5ive Guys FC

82ASK

A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

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Tom Jamieson

Nev Fountain

The impressions show that needs no introduction - with bonus End of Year specials 
 
Radio 4’s award-winning and hugely popular comedy show is back with yet another helping of political-vituperation, media-mauling and celebrity-savaging. Sit back and treat your ears to a bumper edition of superb satirical impressions from the team - Jon Culshaw, Lewis MacLeod, Jan Ravens, Jess Robinson, Duncan Wisbey and Jason Forbes. 
 
Series 26 delivers Greta Thunberg coming to Rachel Reeves’s rescue and Gary Lineker trying something new… Enjoy a mad mix of super injunctions, super heroes, the Epstein files and, er, Diane Abbott. In this series the team's vocal firepower has Iran playing host to a surprising WMD Inspector, Laura Kuenssberg being de-escalated, and Ross Kemp on Grooming Gangs. Trump drops the F-Bomb, Lammy drops another clanger, money saving expert Martin Lewis drops into NATO and in a moment of pure, meta-madness Netanyahu, Trump and Putin play Just A Minute. 
 
Since January 2000, Dead Ringers has served up razor-sharp caricatures and explosively satirical truth-bombs and this latest offering is no exception. Laugh-out-loud as these impressive impressionistas make listening magic out of current affairs. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
Starring Jan Ravens, Jon Culshaw, Lewis Macleod, Jess Robinson, Jason Forbes, Duncan Wisbey and Kieran Hodgson 
 
Written by Nev Fountain, Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Tom Coles, Sophie Dickson, Toussaint Douglass, Rob Darke, Cody Dahler, Edward Tew, Jon Holmes, Davina Bentley, Katie Sayer, Alice Bright, Chris Donovan, Peter Tellouche, Lizzy Mansfield, Rachel E. Thorn, Jennifer Walker, Cooper Mawhinny-Sweryt, Alex Buchanan, Chris Ballard, Joe Topping, Phoebe Butler, David Whitehead, Nicky Roberts, Pete Redfern, Vicky Richards, Ali Panting and Declan Kennedy 
 
Created by Bill Dare 
Produced by John Holmes 
Executive Producers: James Robinson, Peter Strauss and Richard Morris 
Production Co-ordinators: Caroline Barlow and Jodie Charman 
 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13th Jun - 18th Jul 2025 (series 26), Dec 2025 (Specials) 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Dead Ringers: Series 26 Plus Christmas Specials

The BBC Radio 4 Impressions Show

Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 explorations of the visual arts, including artistic and architectural styles, historic movements, notable artworks and visual artists 
 
Radio 4's In Our Time has established itself at the pinnacle of essential conversation on a wide range of subjects from science, history, philosophy and the arts. The programme, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2023, is presented by Melvyn Bragg with contributors from the diverse worlds of academia. 
 
Opening with four contextual episodes - The Artist, Imagination, The Muses, and Architecture and Power - this thematic anthology contains 25 programmes on the history of visual art. Included are artistic styles and movements, from Avant Garde to Bohemianism, and great cultural figures such as Hans Holbein the Younger, Katsushika Hokusai, Frida Kahlo, Michelangelo and William Morris. Also featured are episodes on Baroque, Bauhaus and Surrealism, as well as such iconic artworks as Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, Turner's The Fighting Temeraire, Munch's The Scream and Picasso's Guernica. 
 
How did the artist become a special kind of human being? Why is architecture such a powerful form of expression? These, and many other topics, are discussed in this release. Whether you're an arts student or simply want to broaden your horizons, this enlightening and entertaining compilation will provoke thoughts and debate long after you have finished listening to it. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Natalia Fernandez, John Goudie, Thomas Morris, Luke Mulhall and Simon Tillotson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Context 
The Artist 28 March 2002 
Imagination 28 November 2002 
The Muses 19 May 2016 
Architecture and Power 31 October 2002 
 
Part II: Styles and Movements 
Cave Art 24 September 2020 
Vitruvius and De Architectura 15 March 2012 
The Baroque Movement 20 November 2008 
Bohemianism 9 October 2003 
The Decadent Movement 18 November 2021 
Bauhaus 10 November 2022 
Surrealism 15 November 2001 
The Avant Garde's Decline and Fall in the 20th Century 25 February 1999 
 
