The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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Paris and the Look of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Thu 4 Mar 2021
4/5 Nandini Das introduces another essay about the global differences in our response to rain.
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Australia and the Smell of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Wed 3 Mar 2021
3/5 Nandini Das curates global essays on five different sensory experiences of rain.
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Japan and the Taste of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Tue 2 Mar 2021
2/5 Nandini Das curates essays from across the globe on five different experiences of rain.
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India and the Sound of Rain—Rainsong in Five Senses
Mon 1 Mar 2021
1/5 Nandini Das curates essays from across the globe on five different experiences of rain.
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Wind—Science Notes
Fri 12 Feb 2021
5/5 James Burke leads us via steam engines and iron coffins to the modern orchestra.
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Ivories—Science Notes
Thu 11 Feb 2021
4/5 James Burke touches on pine trees, chintz, bowler hats 鈥� and ends up on the ivories.
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Impression—Science Notes
Wed 10 Feb 2021
3/5 James Burke connects Italian electricity to Debussy via a baron's seances and your fridge.
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Romance—Science Notes
Tue 9 Feb 2021
2/5 James Burke links planetary orbits, the teeny-weeny and fake Scottish literature.
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Enlighten—Science Notes
Mon 8 Feb 2021
1/5 Broadcaster James Burke links organisms that might not exist to a freemason鈥檚 opera.
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The acting coach—Acting Unrehearsed
Fri 5 Feb 2021
5/5 Geoffrey Colman invites us to join him on a walk through a day as an acting coach.
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How reality TV has changed acting—Acting Unrehearsed
Thu 4 Feb 2021
4/5 Geoffrey Colman describes the ways in which reality TV has changed acting.
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On stage and on screen—Acting Unrehearsed
Wed 3 Feb 2021
3/5 Geoffrey Colman explores the differences between acting on stage and on screen.
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How to become an actor?—Acting Unrehearsed
Tue 2 Feb 2021
2/5 Geoffrey Colman discusses drama schools in his second Essay on acting.
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What is good acting?—Acting Unrehearsed
Mon 1 Feb 2021
1/5 Geoffrey Colman considers the art of acting and asks: what makes a great actor?
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The Essex Way—Odes to Essex
Fri 29 Jan 2021
5/5 Writer Gillian Darley celebrates the unsung and lesser-known delights of mid-Essex.
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The Refusal of Place—Odes to Essex
Wed 27 Jan 2021
3/5 Writer Lavinia Greenlaw takes us back to the formative landscape of her childhood.
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Washed Up in Essex—Odes to Essex
Tue 26 Jan 2021
2/5 Writer AL Kennedy takes us on a watery journey through the county she now calls home.
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Metropolitan Essex—Odes to Essex
Mon 25 Jan 2021
1/5 Billy Bragg explores the London-Essex borderland that fuelled his childhood imagination.
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Brightening from the East—Odes to Essex
Jan 2021
4/5 Writer and social historian Ken Worpole introduces us to Essex's radical past.
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Jess Gillam on Bach—Secret Admirers
Fri 11 Dec 2020
5/5 Radio 3 presenter Jess Gillam celebrates German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Jumok茅 Fashola on Nina Simone—Secret Admirers
Thu 10 Dec 2020
Radio 3 presenter Jumok茅 Fashola celebrates the American singer-songwriter Nina Simone
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Ian Skelly on Jean Mouton—Secret Admirers
Wed 9 Dec 2020
Radio 3 presenter Ian Skelly celebrates the French composer Jean Mouton
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Elizabeth Alker on Sofia Gubaidulina—Secret Admirers
Tue 8 Dec 2020
Radio 3 presenter Elizabeth Alker celebrates the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina
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Hannah French on Barbara Strozzi—Secret Admirers
Mon 7 Dec 2020
Radio 3 presenter Hannah French celebrates the Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi
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Sonny Rollins—Jazz Among the British
Fri 20 Nov 2020
Geoffrey Smith on the connection Sonny Rollins forged with his British audience.
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Stan Tracey—Jazz Among the British
Thu 19 Nov 2020
4/5 Geoffrey Smith on the work of Stan Tracey, paragon of British jazz and of jazz in Britain.
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Americans in Britain—Jazz Among the British
Wed 18 Nov 2020
Geoffrey Smith on how Britain influenced the work of two celebrated American jazz artists.
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The British Audience—Jazz Among the British
Tue 17 Nov 2020
Geoffrey Smith looks at the how the audience for jazz in Britain has evolved over time.
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On Not Being a Jazzer—Jazz Among the British
Mon 16 Nov 2020
Geoffrey Smith reflects on perceptions of jazz in Britain and questions the term 'jazzer'.
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Cape Town—Africa in the City
Fri 23 Oct 2020
Lindsay Johns ends a series of essays on cities changed by African migration in Cape Town.
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
