women of Substance

Anna Kavan

Legally prescribed heroin by a psychiatrist, Anna Kavan’s writing reveals her addiction.

• 14 mins

Women of Substance

Andrea Dunbar

At 18 Andrea Dunbar was the youngest playwright ever at the Royal Court Theatre, London.

• 14 mins

Women of Substance

Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin beat heroin and Oxycontin. Her biggest fight was against the drug manufacturers

• 14 mins

Letters to the Overrated and the Underrated

1. Dear Katherine Mansfield...

Ian Sansom drops a line to late New Zealand-born author and critic Katherine Mansfield.

• 14 mins

Letters to the Overrated and the Underrated

2. Dear Joseph Conrad...

Ian Sansom pens imaginary missives to late Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad.

• 14 mins

Letters to the Overrated and the Underrated

3. Dear Clarice Lispector...

Ian Sansom fires off a quick line or two to late Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector.

• 14 mins

Letters to the Overrated and the Underrated

4. Dear Octavia Butler...

Ian Sansom is sending imaginary dispatches to late American sci-fi writer Octavia Butler.

• 14 mins

Letters to the Overrated and the Underrated

5. Dear John le Carré...

Ian Sansom is writing uncoded messages to late English-Irish spy novelist John le Carré.

• 14 mins

Edith Piaf in Five Songs

1. Milord

Edith Piaf - from her mouth to your heart in five songs. 1 - Milord by Lucy O'Meara.

• 14 mins

Edith Piaf in Five Songs

2. L'Accordeoniste

The French singer Edith Piaf - from her mouth to your heart in five of her songs.

• 14 mins

Edith Piaf in Five Songs

3. Les Amants d'un jour

The French singer Edith Piaf - from her mouth to your heart, through five classic songs.

• 14 mins

Edith Piaf in Five Songs

4. Hymne à l'amour

Edith Piaf defined five songs. Myriam Phiro explores love and death in Hymne à l'amour.

• 14 mins

Edith Piaf in Five Songs

5. Non, je ne regrette rien

Edith Piaf in five songs. Elizabeth Alker on Piaf's 1960 classic Non, je ne regrette rien.

• 14 mins

A Museum in the Making

11/03/2024

V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford shares his plans for crafting a new kind of museum.

• 14 mins

A Museum in the Making

12/03/2024

V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford on trying to put a new kind of museum together.

• 14 mins

A Museum in the Making

13/03/2024

V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford on trying to put a new kind of museum together.

• 14 mins

A Museum in the Making

14/03/2024

V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford on trying to put a new kind of museum together.

• 14 mins

A Museum in the Making

15/03/2024

V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford on trying to put a new kind of museum together.

• 14 mins

Call Me Mother

How the shape of words for mother helps babies eat their food. Rebecca Woods explains

• 14 mins

From algorithms to oceans

Kerry McInerney on the promises of the ‘sustainable AI’ movement and how AI may develop

• 13 mins

Gas, oil and the Essex blues

Sam Johnson-Schlee draws links between Dr Feelgood, Canvey Island and energy policies

• 13 mins

Unravelling plainness

Isabella Rosner explains why needlework challenges our idea of Quaker simplicity

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2023

Call Me Mother

How the shape of words for mother helps babies eat their food. Rebecca Woods explains.

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2023

Germany’s Mary Wollstonecraft

Andrew Cooper on the school teacher who tried to ignite a feminist revolution in Germany.

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2023

Weird Viking Bodies

Marianne Hem Eriksen on the meaning of a skull bone carved with 'pain' thrown onto a tip.

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2023

From algorithms to oceans

Kerry McInerney explores the promises of the ‘sustainable AI’ movement and how AI develops

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2023

Gas, oil and the Essex blues

Sam Johnson-Schlee draws links between Dr Feelgood, Canvey Island and energy policies

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2023

The legacy of the laundries

Louise Brangan reflects on the legacies of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.

• 14 mins

New Generation Thinkers 2023

Arteries of tomorrow

Dan Taylor considers the way communities along the A13 are looking to the future.

• 14 mins