Part III: Visual Artists 
Albrecht Dürer 12 November 2020 
Holbein at the Tudor Court 15 October 2015 
Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists 27 May 2010 
Hokusai 30 March 2017 
Berthe Morisot 13 October 2022 
Frida Kahlo 9 July 2015 
William Morris 5 July 2018 
 
Part IV: Art and Architecture 
The Lindisfarne Gospels 20 February 2003 
Judith beheading Holofernes 14 February 2019 
Angkor Wat 23 June 2022 
The Sistene Chapel 31 March 2022 
The School of Athens 26 March 2009 
Bruegel's The Fight Between Carnival and Lent 15 January 2015 
Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People 20 October 2011 
The Fighting Temeraire 10 November 2016 
Munch and The Scream 18 March 2010 
Picasso's Guernica 2 November 2017 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Perspectives on the Visual Arts

A BBC Radio 4 Collection

Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin reflects on Britain's customs, attitudes and social and supernatural phenomena in these six BBC Radio series 
 
Drawn from Radio 3's The Essay strand and presented by journalist and award-winning author Andrew Martin, this beguiling collection brings together his witty, Alan Bennett-esque observations on England's disappearing pastimes, rituals and beliefs. 
 
Yorkshire sees him musing on the county of his birth and upbringing, as he considers his 'Tyke' identity and the ancient rivalry between Yorkshire and Lancashire; chews over questions of class in 'God's Own County'; ponders its past and future; and recalls the coastal jaunts of his youth. In Hanging On, Martin celebrates five aspects of British life that are still with us - just, as he raises a toast to the boating pond; the ventriloquist's doll; the telephone; the milkman and sex shops. 
 
The Lost Hours memorialises the staging posts of the day that are gradually fading away, such as elevenses and the cocktail hour; while England Ejects explores the inclinations and habits that no longer seem so vital nowadays, including modesty, gentility and Sunday church-going. The Further Realm sees Martin contemplating whether he believes in ghosts; reflecting on mediaeval and modern sightings and telling tales of the undead from resonant times of the year. Finally, in The Sound and the Fury, he discusses the noises that annoy us, from piped music to public transport announcements, asking 'how do we cope with jarring sounds in our world today, and could we live without the daily cacophony?' 
 
Quirky and engaging, these delightfully entertaining essays will give you a whole new perspective on the modern world - and the world beyond. 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Duncan Minshull (Yorkshire, Hanging On, England Ejects, The Further Realm, The Sound and the Fury) and Karen Holden (The Lost Hours) 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: 23-27 January 2012 (The Sound and the Fury), 27-31 January 2014 (England Ejects), 26-30 October 2015 (The Further Realm), 17-21 April 2017 (Hanging On), 21-25 January 2019 (Yorkshire), 25-29 October 2021 (The Lost Hours) 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

On the World Around Us

25 Explorations of Britain, Past and Present

Robert Macfarlane

Deborah Levy

Jenn Ashworth

Kamila Shamsie

Michael Donkor

Michèle Roberts

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Ross Raisin

Owen Sheers

Nicholas Shakespeare

Nat Segnit

Sophie Coulombeau

Christopher Hope

Scarlett Thomas

Erica Wagner

Nicola Barker

Ian Samson

Kirsty Gunn

Philip Hoare

22 writers talk about their memorable excursions and the act of walking, and share their creative observations 
 
In these six series, taken from BBC Radio 3's The Essay, an array of novelists, poets, journalists and biographers chart the varied and inspiring walks they have taken around Britain and elsewhere. Here are treks taken at daybreak and after dark; in winter and in spring; in the footsteps of the past; and - in the case of Robert Macfarlane - along the ridges of the South Downs. 
 
Dawnwalks and Night Walks find Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicola Barker, Kamila Shamsie, Ian Sansom, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Owen Sheers, Janice Galloway and John Walsh taking early morning and late-night strolls around locations ranging from their back garden and local cemetery to Manhattan, Paris, Tasmania and the Antarctic. 
 
Springwalks and Winterwalks feature Michele Roberts, Ross Raisin, John Walsh, Kirsty Gunn, Philip Hoare, Deborah Levy, Christopher Hope, Scarlett Thomas, Erica Wagner and Owen Sheers, as they sample the transforming qualities of spring and the wonders of winter. From Poland and the Languedoc to Hampstead Heath and the Yorkshire Wolds, they delight in the details of the landscape and reflect on what it means to them. 
 
Strange Strolls sees Jenn Ashworth, Michael Donkor, Stephanie Victoire, Nat Segnit and Sophie Coulombeau embarking on walks of entertaining eccentricity, revisiting favourite places including Wandsworth Bridge, the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachia and Ibiza. 
 
And in A Five-Day Journey, Robert Macfarlane walks the length of the South Downs in monsoon rain and in sunshine, discovering its chalk trails and its ghosts. He ponders the relationship between paths and stories; explores the poet Edward Thomas' love affair with tracks; considers the concept of the Aboriginal Australian songline; re-imagines the life of artist Eric Ravilious; and contemplates the sometimes eerie relationship between walking, collecting and creation. 
 
Intimate, evocative and immersive, these 30 uplifting programmes transport us to a wealth of wonderful places, and offer fascinating personal insight into the inner worlds of our walker-writers. 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Duncan Minshull, Ciaran Bermingham and Tim Dee 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: 
 
Dawnwalks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 28 March 2016 
Nicola Barker 29 March 2016 
Kamila Shamsie 30 March 2016 
Ian Sansom 31 March 2016 
Lucy Hughes-Hallett 1 April 2016 
 
Night Walks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 27 October 2008 
Owen Sheers 28 October 2008 
Janice Galloway 29 October 2008 
Kamila Shamsie 30 October 2008 
John Walsh 31 October 2008 
 
Springwalks 
Michele Roberts in Poznan 31 March 2014 
Ross Raisin in the Yorkshire Wolds 1 April 2014 
John Walsh 2 April 2014 
Kirsty Gunn in Sutherland 3 April 2014 
Philip Hoare in Sholing 4 April 2014 
 
Winterwalks 
Deborah Levy on Hampstead Heath 18 February 2013 
Christopher Hope in Languedoc 19 February 2013 
Scarlett Thomas 20 February 2013 
Erica Wagner 21 February 2013 
Owen Sheers in Poland 22 February 2013 
 
Strange Strolls 
Jenn Ashworth - The Abiding Mental Riches of Preston 10 February 2020 
Michael Donkor - On Westminster Bridge 11 February 2020 
Stephanie Victoire - Dark Hollow Falls 12 February 2020 
Nat Segnit - The Other Ibiza 13 February 2020 
Sophie Coulombeau - Walking Matilda 14 February 2020 
 
A Five-Day Journey 
Marking 2 November 2009 
Haunting 3 November 2009 
Singing 4 November 2009 
Flying 5 November 2009 
Collecting 6 November 2009 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Writers on Walks: A BBC Radio 3 Collection

30 Reflections from Exploring on Foot

Francine Stock

Francine Stock explores how the Great War shaped culture and society between 1914 and 1918 
 
The First World War was the great military and political event of its time. But it was also an imaginative event: one that profoundly altered the ways in which men and women thought about the world, and about culture and its expressions. In this compelling five-series programme, journalist and presenter Francine Stock scrutinises the diverse responses of artists and entertainers to the bitter realities of war, and reveals how their new perspectives entered the public consciousness. 
 
Each series focuses on a specific year of the conflict, beginning with 1914, as the written word was mobilised; the music industry embraced both patriotism and escapism; and painters including Kandinsky created some of their most powerful work. Stock shows how the aftershocks of war sparked the rise of modernism and the avant-garde in 1915, and looks at how trauma was addressed in the works of Freud and the compositions of Debussy. Moving on to the following year, she demonstrates how the carnage at Verdun and the Somme inspired Dadaism, galvanised creators from Picasso to Apollinaire - and made the tank into an unlikely icon on the home front. 
 
Looking at 1917, Stock tells the story of the Harlem Hellfighters and how jazz conquered France; finds out about the popular cross-dressing theatre troupes who were taking the Front Line by storm; and listens as the first meeting between poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen is celebrated in a landmark violin performance using instruments made in memory of the duo. She concludes by examining the war's final deadly year, as US troops arrive on the Western Front, Charlie Chaplin makes a film about a private with dreams of becoming a war hero; the Austro-Hungarian Empire falls; and Elgar, Stanley Spencer and Rebecca West anticipate the end of the hostilities and the soldiers' return. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Francine Stock 
Produced by Tom Alban, Mark Burman, Caitlin Smith, Mark Rickards, Clare Walker, Georgia Catt, Sarah Shebbeare, Elizabeth Duffy 
Production Coordinator: Anne Smith 
Editors: John Goudie, Philip Sellars 
 
Readers: Clive Hayward, Heather Craney, Sean Baker, Susan Jameson, Sam Rix, Sargon Yelda, Brian Protheroe, Nicola Ferguson, Nick Underwood, Lucy Doyle, Sean Murray, Ryan Whittle, Liam Fernandez, Cameron Percival and other members of the Radio Drama Company 
Singer: Eloise Irving 
Pianist: Simon Townley 
 
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
Words for Battle 8 March 2014 
With Catriona Pennell, Samuel Hynes, Tim Kendall, Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Mark Derez, Jan Van Impe, Gerhard Hirschfeld 
Arf a Mo, Kaiser: Popular Culture on All Fronts 15 March 2014 
With Eloise Irving, Simon Townley, John Mullan, Susan Scott, Rachel Moore, Gerhard Hirschfeld, Stefan Goebel, Hubertus Jahn, Anita O'Brien 
Kandinsky, Khaki and Kisses 22 March 2014 
With Jane Potter, David Boyd Haycock, Richard Cork, Stacy Gillis, Stefan Goebel 
 
Series 2 
Glimpses of a Modern World 18 April 2015 
With Genevieve Bell, Pat Mills, Samuel Hynes, Guillaume de Syon, Richard Slocombe, Stewart Kelly, Bryony Dixon, Mark Wollaeger 
A Cubist War 25 April 2015 
With James Taylor, Nicholas Rankin, Susan Harrow, Santanu Das, Peter Stanley, Christian Liebl 
War on the Mind 2 May 2015 
With David Code, Anna Farthing, Edgar Jones, John Forrester, Dorothy Price, Matthew Hollis 
 
Series 3 
Bleeding France 9 April 2016 
With Jay Winter, Alice Kelly, Linda Robertson, Sylvie Leray-Burimi 
The Tank and the Home Fires 16 April 2016 
With Cathy Haill, Helen Brooks, Kimberley Reynolds, Diana Thompson, Vincent Thompson, Richard Slocombe, David Wiley, Alistair Fraser 
Dada and Defiance 23 April 2016 
With Toby Thacker, Alan Dein, Jed Rasula, Jan Rueger, Emily Finer, Boris Dralyuk 
 
Series 4 
The Jazz Kings Go to War 12 August 2017 
With Max Brooks, Reid Badger, Adriane Lentz-Smith, Noble Sissle Jr 
Reality and Reconstruction 19 August 2017 
With Steve Burnett, Catherine Walker, Boris Dralyuk, Richard Cork, Sylvain Bellanger, Suzannah Biernoff, James Partridge, Sarah Crellin 
An Intimate War 26 August 2017 
With Jason Crouthamel, Anke Vetter, Kevin Clarke, Jay Winters, Laraine Porter, Simon Rothon 
 
Series 5 
1918: Chaplin Goes to War 8 September 2018 
With David Luben, Claggett Wilson Read, Lucie Dutton, Ailsa Grant Ferguson 
1918: Vienna and the Fall of an Empire 15 September 2018 
With Michael Haas, Marcus Patka, Ivan Ristic, Nicolai Guteman 
The Return of the Soldier 22 September 2018 
With Boris Dralyuk, Martin Sorrell, Toby Thacker, Jane Potter, David Haycock, Ann Danks 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

World War One: The Cultural Front

A BBC Radio 4 history series

Mary Portas

Mary, Queen of Shops star and style doyenne Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today. Looking at the worlds of fashion, design, architecture and interiors, she discovers how they reveal the desires, passions and beliefs not just of individuals, but of society. 
 
She considers British design with Tom Dixon, winner of the London Design Medal 2019; discusses the future of fashion with distinguished trends forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort; and talks activism, sustainability and eco-innovation with Carry Somers, Phoebe English and Cyrill Gutsch. Jay Blades of The Repair Shop gives us some insight into restoring furniture; Fashion Revolution founder Orsola de Castro reveals how looking after your clothes can be a radical act; and author Kassia St Clair explains how technology influence the colours we see, the clothes we buy and our home decoration choices. 
 
Plus, Mary examines how the pandemic has impacted the way we dress, shop and live as she looks at home offices and high streets, and asks if the habits we've adopted will last beyond lockdown. And there's fun with fashion correspondent Miss Jason, of Jason's Closet fame, as he visits cities across the UK to find out what people are wearing and buying. 
 
A fabulous celebration of all things sartorial and aesthetic, this smart, sassy series will enlighten and delight - and make you think about your own relationship with style. 
 
Presented by Mary Portas 
Fashion correspondent: Miss Jason 
Produced by Ekene Akalawu and Jessica Treen, 
With: Tom Dixon, Carry Somers, Deyan Sudjic, Mateo Kries, Lidewij Edelkoort, Ben Derbyshire, Jessica Mairs, Phoebe English, Charlotte Fiell, Zheng Qu, Cyrill Gutsch, Sarah Mower, Susie Lau, Lizzie Ostrom, Jay Blades, Brad Callahan, Ruth Wassermann, Sonia Solicari, Jane Shepherdson, Tahlia Gray, Anki Josefsson, Orsola de Castro, Michelle Ogundehin, Ben Francis, Kassia St Clair, Christopher Kane and Tammy Kane 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 17 September 2019-23 February 2021 
 
 
Copyright © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Mary Portas on Style

Various

Ten emblematic lectures by world-leading thinkers, specially selected by the series producer. 
 
Since 1948, the BBC's iconic annual lecture series has provided a platform for brilliant, entertaining individuals to discuss and develop their ideas on radio. The topics range from art and science to history, culture, politics and more, and each Reith Lecture - which is a little longer than a TED talk - is followed by a lively question-and-answer session showcasing the speaker's expertise, wisdom and wit. 
 
This collection brings together ten of the very best Reith Lectures, chosen by the series producer, Jim Frank. Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry argues that art can no longer shock us - we've seen it all before; bestselling novelist Hilary Mantel explores how art can bring the dead back to life; Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former MI5 director, tells us what it was like to head up the security services in the aftermath of 9/11; Tom Kirkwood asks whether ageing and death are the price we pay for sex; and Margaret MacMillan discusses the relationship between war and humanity, and the role of the soldier. 
 
In addition, Atul Gawande considers the future of medicine; Michael Sandel examines the expansion of markets; Kwame Anthony Appiah appeals for a world free of racial fixations; Vilayanur S. Ramachandran looks at the process we call 'seeing'; and Daniel Barenboim celebrates the power of music to bring us together. Illuminating, captivating and thought-provoking, these superlative radio lectures are full of insight and inspiration. 
 
Production credits 
Presented, chaired and introduced by Sue Lawley 
Produced and curated by Jim Frank 
Edited by Hugh Levinson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
Tom Kirkwood: Sex and Death 18 April 2001 
Vilayanur S. Ramachandran: Synapses and the Self 9 April 2003 
Daniel Barenboim: In the Beginning was Sound 7 April 2006 
Michael Sandel: Markets and Morals 9 June 2009 
Eliza Manningham-Buller: Terror 6 September 2011 
Grayson Perry: Nice Rebellion - Welcome In! 29 October 2013 
Atul Gawande: The Century of the System 2 December 2014 
Kwame Anthony Appiah: Colour 1 November 2016 
Hilary Mantel: The Day is for the Living 13 June 2017 
Margaret MacMillan: Fearing and Loving - Making Sense of the Warrior 3 July 2018 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Reith Lectures

10 of the best

Ian Blatchford

Tilly Blyth

The landmark BBC series exploring science in art, developed by Radio 4 in partnership with the Science Museum - with an introduction read by Toby Jones 
 
'A real treat' The Spectator 
 
Art and science are often considered to be in conflict, with art dealing in creativity and science in cold, hard facts. But the two disciplines have always been interconnected, taking inspiration from each other and shaping each other's worlds. In this fascinating 20-part series, Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, and Dr Tilly Blyth, the Science Museum's Head of Collections, reveal how science's ingenuity has been incorporated into artistic expression - and how art's creativity has stimulated scientific progress and technological change. 
 
Beginning with the Enlightenment and concluding with our modern-day Age of Ambivalence, they take a chronological journey through 250 years of British history, looking at the often surprising relationships between iconic works of art and key scientific objects and ideas. Among the pieces they analyse are Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg's theatrical portrayal of the Industrial Revolution, Coalbrookdale by Night; Constable's cloud paintings; John Nasmyth's extraordinarily detailed photographs of the Moon; Roy Nockolds' Supersonic, the first abstract image to show the breaking of the sound barrier; and Longplayer, a 1000-year-long musical composition created by computer algorithm. 
 
From Joseph Wright's 1776 painting A Philosopher Giving A Lecture On The Orrery, illuminating a new scientific age of wonders, to Cornelia Parker's Einstein's Abstracts and Cold Dark Matter, shining cosmological light on what is yet to be known, we see that science and art are part of the same rich culture, engaged in an ongoing dialogue driven by mutual curiosity, creativity and imagination. 
 
Presented by Sir Ian Blatchford and Tilly Blyth 
Introduction read by Toby Jones 
Readers: Shaun Mason, Katherine Cusack and Sean Baker 
Music composed by Mark Russell 
Produced by Adrian Washbourne, in partnership with The Science Museum Group 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
The Scientific Sublime 23 September 2019 
Masters of Spectacle 24 September 2019 
Satirizing Science 25 September 2019 
Observing the Air 26 September 2019 
Tracking Progress 27 September 2019 
Plants on Paper 30 September 2019 
Reaching for the Moon 1 October 2019 
Dyeing to Display 2 October 2019 
Capturing Time 3 October 2019 
Celebrating Speed 4 October 2019 
Art as Protest 7 October 2019 
Humans in the Industrial Machine 8 October 2019 
Forms of Knowledge 9 October 2019 
Supersonic 10 October 2019 
Patterns from Atoms 11 October 2019 
Wonder Materials 14 October 2019 
Polaroid Perceptions 15 October 2019 
Protecting the Earth 16 October 2019 
Patterns of Thought 17 October 2019 
Imagining Matter 18 October 2019

The Art of Innovation

How art and science have inspired each other, a Radio 4 and the Science Museum collaboration.

Alistair Sooke

30 leading cultural figures choose an artwork from the Museum of Modern Art's collection, and discuss the response it provokes in them 
 
Art critic and broadcaster Alastair Sooke, accompanied by some of the world's leading creative thinkers, takes an in-depth look at the outstanding exhibits in New York's MoMA, exploring how the way we 'see' art is shaped by our experiences and perspectives. His guests include some of the sharpest minds of our time - artists, writers, designers, comedians, musicians and scientists, among them Steve Martin, Margaret Cho, John Waters, Roxane Gay, Fiona Shaw, Orhan Pamuk and Stanley Tucci. 
 
Each guest selects a piece of art that speaks to them - one that's inspiring, startling, intriguing or challenging. Some pick familiar works, others ones they've never seen before, and their choices range from paintings and sculptures to photographs, films and even symbols. Drawing on their personal history and expert knowledge, they share their thoughts, insights and observations. 
 
How does a cosmologist view Van Gogh's The Starry Night? What does a jazz pianist see in Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie? What will a top fashion designer decode from the clothes painted by an artist in Harlem in the 1930s? And what will a psychologist make of Picasso's unflinching depictions of man's inhumanity, The Charnel House and Guernica? 
 
These questions, and many more, will be answered in this eye-opening series. Revealing, surprising and perceptive, it deconstructs the gallery experience, bringing us a new way of looking at, and appreciating, art. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Produced by Paul Kobrak and Tom Alban 
The Way I See It is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York 
 
Tracklist: 
1. Starry Night and Janna Levin 
2. Steve Martin and the Lonely Synchromists 
3. Jason Moran and Piet Mondrian 
4. Neri Oxman and the Endless House 
5. Steven Pinker and Picasso 
6. Steve Reich on Richard Serra's Equal 
7. Margaret Cho and Lady Vengeance 
8. Duro Olowu on William H Johnson's 'Children' 
9. Michael Bierut on Ed Ruscha's OOF 
10. John Waters on Lee Lozano's Untitled 1963 
11. Roxane Gay and Christ's Entry into Journalism 
12. Es Devlin on Felix Gonzalez-Torres's Perfect Lovers 
13. Hisham Matar with Man Sleeping Along the Seine 
14. Renee Fleming chooses Colors for a Large Wall 
15. The Director's Choice 
16. Fiona Shaw on Georgia O'Keeffe's Lake George, Coat and Red 
17. Bryan Stevenson on Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series 
18. Richard Serra on Jackson Pollock 
19. Madeleine Thien on Vija Celmins' Bikini 
20. Zac Posen on Constantin Brancusi's Bird in Space 
21. Mark Morris on Florine Stettheimer's Costume Design for Orphée 
22. Sarah Sze and Siddhartha Mukherjee on Louise Bourgeois's Quarantania, I 
23. Orhan Pamuk on Taglioni's Jewel Casket by Joseph Cornell 
24. Liz Diller on Marcel Duchamp's Network of Stoppages 
25. Isabella Boylston on Maya Deren and Talley Beatty 
26. Stanley Tucci and Giacometti's Head of a Man on a Rod 
27. Lady Ruth Rogers on Henri Rousseau's The Dream 
28. Yves Behar and the IEC's Power Symbol 
29. David Henry Hwang on Martin Wong's Stanton near Forsyth Street 
30. Alastair Sooke

The Way I See It

The landmark BBC art series in partnership with MoMA

Tom Neenan

Modern technology is terrifying. The average smartphone carries out three-point-three-six billion instructions per second. The average person can only carry out one instruction in that time. Stop and think about that for a second. Sorry, that's two instructions; you won't be able to do that. 
 
But what if modern technology was... literally terrifying? What if there really was a ghost in the machine? Travel through the bad gateway in this modern ghost story as award-winning writer and performer Tom Neenan ("The Mash Report", "Spitting Image") discovers what horrors may lurk in our apps and gadgets... 
 
With a full cast including Nina Sosanya (W1A, His Dark Materials), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Green Wing), Andy Nyman (Fiddler On the Roof, Ghost Stories), Freya Parker (Lazy Susan) &amp; Georgie Glen (Call The Midwife, The Thick Of It) 
 
In the first episode of series 3 - hang on, let me just put you on hold... 
 
In Show 2, Tom &amp; Heidi are trapped in a terrifying situation - and have to make a horrifying decision... 
 
In the next episode, a brand-new exercise bike means Tom has to stay ahead of the pack - in every sense... 
 
... and in the final episode, we discover there is something even worse than a nightmare as sweet dreams turn very very sour... 
 
 
This show comes from Pozzitive, proud producers of Cabin Pressure, John Finnemore's Double Acts, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Agendum, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive &amp; Kevin Eldon Will See You Now...

The Hauntening

The Complete Series 3 of the BBC Radio 4 Comedy

Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin is an internationally renowned artist. Here she discusses her life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archives: Breakfast With Frost, BBC One (first broadcast 7 November 1999); Front Row, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 6 Sept 2000, featuring Francine Stock); Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 9 Oct 2000, featuring Maud Hand); On the Ropes, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 24 July 2001, featuring John Humphrys); Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4, (first broadcast 28 Nov 2002, featuring Jenni Murray); Breakfast With Frost, BBC One (first broadcast 30 May 2004); Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 28 Nov 2004, featuring Sue Lawley); Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4 (first broadcast 15 March 2006, featuring Jenni Murray) and Mark Lawson Talks to Tracey Emin, BBC Four (first broadcast 14 March 2010). 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Tracey Emin In Her Own Words

Michael Goldfarb

Michael Goldfarb looks back to the Europe of the 1930s and asks how artists, writers and film-makers responded to the poverty, mass unemployment and poltical instability of the Great Depression. 
 
Through the work of Bertolt Brecht, George Orwell, Jean Renoir and others, Michael charts the devastating impact of the slump as economic crisis impoverished the continent, engulfing both highly-industrialised nations such as Germany and the more agrarian economies of Greece, Spain and Ireland. And as economic faultlines threaten to divide Europe once again, Michael asks whether a new art of austerity is now emerging. 
 
The novelists Anne Enright and Justin Cartwright are among Michael's guests as he considers how writers are responding to the latest wave of banking crises, spending cuts and popular protest. 
 
Produced by Julia Johnson. 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 29 April 2012 
 
 
©2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Europe - The Art Of Austerity

David Hockney

David Hockney has been described as Britain's 'greatest living artist'. In this fascinating collection of archive interviews we hear - in his own words - about his paintings, his schooldays and the attitudes he had while growing up. Hockney discusses the influence that his family had on him, as well as his passion for drawing and his work rate. He also touches on the importance of different types of medium, the different periods in his life - and his future. 
 
 Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

David Hockney In His Own Words

Will Gompertz

The Royal Collection is one of the most wide-ranging collections of art and artefacts in the world and provides an intriguing insight into the minds of the monarchs who have assembled it. In this series, BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz examines dozens of these unique objects, in a quest to 'use the Collection as a prism through which to better understand the art of being a monarch'. From intimate portraits to epic tapestries, from the Coronation pen to the Investiture sword, from a treatise against Martin Luther to the first televised Christmas message, each has an absorbing history. Famous objects such as the Gold State Coach and the Imperial State Crown rub shoulders with lesser-known but still fascinating artefacts such as the Exeter Salt and the Wriothesley Garter Book. With the help of historians, academics and Royal Collection curators, Gompertz selects choice items to find out what secrets they reveal about the art of monarchy.

The Art Of Monarchy

Cecil Beaton

Cecil Beaton was a portrait and fashion photographer, as well as a diarist and Oscar-winning designer. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive: 
 
At Home: Cecil Beaton, broadcast on BBC Radio, 7th May 1957 (featuring Hywel Davies) 
Face To Face, broadcast on BBC Television, 18th February 1962 (featuring John Freeman) 
Late Night Line-Up, broadcast on BBC Television, 9th May 1968 (featuring Sheridan Morley) 
Desert Island Discs, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 26th January 1980 (featuring Roy Plomley) 
 
Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. 
 
&copy;2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Cecil Beaton In His Own Words

Philip Mould

Art historian Philip Mould discusses the art chosen by Government ministers in this BBC Radio 4 broadcast from 26 January 2011.  Becoming a Minister has many perks, but one they can see every day is the art hanging in their office, often borrowed from the Government Art Collection. Art historian Philip Mould speaks to new ministers about what they chose and why they chose it, and he asks what it says about them.

What The Minister Saw (BBC Radio 4)

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

A Dance to the Music of Time

A Fairy Tale Revolution

A Frank Grasby Mystery

A Guide For the Curious

A Horatio Hornblower Tale of the Sea

A Jo Birmingham Thriller

A Jon Roscoe Thriller

A Ladybird Book

A Ladybird Magic Windows Book

A Look Back at

A Luke Carlton Thriller

A Max Mingus Thriller

A Michael Bennett Thriller

A Midge McGowan Mystery

A Mitchum Thriller

A Moneybunny Book

A Murder Most Unladylike Collection

A Murder Most Unladylike Mini Mystery

A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery

A Nigel Strangeways Mystery

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